Sarah Rhodes I A New Equestrian Mindset
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đ´ Your horse is already listening.
07/02/2026
Nobody warned you progress would look like this.
Not a straight line or a steady climb. A loop, a stall, a leap, a fall, in the saddle and everywhere else.
Weâre sold this idea that more effort always equals more progress. That if youâre not improving week over week, something is wrong with you. But thatâs not how riding works.
Itâs not how any of it works.
The plateau isnât a sign youâve stopped growing. The hard week isnât proof youâre going backwards. The wobble is literally part of the process.
Swap the horse for the job, the relationship, the thing youâre trying to heal from and itâs the same spiral, different arena.
Swipe through for what nonlinear progress actually builds, and a few ways to ride it instead of fight it.
Somewhere along the way we got told progress should be a straight line. Up and to the right, every time, no exceptions.
Anyone who has spent real time with a horse knows that is not how this works.
You have a breakthrough one week and the next week feels like starting over. A horse who trusted you in the canter comes out tense on Tuesday for no reason you can name. A fear you thought you had moved past shows up again, just as strong, when you least expect it.
I used to take that personally. Now I see it differently.
The step backward is not separate from the progress. It is part of it. This is true in training, in coaching, and in the rest of life too.
This is exactly what I am exploring in something I am calling The Horse Is Your Mirror. The idea that the patterns we see in our horses are often the same patterns living in us, and that neither one moves forward in a straight line.
If that idea resonates with you, even if you are not currently riding, I would love to know. Comment below or send me a message and tell me what came up for you.
I love hiking like this⌠Who can relate?
Comment with your best hiking picture! đđ´
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