12/14/2014- Well as the year comes to a close I sit down to do my website editing and necessary computer work, that I am very good at putting off, and I see how slack I have been about writing to you!! If you look the last update I wrote it was New Years Day of this year. How embarrassing. Now I know I share on Facebook and am 99.9% of the time teaching or riding or both, but I enjoy sharing thoughts and ideas to keep you licking and chewing! So stay tuned as I am writing articles and things for you in bulk while I have some time for such things so it is easier to share.
So maybe what I am saying is that we all have things that we know we should be doing. Sometimes we think we are doing them and don’t realize that in reality we aren’t. And when it comes to our horses, which are a living, breathing and thinking beings, there are many pieces of the puzzle that must be kept in place to keep their Foundation and Specialty training together. We also have a relationship with them that constantly needs care as all relationships do. It is very easy to lose sight of a piece or two or five as we get over focused on a task or piece that we want to improve or teach. Our Awareness gets out of alignment, we get tunnel vision and miss that we are dropping the ball elsewhere.
Well dang! There is that word again! Awareness. It is where Mastery starts. In case you forgot, the Stages of Mastery are: Awareness, Understanding, Doing, Reproducing and finally Teaching. By memorizing these stages and using this sequence, you can help keep yourself and your horse on track. It is very easy to lose site of what is important, where we are, what do we want, where have we come from and the list goes on. As we develop ourselves we need to start with our awareness and stretch it so that we can keep many “balls in the air” as we move forward.
So now that we have established how important Awareness is, in case you didn’t already know, which I know you did, how could we get better about it?? Well I spend a lot of time observing, remembering and comparing. Whether it is on a educational video, while playing with my horse on the ground, going to a clinic, watching video of myself play with my horse or video of someone competing or performing at a high level, I observe, commit it to memory and compare it with everything else I see.
As I have pushed myself over the last few years, to be better and better, these Stages of Mastery have helped me know where I am in the process of growing and developing. I know where I am and what I need to progress by checking myself against these steps in sequence. And Sequence is a HUGE piece of developing. Ambition, Patience, Principles and Sequence are the things you need to develop.
I’ve told you a story, I related it to horsemanship and to development. Here comes the pitch. We all need support along our journey and there are many skilled coaches and instructors out there. What I am offering the coming year is a camp called The Journey to Mastery Camp. My goal for this camp is to take you through these Stages of Mastery so that you can learn to be your own teacher. I want to do it in a way that you can achieve your goals, have a LOT of fun, make some progress and go home knowing how to move forward. We are going to put Principles to Purpose, the Purpose is getting you and your horse developed. By having a Purpose, your Principles will be tested and strengthened. The Principles are your Horsemanship, the habits and skills to have a successful partnership and relationship.
I have been getting after it at home, developing a lot of horses for the last few years. By having the Purpose of the horses having to improve, because people were paying me to turn out a product, my Horsemanship had to rise to the occasion. I had to have strong Principles to not sacrifice the relationship and keep it first. It was an amazing experience to be able to show case what we are doing here at The Ranch at the Road to The Summit competition with Wyatt. This next year I will be transitioning to more teaching and less riding so I can share what I have learned by focusing on Horse Development. Come play with us at The Journey to Mastery Camp. And if there isn’t one scheduled near you, lets schedule one!
Thanks for all of your support in what we do and I hope to see you sooner rather than later.
Jake