09/02/2024
Horses In A Box
Human nature has evolved by our brain’s ability to put people, experiences, beliefs in boxes. It has been part of our survival to assess risk and assign a tag for our chances to be here tomorrow to be optimal.
What I see with a lot of different things, not just horses, is the overwhelming desire for people to put things they do not understand or have been conditioned to believe, in a box…a very tight, limited and confined box with no room for thinking outside said box.
When it comes to the horse world I have been in the rodeo world, show world, liberty world, trail world, woo woo world, english world, western world etc In short if you can do it on a horse chances are I’ve experienced it.
What I have come to notice is the humans desire to put the horse and rider in a box, but I do wonder why? I have felt this box bias many times in my horse career and I still don’t love it nor find it helpful.
We can be varied in our skill and passion of horseback riding and feel the curiosity peek for something different to do with our equine partner. As long as the respect for the horse is the same, why not try?
I believe regardless of atire or if we are sliding to a stop or gently downward transitioning to a halt, we have the beautiful opportunity to view a different way of being on horseback, as in life too.
When we try something unfamiliar it truly is what a full life is all about. Neuroscientists call this brain activity dendrites. It’s what happens in the brain when we stretch our neurons outside of our normal thinking. Like branches on a tree we can create new dendrites and our brain is healthier for it!
Taking those chances outside of our societal box boundaries. Finding the curiosity to try something totally new that is a challenge to learn. These are all opportunity’s to loose track of time and space while trying and challenging ourself to learn, all while creating new dendrites.
So today I urge you to step out of this box, whether on horseback or in your own Nikes and try that one thing that is so new and kinda scary the people who know you best will raise an eyebrow or two. Let those that talk stay in their smallness and chances are your living full may spark their own desire for new dendrites…..maybe.
Life is so much more than the dream of a music box, or any box really. It’s as grand as your curiosity will allow…. all you need is the desire to try!
“God gave us the gift of life; it is up to us to give ourselves the gift of living well”.— Voltai
“When I’m taking my last breath, I want to look at how I used up the best of myself. How much did I sweat, push, pull, rip, fall, hit, crash, explode? My dream is to be so well-used that in my last-half second, I just burst into dust” – Elizabeth Streb
Life itself is a privilege, but to live life to the fullest- well, that is a choice.— Andy Andrews
