Communication without words
Great teamwork is communication without words. It is seeing what the people around you need without asking them. It is showing appreciation for the people around you by helping them before they ask for it. It is doing something you know they need to do because you have spare time. Being in a great team can make us feel like we are reading each other’s minds.
Watching a great teamwork can be fascinating. A groom and rider who knows the routines in full concentration at the warmup for a show. They communicate almost completely without words. It can seem like a bubble where there exists nothing else than the horse, the groom, and the rider. Does the rider want the jump higher now? How many holes? Is the rider done jumping or will he jump more? Will the rider want the blanket now? The jacket? Is the rider ready to walk the course? Shall the groom hold the horse? No questions are needed for a groom and a rider in a great team to communicate. They know the routines and they pay attention to each other. Eye contact, a nod, a finger or a smile, will explain what they want to communicate.
Not only at shows with full concentration can rider and groom communicate without words. A groom or a rider who is watching, listening, learning, and changing is communicating a message. They are expressing that the teamwork matters to them. That they want it to continue, to last and to be the best it can be. I once had a groom who tacked up a horse for me. I said thank you and adjusted the tack one specific place. The groom had watched me doing the adjustments and the next time she tacked up that horse, the tack was different. Without words, she had watched, learned, and changed. Because to her, our great teamwork mattered.