In working with horses I’ve been lucky enough not to run up against time limits very often. Time limits like “we have to get this horse ready for this show,” or “the farrier comes in two weeks and if this horse can’t be trimmed then it’s feet will start degrading before the farrier comes around again.” Many horse trainers are slotted into 30, 60, or 90 day “colt starting” limits that are dictated by how many horses they can train at one time and how much money their clients can reasonably spend on training. Time limits, in our human world, are inevitable.
I am finally faced with a limit, though I am reasonably sure I’ve left enough time for us not to feel the squeeze by the due date. I have a young horse I’m offering to help get ready for a trailer ride to a new home. Like Rex, he hasn’t been on a trailer since he arrived as a yearling. Unlike Rex, he’s large pony/small horse height. Trailer loading, if he takes a fright at the wrong moment, can get dicey. So, I’m riding the line for the first time in a while between “just get it done” and “stay below threshold.”
Thankfully this horse is trusting of people and has a really good foundation in ground handling. It also helps that he’s a pretty steady guy, willing to investigate things instead of running from them immediately. I just have to stay focused on the present and not get anxious about the “what if’s.”
To help with this, I’m using the same tool that I learned from some of my early riding lessons. In those, focusing on an outside objective kept my mind off of all the things that could go wrong. I was fetching a hula hoop from a post to hang on a barrel across the arena for the riding exercise. For this “intro to the trailer” exercise I was fetching a lantern from where I had hung it on the trailer door. The horse getting familiar with approaching and then leaving the open trailer was a “side effect” while I stayed focused on the primary task. It worked to keep me calm, even while feeling waves of nervousness coming from the horse. It kept him below threshold, having someone attached to him who knew exactly where they were headed at all times. Hopefully this can be extended to steps into and out of the trailer, with some pauses for investigating and snorting at the strangeness. Everything is still just experimenting and seeing how it affects the horse. We’ll see how we do with a deadline, riding that edge without going over.
If you’d like to hear more about Rex, early riding experiences and more, it’s all in my memoir, Standing in a Field With Horses. Available on Amazon, Smashwords, and other online bookstores. Now also available from small business stores! If you own a small business and would like to carry my books, please get in touch through my Contact page.
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