By Chris Irwin

I remember a long time ago in high school seeing a sign behind the desk of my algebra teacher that read:

“The older we get the more we realize how much we don’t know” .

I also remember that at the ripe old age of sixteen that I thought this was a “stupid” statement. I naturally assumed that this was just another example of false humility designed as a politically correct manipulation of young rebellious minds like mine in yet another attempt to coerce us into minding our manners and conforming to the standardized norm of the educational system. That was thirty years ago when I was 16. However, it didn’t take me all these thirty years to realize the profound truth in the statement that I had once assumed in the wisdom of my youth to be so ridiculous. Years later, while coaching in a clinic, I heard myself spontaneously uttering the words “the more I work with the horses, the more I realize how much I don’t know”. That realization suddenly dawned on me when I was about 40. Continue reading When We Don’t Know What We Don’t Know