The story of two cart horses

My great-grandfather (GGF) was apparently amazing when working with animals.
I never knew him but my mother says she can clearly remember him leaving milk in empty shoe polish tins for the lizards living in his dairy room. This "room" was in the trunk of a massive hollow tree.
When he fed the birds on his farm you couldn't even see him under the load of "patrons" visiting the farmyard "restaurant".
But what he was really well known for was his magical touch with horses.
He was probably what people would these days call a "horse whisperer".
One day another farmer arrived on my GGF's farm with his cart pulled by two carthorses.
This was in the days before motorcars, so carthorses were very valuable and expensive.
The farmer had only two horses. A big one and a little one.
Regardless of the difference in size the farmer had no choice but to use them to pull his cart.
The problem was that the big horse was a real bully.
The moment the cart started moving, he started kicking with all his might.
He not only kicked the cart, but he tried to kick the little horse as well.
No matter what the farmer did, he could not get the big horse to stop kicking.
It reached the point where it became almost impossible to use the cart.
After discussing the problem with my GGF the two men got on the cart and took it for a ride to see what is going on.
They hardly took off when the big horse started kicking.
My GGF started whipping one of the horses almost immediately.
But the farmer was shocked to see he was whipping the little horse and not the big one.
He tried to stop my GGF from whipping the little horse, who in his eyes already suffered so much from being kicked by the big one. He yelled at my GGF that he was whipping the wrong horse.
My GGF's comment was simple.
"I know the big one is kicking, but did you see why he kicks?
"Look closely. The little one is the bully.
"What you don't see is that he bites the big one.
"The big one kicks because he wants the little one to stop biting him."
The moment the little horse realised he is no longer allowed to bite his "colleague", the kicking also stopped.
The farmer could now use his cart without any problem.

What does this story have to do with sport you may ask?
A lot.
After my son recently completed a 1.2 km (3/4 mile) open water swim race I asked him how it went.
He almost immediately answered that although he swam a good time, we must ask his coach to help fix his technique.
"I keep on sweeping my left arm over the water. It is not a proper stroke.
"I can feel it is wrong.
"It makes me very tired."
Note - not a bad comment from a 13-year-old.
Knowing a couple of Olympic swimmers I told one about the problem.
She helps me with my own swimming (more about this in another blog soon), and has seen my son swim.
Typical Olympic swimmer, she didn't just see him swim, she watched closely.

Her reaction was almost intant.
"The problem is not his arm.
"If something is wrong above the water, it means something is wrong below the surface.
"I think he is trying to keep his balance without realising it.
"Last time I saw him swim, he was 'dragging' his one foot slightly when swimming and not kicking properly.
"If his left arm is 'sweeping', check his right foot. I think that is the problem."
That foot was the first thing I checked the next day when we went training at the pool.
Knowing what to look for, it was clear to see. Yes, he was dragging his right foot.

The question was then: how do we fix the foot?
The answer: focus on the core.
The moment my son started focusing on his core and concentrating on kicking properly without dragging his foot, his arm corrected automatically.
The arm was his "big horse".
The core and the feet the "little one".
"Flogging" the big horse (trying to fix the arm) would not have resolved his problem.
Finding what the "little horse" was up to where you couldn't see it easily - that was the path to success.

So when you have a problem - in sport or in life - make sure you deal with the "small horse" and don't just keep flogging the "big one".

The real problem might be "small" and not so obvious to see, but the result of fixing it could be big.