Patrick King Horsemanship & Dressage

12/17/2024

🏇🏼 DOWN TO THE WIRE: Do you know where that expression comes from? And what it means?

The term comes from horseracing, where it was the practice to stretch a wire across and above the track at the finish line. Races would often be so close that the winner would be decided in the final moments, just as they crossed the wire. It was extended to figurative use about 1900, to mean "down to the last minute" or "to the very end".

For example....

🎁 It's getting "down to the wire" on Christmas gifting ideas - this year, you can give the gift of education with giftable membership, courses, and virtual lessons!

Check out all the details at academyforclassicalhorsemanship.com/2024holidaysales

12/15/2024

Yesterday's post struck quite a chord with many, and the resulting post comments and private messages have compelled me to share this:

𝟑 𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐍𝐆𝐒 𝐘𝐎𝐔 𝐍𝐄𝐄𝐃 𝐓𝐎 𝐇𝐄𝐀𝐑

𝒀𝑶𝑼𝑹 𝑮𝑶𝑨𝑳𝑺 𝑴𝑨𝑻𝑻𝑬𝑹 -
No matter who or where you are. No matter what breed or discipline you choose. Your learning and understanding is important, and no one should be talking down to you or making you feel like less as a student.

𝒀𝑶𝑼𝑹 𝑯𝑶𝑹𝑺𝑬 𝑴𝑨𝑻𝑻𝑬𝑹𝑺 -
Age? Breed? Discipline? Experience level? That doesn’t matter as much as the individual person that your horse is. Your horse’s understanding of the work, and acceptance of the aids is important, as well as how they feel about themselves when they’re with you.

𝒀𝑶𝑼𝑹 𝑻𝑹𝑰𝑩𝑬 𝑰𝑺 𝑾𝑨𝑰𝑻𝑰𝑵𝑮 -
In the Academy for Classical Horsemanship, the MAIN FOCUS is on your mindset, your understanding and your ability to share that with your horse in a way that ensures that your horse is a confident and active participant in the learning process.

A common comment from members in the Academy is something like "I finally feel like I have found people like me, and that understand me, when all this time I've felt alone on this journey."

Join us today by visiting JoinAcademyforClassicalHorsemanship.com

Promoting and sharing Classical Principles for Modern Riders

12/14/2024

A message for horse trainers, instructors, coaches, and other equine professionals that may not have received the memo when signing up for this job...

(I expect some backlash from this, and will prepare to pass out tissues to anyone that needs one).

Stop complaining about how hard it is to get ahead, make a living, or please your clients. (Especially in public posts - because your complaints certainly don't attract new clients!)

I hear it so much from trainers and other equine professionals.... "The clients don't understand." "Students just aren't committed." "Nobody wants to spend the money or take the time to "do it right." "There's just too much to do." "The only way to make it, get ahead, or be noticed is to... (insert whatever you want here to make it sound like anyone that isn't complaining must be doing something crooked or have an unfair advantage)."

Do you know what other business is hard like this? All of them. That's why most people are employees, not entrepreneurs. Because owning a business is challenging. Owning a service based business (which is what being a horse trainer, coach, clinician is... providing a service as your means of business) means you are the "chief cook and bottle washer" so if something isn't working, it's on you.

What are your clients buying when they come to you? Your time. The value they see that you provide them. The results they feel you help them to achieve.

They aren't buying your past years of hard work, or the blood, sweat, and tears you invested in your education. They're buying the results you can help them achieve. Sure, your past work and education was part of that, as it makes up the experience that you bring to the table and it enhances your CV... but "the wake doesn't drive the boat." As much as what you have done in the past is certainly important, as it has hopefully given you a suitable skill set and philosophy, what you are doing this moment for your clients is what is important to them right now.

"The clients don't understand"... maybe you aren't as good of a communicator as you think you are.

"Students just aren't committed"... To what? Your goals? This isn't about you. Your business is serving them and helping them with what they are wanting and willing to do with their horses.

"Nobody wants to spend the money or take the time to "do it right."... Maybe you aren't in the right business or aiming for the right client base if this is your attitude. Or maybe your skill set doesn't help you to get the results you are hoping for in a timely manner... or maybe you aren't properly expressing the benchmarks being made towards the goal, so all the client sees is that you haven't attained "it" yet.

