Do a 180! Or even a 360!

With cold weather here to stay, at least for a couple more months, not only is this a good time to get educated by watching videos, auditing clinics, and reading, it is also a good time to think about our relationship with our horses.  A couple of weeks ago, I suggested that you turn off your brain—now I’m suggesting that you turn it back on!

What I’m thinking of is taking a look at things from a completely different perspective.  For instance, if you have the mind-set that your horse hates arena work, you already have certain expectations of how your time in the arena is going to go.  We all know how our mood and attitude affect our spouse or children, and of course it affects our horses too.  You head to the arena, after grooming and tacking up your horse, somewhat less cheerfully than if you were heading out for a nice hack or to jump cross-country.  You may be a little resentful at having to ride inside, or that winter is dragging on, or that you can’t find your favorite winter riding gloves.  Make no mistake, your horse has picked up on your mood.  This may be manifested, for instance,  as your horse being sluggish and unwilling to work, or being squirrelly in an attempt to get your attention, or being cranky and resentful that you aren’t thoroughly grateful to be spending some time together.  

Our relationship with our horses is just that:  a relationship.  It needs to be fed and nurtured and not taken for granted, like all relationships.  Can you envision how different it would feel, if instead of saying to yourself, “Poopsie doesn’t like arena work”, you were to say, “Poopsie and I  have an opportunity to work on our serpentines” or lateral work, or drill team maneuvers with a buddy, or simply spend some time together.

I encourage you to sit with both these scenarios.  Try them on for size, and allow yourself to feel how your energy changes as the scenario changes.  Then think about how your relationship with your horse is affected by your energy.  And that’s just the beginning!

Discover deeper beauty

Beauty is only skin deep--unless it's deeper.

What do I mean? Well, it is still -20 F outside, and the dogs go out for a moment and come back with icicles on their eyelashes. The sun is shining and the trees all around are sparkling. And yet it is truly dangerous to be outside.

Take some time over the winter to educate your equestrian's eye. Watch videos--sale videos on YouTube, training videos, competitions. Look for the flashiest, most striking horses you can find. Then slow things down and take a good look again. How is that horse moving? Is he relaxed and carrying himself and his rider with ease? Is he working hard, but correctly through?
Or is he hollow, doing his best but restricted or stiff in his movement?
How is the rider sitting, and how quiet are the aids (how big are those spurs?).

Is what is happening pretty on the surface, but dangerous when you look deeper? Sometimes the plain looking pair are really the most correct--don't overlook them because they aren't famous or have no chrome.

Look for the best of what is there. Don't criticize, learn. Educate yourself, and at the very least give those who put themselves out there some credit.

My Mother always said, "You can always learn something from every situation, even if it's what you DON'T want to do."

So curl up, stay warm, and get an eyeful!

Winter contemplation

What happens in winter? I really hate the cold and the snow, and yet here I sit--having lived in Northern Vermont for over 25 years.
Getting out there and riding is truly hard. Especially my own horse. I will ALWAYS make sure the clients' horses are worked. Then I just want to curl up in by the stove, and hope my horse knows I love him, but I just can't face another nose/toes/fingers-numbing 30 minutes.
And yet...
When I DO ride him, wonderful things seem to happen in winter. He goes well, and I am very clear and simple in my requests and requirements. Our half-steps are really coming, and his canter--though it still is his area of greatest tension, eventually starts to jump softly under me.

So many things go so well, even when I can only muster 2-3 days a week. It remains a mystery why I don't carry the same spirit and ability when it is lovely and green and the sand footing is perfect....

I'm sure the answer is right there. Whatever it is, I'll take it :)

Workshop for Middlebury College Equestrians--Wonderful!

Amazing! Every clinic we teach, every workshop we do I learn something new. And I am amazed and honored by our participants who are open, honest and really in tune with their horsiness.

Thank you to the participants in the Middlebury College CEGA workshop on Monday. You were so impressive in your capacity to understand the connections between mind body and horse, and so willing to expand your awareness to feel the changes in your selves and the horses.

I always feel honored by the folks that attend our workshops. Thank you all, and we look forward to working with you again!

Sometimes we get it right

Lately my focus and energy have given me some sort of extra inner confidence that comes out as I ride. It's an ease of doing that comes from knowing.
I've felt this before--and I realize that I have too often assumed that since a thing is easy--flowing--I must in some way not be doing enough or trying HARD enough.
But you know what? Sometimes we just get it right!

