Understanding

Understanding is a relation between the knower and an object of understanding

 When I met and started dating Stacy in the mid 90’s I was an assistant trainer to some great horse trainers. I was trying to understand how to train horses to perform in reining because I wanted to become a reining trainer. To me it was important to be able to get a horse to perform reining maneuvers well so I wanted to understand how to do that. I didn’t realize at the time that what I was learning or understanding was how a horse worked mechanically or physically. I was able to get them to spin, slide, change leads etc. but they weren’t as confident as I wanted them to be mentally or emotionally. I was only understanding them physically. Looking back I can see how much I didn’t trust my horses and with good reason. The horses could see that I was only concerned with one thing, what they were physically capable of doing. Horses like people know what the intentions of others are and just like us it matters to them who cares about their well being. I would watch Stacy ride and train and there was something different about her relationship with her horses, there was a trust between them that I didn’t understand. With the trust and understanding she had with her horses she was able to accomplish great things and that took us down a new path in life and with our business. We started getting invited to expos, clinics and those types of events. This was a very different part of the horse industry, a part of it that I really didn’t know existed. I had never heard of most of these people that were teaching about horsemanship. Going to these events was eye opening to me to say the least. I enjoyed hearing Stacy speak at demonstrations about how she was training the horses. She goes into so much detail explaining how important it is to pay attention to the horses expressions and body language so you can understand what they are going through. I started to understand that this was what is missing with my horses and my program. Making new friends and learning about the mental or emotional part of the horse changed everything for me, I realized that I didn’t really want to be a horse trainer I wanted to become a horseman. I was gaining understanding. I now realize that understanding is what I’m ultimately after in life. Understanding God, my wife, my family, people, horses, the list goes on and on. When you gain understanding you also gain confidence and that will help you in all that you do. It’s why I’m more interested in helping people who want to learn how to train their horses themselves, they want understanding. Without understanding how a horse thinks they won’t get very far even with a trained horse. Horses adapt to people. They’re not robots and we can’t make them into a robot no matter how hard we try. Remember horses adapt to people, they know what you know and they know what you don’t know. So go out there educate yourself, gain understanding and I promise you won’t regret it.

‘Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.’
Jeremiah 33:3 | NIV |

Whoever is patient has great understanding,
but one who is quick-tempered displays folly.
Proverbs 14:29

As you do not know the path of the wind,
or how the body is formed in a mother’s womb,
so you cannot understand the work of God,
the Maker of all things.
Ecclesiastes 11:5 | NIV |