What I Did At Summer Camp

When schooling a horse, the rider is responsible for setting the horse up to succeed. Don’t ask him for hard things when he’s tired, confused, or upset. Give him generous warm up and cool down time. End on a positive note. When schooling new moves, accept and praise progress rather than insisting on perfection. Listen to him. Give him physical and mental breaks. Reward a good faith try, correct gently, and be patient. This is just common sense horsemanship. Pester a tired horse for more than he can give or ignore his signals, and he might object dangerously. Expect progress to come too quickly and you could well end up with not only a lack of progress, but also setbacks. Safety and efficiency aside, a patient, considerate, growth mindset is also just what any healthy long-term relationship needs to thrive. And that objective–a healthy long-term relationship–is more important than any one movement or sequence of jumps. As I headed into camp week at the barn this year–I made a royal…