Many peoples training philosophy is influenced heavily by their life views. You can tell a lot about a person and their political and religious leanings by how they describe training interactions, or about their struggles and experiences in life by how they talk about obedience, fear, leadership, and more. Most people can’t help but blanket their life views on those around them, and seeing the world through the lens that they’ve developed in.
But what happens if your training transforms your life views?
There are moments, I look at as portals of opportunity, that open up so wide, so strongly, they wallop you out of your parameters, like hurricane force winds that splinter your plywood board walls, spreading refuse too far and wide to be retrieved.
What will you do then? You have a choice. Change who you are and walk the path opened for you, down the dusty trail with tree branches insulating you on each side. Or go back to your small, comfortable world.
The world, the horse, people- they are too large, too infinite to be confined to boxed up views. When these portals open, will you have the courage to step onto that dusty road? Or will you turn back, to the safety of your peers, your family and friends, to fit back into the box created for you?
A Matter of Balance 