We use Biblical Principles to craft our Training Techniques.
WAIT….WHAT? Yep. You heard us right. Here’s the Biblical Principals we’ve morphed our training program around:
HEART: Our hearts matter. If we step out the door angry, our horses know we are angry long before we’ve reached the pasture gate.
“…for out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks.” (Matthew 12: 34).
Jesus taught that the heart is the root of all behaviors–because of this, we build relationship by expecting their heart (intention) to get right. Their attention and feet will follow. Heart matters–a partnership where your horse puts their heart into their effort can, quite literally, save your life. (Remind us to share a story or two about our Red Horse.)
But for now, three things last: trust, hope, love; and the greatest of these is love. -1 Corinthians 13:13
GROW: Life is filled with pressure, and while we cannot guarantee there will never be bobbles, we CAN guarantee that there will be pressure. So, we practice for it! Diamonds come from coal under pressure…and the Bible tells us that olives must go into the press to come out treasured oil, and that precious metals go through the Refiners’ Fire to burn away impurities. These all require incredible pressure for optimal development. We must exercise self discipline through our training, but the horse must also learn to regulate and control its’ reactions, too. A lack of self discipline equates a lack of confidence.
PATIENCE: With training, we have found that if you take the time it takes, ultimately, it will take less time.
“Always be humble, gentle, and patient, bearing with one another in love.” -Ephesians 4:2
Humility, gentleness, and patience build trust, and trust builds hope, and hope builds relationship. Without patience, you do NOT have relationship!
LOVE: We train because we love to train. When we show love, it is felt. Horses are extremely intuitive animals and understand body language, tone, and intention substantially better than their human partners. In Matthew 22:39, Jesus commanded “You are to love your neighbor as yourself”, and we have found this applies to horses in training with incredible result. Both foundations and relationships can be broken, but we all know that isn’t ideal. We are confident in saying the only foundation AND relationship we want with our horses must be built, which is why we say…