| I'm in the Beautiful UK in July and August.
For my schedule in the UK click here |
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I am very grateful and thankful to Rachel, Hannah and Roz for all their extra-
ordinary efforts and continuing belief in my work. I get to meet such incredible people.
Rachel & Liam
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| For more info |
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NEXT CLINICS |
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August 15-16,
Deerfield, MA
August 21-23,
Yelm, WA
August 28-30
Boulder , CO |
| SMILE ;) |
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Smiling is the best way to relax over 100 muscles in and around your face. It is also very hard to hold on to negative thoughts while smiling. A horse is well aware of your mental state, and a negative mind will not achieve positive results. Have you ever had to spend a long period of time around negative people? If you had a choice, would you stay in their company? Would you feel connected with them? Your horse would give, I believe, similar answers!!
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| THE FEAR FORMULA |
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In the saddle and on the ground
Fear=Tension
If you begin to loose your balance, even slightly, your body reacts with tension (a fear of falling). You tighten your abdomen, hold your breath up in your chest and lose your connection with your horse.Your horse can feel your fear and reacts according
ly. Balance is the key to preventing falling and Tai Chi can help you gain the alignment that underlies balance. | |
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Dear Friends
Summer is here and it's hot, hot, hot in Arizona! Luckily I get to travel a lot and enjoy the cooler climates. I look forward to seeing each of you again this year and seeing the progress you've made.
I'm excited to announce a new section in my Newsletter. I have worked with so many amazing trainers and instructors in my career that I thought it was time for all of you to get to know a little bit about them too. This time you get to "Meet"- - Kay Kamish. In the next issue you will meet another very accompished friend of mine.
I'm on Youtube under Jamesrshaw1111
I'm trying to make an effort to stay in contact as much as I can while I'm on the road, so if you have questions I will be able to answer them. Have a great summer of riding.
James
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Kay Kamish
Dressage Trainer/Instructor Extraordinaire 
USDF Bronze and Silver Medal
"L" Graduate with Distinction
Claremore, Oklahoma
918.341.5974
Kay Kamish is an accomplished rider, trainer, instructor and quite the renaissance woman. Kay has been hosting James' Clinics since the spring of 2004. Since that time she has seen dramatic changes in her riding, incorporated his work into her own instruction and continues to learn, even at her level of riding, how to be even more connected to her horses. We've enjoyed the gift of getting to know Kay and have her permission to share some very interesting tidbits about her life.
Kay first fell in love with horses and riding when she rode a Euro  Warm- blood Bay named Dancer in Germany at the age of 8, the rest as they say is history. She started training horses at 15, a Stallion named El Cid and her first student, in 1969-70, was Susan Connors. Since then she has been training and teaching nationally and currently teaches from her farm, Rivendell, in Claremore, Oklahoma.
Kay has been involved in the Martial Arts since 1993, she has a 3rd Degree Black Belt in Tae Kwon Do. She began studying Tai Chi in 2005 and has gone on retreats and led classes for local groups on how Tai Chi principals can improve riding. She likes combining Tai Chi Prinicpals and Riding because "developing the internal balance and control as a rider minimizes any interference we cause our horse. No other form of training addresses the rider's quiet/invisible influence to the extent that James' work does." Riders learn to be "internally composed", that is the foundation we need to ride from.
Her Horses:
Aspen - 23 years old, Antares - 24 years old, Windjammer - 6 years old and Odakai - 13 years old
Dreams for the Future
To bring Odakai to good FEI levels
To guide Windjammer to be a FEI level horse
Her Career outside of Horses
Flight Nurse for 27 years - Yep she rides in those helicopters!
Book Recommendations
"Riding Logic" - Muessler
"Complete Training of a Horse" - Podhajsk
"Ride From Within" - Shaw
Hobbies
She has had  her General Falconry License for 5 years and has just received her third Red Tail Hawk to work with.
We were lucky enough to be there when she picked Tahlia up and she is just beautiful.
Other Family Members
Cats - Snickers, Inara, Navarre, Minx
Dog - Alexis
Favorite Color Blue
Kay thanks for letting us share a bit of your life with our readers, it is an honor and a priveledge to know you! |
 RelieveTension & Impress the Judges!
This article identifies the two powers or forces that a rider has to constantly deal with, gravity and the physical power created by the horse. These two forces can flow through our bones usually in opposite directions at the same time. Here is an example from a recent clinic in Tehachapi, California: This FEI level rider was well aware of the force or pull in her hands from the horse's head and neck but could not get the feel of gravity flowing down the arms. When she pulled against the horses power (keeping her balance) with the muscles in the forearms and shoulders those muscles blocked the flow of gravity down the arms. This resulted in the horse not going forward freely and becoming increasingly tight in the neck and forehand, not to mention the exhaustion of the rider from holding against the power of the horse. These are NOT things we want to happen in front of the judges! When she removed the tension by balancing her bones and allowing the two forces to move freely it was a thing of beauty, something she would be proud for the judges to see! |
 Fear and the Gated Horse
Another example of how when a rider learned to use her breath her horse magically changed under her:
This rider who has many years of experience with horses decided to get a gaited horse for its smoothness, which would make riding easer and more enjoyable for her as she got older and as the muscles of the body naturaly get weaker and a bit less responsive. The bond between her and her horse on the ground is a thing of beauty, love abounds. Her issues are all in the saddle because of her age and having had a fall in the past, the fear of falling again is constantly showing up in her mind and body.
In the saddle this fear of the mind is processed as tension and bracing in her body. When her breath is up in her chest her spine is ridgid and her lower back is held tight! It is important to remember that this state in her body is a solution to the fear of falling whether or not she would tell you she was afraid. This ridgidness not only drives her gated horse forward like a snowball rolling down hill, the speed increases and control is harder, so the tension builds. When this happens you can see the conection that they had on the ground is gone. To my eye it seems the horse is running from an unknown fear, the fear that is being transmited by the riders mind and body. The horse does not differentiate that the rider's fear is of falling, the horse only picks up the signal of fear. Oh yes, they mirror everything, good and bad.
As she practiced breathing deeply into her body, releasing her ridgidity and tension, the horse reacted by softening and slowing or calming in it's gate. By breathing deeply I mean she changed her breathing from no rhythm to rhythmic by breathing, into her abdomen, in for a 4 count and out for a 5 count. As she softened and found her rhythm and her horse mirrored her, her fear lessened, she softened as did her horse, and for these two this is the path to becoming one, mounted.
Questions? Ask me.
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