Years ago, I wrote an article called The 4th P. It broke down some of the core principles behind good horsemanship.

The four P's are:

Permission, Position, Persistence, and Patience.

Simplified, it means a good trainer doesn't demand everything from their horse. They first ask for connection and readiness before tackling anything else. That's what permission means.

Position is the deep library of horsemanship maneuvers, from haunches-in to footwork in canter departures and so much more. A great trainer understands position. They know the possibilities, the preparation, and the pieces required to achieve a maneuver successfully.

Persistence is fairly self-explanatory. Too many novice and intermediate riders back off too early and fail to achieve true understanding. It takes feel to know when to quit, but trainers worth their salt persist until they find results, even if the process unfolds over days, weeks, months, or years.

Patience is the graceful part of horsemanship. It is the quiet willingness to not ask too much, too quickly. It is the ability to read the room, to allow a moment for contemplation and learning, both for the horse and for the rider.

This leaves us with the fifth P:

PASSION

Passion is easy in the beginning. It's natural.

Those of us who love horses are often bitten by the bug in our earliest childhood memories. We dream about them, draw them, read about them, and imagine our future with them.

That passion stays with us naturally... until something happens. Until we get hurt. Falling hurts. Failing hurts. Watching a great horse lose its potential because of injury hurts.

Disappointment, setbacks, financial struggles, and shattered expectations all have a way of dimming our enthusiasm. It's easy to lose passion.

But it is the passionate ones who progress.

They fight through adversity and discover a future that is often more rewarding than the one they originally imagined.

The riders who fall and rise again inspire us. Some rise from circumstances far more difficult than most of us will ever face. I know riders who have come back in wheelchairs. Others have returned after devastating injuries, illnesses, and personal hardships.

The ones who inspire me most are not the people who never struggle. It's the ones who fail, hurt, fumble, and nearly quit, yet eventually realize something profound:

Horses are magical.

Maybe age has robbed you of some balance. Maybe your strength isn't what it once was. Maybe you can no longer do all the things you used to do.

Yet you continue.

Those men and women inspire the rest of us to keep our passion alive.

I have students who are paralyzed, blind, missing an arm, recovering from concussions, or facing financial circumstances that have forced them to give up horse ownership. And yet, there they are.

Attending clinics.
Taking notes.
Learning.

Participating at whatever level their bodies, schedules, or circumstances allow.

I have riders in their eighties and nineties cantering up to and over jumps.

Time and again, I find myself inspired by others. Their determination reminds me to protect my own passion.

So this is my call to you:

Stay passionate.

Allow your passion to live despite your busy schedule and your imperfect horse. Despite your falls and failures. Despite the judgmental voices of those who feel compelled to criticize. Despite the uncertainty of tomorrow.

Passion is what keeps us learning.
Passion is what keeps us dreaming.
Passion is what keeps us climbing back into the saddle. And passion is what turns ordinary horse people into lifelong horsemen.

Stay passionate, my friends.  ​Don