I thought this was a good time to talk about collection. Self carriage comes before collection and even though we are still working on finding self carriage for both you and your horse in walk and run, walk, trot canter and even gallop if you want, knowing where you are going can be a very useful thing
Advanced Lesson 7 A simple pathway to beautiful Collection
The first person to send me video footage of them doing this exercise (that they don’t mind me using in the course) can have a free lesson with me. It doesn’t have to be perfect, in fact it makes a better lesson if it’s not. 🙂
WRITTEN VERSION OF THE AUDIO
I thought this was a good time to talk about collection. Self carriage comes before collection and even though we are still working on finding self carriage for both you and your horse in walk and run, walk, trot canter and even gallop if you want, knowing where you are going can be a very useful thing
Actually that makes me laugh. “I thought this was a good time.” (Gentle sarcasm in my voice there.) I woke up this morning, as I so often do when the lessons are being guided by other than me – I woke up with these words running through my mind and I had to get up and write them down before I forgot exactly what I was told. So it wasn’t me personally that thought this was a good time. 🙂 Self carriage for both horse and rider is so important, that I wouldn’t have thought about talking about collection for a while.
“REAL collection is not something that you can do to a horse – you can’t push it or pull it or drive it from behind and hold it in front. It’s a feeling… It’s a feeling of power and excitement and exuberance and joyfulness.”
So when you’ve found a place of mental, emotional and physical well being for you and your horse, when you’ve found a comfort zone for you and your horse that has both you and your horse in self carriage with a supple tension free body that you WILL find and develop with this exercise, then you will be able to handle power and excitement and exuberance and joyfulness in your horse.
And know that right now… right now, as you are working on your own self carriage on and off your horse, you are working on the skill to channel that energy and express that on a horse’s back in collection – with no incorrect tension in your own body.
So THAT is where you’re going as you find self carriage in your body. THAT’s where you are going when you take that self awareness and self carriage back to your horse as you BE the change that you want your horse to be with these lessons. Whew…
Your mission, should you accept it, is to get your body out on the road or footpath or track without a horse, find every nuance of self carriage at different speeds in your own body – explore your body and the different positions needed to have EFFORTLESSLY powerful posture in the different speeds of walk, to floating walk, to jog, to run. Melt off and clean up any tensions in your own body that will get in the way of your own self carriage and that beautiful collection.
Explore running on the spot and floating forwards into a walk, running on the spot and floating forwards into a run. The correct position, self carriage in your own body has no tension in it and it is EFFORTLESS – even at my weight, it is effortless.
And do all this with a gentle inner awareness and a decision that effortless self carriage is your goal. Remember that that deciding is a very powerful thing to do, that will then bring up changes that need to happen to reach that goal.
Remember your soft eyes and smiling that will counteract trying too hard, because as we know, trying too hard is one thing that will get in our way.
And back to your horse
At each stage, take your forward progress in your own self carriage out to your horse to check how you’re going. Work on a long rein, very much preferably a loose rein. You’ve watched Steve using rein contact with Oliver because he’s been working on straightening him by encouraging him to use his weight differently.
However, when we’re doing something that is such a big change – like this learning to carry the weight of a human and find self carriage in that weight carrying – then focusing on one thing at a time can be a very useful thing to do.
So have a long rein and allow them to go wherever in the arena or paddock that they want to go. The speed and the transition from walk to trot will be the only things that you worry about.
You can’t balance your horse, you can only balance yourself by being in self carriage in your own body, having the suppleness to not interfere with your horses movement (and if that sounds too hard, it’s not – that is EXACTLY what you are doing out on the road). Have self carriage in your own body and then this simple exercise will ALLOW your horse to balance themselves underneath you in all movements. That’s why I am encouraging you to use a loose rein for this self carriage exercise.
Work mostly at the walk and use the baby steps of gathering up for the trot and sinking back down to a walk whenever you feel any tension – using that same inner awareness and the feeling of your own body in self carriage that you have been finding out on the road or footpath or track.
This is an easy path to a very special result. Have fun folks!