Polishing your horse - by Don Jessop

My eleven-year-old daughter takes regular ballet lessons and her instructor gave a word that I hope you never forget. She asked my daughter to do the exact same exercise she did yesterday, after which point, my daughter began to demonstrate a tiny bit of boredom related to the monotony. At just the right moment, her teacher said, "We're polishing today, we're making what we already know how to do, even more beautiful."

Just then, my daughter softened her expression and began to demonstrate a calmness related to the repetition, which in the opinion of any great performer, is one of the most important factors of progress and refinement. 

I'm excited for my daughter to finally learn the value of practice and repetition. Drilling is good, but a simple word change makes it WAY better. "POLISHING" is the word. 

Polish your game like you smoothe the edges of a stone, making beautiful, flowing, seamless precision. Your horse will not always understand why you're being so repetitive in your practice, but he'll begin to soften and demonstrate a calmness related to the repetition and then as if by magic, you will have a beautiful shiny, expensive diamond, in the shape of a horse/human experience.

If you want to truly go somewhere with your horse... if you want to inspire others... if you want to impress your horse at a deep psychological level, be consistent and polish your skills together.  

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