All riders know WHAT they do.

A number of riders know HOW they do it.

Fewer riders know WHY they do what they do.

Why does an exercise like shoulder-in exists? What is the purpose of this exercise? What is the cause of this exercise? Do you belief in this exercise?

Most riders communicate with their horse from the outside in, from the clearest thing (what) to the fuzziest thing (why).

But the inspired riders all act and communicate with the horse from the inside out and they start with WHY*.

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Today it’s Blue Monday, the most depressing day of the year, according to researchers.

The third Monday of January has been awarded with this cheerless title due to a combination post-Christmas blues, credit card bills on the doormat, failure of New Year’s resolutions and – in Europe – cold dark nights and awful weather.

The result: feeling down, being inactive and the tendency to give up totally.

Here are 9 things you might like to think and do to stick to your goal, beat Blue Monday and to beat winter blues this week

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When you experience problems with your horse, do’nt quit, never give up. There’s no such thing as “having a problem with your horse”, just breakthroughs waiting for YOU to make them happen.

On the picture you see my horse Maestro when he was young and having problems with ME! I was his biggest problem (and fortunately I also became his solution ).

Thanks to the ‘problems’ I gained an immense amount of knowledge and experience in the fields of natural asymmetry and straightness training.

So sometimes the ‘bad’ things that happen in our lives put us directly on the path to the ‘best’ things that will ever happen to us.

You don’t always get what you want, but what you need. Maestro was my challenge, my opportunity to learn and to grow. And I am very grateful to that!

So never give up and never quit, because your ‘problem’ can be an unbelievable gift in disguise!

Here are some tips you might like to consider if you would like to be the best rider you can be in 2013:

1. Decide what you want and decide your goal

Before you start training and riding your horse it is important that you have a defined goal. Follow your heart. Life’s to too short to spend it doing something with your horse you don’t love. So what’s your passion, what are your goals and dreams? What would you like to reach within 4 weeks, within 4 months, within 4 years? If you absolutely knew you couldn’t fail, what would you do together with your horse? Write it down, and every day make a small step towards that goal.

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These are also great thoughts about age and seniority:

• Age is whatever you think it is. You are as old as you think you are. ~ Muhammed Ali

• I will never be an old man. To me, old age is always 15 years older than I am. ~ Francis Bacon

• The man who is too old to learn was probably always too old to learn. ~ Henry S. Haskins
  

• Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty. Anyone who keeps learning stays young. The greatest thing in life is to keep your mind young. ~ Henry Ford

• Nobody grows old merely by living a number of years. We grow old by deserting our ideals. Years may wrinkle the skin, but to give up enthusiasm wrinkles the soul. ~ Samuel Ullman

• Many old rider was honest enough to admit that he didn’t become a fine and sensitive rider until he had lost most of his youthful physical strength. Since then he was able to get everything done with his horses in a quiet, confident way, what he previously thought only could be achieved through dogged struggle. ~ Gustav SteinBrecht

• If you could not add years to your life, add life to your years. ~ Unknown