Whimsical did not want to get into the horse trailer.
She wasn’t scared of it, she had just made up her mind that she was not getting in. And weighing in at well over 900 pounds, she had the power to make her preferences obvious and formidable.
Preferring cooperation over force, it took quite some time for my friend Virginia and I to help her change her mind. In the end, it came down to helping her recognize how cool and comfortable it would be in the trailer, and making her feel uncomfortable enough outside the trailer to take the leap of faith.
(It’s funny how this show up in coaching people too – I much prefer encouraging and supporting – creating discomfort is waaay outside my comfort zone – but sometimes the most helpful thing you can do for a person is to get them to feel the discomfort, and recognize the cost, of staying stuck.)