Do Lil' Bit Every Day

Where is spring!  I was so tired of the snow that I changed all my towels to spring towels.

If you are fortunate enough to have access to an indoor arena then I'm sure you are getting your horse(s) ready for the current show or riding season.

The general gist of my article today is the principle of doing a little bit every day to achieve your goal. A little bit over a long period of time will produce great results and yet the day-to-day effort is little in comparison. It just takes developing a new little habit.

Riding our horses a little bit everyday over the wintertime will get our horses fit and ready for the show season come spring. 

As humans, trying to make a big change to our daily routine can be stressful and a lot of the times we don't make the change because of that. Try getting your horse all fitted up and ready to show a month before the first show. Talk about stress? Even a well broke horse needs to be fitted up slowly to be done properly.

What if, what if the daily change could be quite small but it adds up over time to where we want to go.


I'd like to give a couple of examples.

Wintertime Schooling

One good thing that I now enjoy in winter time is taking art lessons. I no longer have an easy access to an indoor arena to ride and I've always had an interest in art.

Horse Eye Study

So I've been taking art lessons online all winter. And my goal is to be able to paint and draw horses better. Surprised? LOL

I work on my horse art every day doing what they call "studies". In this photo you can see that I am working on a horse's eye study.  (It is not finished for demonstration purposes.) I work on this every day for a few hours. After that, my eyes from intense focusing will get tired.

But each day I make more progress and it only takes a few hours every day. And after 3 days I have a beautiful finished piece.

That's what I mean. Work on something a little bit every day and you get a finished piece in the end.

Training a Yearling

Anyone who reads my articles knows that my mare had a foal last April. Well SusieQ (SusieQ Tinseltown) will be a yearling in a month.

Using the same principle of doing a little bit every day on this filly has given this horse many skills already.  I don't even think about it. I'm in the habit of teaching her something every day if I can.

This filly knows how to load onto a trailer, will stand tied, allows her feet to be picked up, can be haltered and lead anywhere and has been subjected a lot of different noises and situations. She can be brushed and blanketed. And you can see by this photo that I was trying the saddle pad on for size! She doesn't care. Every day I'm subjecting her to new things.

As you can tell I am not a believer in not handling them until they are 2. I believe in the foal imprinting method by Dr. Miller. And I believe in training the young horse all throughout their weanling and yearlings years. I believe the horse will benefit from knowing how to be around humans and prepare them for their life as a show horse.

A little bit everyday can make a difference!


Putting My Spin on A Little Training Every Day
Reinersue
@KISS Reiners