kNow better, do better, be gracious

​But also, be gracious…

Most of us have heard the phrase “Do your best until you know better, then do better.” But, one piece of that we often forget, it to be gracious and forgive ourselves for that time we didn’t know any better.

For decades, my horses wore metal shoes. That’s just what we did. I believed most performance horses had to wear metal shoes, so mine did as well. My beliefs began to change, and I learned better when I began to see over and over the cause of unresolved lameness coming from the hooves. So naturally, on a mission to learn more and help our horses, I delved into learning to trim and shoe my own horses.
At my first barefoot and composite shoeing education class was with Ida Hammer, I had a huge breakthrough about something I did not know I was carrying around.

During class, I would ask questions and preface the question with “I used to have metal shoes on my horses.” Finally, after a few of those questions with the preface, Ida looked at me, looked at the class, and said “Raise your hand if you have ever put metal shoes on your horse.” Literally almost every hand went up. At that moment, I realized two things. One, most horse people have put metal shoes on their horse at some point, and two, I had some guilt I was holding onto about harming my horse’s hooves. I had not realized that I had failed to be gracious with myself and forgive myself for past mistakes and ignorance. This realization helped me to move forward and truly be open to learning more to do better.

Is there something on our horse journey that you need to be gracious with yourself about? Is there a past belief or training method that you now know better, but you are holding onto some guilt? I encourage you to examine your heart to find it. Our horses know we are trying to constantly do the best we can for them.

When you know better, do better, and be gracious with yourself.
​
Blessings,
Amy