10/18/2026
“So if you’re feeling unmotivated or uninspired, I want you to know, it happens to all of us, and I urge you to have the self discipline to start showing up, and keep showing up, even when it’s not very much fun at first, and get the ball rolling.
The passion is still there, I promise. ❤️”
KEEP SHOWING UP
For the first time in years, I’m taking time off from client horses to dedicate to my own horses and horsemanship.
We’re about 8 weeks in.
I had a couple weeks where I still had one horse in, or the four Fell ponies, but I was still making sure I got my horses worked for at least 15 minutes a day, and now we’re spending full sessions together as we advance.
I haven’t dedicated this much time to my own horses since I was a kid.
I was literally only spending 20 sessions a year with my gelding, meaning he was kind of ‘evergreen,’ with about 90 rides total on him.
Something has shifted…
And not because every session was perfect.
There were days where I just didn’t want to show up at all, there were days where we didn’t have great sessions.
Everyone started out fidgety tied, a little herd bound or distracted, and with my gelding, he’s very sensitive and easily overstimulated, so there were days where I didn’t feel like I had the emotional reserves to match his intensity.
Mostly, we just didn’t really have a plan of what we wanted to work on, and I had a couple days where I got frustrated or just super discouraged at where we were having to start.
For instance, with my son’s mare, realizing we were going to have to start from scratch on her leads since she’s lost condition.
But then, gradually, we started feeling the positive inertia, the momentum…
We started feeling our way into what we needed to work on, and I started really looking forward to our sessions.
I always look forward to spending time with my horses, but having a plan and being excited about progressing is completely different.
I used to make excuses not to go have a session, and now I’m waking up excited, and finishing sessions excited about how everything can transfer to the next one.
I’ve always had a pretty obsessive personality, a lot of drive, and I’m back to spending a lot of my spare time reading and researching and preparing myself for my next sessions, which is my normal.
The last few weeks, I’ve filmed every ride with my own horses, re-watched them, and made notes for changes for my next ride.
I haven’t shared much. I’m being very protective and possessive over my own horsemanship.
I’m feeling some pretty cool things in my horsemanship, which I always get excited to share.
But more importantly, my horses are changing.
They always enjoy spending time with me, but now, it’s like they can’t get enough of me.
Just the look on their faces when they greet me in the mornings, following me around while I’m p**p picking, wanting to hang out with me, they are really feeling the benefit of our time together.
I’ve had some pretty tough sessions with them getting our cardio in and working on some really difficult things in my own body, and occasionally having some misunderstandings between us, where I wish I would have gone a different route.
With my mare, I’ve even gone back and re-saddled her to ride an extra 10 minutes because I wasn’t happy with where we left off. (I finally had to concede that she needed to work on her leads HER way, NOT my way.)
But when I pull the bridle, they just want to hang out, and the more difficult the work is, the more they seem to appreciate me.
It’s like they can feel that I’m working just as hard, and putting in just as much effort, if not more, than they are.
And the work we’re putting in isn’t for me, it’s for them. To feel as physically and emotionally balanced as they can.
There’s a deep, meditative, calm peace between us as we work.
This was a really rough year, and I definitely got burned out.
Some of that is just needing a break- you need that in any career, but a lot of it was the extreme extended windy season we had in the spring, and the drought and heat of the summer.
 
So if you’re feeling unmotivated or uninspired, I want you to know, it happens to all of us, and I urge you to have the self discipline to start showing up, and keep showing up, even when it’s not very much fun at first, and get the ball rolling.
The passion is still there, I promise. ❤️
