What Iceberg's have in common with Horseman

I've been thinking (not surprising for a Left Brain Introvert :-), and then I saw a photo of an iceberg:
Iceberg photo
and had a realization: Horsemanship is like an iceberg!

   Weird you may say, but hang in here with me for a minute. What's the first thing someone asks you when you get back from a clinic, course, event or lesson? "What did you learn?" often followed by "Show me what you learned." If you've ever been in this situation it can be hard at times to put your finger on what you have learned, it can be even harder to pull your horse out of the pasture and show them what you've learned!
   After 10 years at the Parelli Center I know that feeling!! "Show me what you learned." "Umm, well, I, uh . . . ." Here's where the realization comes in, they are asking to see something on the surface. Something skin deep so to speak, or like the iceberg photo the LITTLE piece that sticks out above the water. However given the opportunity to see both sides of the picture (underwater and above), the biggest change, the biggest 'growth' is below the surface. The part no one can see. They might feel it after a while, if they are close enough but it can not yet be seen.
   So much of our Horsemanship journey happens below the surface, whether it is dealing with fear, overcoming internal dialogue, or making a shift in our reality, none of this is skin deep. None can be seen by the average observer, the observer only interested in looking at the surface! But this doesn't mean it isn't real, it is there, it's important and without that HUGE internal growth there would be nothing to support the "visible stuff". The internal 'stuff' has be happen first. It's the hardest and most uncomfortable but also the strongest once built. It is only thing that makes a lasting change in who we are, who we are for our horses and how we relate to life!
   I was so impacted by the photo of the iceberg (in this case a picture truly is worth a thousand words), that I printed it off and whenever I feel pressure from my 'friends or support' I have a look at that photo and remind myself of the great big chunk of stuff, on the inside :-) If I think of it as a "great big chunk of stuff" I can't help but have a giggle at the same time I start to feel reassured that all the time and effort does make a change, and that the visible part of that change is not in direct relation to what's actually occurred!