Success Is What You Think Success Is. (so be careful what you think)

Problem Riders and Creative Harmony/ Disharmony

Trainer and author Mary TwelvePonies summed it up correctly. " There are no problem horses, only problem riders " !
But do we as people ever ask the question why? Yes when it invovles brutal inhumane horse training techniques. Hense the resitance free training movement. Yet few people realize our thoughts are the origans of our true success and failure.

Seriously let's think about this. The world revolves around the sun like it's should, the sun gives light like it's supposed to! The earth gives life to plants like it's made to. The plants stay routed in the ground, letting animals eat them like they're supposed to! I mean how many plants do you see running from your horse screaming aaaaaaaaah save me!!!!! Or worse
do you see horses manning picket lines on strike saying they want better benefit packages, and Purina pension plans?

None! Zip, zilch nada! That is because all the earth know's each creature has a separate job to do! A set aside purpose. A purpose all creation puts every ounce of it's energy into completing and there is no other. Because that's is what all creation is supposed to do! Creation does not waist time on disagreement with it's designed pupose in any way. It goes about the business of being successful I.E. being what it was created to be!

Except people........... Why? I'm not sure why......

People too have a designed purpose. To be kind to other people, to animals, to till the earth, be fruitful and multiply, to build, create and to make the earth a beautiful place to live. We are also made to dream, to think, to invest our hearts fully and compassionately. we are made to learn discipline, become speakers, artists, horsmen and women, to control our thoughts and our will, at will!

Yet many time peoples lives and thoughts seem to run counterpoint to these ideas I've listed. To the point of disfunction.

My point is people are the only beings on this planet who can choose to live in harmony or disharmony! We are the only beings who war with each other and war with the very creation we live in. Why? What is the difference between we people who often choose to live in disharmonial strife to the rest of creation?

I would say simply, we can speak words. Our words are the fruit of our thoughts and our thoughts are what we truly believe and see inside our own minds and hearts. We as people are givin the greatest gift of love. We have been givin the ability to create with words our own reality. We have been givin a choice to choose those words, thoughts and realitys! Those who don't believe me, answer this question! What's the first thing you have to do to ride a horse?

Some people would say, saddle the horse, others might say put shoes on it's feet ! And other people would say give the horse a bath, groom the horse before saddling, pick out it's feet or buy a horse to ride.

But really none of these are the correct answer. I would submit to you, the first think you have to do, to ride a horse, is say, " I'm going to ride a horse today "!

I will purpose to all horsemen this day, our horsemanship relalities are the products of our words and how we said and felt about them.

Our Thoughts/Emotions Control Our Circumstances

Our thoughts and emotions control our circumstances.

Let me say this again!

Our thoughts and emotions control our circumstances!

As an example I was called out to trim some horses for a client. She mentioned on the phone she was having some problems with a mare who had recently injured it's leg. She wanted to water treat the leg but said the mare didn't like water treatments from the end of a water hose and the owner was afraid for her own well being.

So I went out and trimmed a couple of horses including the mare. Once finnished we walked the mare out of the barn toward the water hose. As we headed into the direction of the hose, the owner all the time was talking about how the mare didin't like water, and how she didn't know how to deal with the problem. The more the owner talked, the more visisble it became to me that she thought the horse was going to be a problem.

So as the owner handed me the horses lead line and water hose, turning on the water, I proceeded to very causually spray down the mare. The mare decided after a few short side to side stutter steps to take the water like a woman and settled down, Needless to say, we sprayed her leg down in peace for the next 15 minutes. Meanwhile the owner was in awe.
I had refused to listen to her proclamations about how tough her mares behavior was. Instead I had kept my focus on
the calm, cooperative picture in my mind. I had litteraly by my own emotinal/thought control, encourgaged the horse to cooperate.

My Secret Weapon

I'll admit I had a secret weapon. I had bathed hundreds of horses in my show carreer. I had mastered the trick of acting like water hoses should be no big deal to a horse and manifested that reality. And as I thought with in my mind and felt within my heart, the horse responded likewise. Why? Because the horse is programed to cooperate with all of creation, therefore if I choose to act like the horses natural creational habitat, I can get out of the horse what I need.

