The Importance of Self Belief

Robert Rush is a young Cow horse trainer preparing for the 2020 NRCHA Snaffle Bit Futurity

I don’t pretend to be a cowboy. Because I’m not. I don’t even consider myself a horse trainer, except that’s what the industry calls it. What I am is someone who fell in love with horses later in my life and decided to change my entire life to understanding horses better, and what I learned most is I understand myself better. There’s an old saying that horses are a reflection of their rider. That was a scary thought when I started riding 8 years ago, but now, a little less scary. What I want to discuss today is not my past or how I got started, we can venture down that path another time if you like. I’d like to talk about another thing that scares me, believing in yourself.

To me, if you are honest with yourself, you are always self reflecting. Asking yourself constantly, what could have been done differently? Was that the right move? Is there a better way I could have said that? These are incredibly important questions to ask if you are striving to be a better version of yourself. However, these exact same questions can cause you to second guess a lot of future decisions as well, since it plants the seed of doubt. I have always been a man with big goals, sometimes unrealistic goals. But I’ve always set goals so big that I constantly had to chase it. Always give you something to push towards, to fuel the fire and keep driving forward.