I was reminded of a very important lesson today. I took a little John mule I'm riding l, and went with my son and a couple of my friends to Busiek State Park to ride. At the midway point, I was asked to ride my friend's mule to see if I could get him to gait.My son wanted to ride the one I was on; so I let him ride him. they did a very good job until we got to the creek and the little mule balked and refused him. My son did not have spurs so could not coax him very well. A battle ensued and my son was on the losing end. He quickly lost his temper and got quite frustrated with the little mule. It was at this point that I intervened. I had him hold the one I was riding, and i got on the little turkey. I had the same issues with him(which was to be expected). He tried to rear, and dance and side step, and refused to go in the water. With some coaxing, and a lot of patience, I managed to get him to walk down the creek a ways. I rewarded him with a lot of praise and no small amount of patting and rubbing and good boys. I then had my son get on him and walk him in as well. They both did well this trip. We resumed our ride and had a great time. My son, however was still miffed at the mule for misbehaving. It took him about 10 minutes to get over his mad.We finished the ride, loaded our stock and headed home. We got back to the barn and unloaded. It was as we were leaving that I asked him what he'd learned today. He said" I learned today that it takes a lot more patience, and knowledge to train and correct these animals than I have." I told him that was a very good observation, and that I was proud of him for admitting it. You see, we as horsemen are not perfect. Our mounts are not perfect. We should learn from our shortcomings, and try to improve. Not only as trainers, but as people. In my own life, I know I'm not always as patient with people as I am with a horse. I am consciously trying to work on that. Thank you son for reminding me of such an important lesson.
No comments:
Post a Comment