"There's just too much to do"... says the owner of every service based business anywhere. Either make the time to do what needs done or hire out some of it. If your operating budget doesn't allow you to hire it out, then it's on you to either do it or drop it off your list. Period. "If it's meant to be, it's up to me."

"The only way to make it, get ahead, or be noticed is to"... these 'only way to make it' complaints are always poor excuses for a lack of skill. Either in marketing, time management, people management, cash flow management, communication, horsemanship.... the list goes on. But it is always rooted in a skill that is missing somewhere in the equation on the side of the complainer.

What have you done lately to improve your skills? Your training skills? Your teaching skills? Your management skills? Your communication skills? Your business skills?

Yes. Business is challenging. Any business. Again, this is why most people are employees, rather than entrepreneurs. Working with and for the public can be challenging.

And to those individuals that "want to work with horses because I don't like to deal with people".... a ranch hand position on a large property somewhere desolate is much better suited for you than being a horse trainer. Because every training horse you work with will be owned by a person that you are working for. More is more. You want more training horses? You work with more people.

Phew... I didn't mean for this to become such a long and harsh rant - but it's a topic that is near and dear to me, and just the complaining is like fingernails on a chalkboard to me.

Having a business of helping people and horses is an HONOR.

An ABSOLUTE PRIVILEGE.

And I just don't think the complainers understand how lucky they really are to be doing this.

Complaining is easy. Improving takes work.

Here's a tissue if you need one. 🤧

12/13/2024

Today in the US, it is 𝐍𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐃𝐚𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐇𝐨𝐫𝐬𝐞!

Celebrate your horse with us, wherever you are in the world, by sharing a photo of your horse in the comments below!

12/12/2024

All this justification of "it's hard for the trainers because of the pressure" or "I'm an amateur without enough time to do it differently"... it's not just in the hunters. Whether it's drugging horses, rubbing raw with spurs, causing blue tongues with the noseband and rein tension... It seems to be in all disciplines in one form or another.

And it is abuse. It is not horsemanship. It is bu****it. Plain and simple. And ANY means of justification is delusion.

https://www.theplaidhorse.com/2024/12/11/a-plea-to-be-your-horses-advocate-beyond-usefs-substance-ban-proposal/?fbclid=IwY2xjawHHzhlleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHWs680I9Z6kecFHNexHu0viAm3mEuPSdjZNKMRnK1QwBoQQwkg70kkQemw_aem_VBiEzrRuGwTYk4w9ymbVPg

By SUSAN LEGGE I’ve been a hunter rider for over forty years and a hunter judge and a steward for about twenty-five. I sometimes joke that I’ve been in this business so long I’m on my second go round for most trends–I mean exactly how many times can rust breeches come back in style? The […...

12/10/2024

What qualities do YOU look for in a teacher, instructor, or coach?

Let us know in the comments below.

________________________________________
☕ Tomorrow morning's 𝐂𝐎𝐅𝐅𝐄𝐄 𝐂𝐎𝐍𝐕𝐄𝐑𝐒𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍 is happening at 8:30am (eastern US)!

In this conversation, we're talking about what YOU look for when you are choosing a teacher, a coach, a clinic, or an online course or membership.

Are you interested in joining us for this chat?

Inside the 𝐴𝑐𝑎𝑑𝑒𝑚𝑦 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝐶𝑙𝑎𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑙 𝐻𝑜𝑟𝑠𝑒𝑚𝑎𝑛𝑠ℎ𝑖𝑝 members community, we have weekly Meetup video calls where members and I talk about a different topic each week... just like hanging out with your friends and chatting over a nice cup of coffee or tea!

(We refer to these as our Coffee Conversations, and these are in addition to our monthly themed lectures and Q&As).

Replays of these chats are available for members inside the Academy.

If you want to take part in these chats, you need to be a member. Check out academyforclassicalhorsemanship.com/join to get signed up and join us!

12/09/2024

𝐏𝐎𝐋𝐋 𝐑𝐄𝐋𝐄𝐀𝐒𝐄 I can't stress enough to everyone that will read this - with the way that we are approaching the idea of releasing the horse's poll, it is NEVER about the horse saying "I don't want to"... it is ONLY ever "I feel like I can, or I feel like I can't." It is NEVER " my horse doesn't like that" ... it is MOST OFTEN "my horse feels the need to protect that."

