Saturday, December 3, 2011

Intentions vs Expectations

Kate over at www.ayearwithhorses.blogspot.com made an incredibly profound comment on my last blog about having intentions when we work with our horses, instead of expectations.  Boy howdy if that ain't the truth.  For the last three days I have gone out to the barn and left my expectations at the door.  Sure, I've had intentions.  I intend to ride the pony.  I intend to find good things in every day with her.  I intend to work on our forward.  I intend to sit back and tall and not let my legs creep up and forward.  Armed with these intentions, I move purposely into my time at the barn.  Having let go of any expectations for December, I'm finding that my time at the barn gets better in leaps and bounds.  My ride today was good and forward and I rode in a very busy arena with a lot going on.  The barn put Christmas lights up and Tess wasn't sure what she thought of those, but she got over it quickly and without much ado.

So thank you, Kate, for helping me define the difference between having an intention of doing something and an expectation of something getting done.  Intentions are what get my lazy, chickenshit ass to the barn and expectations are what drive me to drink.  I'm thinking letting go of expectations is the best gift I could give myself.  So Merry Christmas to me.

2 comments:

  1. Glad it help you - it works for me (mostly) . . .

    ReplyDelete
  2. I try never to have great expectations whenever I plan a ride. Sure I go with a plan of what I want to accomplish but sometimes I think one thing and the horse thinks another. It's just been easier for me to ride and work with the horse I have. So instead of expectations I steer toward accomplishing a small goal for the day and always end on a good note for both of us.

    ReplyDelete