The Awakened Equestrian Hardcover – November 30, 2024

Are you tired of the coercive training techniques that have been normalised in equestrian sports? Are you sick of having to deal with the toxic egotistical atmosphere surrounding horsemanship activities? You're not alone.The privilege of being the Personality Decoder in the equestrian industry is that in times of shock, people turn to me to make sense of what is happening. Most of us remember where we were or what we were doing the first time we realized our horse doesn’t deserve to be terrorized or coerced into cooperating with us.Whether it was seeing a blue tongue in a dressage competition, a showjumper being “wrapped” in training, or a previously adored coach seen on a video whipping a horse, each of us have had a realization that if we want to keep equestrian sports as a serious discipline, we need to change how we do our training and performance.I want to be clear: I do not condone abuse. And in the same breath, while I always try my best, I would be a hypocrite if I said that I have always been the horse's best advocate. I am ashamed of times when I've taken shortcuts, knowingly or unknowingly. I feel deep remorse for the times I hurt my four-legged friends, even if unintentionally or out of ignorance. It is from this place of ground zero that I write this book about how we can preserve our horses’ dignity while enjoying our time with our horse - be that leisure or high level performance, or anything in between.When we face shock, we must realize that there are four separate realities at play:Firstly, what is the factual reality of the situation? Only time and authentic recordings will tell what actually happened (not to be confused with our PERCEPTION of what happened. These are cold, hard facts).Secondly, what is our emotional reaction to what we saw unfolding in front of our own eyes?Next, an external reality begins to unfold: what reality are we creating with others around us? We all are influenced by how the world around us is seeing what happened. What information we surround ourselves with, and who has our ear. Who are the people that we trust and outsource our thinking to?Finally, another reality emerges: an internal integration of “what is true for me”. This is the most comfortable place we can land on this issue after the initial shock wears off. It is this final space from which we begin to take convinced action in the world. “The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, and wiser people so full of doubts.”My point is that creating change for our horses and our equestrian pursuits is complicated. Shaming people into changing does not work. Coercing people into changing creates acting, not positive action toward change. Forceful messaging does not allow evolution. It traps us in perfectionism and the belief that we are not allowed to fail and thus learn great lessons in life and show up as a better version of ourselves. It is only our awakened heart that can make the decision to change, and it is our power of one that - by example - can change the world.And when I know better, I can DO better. There's a lot to be done. Are you ready to join me on this journey of awakening? Would you like to lock elbows with me so that we can get to work to transform this industry that we love, and to be a safe space for our horse whom we so DEEPLY love?Merja Sumiloff is the author of the book Safe Spaces and has created multiple best-selling courses focused on healing, personal development, and self-mastery.She is a Certified MBTI® Practitioner and a Certified Happy Horse Happy Life (HHHL) Instructor and Mentor.When she is not with her horses, teaching, or writing, Merja spends her time volunteering as a Bush Firefighter. Read more