Let’s get brutally honest … This is not Dressage. It’s abusive riding. It’s unharmonious riding. It’s riding with physical force and coercion. But the one thing it is not is Dressage. Dressage is French for training …..
I have a broken neck and still go to the gym every day. What’s your excuse? If you’re asking your horse to do any kind of formal work (i.e. you aren’t just hacking down the…
Have you ever been caught in a situation where you simply cannot win in any regard? No matter the choice you make you lose, and you lose big? I have and it’s miserable. But the…
From time to time (sometimes more often than others) I receive comments or remarks along the lines of, “how dare you to criticize person-x for abusing their horse, if you’re so great then post a…
Really, the most important thing you’re missing right now is not being with your horse 1-on-1. Stop reading this article, put on some barn-appropriate-attire and say, “screw it” to whatever you had planned to do on the computer (those 6 hours of repetitiously refreshing your Facebook newsfeed for example..). The emails you were going to grudgingly respond to can wait until the morning. That series you were going to watch on Netflix can’t compete with the horse hair you’ll be covered in for the rest of the night.
So, what causes procrastination? Basically, it is fears, but each procrastinator develops and responds to his/her own specific fears. In varying degrees we are all afraid of facing reality — life’s challenges, the hard work and frustrations ahead of us. You can either deny reality or face it, i.e. say there is “no problem” or admit (maybe even exaggerate) the problems. THus, there are relaxed, fun-loving procrastinators and tense-worried procrastinators. From a behavioral viewpoint, negative reinforcement plays a major role in the development of procrastination, i.e. behaviors (watching TV) and thoughts (rationalizations or excuses) enable students to avoid unpleasant work. Escape from something unpleasant is reinforcing. Procrastination is an escape.
In this final week, we acknowledge the inner inherently mysterious spiritual heart of creativity. We address the fact that creativity requires receptivity and profound trust — capacities we have developed through our work in this course. We set our creative aims and take a special look at last minute sabotage. We renew our commitment to the use of the tools.
This week we focus on our artistic autonomy. We examine the ongoing ways in which we must nurture and accept ourselves as artists. We explore the behaviors that can strengthen our spiritual base and therefore, our creative power. We take a special look at the way sin which success must be handled in order that we not sabotage our freedom.
The aids are the means by which the rider communicates his or her will to the horse. Artificial aids, such as whips, spurs, long whips, and all types of special tack, can be very effective when properly used. But the secret to equitation lies int he use of the natural aids — the seat, the hands, and the legs.
A video of Monty Roberts in attendance of a brutal beating of a young horse being broken to ride (and I mean broken), standing passively by while his film crews record, is making the rounds. Was he right in this situation or should he have stepped in to show a different way?
I avoid purchasing from major tack stores anymore, even from many local ones as they too carry very abusive items. I don’t want to support that kind of thinking in the industry so I look to buying items used from acquaintances and if not from them then from other individuals who aren’t in the business of retailing products to pain-train horses.
This week we explore the perils that can ambush us on our creative path. Because creativity is a spiritual issue, many of the perils are spiritual perils. In the essays, tasks and exercises of the week, we search out the toxic patterns we cling to that block our creative flow.
Just looking through the bit selection is enough to make you throw up. But they also offer ginger salve to “aid in maintaining a proper tail set,” and in case you’re a professional they sell it by the case…
Perhaps you’ve experienced this at some point as well. When I was still very new to horses and participating in my first shows and horse fairs and campouts… I never felt like I belonged, and I didn’t! I wanted it to be about the horse, not about comparing ribbons and trophies. Not about sitting around the trailers, drinking beers and telling bad jokes. Not about rubbing elbows with people who’d “accomplished” things (titles, trophies, wealth). I wanted it to be about learning to be a better equestrian, to take a few steps further in the endless quest for knowledge with the horse.
This week finds us facing the internal blocks to creativity. It may be tempting to abandon ship at this point. DON’T! We will explore and acknowledge the emotional difficulties that beset us in the past as we made creative efforts. We will undertake healing the shame of past failures. We will gain in compassion as we re-parent the frightened artist child who years for creative accomplishment. We will learn tools to dismantle emotional blocks and support renewed risk.
All disciplines of riding can be improved through mental concentration. The ability to tune out distractions, tune out your personal thoughts, tune out that speeding ticket you got on the drive to the barn; and tune into your horse, what you’re feeling through the reins, what your body is doing in the saddle, the timing of the aids, your horse’s balance and gaits and… riding.