Don't Borrow Trouble

I've been writing this post in my head all week, so it was funny that Lauren, of She Moved to Texas, kind of blogged about the opposite side of the coin in her post, "What It's Like Being an Anxious Horse Owner." I am not an anxious horse owner myself, but only because I work my butt off to not be so.

Words I live by ...

I have a few years on Lauren. In fact, I probably have a few years on most bloggers. It's not like I am old per se, but I definitely don't fit the typical blogger demographic at 40 something. The older I get, the more I value the wisdom that comes with age. That's not to say that every old person has pearls of wisdom falling out of their mouths, but age does tend to bring a certain amount of erudition.

OMG, I am that old.

But I digress. One of the things that I have learned, especially when it comes to horses, is that worrying doesn't do any good. I call worry the what ifs? That's what worrying really is: What if this happens? What if that happens? The truth is, most of what we worry about never actually happens.

One of my favorite answers to the question, "What if I fall?" is "But what if you fly?!"

Controlling worry takes a lot of hard work and a bit of a support system. You can't just turn it off. If it were that easy, no one would need Zoloft or Zanax. For me, the solution is faith in a higher power. You can call it God, Love, the cosmos, whatever, but trusting in the blueprint of something greater than ourselves helps me to let go of the what ifs and trust that my path is being closely managed. With this mindset, I don't have to worry as I know my needs will be met.

Sounds a little out there …

Yeah, I hear you, but it helps me to let go of those debilitating what ifs like this last weak when Speedy was NQR in the hind end. After Sydney left, Speedy came up grade three lame at the trot after turn out. Instead of worrying about what to do and how long it was going to take him to heal up, I just changed my plans for the week to accommodate his level of alrightness. 

Instead of schooling the trot and canter lengthenings, we did a 30 minute trail ride every day working on connection and halts. We also worked on leg yields. You can get a lot done at the walk. Each day I tested his soundness by asking for a few trot steps as we walked along the dirt road that leads back to the barn.

Horrible selfie, but Speedy really wanted to be in the photo!

So here we are, Saturday morning, and I am 99.9% sure that I have a sound horse waiting for me at the barn. We did a lot of trotting around the neighborhood last night, and Speedy was rip-rearing to go. I guess my point is this: don't borrow trouble. Do what is in your power to do, and let the rest go.