When Nothing Seems to Go Right

So the other day I had one of the "nothing is going right" kind of days.

It happens to everyone -- just a part of life, I know.  So I'm not really whining about it.  But it feels good to commiserate with office mates, farm hands, even a horse - about the horrible day I had.  It's part of our human commonality -- life sometimes just stinks.  But the next day, everything is good.

Why the bad day?  Well, the nature of my job makes me dependent on a lot of people and equipment...
The car has to run, the phone has to be charged, the computer software has to work, the key decision maker has to be available, emails can't bounce, (or get lost), the internet connection can't go down... and the list goes on.

But frequently one of those things break.  And I can deal with it.  It's when they ALL seem to break in one day -  now that's a bad day!

What does this have to do with horses?
It's about the big "C" -- Control  Or rather Lack of Control.
No matter what plans I put in place, no matter what the timeframe they have to happen in... I'm really not in control most of the time.  A malfunctioning piece of equipment or a personal "drop what you're doing to attend to this" situation takes the control away in a split second.

Years of anger, frustration and disappointment when things all go wrong have slowly taught me (I'm a slow learner) that we just aren't in control as much as we'd like to think.  And now - somehow - I find these days kind of funny.  (Unless whatever broke that day got me hurt too!  That's not so funny...)

Don't we all expect that when we mount our horse for a training session in the arena or a quiet ride down the trail that we are in control, the horse accepts the saddle and bit, knows how to stop, doesn't buck and rear.... so we are totally in control. The weather is nice, the footing is good, everyone one is happy....

Or not.

Just a few weeks ago I was trial riding with a friend and her horse went down to its knees tripping over a jumble of rocks.  She hung on, the horse scrambled to its feet, and everyone was OK.  But for a split second, other (dangerous) outcomes were looking us in the eye.

You go into the barn and your horse comes out of the stall 3-legged lame.  Perhaps an abcess, maybe something worse.  And your show is tomorrow, you've already paid your entries and stall fees. Now not only do you have to miss the show, but you also lose your show fees, you might have a large vet bill to boot.

Control.   You thought you had it.   Horse was exercised, stalled safely, trailer loaded, plans all made...Then....No control.

So we can fuss and fume and pull out our hair out... or go grab a good book and a glass of wine, and chill.  And be glad nothing worse happened, at least today.