GoodHorsemanship Blog
July 7, 2010
So I was riding my other horse these last few days. She’s short. She’s black. She’s prone to sudden spooks at roots and rocks and she’s prone to bucking me off when I least expect it. She’s young and new to me so we’re still getting to know one another. Riding her these last few days really got me thinking about my feel when I ride. For example, she lets me know, quite quickly, if my balance is off slightly (to the back, front or side to side). She’s not one of those trusty steeds who will get back under you if you become unbalanced. Oh no…She’s off like a farting rocket, squirting the other way, leaving me eating dust, and scratching my helmet in surprise. Use too much hand and she’ll slam on the brakes if your body isn’t ready. Too much leg and she spins out. So a bunch of us hit the trails on Monday and it quickly became apparent that there was little feel happening between the two of us. By little I mean zero. In my circle we call this “Riding like a monkey”, which isn’t really fitting because monkey’s are pretty agile and athletic creatures. We weren’t on the same trail, let alone the same planet. But thankfully this horsemanship stuff has helped me with my emotional fitness over the years, so I didn’t get upset - even when I had to get off and lead her up a really steep and rocky section and she kept slamming into me as we struggled to keep our collective footing up the baby-head-sized rock covered grade. We just plugged along at the back of the group, sweating, whistling (which is a great thing to do when you are frustrated) and trying to keep some semblance of feel and connection between us. We made it through the ride, mostly intact, and loaded up to head home. But it left me thinking about how I focused heavily on the mechanics of riding and not the feel during our ride. I was too busy thinking about the gross motor skills involved instead of working on the feel between us, and letting my body and hers do the mechanics naturally. Hmmm…
The next day I took my husband out riding on a different trail. It was pretty hot so I chose a trail that is shaded for 75 % of its length. It starts with a long, gradual uphill climb that takes about 40 minutes at a good working pace. There’s plenty of roots and rocks to spook at, trees to take riders knees off and a few logs to jump. But the feel and connection between us that day felt like a pair of old dance partners. From the start I focused on the feel of everything – the warm sun through the trees, the slight breeze cooling my sweaty lower back, the smell of the creek as we rode near it, my steed’s responses to my requests. And my riding reflected my state – smooth, connected, effortless, easy, we felt like one unit with the same goal. The mechanics of riding the challenging trail at varying speeds just sorted themselves out. It was a fantastic ride. We rode obstacles we hadn’t yet conquered together and I felt great about us at the end of the trail.
As I reread through this post I’m struck by what I’ve typed towards the end of each paragraph. And I think that’s the difference between having feel-connection vs. having thinking-mechanics. Don’t get me wrong…of course we need to think when we ride! But sometimes I think we think too much, (or do I feel we think too much?) which gets in the way of feeling. And when we stop feeling we lose that connection with our horses. So as I get back to riding my other horses this week I’ll be taking this lesson to heart. Feeling, noticing without judging, and looking for the connection, always. And I’ll leave you with a picture of my other horse…
Knowledge of others
is intelligence; knowledge of self is wisdom. Mastery of others is strength; mastery of self is power.
~ Lao Tzu
So I was riding my other horse these last few days....
Like an old married couple we know
each other....
Who's flying this plane anyways...?
R-E-S-P-E-C-T, find out what it means to me…
Trust me, I’m gonna MAKE you overcome
your fears!
Dear diary…some 20 years on
