One of the most important concepts you can understand when it comes to training horses is that great horsemen are open to change. When I was an apprentice for Ian Francis, he often said to me, “To change your life, you must first change your attitude.” Ian believes, as do I, that if you’re unhappy with the current state of your life, you need to change your attitude and perceive your life the way you’d like for it to be.
I’ve incorporated that saying into training horses: “If you want to change your horse, you must first change the way you interact with him.” When you interact with your horse in a way that he understands, you’ll get results. But if you keep doing the same thing, you’ll keep getting the same result. If you want a different reaction from your horse and want to progress your horsemanship, you’ll have to change the way you work around him and start seeing things from his point of view.
