- one soft, almost soothing "fits-like-a-glove" saddle
- one enthusiastic, steady, energetic, perky-eared red-head mare swishing rhythmically through a sweet-smelling smorgasbord of dried, crispy leaves
- one clear and wide path lined with tall trees, glowing brilliantly with hues of yellow, red, orange and green broken by a background of deep blue evening sky
- one almost indistinguishable white-tailed deer - noticed only thanks to chestnut mare's extra-sensory perception - flitting through the trees with nary a sound (how is that possible with all dried foliage on the ground)
- one busy black-bodied squirrel darting zig-zag patterns underfoot in preparation for undoubtedly colder days ahead (shattering the stillness in grizzly-like fashion)
- several mounds of sweet, luscious grass beckoning the red-head mare for a leisurely pause to quietly munch here and there
- an almost full moon gladly preparing to assume the sun's duty by reflecting light on the earth
- one human (body, mind, heart and soul) ready to appreciate it all.
Just mix and enjoy!
Finally! The Ultimate Rider-Centered Program!
Ready for something completely different? If you liked what you read here, you might be interested in the Horse Listening Practice Sessions.
This is NOT a program where you watch other people's riding lessons. Start working with your horse from Day 1.
At Horse Listening, we are emphatic life-long learners of all things horsey. You will be reminded time and again about how there is so much to be learned from horses and other horse people, if only we listened.
This guest post is by SnarkyRider, who is not one but two people: Dressage Empress (SE) and Jumper Girl (JG). Together, they permeate the horsey Internet world with sarcasm and "snarky-ness". So get your snark on and let's get down to business!
For sale is a stud colt, approximately 16 months old. Enjoys being brushed. I do not believe he is a tri color, but his tail does have brown in it, and his sports are black and brown. He trailers easy and gets along with the other yearlings as well as the older gelding in my pasture. He is a beautiful horse and should turn out to be a valuable one, but due to financial situations, I am putting him up for sale. Make an offer. After my current riding horses’ training is complete, I will begin working with him, and the price will increase accordingly, or I will keep him for myself. He has his current coggins, and has had vaccinations as of July 1, 2011.
He is halter broke, and we are working on leading, but he probably only gets 15 minutes of practice every other day.
Woohoo! I finally found him! I cannot tell you how long I’ve been looking for a horse that enjoys being brushed! And a stud, no less. Hopefully he’ll pass that on to his foals. Those babies will sell like hotcakes!! Well, just as long as he doesn’t pass along the mile-long back, crappy hips, upside down neck and cow hocks too. But what are the odds of that?
Seriously, craigslist is chock full of winners. Someone needs to inform his owner that the fact that his “sports” are black AND brown does not mean he’s a valuable horse and that no amount of training will ever turn a $300 yearling into something that deserves to keep his balls. EVER. All aboard the gelding train! Choo choo!
Side note: When I showed this ad to Jumper Girl, she immediately started hitting her head against a wall. Literally. While moaning. It was awesome.
I found this one on the Internet long ago, with no indication of the author.*
However, it has stayed with me, blending intensity with passion, being so eloquent and yet knowledgeable about the "path". I have personally gone through many of the moments that are described here, and so it has touched me deeply, and been an anchor through my growth as a rider. Enjoy!
* Edited to add: The author was found (see comments below)! Thank you for writing this beautiful poem, Bernie!
.
Soft Determination
So we: make haste slowly; try harder gently; are softly determined.
The ideal we desire is one of dynamic harmony, with aids telepathic in their subtlety.
Towards that goal, our aids should speak in whispers rather than shouts.
The horse is the partner whose emphasis includes strength; the rider should not emphasize this. So beware the clenched jaw of the rider, showing the strain of excess muscular effort, trying too hard.
Clearer communication is not usually stronger muscular effort, but more correct and focussed effort. Finesse, and the sweat of an iron will, rather than the sweat of iron muscles.
As we progress in riding, some muscles grow stronger - our legs, our abdominals - but our real strength comes from inside, our wish for harmony, our desire to move as one with the horse.