To better illuminate what I'm saying, lets suppose you become part of the horses creation ( reality ) and your reality is disharmonious to the horse. Lets suppose the horse is programed to get along with all creation in harmony! The horse must respond to it's God given guidelines of cooperation. The horse must cooperate in it's natural habitat to survive.
Now let us suppose we as people bring a disharmonius attitude and throught proccess into our relationship with the horse.
The horse being programed to respond to cooperate with the universal laws of creation, must respond disharmoiusly to our horse training overtures because we are selves our out of sink with the natural God given universal law of cooperation.


So be careful what you think within your mind and feel within your heart when training horses. Be aware that " As ye so, so also shall yea reap"! your thoughts, your feelings are the previews to your horsetraining lifes coming attractions. If your thoughts make your emotions ( heart ) feel bad, my advise is take a break. Go pray, meditate, breath, doing what ever is nessesary to bring back your internal peace, before getting back up upon the horse.

My True Secret Weapon

My true weapon is my positive visual thoughts and imagination. It's my choice to cooperate with the Universal God given law of constuctive cooperation. Too use my thoughts and imagination for the good of my own training purposes, for the good of the horses and people around me. To use my perceptive abilities to create a warm and friendly environment cooperative environment when training horses.

Having said that please be advised warm and fuzzy feelings don't always work for training horses. There is an apropriate time to be nice and sweet, then there are times a horse does needs a good swift smack of kick in the gut. It depends upon the situation. And the situation depends upon you and your ability to stay focused, both with your visual thoughts and emotions. If you do, you can litterally picture your horse training reality to better behavior.


Sincerely

James Brian Marshall

7 Tips To Showing On A Budget

The Expense of Showing Horses

Showing horses can be expensive! But not prohibitively so, if you know the right tricks. I am going to share with you a philosophy, that my family practised in the 1990's when all 5 of us kids showed horses, in both English and Western events.
It was a philosophy of putting our money where it counts.

We put our money into extraordinary horses with extraordinary talent.

We didn't waist money on trainers, expensive trucks and trailers or tack.
Show apparel expenditure was dependant upon the circumstances and
as occasion warranted. We did have to become our own horse trainer, and we coached each other. While being our own trainers and coaches took Lot's more work, it also made us better riders and competitors. And we saved money! Not to mention became a family who could at times dominate the show ring.

We did spend money on riding and training education. Books, some instruction,
and Lot's of video's were another area we invested our money.

No money was used for ostentatious display....

Yet the very nature of the horse show world can potentially be an elite keep up with the Jones scenario . People spend tons of money to look, act and be the part. Because of the nature of competition and the people who participate, it's not uncommon to see more money put into the outward trappings and equipment of showing horses than into the actually horses themselves! So if you've the cash you're willing to burn to keep up appearances, then you're probably not interested in what I've to contribute. On the other hand if you are limited to what you're able to afford, or you just stubbornly won't spend the dough, then you might lend me your ear! With a little extra elbow grease you can save a good bit of money!

Tip #1

Don't spend hundreds of dollars on an English Show jacket! Go to a Second hand shop and buy a high quality used sports jacket or suit coat. Have a tailor or seamstress modify it to proper English Riding Jacket dimensions and cut! For as little as 50-60 dollars, you can have a classy high quality English Jacket for a fraction the price of new while looking just as sharp!

Tip #2

Again remember to remember the second hand shops for Show apparel finds. You would be amazed at the high quality of clothing they take in. Much of the clothing is barely used. We saved Lot's of money finding show shirts, vests and blouses that either worked as is, or with some minor modification became beautiful classy and original show apparel.
For instance I bought two Tommy Hilfiger shirts for 17 dollars a piece. At the time they retailed around $75.00 I bought a high quality summer wool jacket for 30 dollars which modified into a handsome English Riding Jacket which I used to perform in various championship shows. I have personally won championships wearing a well tailored second hand jacket.

