Expectations

Expectation is a word that can ruin a lot between a horse and a person.

Don't go confusing expectation and hope either, the two are very different. Hope has a sort of positive with it that even when it goes wrong or just not as you would have liked, you can swallow back that lump of disappointment and move on. You might have lost a little sparkle but what's underneath is unchanged.

When expectation doesn't get met there's blame, anger. It is suddenly rooted in fault.

Maybe the horse is something you've only ever seen as a shiny penny and when it gets some mud on it's face you see it as a personal letdown. Why would my horse buck me off? When it might not have had anything to do with you in the first place. Maybe the horse just had a bad day.

And that's when good horses get ruined. I've seen it at events. Everyone has. The horse getting wailed on after the fact, long after the mistake was made. Rider fault or horse fault at that point doesn't seem to matter. There was expectation and when it wasn't met there was blame and anger.

Expectation isn't all bad, it has its place in the world. We should expect certain things like a horse that has a sound mind, a horse that respects people. Without some sort of expectations in our lives we'd likely all be doormats and have unfueled dreams.

The key is where to place your expectations and where to place your hopes.

Perhaps the best thing to do is try to be the person that sees it for what it is right when it is without the burden of what it has to give you in return. You do that, you manage to live that daily with a Thoroughbred, and they'll give you the very air in their lungs. Go into just one interaction with a horse without expectation and see for yourself.

Star and I the day she was foaled, a few months after we got her mother off a slaughter truck

 “People are often unreasonable and self-centered. Forgive them anyway. If you are kind, people may accuse you of ulterior motives. Be kind anyway. If you are honest, people may cheat you. Be honest anyway. If you find happiness, people may be jealous. Be happy anyway. The good you do today may be forgotten tomorrow. Do good anyway. Give the world the best you have and it may never be enough. Give your best anyway. For you see, in the end, it is between you and God. It was never between you and them anyway.”  Mother Teresa