Yes, it’s that time already!  Time to think about what your New Year’s resolution will be.  This year I would like for you to think about your resolution a bit differently than you might have in the past.  This year, I’d like for you to think of ways to incorporate friends and family into your goals for the year.  If there’s one thing that I’ve learned from years of observing natural horsemanship clinics with my mentor, 4 Star Parelli Instructor Christi Rains, is that there is strength in numbers.  What we struggle with alone, we can usually breeze through with a little help from our friends. 

Each year many of us makes a New Year’s resolution that involves something that we have greatly struggled with in the past.  This will be the year that this one thing will finally be overcome.  If it wasn’t hard to do, it wouldn’t need to be a New Year’s resolution!  Many of us only make it through the first step or two before throwing in the towel.  Others will see the light at the end of the tunnel, and then seeing that the goal is almost within reach, become lackadaisical about it.  “I can take a break now. I’m almost there.  It won’t hurt to take a break and get back to it next week.”  I catch myself doing this all the time!  Always finding something that needs to take precedence over my stated goal.  There’s time, just put it off until next week.  Then next week arrives and something else seemingly more important comes up and put it off another week…and so on. 

Something happens to us when we get together to meet a common goal.  Whether that’s just the fact that you have someone to help keep you accountable, you are challenge driven, or you just get bored and need someone to interact with in order to keep you motivated.  It just seems so much easier to stick with something when you are part of a group.  That’s the beauty of attending the Parelli clinics on a regular basis.  I’ve seen so many Parelli students make huge progress with their horsemanship by the simple fact that they can have fun with friends while they are learning and advancing their skills.  Having that support of friends to cheer you on when you are struggling with a task just makes you want to keep trying harder.  If you were out there struggling by yourself, just getting more and more frustrated, what would the likelihood be that you would keep trying until you figured it out?  Probably not nearly as likely. 

This year recruit some friends and/or family to help increase your chance of success with your New Year’s goals.  If your goal is to master a certain exercise or maneuver with your horse, find a friend that is close to your same skill level and set up a monthly play date.  Assign each other a task to complete before you meet each time to help hold you accountable to each other.  Attend a monthly horsemanship clinic with a professional instructor.  Christi Rains has set up a monthly “No Excuses” series for her students to help hold them accountable and keep them motivated to move forward.  Each month they meet, develop friendships, challenge and support each other and progress at a much faster rate than if they were home alone.  Find out if there is one coming to your area. 

Whatever your goal is – for you and/or your horse to be more fit, get through Level 3 with your horse, or perhaps simply getting the courage to get on your horse – whatever it is, if you can find a friend or two to join you your chance of success will increase exponentially!  You can literally apply this to any goal you set for yourself.  Just use your imagination!  What will you do differently this New Year?

Lisa Carter is a Certified Equine Massage Therapist (CEMT), with multiple certifications from several different equine bodywork schools.  She incorporates her knowledge and experience with Parelli Natural Horsemanship, equine bodywork and as a veterinary technician to provide her clients with the resources they need to make informed decisions for their horses.  She encourages and facilitates network building between equine health care professionals, working together to find the best combination of therapies to meet the needs of the “whole horse”.  

Are you ready to get better results with your horse?  Put your equine health care team to work so you and your horse can be doing what you were meant to.  Click here to get started!