Until you realize that you don't matter anymore than anyone else, until you accept that for every action there is a reaction and there are no special rules for you, until you accept that you are not invincible over others, you will not succeed as a horseman.  Horsemanship is all about the discovery, love, and ambition all wrapped up in one.  It is not the shows that people are so quick to judge one by, but the respect that one has discovered through trial and tribulation and acceptance of all those outcomes.  Horses just seem to bring out both the best and worst, the good and ugly in everyone I know.