Silence Speaks More

My friend Kelly Adams wrote this on his Facebook page today.  I wanted to share it on my blog as a reminder to myself that the word "horses" can be interchanged with "children" and "people".  If we are not clear ourselves on what we are asking for, how can we possibly expect someone else to understand us?

"When you work with horses and come across a block first look to yourself. Are you being clear about what you are asking for? Are you being patient and helping them to understand what you want? Are you being consistent with your training and asking for the same things the same way every time? Each time you start having problems with your horse please stop and ask yourself these simple questions. Then put yourself in your horse’s shoes. If you were the one doing the learning would you understand what is being asked of you? Is the horse truly capable of the action you want from them at this time? Did you miss a step in the lesson plan or do you need to go back and reinforce the previous lessons better? Always be consistent and build on what your horse has already learned. You must also keep in mind the end result you are working towards. Break it down into simple steps and teach each of those steps so that your horse understands completely before taking the next step. Remember when you were in school and how you felt when you were a step behind the class and didn’t understand. Frustration, fear, anger, confusion. Do any of these emotions sound familiar when you were in school or trying to learn something?"

Kelly Adams - Silence Speaks More