|
|
|
|
Exceptional Horsemanship Newsletter
|
|
|
|
|
|
Greetings!
A hairy tale from a hairy tail.
The definition of the first hairy is: Fraught with difficulties: hazardous.
But it wasn't. Not really. I was confident that all would be well, regardless.
Well, light hands require training for feel. It can be difficult sometimes helping someone to understand, mentally, how light they can/need to be when working WITH a horse. They keep some slack in the reins sometimes or think they're asking nicely. But, put in a physical position where the rubber meets the road is different. Many jerk their horse to a stop, drop the reins and believe that the horse stopped with a loose rein. In addition, many people ride with a loose rein, or a halter and think that that's the same as NOT having it there. Well, it's NOT. And for proof, just remove it! See what feelings that brings up. Do I have to do a TV fine print disclaimer here? I'm not saying ride without, but I am saying think about it. And MAYBE sit on your horse without (assuming your horse is well enough trained to do that) and while sitting there think about what would transpire if you asked horse to move. BTW - a horse does not have to be well trained in other maneuvers to stand still. A beginner green horse should be taught to stand still while mounted with or without gear. Okay, back to the story!
So, when I was helping Bev grasp how mentally different lightness is, I pulled 4 tail hairs out of Kit, unsnapped her reins, tied the hairs in a loop on each ring of her side-pull and snapped the reins to the hair ring. Now ride. Trot and canter. And she was bareback. She was doing great and really felt a huge difference because she was trying to be so careful, thinking the hairs would break with too much pressure. They did not. However...
The fun part was... while she was cantering, the hairs all slipped through the trigger clips and the reins fell off! Okay, I admit that was probably a LOT more fun for me than Bev, but.
She looked at me and I said, "Just sit down and say Whoa." And Kit dropped to a stop on a dime. About brought us both to tears of joy.
The only real issue? Bev had a fit that I pulled those hairs out! But, Kit has a great big hairy tail. There are some new videos on the ExH fb page and maybe I'll have one of Bev and Kit doing the stick toss bareback/bridle-less from a couple days ago. |
So... Are You Horseman Material????
Awareness
While working with a new student the other day I was explaining what I wanted her to do. She kept NOT doing it even though she tried to DO something. I kept saying over and over, "I want you to go this direction, with the horse between you and the fence." Still didn't happen. Then, I put more space between my words to e nun ci ate better so she would understand. "I want you to go that way with the horse between you and the fence ! ! !" I had my arms and hands and fingers pointing and swinging and... I moved in the direction I indicated. I thought that was sufficient information. Obviously, or not, it wasn't. Because she just couldn't figure out how to do that and did all sorts of other 'things' that had me shaking my head.
What took a bit of time for me to realize was this person couldn't figure it out because she would have been on the 'off' side of the horse in order to accomplish this task and it just didn't occur to her that I would be asking that.
It never occurred to ME that this wouldn't be understood as that was the only position available to accomplish the task. Huh! So it took some time to be aware of the situation, as in not during the lesson. Later in the lesson, every time I told her to keep at it when the horse was out maneuvering her, she would change sides. Always going to the easier near side to do what should have been done on the side the horse was causing her to abandon. Keeping at it is not changing sides! Ponderables:
"Wisdom tends to grow in proportion to one's awareness of one's ignorance." - Anthony de Mello
I love that line and this line follows nicely from Socrates-- "I know that I am intelligent, because I know that I know nothing."
Please forward this newsletter to your friends. You've got some peeps that could benefit by reading it, don't ya? Tell 'em to click the purple "Gimme" button on the website.
There's a difference between techniques and technique.
For exceptional results, think "how and how can I".
|
Upcoming stuff:
Knowledge learned and put into practice = skill.
the need for calm. maintain boundaries in order to create focus, both in yourself and your horse. ladder jumping - the art of waiting timing/feel come
DWI's
- "Get him to turn loose first."
- "Don't try to get it to happen. Get it ready and let it happen."
- "You get out of the horse what you put in - the way you put it in." - Ray Hunt
|
|
|
|
Decide what kind of person you are. Are you a Gonna Be? Or a Wanna Be?
What does your horse think you are?
Call or email me to schedule a lesson, training session, phone or email lesson/consultation today.
There's new stuff on the blog . Sincerely,
ME
Lauren Woodard
ExceptionalHorsemanship.com |
Lauren Woodard
Scottsdale, Arizona 85254
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
