“In every human being, there are two wolves constantly battling. One is love and the other is fear. The wolf that wins the battle is the one you feed. Always the one you feed.”

― William Kent Krueger, Sulfur Springs

In working with horses, there are lots of wolves battling inside us.

Attention vs Disregard

Secure vs Insecure

Release vs Brace

Calm vs Anxiety

Responsive vs Reactive

Supple vs Stiff

Communication vs "He's just doing that"

Search vs Escalate

Teach vs Force

Horse as Individual vs Tool

Why do I say these wolves are fighting inside of us? Frankly, because horses don't have the autonomy to choose to work with us or not. How we approach the horse, what we believe about horse behavior, and the lenses through which we see and interpret the horse are entirely ours.

Which wolves do you feed in your work with horses?

I plan to do a post on each of these in the future, and I will be sure to link them here as I get them written.