Patience Please.

How would it be if we had a God with little to no patience?

Think of the silly things we do... think... if you were God... how many times would you like to smack a few people (or yourself) alongside of the head to wake them up (OK... well that sounds harsh... but lets just be honest). Really, just ponder for a moment the amount of patience God must have with each of us.

For getting ahead of Him,

for not moving when He says to move,

for not paying attention to Him,

for being lazy or stubborn when He cues us to go in another direction,

for being scared and not trusting that He has everything under control.

You see, a good trainer needs the same qualities as God, at least they need to aspire to have them. And patience is one of the best qualities a trainer can have. In order to get something through to a horse, it often takes time. Sadly, many trainers just "don't have the time" or are not willing to find it. And that's when things get physical. That's when things get frustrating and could look ugly on either end. The trainer can hurt the horse out of frustration or the horse can hurt the trainer out of anger, frustration, or often just plain ol' confusion.

Horses are a lot like people... they can do all the same frustrating things as listed above... if we treat them as God treats us we're gonna get a lot farther with them. God is the best model a trainer can ever have. God does discipline us to an extent... and we should also do so with our horses. But with time and repetition and effectiveness. Most times the impatience we have with a horse comes more from inside of US than it does from the horse. Also we are so culturally driven to make progress, and as we well know... that's not as much the case with the horse. We need to work on their time frame when possible. God certainly does that for us, why should we not reflect that in return and not only with horses, but with the people we love!