Wow big break through this weekend!

I went to the local youth gymkhana with my friend and wow did I learn a lot. I didn't bring my horses since it was kinda spur of the moment, but it was still fun.

Before the first event(keyhole) the riders are allowed to warm up in the arena, so my friend and I watched all the horses, noting there conformation and behavior. I saw that many of the horses were wearing tiedowns along with other gadgets, and a lot of them had trouble cantering and trotting in circles.

During the actuall events there was a lot of frustration between the rider and horses and a couple of horses almost threw their riders( they were bucking rearing ext..). Most of the spectators blamed it on the horses, even though it was the riders who had been teaching their horses to act this way. A couple of people were talking about why the horses in the flags competition always wanted to sniff the flag, and I though of all the different reasons for that myself. Here are some of my thoughts about horses who want to sniff flags:
Curiousity.
Unconfident(tries to understand what it is).
Always kept from sniffing it.
I noted that even though some of the riders treated their horses really bad, a lot of the horses still tried there hearts out.

All and all the biggest thing I learned from watching the gymkhanas last weekend, was that even though I want to be doing lvl 3/4 things right now, what I'm doing is truly amazing considering that lot's of people don't even think it's possible. I tend to write my abilities with horses off as normal, but I see now that what I have is really cool. Having made the choice to find a better way with horses has been the biggest part of my ongoing and everlasting journey, and I'm so glad I made that choice. Now I'm so much more thankful for the little bit of love, language, and leadership I do have, and I know that if I am positive, progressive, and natural things can only get better.