StableManners, LLC

07/07/2025

07/07/2025

Theory over tricks.

“Understand. Don’t memorize. Learn principles, not formulas.” — R. Feynman

This quote from Nobel Prize-winning physicist Richard Feynman captures the essence of real learning. Too often, education becomes a process of rote memorization—cramming formulas and facts to pass tests—without truly grasping the underlying concepts. But Feynman believed that true understanding comes from digging into the “why,” not just the “how.”

When you memorize a formula, you can use it in one context. When you understand the principle behind it, you can apply it anywhere. That’s the difference between being a parrot and being a thinker. Feynman emphasized curiosity, simplicity, and the power of asking questions. He encouraged students to break down complex ideas into simple parts and explain them as if teaching someone else—a method now known as the Feynman Technique.

This mindset doesn’t just apply to physics. It applies to everything—math, art, philosophy, and even life itself. Learning the root ideas behind actions and systems makes you adaptable and creative, not just a follower of instructions. In a world flooded with information, understanding remains the true power.

So, next time you’re faced with a tough concept—don’t reach for a cheat sheet. Ask why. Dig deeper. That’s where real knowledge lives.

07/06/2025

Please share with your horsey friends!

07/06/2025

The world doesn’t need more public figures in love with the idea of themselves. It desperately needs horse men and women who are in love with the idea of a better world for horses. The desperate clawing to uphold image steals from the horse, the world, and the self.

07/05/2025

It all starts on the ground.

A pushy horse can’t be straight and a crooked horse can’t be supple.

If you really value balance, you will value their ground manners to a greater degree than most

07/04/2025

Discipline in the art of riding -

I spent much of my time growing up learning to ride adhering to a code, and most of it was a dress code.

Boots must be polished, tack is always presented for a lesson show ready.

I found most of this tedious, though I understand the point - the lesson is to teach the rider discipline and care. I felt this was emphasized far more in riding lessons than lessons in horsemanship, flexiblity, good husbandry, and other matters of greater importance.

Personally, I take discipline to another meaning.
Discipline in riding to me doesn't mean polished boots, though taking care of your equipment does show discipline and is important.

Discipline for me as a student means:

-showing up on time and committing my mindset to learning. Not talking through the whole lesson to tell stories or waste my instructor's time

-committing to long term lessons and practicing so that I can actually get somewhere. Knowing that one lesson does not equal progress - the scales must be practiced again and again until they are proficient

-the discipline of always putting the horse first. Their balance above my goals, their needs above mine, supporting them before my own emotional needs, and never ever blaming the horse for my own shortcomings - not expecting the horse to conform to my attention span, my feelings, my personal desires. As a horse person, I am the steward, and my teacher expects this of me, and I discipline myself to uphold it.

I expect this kind of discipline from my students too - and the ones who will find joy in their results will be the ones who commit to disciplining their mindset, their actions, their body, and their awareness for the long term.

Polish your boots if you like - wear whatever clothes are comfortable to you and keep you safe. But I would much rather have a disciplined mind in a lesson than a perfectly turned out horse with a rider who has unfair expectations and expects the horse to give them whatever they ask for whenever they want it.

07/03/2025

“Don’t rush me. I’m teaching you patience disguised as progress.”

Breathe. Settle. Listen.
Sometimes, the slow path leads to the deepest bond. 🐴💫