Simple, Not Easy

Simple things are not always easy things. Rein aids become complicated with too much use of the fingers, wrists, elbows, shoulders, torso, mind. I wonder at times why I want to make it more complicated than it needs to be. Perhaps force of habit, do we not all believe at times that if it isn’t complicated it isn’t worth learning to perfect. That the simple tasks should come naturally.

I was once told that I take for granted the easy things because I do them so well, that I tend to skip over them and head for the more difficult tasks. Maybe that interpretation was correct at the time the statement was made. For now though, I think that I want to perfect the simple things and yet find them elusive at times. My mind wants to force old habits and beliefs into the equation, and yet when I let go of the mind, my body follows instinct and it works without resistance, interruption or difficulty.

Juggling the elements of bend, balance, posture and energy, at times becomes stressing. Which when where? And still it is just my mind I find wandering out of the act. I have been distracted with many other thoughts, and in my riding lately I’ve found it difficult to focus on what is in front of me - my horse. Clearing my mind has been taking precedence, and yet my own resistances remain to even that simple of a task. Perhaps tomorrow, perhaps the next ride, I will own my body over my mind.