‘Just keep going. Keep going.’
~ Warwick Schiller.
As I write those words down I look at them and think: they suggest the idea of keeping on putting one foot in front of the other, of not giving up. I love that idea and use it often, but in fact this is not what Warwick was talking about at all.
He’s a horseman and he was once helping a woman and a mare who had a tense, rushy trot and a worried canter and he filmed it all so that the rest of us could learn about it. I was watching the film this morning and it started off with the great achievement - a ravishing, stately, relaxed canter, as soft as butter; the kind of canter we all dream of.
The occasional problem with that kind of dream canter - with that kind of dream anything - is that it can put the rest of us off. It’s almost too dreamy. It’s out of reach for us mere mortals.
But the clever thing was that Warwick went back and showed all the gnarly bits which went into getting that dream canter. There were moments when the mare was scooting about and changing direction and swerving to left and right. Her admirably calm rider sat steady and let the mare do what she needed to do, without chastising or correcting her. (It was very brave, actually.)
And it was in one of these gnarly moments that Warwick said, in a calm, matter-of-fact voice, ‘Keep going.’
What he meant was - keep on trotting on, because she’s going to find her confidence and her relaxation in a minute, if you stay with her and keep the faith. Well, I think that’s what he meant. That’s what I took from it. And I suddenly felt so grateful that we could see the gnarly part, where it wasn’t pretty, because it reminded me that we’ve all got the equivalent of a rushy, swerving mare sometimes, when things get away from us a little, and life doesn’t look lovely at all.
In those moments, if we just keep going - stay with that literal and metaphorical trot, however unsettled it looks - we have a chance of finding that dreamy canter. Yes, I think we do.