I've been neglecting my blogs a little recently, partly due to circumstances and partly due to a very bad case of writers block. It's not easy to sit at a keyboard and realise you have nothing left you want to say, I have to admit it's very unlike me as well. Normally I can write about practically anything. Sometimes I've felt like my head is so full of stuff I don't actually know what to do with it all. Watching a film one day reminded me of something I'd read before in Mark Rashid's Horsemanship Through Life:
A warrior once spent his life studying martial arts. He had a high level of natural ability and traveled the world to learn from the best teachers, his eventual aim being to study with the Grand Master. The warrior spent years studying, learning and practising until eventually he felt he had enough knowledge and skill to impress the Grand Master. So he began the long journey to the Master's house. After many days and nights of travelling he eventually arrived. The Grand Master greeted the warrior and offered him tea, as he poured the tea the warrior began to list all his many accomplishments and the Master listened quietly continued to pour the tea. As the warrior continued speaking he noticed the cup the Master was pouring into had become full and the tea was spilling out all around the sides. "Excuse me Master, but do you realise your cup is full?" asked the warrior. "Yes," the Master replied. "The cup is full rather like you are, you are so full of learning nothing more can go in. You need to empty your cup before I can teach you any more."
I think a full cup is kind of where I'd got to if I'm honest. I spent most of my spare time reading horse books and looking on the internet so my head was so full of whys and wherefore's it has now stopped my progressing any further as a trainer. By no means do I know everything, but sometimes I feel I've spent time reading and worrying about getting stuff "right", when really the best teacher of all is stood out in the paddock smiling and whickering hopefully. I think I need to empty my own cup a little so that I can take on board what Star is trying to tell me, rather than over analyse everything and sometimes effectively paralyse myself from doing anything at all. The best teacher will always be the horse and I'm very lucky in that I've found my own Grand Master in Star.
A very wise post, Emma.
ReplyDeleteThe horses always have more to teach us.
One of my favorite quotes I found last fall on a chess site:
"A man ceases to be a beginner in chess and becomes a master when he has learned that he is going to be a beginner all his life."
R.G. Collingwood
I really like the story of the martial arts Grand Master. I haven't read "Horsemanship Through Life," but I've read several other of Rashid's books. He is usually full of wisdom.
Mary
Thanks Mary I love the quote and it's very true the more I learn the more I realise how little I know :)
ReplyDeleteI can understand what you are saying here. I get that way too. I don't know if it's knowledge my head is full of though, more like worry, but when it gets full I can't do anything. I have to find ways to relax or veg out before I can learn anything new. I've been researching gluten allergies and I'm considering eating gluten free for a while to see if that's my problem, but it's so hard. While I've been worrying about that I haven't had any room left for training or anything else. I get so focused on one thing that it's impossible for me to concentrate on the things I want to do. I have no idea if I'm making any sense. I hope you can empty your cup and go have fun with Star again.
ReplyDeleteI can relate to that being a chronic worrier myself lol! I too suffer from "paralysis by analysis" and over thinking things :)
ReplyDeleteI think the thing I've really had to grasp is that with clicker you're much less likely to make terrible training mistakes which could end up with a traumatised horse. It's a very gentle and forgiving method, so I need to relax more and stop worrying about getting stuff just "right". In fact I'm not even sure there is a definitive "right" in a lot of cases :)
As with anything in life it's all things in moderation, including thinking! The brain can easily become 'constipated' when you're trying to stuff too much in so needs a good purge from time to time. The best way to do that is switch off and just watch your birds, sheep and horse.
ReplyDeleteWe are always learning and even after sixty odd years I'm still amazed at just how much there is to stuff in every day but I still take time to switch off otherwise my head would probably explode! :D