Jan. 5, 2012 Newsletter

I have a confession to make. My newest horse Onyx has really been 'pushing one of my buttons'.

My horses have access to a dry lot from their stalls. Onyx has access to the dry lot all day long. But for some reason, which I haven't figured out yet, she insists on going #1 in her stall, and not outside.

She will come in her stall from outside to 'use the facilities' and then go back out. If I have her shut outside for the afternoon, then let her in at chore time, as soon as I shut her door to the outside, she will often 'go' in her stall right away, even though she has been outside all afternoon. When I go to the barn early afternoon for their mid-day snack, as soon as she hears me slide the barn door open, she is 'going' in her stall, before heading to the outside manger for her afternoon feeding of hay.

A couple of nights ago I shut her outside to clean her stall. I heard her pacing outside the door and thought that was a little unusual. I cleaned her stall and got her pan of feed ready and in her stall for her. When I opened the door to let her in, she darn near knocked me down in her hurry to get in her stall and go #1 in the corner. She didn't even stop to eat. I swear she had to have been outside crossing her legs and holding herself, just waiting to get in, so she could 'go'.

Well I was mad. I know it didn't help because I'd been sick, and I was tired and didn't feel well, but that really pushed my buttons.

After I made myself calm down, I did some thinking. (I do try and learn something from my 'mistakes'.)

I reminded myself that just a couple of weeks ago I had written about 'letting go of those things we can't do anything about, and changing those things we can'.

So what are my options?

Well, I could keep right on letting it push my buttons, but that doesn't seem like a good option. That will only deteriorate our relationship.

My other 2 options are: 1) I could do something about it and sell the horse (yes, I know, I can hear some of you gasping). Or 2) I can learn to let it go and quit letting it push my buttons, because I don't think I'm going to change Onyx.

That made me take a look at other areas of my life once again. Is there somewhere else I need to either 'let it go', or 'do something about it'. Continuing to allow my buttons to be pushed is not an option. And yes, I believe we 'allow' it.

And the truth is, I think our buttons get pushed when our expectations are not being met. We get frustrated when things are not going the way we think they should. (Sometimes the truth does hurt.)

The good news is, my buttons don't get pushed near as often as they used to!

What about you? Is there some place you can apply this in your own life? You have 3 options:
• Keep letting it push your buttons
• Let it go
• Do something about it