So we:
make haste slowly; try harder gently; are softly determined.
BK4Leg
Finally! The Ultimate Rider-Centered Program!
Ready for something completely different? If you liked what you read here, you might be interested in the new Horse Listening Practice Sessions.
This is NOT a program where you watch other people's riding lessons. Start working with your horse from Day 1.
Learning a new skillin riding can be pretty daunting. Not only do you need to coordinate your entire body (including the ever-pervasive 'core' of your body), but you also need to stay in balance while moving, in time, in partnership with the (much larger) horse that happens to be using his own feet while yours are dangling in mid-air! You get my drift....
So at best, it's not easy. When other people tell you that riding is all about the horse and not about the rider, you can be fairly sure that they have never sat on a horse to know what it really feels like. Even with the best horse, at the very least, the rider has to "get out of the way" and to do THAT can be a feat in itself.
Assuming that you have the most willing horse, it may be that your own body simply cannot put all the tiny components together at the same time, at the right time, because unfortunately, it's not only about the physical coordination of skill, it's also about timing within the moment of stride that makes it easiest for the horse to respond. And so communication breaks down even with the best interests in mind.
One of the first 'life lessons' that all of us riders learn from our horses is to persevere. Our mantra is "try, try again." "Keep at it." Maybe one of the repetitions will yield a wanted outcome. Maybe if you do it enough times, your horse will finally get it. Right?
Wrong.
Although repeating the aids and 'sticking with the program' is useful many times, there may come a day when you could repeat the exercise a thousand times to no avail - and end up frustrating both yourself and your horse.
So what are some alternatives?
- Change the topic. Go to something else, 'let it go', and come back to it later in the same riding session.
- Try again - just be sure to control your emotion on your second/third/fourth/etc. tries.
- Quit. Put it to rest. Be done with it. (Did I just say that??)
Yes - there is nothing wrong with 'giving up'. In my many (not saying quite how many!) years of riding, one thing the horses have explained to me is that they have no problem with dropping the subject today and picking it up again tomorrow.
Just make sure that you finish the ride on a good note. You do NOT have to finish on a 'perfect' note in regards to the skill you were building - you just need to go to something that makes you both happy and confident - and finish.
Then come back to it the next day. You'll find that your horse went and did his 'homework' and maybe, just maybe, your coordination (muscle memory) is a tiny bit better. Just keep at it - persevere not by drilling on and on, but by giving yourself permission to quit.
Finally! The Ultimate Rider-Centered Program!
Ready for something completely different? If you liked what you read here, you might be interested in the Horse Listening Practice Sessions.
This is NOT a program where you watch other people's riding lessons. Start working with your horse from Day 1.
That nagging feeling is urging you to step even deeper into the riding world. Much more awaits aside from just the mechanical steps of the horse. Below the surface level, you discover that you can in fact influence your horse beyond your wildest expectations - you realize that through riding alone, you can create the horse's attitude, comfort, self-confidence, and even the way your horse carries himself. You can affect his coat shine, muscling, the quality of his movement when he is turned out in the field.
You discover that you can be a prime factor in developing his personality.
And at this point, your riding efforts go through a transformation. You now use your technical skill to improve the horse - his way of going and his mental outlook. No longer is it sufficient to get the horse moving from point A to point B. Now, your focus changes to getting there with more balance, a little lighter on the forehand, with more enthusiasm and expression... and you search for the intangibles that become the true essence of riding.
Thus you move from the pure mechanics of riding to a soul-stirring, relationship-creating effort that involves not just a rider and a horse but two partners giving of each self to create a new whole.
This path from the lower-case 'r' to the upper-case 'R' is what keeps you coming back for more....
Horses represent so many things: they are our pets, our recreational friends, our competitive partners, our working companions. What began as a childhood fantasy (literally! - I had read all the horse books I could by the time I was 12 years old, and there were still a few years to wait before I even saw a horse in real life) turned into a 'lifestyle' in my adulthood years. And through the years, the horses did in fact teach me all about 'real' life: its ups and downs, and the nuances that serve to complete and fulfill desires, expectations, worldviews and so much more....
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