#HORSETRAININGTALK

[passionatewayhorsemanshipllc]

GOBSTOPPER

It would not be at all unusual for someone to mention that they believed me to be a patient person with horses. “I can’t believe how patient you are, I would get so frustrated.” Although, this is an absolute complement I don’t see the situations quite the same way.

I equate training horses like sucking on a Gobstopper. (I hope I can speak of the candy without any trademark infringement concerns) The fun candy starts off one color and over time changes into many different colors before reaching the desired sweet tart center.

Now, how in the world is that a training analogy?

Let’s start with the untouched Gobstopper. It is one of many in a package, much like one horse out of a herd. It has layers to it, that reveal themselves with work. There is a guaranteed reward in the center, or at the end.

The first color is the HORSE.

The sweet tart center is the reward or desired response to a training lesson.

The colors revealed and exposed, while you work towards the center, are the layers of learning and understanding. You have to get through the colorful layers to get to the sweet tart, some you like and some not so much, but you know it's there. You know you're going to get to it.

So, that's why I equate training a horse with sucking on a gobstopper. I appreciate being told that I have mentionable patience, but I truly don't consider that patience... I consider that KNOWING.

I know that I will get to the center with consistent effort. I know that the horse might not understand what it is that I’m introducing to them, at first. They might have to reveal the layers, or even shed the layers, that stand in their way to the right response.

I know that I have to rely on the consistency of my effort, in the case of the gobstopper, I have to keep sucking on it consistently in order to get through to the next color.

If I were to stop the process, like remove the Gobstopper from my mouth, I will have gotten to "where I got", and nothing more will come of it. I could revisit the task, but as with horses, I would need to get the juices flowing again before progress can resume.

I equate taking the candy out of your mouth as either quitting too soon or changing the lesson all together.

It's not patience as much as it's a KNOWING. It's knowing they're going to get it, like knowing that you're going to get to sweet tart center of a gobstopper.

I guess when you think about it, maybe it is patience. I mean, you could eat a gobstopper and you just want to bite it, but instead you choose to go through all the layers.

Maybe it IS patience, but it's a different type of patience... it's a patience of complete enjoyment.