Tip #3

While I don't want to beat a dead horse, I will point out quality tack, well taken care of should look like new most of it's life time! Most quality English saddles new are $1,000-5,000 dollars. Like western saddles they can really cost money. Unlike western saddles, an English saddle can look good for years. And if you buy good used, well taken care of saddle, you can buy what would have been a $1200 dollar saddle for around $300 dollars.

Tip #4

Don't buy Expensive Trucks and Trailers because you've got to look successful. It's more important to be successful!
I've seen $1500 dollar horses emerge from $150,000 dollar show rigs. Those very horses look good coming onto the show grounds, but cannot pull their weight in the Show ring with the judges..... It would be better to show up in a ( safe ) rusty bucket of bolts with a $100,000 dollar horse inside ready to win, then pretend to be someone or something you're not!
Honestly I've pulled horses with trucks and a steel trailer that was rusty and ten years+ old. Granted it's not styling but my trailer doesn't keep my horses from winning!


Tip #5

Use any money from your year end awards and show winnings to fund your show needs for the next year. And Remember award buckles while they are considered trophies, they are still show buckles and very usable.


Tip#6

You will see many show people with zip up suit bags to protect their show apparel. These are handy and I like them also. But if you're cheap or don't have the dough, you can use a 42 gallon black plastic trash bag to protect your show apparel from dust and damp. Just slip your apparel into the bag, grab the top of the bag, give a twist of the bag top against the end of the hanger hook and polka hole in the bag top. Presto! A very cheap hanger bag!


Tip#7

Show ring politics do exist. If you want to be successful in the show ring, but don't have the mega bucks to influence your wins, understand you don't need money to win. You only need yourself, your determination to win and the will to follow your dreams. Education is important to your success. More important is you work ethic! While I don't promote becoming a witch with a capital B, I do promote and declare excellence of effort practised consistently over time equals winning!

In clarification of capital B witchiness I mean to say this only. Bad attitudes stink. Nobody likes a party pooper or worse a show ring grouch who's so tied up in winning a class or show they forget the people routing for them! Or the horse who so graciously allows them the chance to ride with a chance to win.

Dressing Concerns For The Rider

One should also note that all riding apparel should match the riders skin tone. Dress for success is key. To further educate yourself about dressing for impact, the books Color Me Beautiful and Color For Men are books show people should read.

Sensible Horseman Mission Statement

The Sensible Horseman is about horses. More importantly it's about people. Without people there would be no horsemen or women and this web site would be without purpose.

My mission as a horse trainer and showmen, is to bring information to people who need it. To enable people in finding solutions to Training problems they've run into both with their horses and with themselves. Either in the show ring, the training pen or on the trail. I say this with irony! Years ago I discovered that while my performance show horses had problems I as the rider/trainer was usually the cause of 99% of them.

I discovered how I allowed my attitude to be inside, so manifested my horse outside. In other words, when riding, my horse was the mirror to my soul, metaphorically speaking. I believe in more ways than one, this can be very true. Often in the practice ring at the show grounds I've often seen riders nitpicking their horses to death. Sometimes I've seen outright abuse happen. All because the rider didn't have the self discipline necessary to communicate or commiserate with their horse.

As an example, one beautiful show day morning I had saddled my pet prospect and was riding towards the practise ring, and met an above described rider. I smiled and said Good Morning! All I received in return was a sour ungrateful dissatisfied look! I don't believe for a moment it was a coincidence that particular rider, riding a particularly attractive, superior, classy well built black horse didn't do well all day long.........

Last but not least, The Sensible Horseman is about show horses, showmanship skills, horsemanship, equitation skills, grooming, and proper hoof care. This website also addresses the physiological problems competitive riders run seem to accumulate. Such as the nervous rider or showman, the too competitive showman and the talented should have had it won showman who would have one had they just left the horse alone to do it's job!....... I also attack the dirty uncomfortable subject of the horse beating showman. As a recovering horse beater myself I try to lend insight into why horsemen and horsewomen stoop to such a low level.

I sincerely hope you enjoy this blog.

Please note all postings well written and insightful are welcome on this blog. However I must stress well written and to the point!


Sincerely

James Brian Marshall