How NOT to Lead

CHAPTER 3You Deserve What You Tolerate

You get what you expect, and you deserve what you tolerate.

—Mark Graban

The first horse I ever rode bucked me off after about 30 seconds. We made it maybe a quarter of a mile from the barn when the horse suddenly decided he'd had enough and wanted to go home. I was about nine at the time and already terrified of sitting on the back of 1,000 pounds of muscle and hair. But it was interesting, and every kid wants to ride a horse, right? This horse had a reputation for being somewhat ornery and was known to make his own decisions. However, he was a smaller horse, and I was a young guy, so they put me on the back of this monster. We left the barn, got outside the paddock, and were making our way up the trail when this horse (I think his name was Black Ant) began to turn his head and look back at the barn. The horse had figured out that he was larger than me, stronger than me, and, most important, more motivated than I was to not be on a ride that day. The further we walked, the more head jerking the horse did, which soon turned into an abrupt about‐face. Once he could see the barn, nothing I did mattered. The horse could see the promised land and knew all he had to do was remove the annoying human on his back, get to the barn, and his life would be good. The horse took a few big steps, reared up as high as he could, landed back on all fours, and vaulted me into the stratosphere before trotting away. Obviously, this was less than ideal for ...