Actions speak louder than words

How do you safeguard or guarantee your vision and mission in the (Equine) world?

A lot of us are excited when we begin our (small) businesses. We feel grateful for the opportunity, freedom and interest in our work, but those feelings can easily become overshadowed by something else: Reality.


We face obstacles, high expectations from ourselves or clients that we can't possibly meet. Basically, there are 2 ways of dealing with this; we adjust our mission to our clients wishes or we adjust our clients to fit our mission. Meaning we either disappoint our clients, or ourselves. Years ago, I decided on the first.


'But don't you want to earn money?!


No. If making good money was my intention, I would have chosen an office job or pursued other fields I find interesting. But that's not why I chose horses; I chose them, for them. Sometimes this means turning down clients with 4 year old horses they want me to start, because I feel like it's too soon. It means saying 'No' to coming over when the issue is poor stable management. Letting go of clients who aren't able to work outside of a fixed time frame is also something I've done numerous times. And all of this felt sh*tty at first, like I was a fraud for not complying or fulfilling everyone's wishes.


Time went by and almost overnight, things changed because I refused to. Coworkers, horses and clients aligned with my mission and methods, which gave me the confidence and freedom to only accept clients I feel comfortable helping. Where mutual honesty and respect are just as important to us as they are to our horses. And where safeguarding all of this and all of us is of utmost importance.

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Love,

Zoë van Mourik | Equine Trauma & Behavior Specialist
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​www.zoevanmourik.com & www.houseofhorsemanship.nl