I can totally accept this knowing in some areas of my life. Riding my own horse is the hardest place for me to feel it. Indeed, sometimes we just aren't trying enough or asking enough and we settle, and it feels comfortable, easy, and, well--average. This is a hard place to push ourselves out of. It's why so many of my students tell me they ride better and try harder during a lesson than when riding on their own. But for now, I've found that place for myself and my horse, when I can ask for and expect really great things, and we get them and we're together and nothing could feel better--transitions, lateral movements you name it. It's truly a mind-body-spirit connection.

So for now, I've got it right, and I'll hang onto to it for as long as I can!

Turn off your brain!

This week is my week to do the CEGA blog posting.  Kate, Barb and I have structured some of our CEGA responsibilities on a three-week rotation, and the blog posting is one of them.  Sometimes, a topic comes to me pretty easily.  Sometimes, I feel like I have to just sit down and start typing, then my brain starts working.  The funny thing is, when I am writing, it is actually much more productive if I shut my brain off, and just let the ideas and thoughts come out my fingertips.  It is when I am over-thinking that I get into trouble.  

And so it is with riding.  I consistently find that two things are true when riding.
 

1. Over-thinking gets me into trouble, or at the very least, interferes with the feel that I am striving to develop.  
2. Sometimes, I have to just go through the motions of grooming, tacking up, and hopping onto my horse, to sort of prime the pump and enable me to have a really good ride.
   

This is precisely what happened to me yesterday. I had ridden Sid, my really fun, solid, reliable little Standardbred.  Good conditioning ride, no expectations of anything else.  We had a blast.  

Then it was time for me to ride Monarch, my Thoroughbred, who is also a great amount of fun, but let’s just say that he tends to be more “highly aware” than Sid.  And once again, right before I got on him, the neighbors across the road decided to try setting off some bottle rockets.   Another neighbor was walking down the road with her three unruly dogs and a little kid who was pulling one of those noisy plastic sleds.  Oh boy. Combine this with the fact that I hadn’t ridden Monarch in over a week, and my mind was full of the possibilities for things to go wrong.  So you see, I was already in defensive mode when I mounted Monarch.  

How silly!  As it turns out, we had a great ride!  I was aware that I was defensive and over-analyzing the situation, and just decided to trust myself and my horse.  I worked on getting Monarch’s attention on me, and not on the sled or the dogs, and I did some deep breathing and relaxation exercises for me so that I could be back in my body and less in my mind.  You want to lean on my leg, Monarch?  I will give you ONE good nudge with my leg to get off me, and that will be that.  And I will expect you to respond appropriately. You want to accelerate in the trot and start flying around? Nope.  ONE good half-halt will suffice.  Then you will resume that nice one-two, one-two cadence.  I focused on feeling, and not on thinking.   The results were fabulous.  Monarch really liked me being clear and not nagging him.  He was reaching out for the bit, flicking his ears back and forth, and responding much more willingly and quickly.  I really liked being able to communicate with Monarch in a clear, way that left no room for misinterpretation and that relied on feeling rather than thinking.   

Here’s wishing you all a wonderful New Year, filled with fun times with your horses!

Sometimes in all the bustle of the holidays, our horse partners get a bit lost in the shuffle. We have too many errands, it is too cold (and we aren't used to it yet), we get too tired, it's too dark... the list for reasons not to ride, not to spend time in the barn can get pretty long.

Can I offer some advice? Try going out anyway. Just once, even. I don't mean to feed or muck or do other chores. I mean go out once, when you really don't "feel" like it, and go for a ride in the snow, do a little schooling session to see what you both remember, or even do some unmounted work--lungeing or liberty work. Anything that lets you reconnect.
Put some carols on the stereo or ipod and ride with a friend to the music. Or listen to the gentle hiss of snow as it falls around you, or the birds in the bushes wrangling over the berries and seeds. When you share these moments with your horse, they take on a deeper meaning, ad you'll enjoy them all the more.

Just before Christmas there is a calm that settles over me. I don't mean that I have all the shopping done, or that the house is all clean. It's the spirit of the season. The joy, love, hope and remembering those who are no longer here to share it with us. That's when I remember to get my self out to the barn, and even if it is for five minutes, reconnect with my horses.

Happy Holidays to you all, and may your New Year be filled with light, hope and joy for the future :)