Respect

How many of us have gone into a shop where the cashier has been on their phone or talking to a friend about the weekend they just had or are going to have? They barely if at all look at us to take our money, grunt the direction the item we want is in or sometimes appear not even notice we exist. When I get this kind of service one of two things happen, not being shy I most often tell them where I am and get the service I want, or I never go back if its not somewhere I frequently visit. Its maybe that I am just grumpy but I don’t expect poor service and lack of respect when I am passing over my cash, I don’t suppose I am alone in this thought, but maybe I am?

It appears to have become acceptable to sit when teaching, smoke, text and receive calls or worse still just chat to those outside the arena, sadly and all too often it is all or many of the above sins simultaneously. How did this become acceptable and when? It makes me cross enough when someone I am chatting too answers the mobile, it’s a form of interruption and it is to me just plain RUDE, this kind of practice while teaching is DISRESPECTFUL. I accept that people stopped respecting the values of hard work, patience and time, throwing on the horse; every new pulley and winch to replace effort, and talent. I have all too often seen how perfectly good horses and poor riders get divided when the rider fails to accept their own lack of talent and then sells the horse only to replace it with another when things don’t go right.  I think that it is time for us to go back and start re-inserting the respect in horsemanship.

When I teach and when I ride; the time is sacred really sacred, the ‘beings’ in that relationship at that time are all that matter and nothing else. My full attention and passion are in those moments I cant sit down in the corner taking care of my own needs, the lesson is something special for the rider, they have asked me for something they think I can give them, I am not just going through the motions I am right in the moment, fully present for them. When I ride, even when I hack ,my phone is only a tool for emergencies, I don’t smoke or drink or eat when riding, it is work time, horse time.  If you cant be fully present then do something else! To all those lead butted instructors with your phone in one hand and tea in the other, do everyone a favour and go home. To all you riders who accept this kind of instruction take some control, state your case and demand the instructor’s full attention the full duration of your lesson! Finally not that horses read, but to all those horses unfortunate enough to be caught up in those relationships, I am truly sorry for their lack of respect shown to you.

Horses are beautiful, graceful and proud animals, not machines they are not deserving of our short cut instant gratification mindset, they deserve time and patience, gadgets are the bling of the uneducated and the lazy they indicate an impatient and ill advised horse owner. Xenophon pointed out more than 2000 yrs ago how’ anything forced or misunderstood can never be beautiful’ I couldn’t have been any more eloquent myself, if only more people stopped playing ‘horse tag’ quit waving the stones and magnets, filling the feeds with ‘magic herbs’ and started putting in the work and acquiring the skills and patience needed to care for our horses then I think we could stop inviting in the circus and the travelling salesman to cure our problems and get on with the business of horsemanship.

Author: Jay Pressler