When we misread the situation and the horse's responses, deciding to think of it as resistance or "my horse doesn't like that" will make our approach one of "doing" instead of "being."

Maybe it might be best to think of the poll as a sensitive being, separate from the horse. That POLL that lives with your horse is a highly sensitive person that is the gatekeeper to the rest of the body that your horse lives in. And if we push on the request to get in past the poll, that only makes the poll more defensive. That pesky poll needs subtle small talk to open the conversation. And when we engage in the conversation, we need to talk around this idea of getting into the rest of the body... we need to be subtle about engaging the poll in a way that encourages the poll to INVITE us into the body. Being invited is a blessing. Trying to barge through just bars the door and proves to the poll and the horse that we were insincere all along and plotting to "make" instead of "help.

This reminds me a bit of the story of the Princess and the Pea, where the prince has to identify which of several mattresses has a pea hidden inside it... it's a test of perception and sensitivity. We can only "marry the princess" when we've been sensitive enough to identify where the pea is hidden.

Maybe this is a silly or a little "woo-woo" way to think about it, but might be helpful.

The way that we do everything with our horse will affect this... because the poll is one of the most subconsciously protected areas of the horse's body. So long as everything we do is about producing relaxation first, then a response, we are working in congruence with the ask for the poll release.

12/08/2024

🐎 What have you and your horses been up to this weekend?

12/06/2024

😃 OH BOY! I finally got sorted out the challenges I was having with the live video here on my page, and am excited that I can get back to doing live conversations, Q&As, and ... wait for it ... PODCAST INTERVIEWS! So many of you have been asking and patiently waiting for new podcast interviews, and I am SO EXCITED to be able to get back to doing these!

❓ Who would you like to see me chat with in a podcast? What would you like to see/hear talked about?

12/05/2024

𝑺𝑶 𝑴𝑨𝑵𝒀 𝑯𝑨𝑽𝑬 𝑨𝑺𝑲𝑬𝑫 (𝑌𝐸𝑆, 𝐼 𝑑𝑜 𝑟𝑢𝑛 𝑚𝑦 𝑜𝑤𝑛 𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑖 𝑐𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑠𝑒𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑜𝑛𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑒 𝑚𝑒𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟𝑠ℎ𝑖𝑝 𝐴𝑐𝑎𝑑𝑒𝑚𝑦) BUT lots of folks ask throughout the year when access to my ORIGINAL "Developing Balance In Hand" Course will be available again... well, HorseClass has opened the doors again, and has it available at a great price!

💥 PLUS, they've got ALL THE OTHER COURSES open, too!

Take a look!!

Learn and Ride with Confidence Holiday Sale! Want to Gift a Course? Fill out the form below and we will virtually wrap up your course and send it on it’s way via a horse drawn carriage through the internet to your recipient!

12/04/2024

Happy National Cookie Day! (What a great idea! Lol)

What is your horse's favorite cookie or treat?

12/03/2024

Well, there's something to think about...

Tension is who you think you should be. Relaxation is who you are.

12/01/2024

Today in our Academy community, we had a "Coffee Conversation" and talked about books we were currently reading - it was a super fun chat!

One of the things that came up was the Books & Bourbon Equestrian Book Club. I wanted to share this information here, also. They're going to kick off membership for 2025 starting on December 12.

Are you a member? Here's the link to learn more:

After exciting seasons in 2023 and 2024, Jillian Kreinbring & Suzanne Liscouski are teaming up again to host year three of an integrative equestrian book club that will guide this private group through a quintessential horsemanship journey. Registration Begins December 12th, 2024

11/30/2024

In this annual flood of Black Friday sales, what have you purchased for your horse?

11/29/2024

I suppose it's that Black Friday time when everyone is talking about sales and specials... well, here's a few little gems that I put together for giving the gift of education this holiday season...

Give the gift of Education this Holiday Season

11/28/2024

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone.

Share something in the comments that you are grateful for.

💙 I am grateful for all of you who follow and engage with this content. You inspire me to continuously grow and share more. Thank you for being here.

11/27/2024

Can you guess what sort of torture I put myself through during my first ride today?

💡 What do you do to work on your equitation when there's no one watching to point out the little details?