More Fun! And Why it's Important

and her only goal at the clinic was to get this horse to stop running her over. After solving that problem in the first half hour of the clinic Lynn was up for more. Lynn took the lesson of fun to heart and began small. With each new clinic she attended she was challenged to try something new one time it was to jump a ditch. She became so nervous about this small ditch that we began referring to it as Lynns Canyon.
After achieving her goal of jumping the canyon Lynn was ready to move on to something else.
Riding bareback had always been a fear for her. She decided to commit herself to learning to ride bareback in order to become a better rider. Just when she thought she was getting pretty good she came up to my ranch for a camp. I had set up a small cross country course.
Lynn saw the course and set a goal to jump a log bareback. It was all she could think about all week and on the last day of the camp we caught a picture of her going over her first jump bareback! Was she ever ecstatic!
She beamed for the rest of the day. See the smile on her face as she completed this goal? It is clear that she had fun with this one!
Everyone will have a different idea of fun. For some it is a competitive achievement for others it is personal feat and for many it is as easy as trying something a little different from what they are used to. Keep in mind that it is not the end result that matters so much as how you go about getting there.
Change It Up
A change can be fun but it is also practical from a training point of view. Over the years I have had the privilege to study with some of the best trainers in the world and the one thing they have in common is that while they are focused on the details of their discipline they have a feel for when a horse needs a change. Ive seen gold medal horses go for a trail ride or play with some cattle. This could be looked at as cross training. However Im not talking about something that formal sometimes a mental change of pace is what is so valuable.
My horse Hal is a great example of