The Power of Shoes

Monday night is Horse Therapy night. I have a pair (OK they are technically my sisters. But I wear them and she doesn't.) of riding boots. So every Monday night I lace up my shoes and walk out the door. Monday I walked out feeling all confident with that "I know more than you" feeling.

And I paused on the drive way. And asked my self  "Why do I all of sudden feel all confident?" and then I looked down... "Really?" I thought. "Shoes, Julia?" But I smiled at my self and walked on.

Riding boots

But I kept thinking about it. I've never been much of a shoe person. Up until my junior year in high school I had one pair of shoes: tennis shoes. What else do you need? You can wear them in almost any situation. Then I bought a pair of boots and even had 2 pairs of tennis shoes!

I now have a nice variety of shoes: flip flops, boots, riding boots, crocs, and slippers.

My Shoe Rack

It's amazing how each pair has effected my mood. Or how they represent how I'm feeling.

Slippers are the "I have no intention of leaving this house, or doing hard work." If I'm all wound up or frustrated I wear my slippers. They calm me down, and remind me all is alright.

Slippers!

My flip flops are the flirty, running errands move. I admit, most of my shoes are just different color flip flops. When I was pregnant that's all I could wear. And during the summer (and maybe part of the winter) I usually just wear flip flops. I feel like I need to go to the beach and just lay down.

Flip flops waiting til summer.

Tennis shoes are "I'm on the move!" If you are trying to be more active or want the "I can't sit down" feeling. Just wear your tennis shoes. I feel like a marathon runner when I wear mine. Like I can run that 26.2 miles.... Accept I go maybe two miles.

My "running" shoes.

Crocs... I know they are not the most attractive pair of shoe. But I love them. They are so comfy. And great for your back. They're like my tennis shoes. I wear them if I want to keep moving around the house. I also call them my "swimming shoes" I always feel like I need to go to the community center and swim a mile. They're amazing around the pool.

I like them!

Then there are the boots. It's with the boots that I really feel a huge difference. I really feel confident, in every step, action, or answer I give. "I know it all." Is really what it feels like. But I don't know it all. And someone will call me out on a wrong answer, and it brings me back to reality. But I still feel pretty "large and in charge."

Well loved boots

So next time you lace up your running shoes or slip on the slippers. Think about how they make you feel.

You might be surprised.

"Who's In Charge?"

Horse therapy has started again! I always forget how much I really love horses. While I'm not as trained as the horse leaders, I always feel like I know what to do when I'm there. I'm a simple side walker to a client, but I always have fun interacting with the horse before and after the lesson. I keep hoping that they'll let me ride part of a lesson.


So I'm a side walker to Tabitha (name change). Tabitha is a happy, calm, quiet, not very pushy kind of person. Don't get me wrong, this girl does own a pair of sassy paints and will wear them. But she's very gentle. When I ask her to hit something she does it very gently for fear she will break something.

Lucinda, the horse only wears sassy pants. Or maybe sassy shoes? Lucinda is a strong, thick pony. And has one leader. Lucinda will only cooperate with her one leader. Yesterday they tried to have this tiny 8 year old lead her. Lucinda wouldn't move in the beginning, then she started nipping at the little girl. Then she stopped and started stomping her feet and shaking her head. I thought Tabitha might get  bucked off. Quickly her regular handler came up and took over. Even with her typical handler she'll still nip or try to do something she knows she shouldn't. But her handler just gives her a good whack, and that's the end of it.

Lucinda

When we first got matched with her I stared at the director thinking

"Are you serious?"

But I kept my mouth shut knowing they know best. And they did. It's turned out to be a great match. This extremely gentle girl is being forced to be assertive, forceful, and yes, bossy.

Every time we pull up at the barn I ask her one thing:

"Who's in charge?"

She chuckles and smiles and says "I am." 

She has to pull the reigns to get Lucinda to listen, not gently tug. She shouts the commands

"Trot!"

"Walk on!"

No whispering, no "please walk on." What does this take?

Confidence.

I've seen a pretty confident girl go to extremely confident.  And she's taking that confidence outside of horse therapy.

Had she been put on a quiet gentle horse she wouldn't need to shout or pull. She wouldn't have to learn to be confident in her demands and having those demands be met.  It's been fantastic!

This program has been great not only for the rider but for me as well. As a simple side walker, I've learned to bite my tongue. To just enjoy the animals and the walk... And make sure Tabitha doesn't fall off the horse.

To learn more about the SPIRIT program go to:

 http://spiritequestrian.org/