The collapse of Instant Teleseminar has caused the audio to disappear from this lesson. Luckily I was working off notes that are still underneath, so you can see what I was talking about. 🙂
Watch and analyze how Frederic deals with the yes and no from our last lesson – it’s a large part of what makes this horseman world class.
This is June 2017’s Live Seminar in its entirety, including class brags!
This month we have a video from Frederic Pignon (one of the greatest horsemen in the world in my not so humble opinion!) 🙂 We’re going to analyse his keys to success and more to the point, talk about how you can enjoy those keys to success too.
First of all, let’s go through this months brags. Sometimes folks, it’s like extracting teeth to get you to brag about yourselves. Remember, talking about your successes is a way to share those keys to success with others and inspire each other.
Oriana brag: I meant to add Oriana to the brag last month and missed it – one of her horses is inviting her to ride – remember she had surgery for new hips earlier in the year – so it’s a VERY big deal! We’ll have a chat about her keys to success on the call. I didn’t remember all of this correctly and Oriana set me straight! 🙂
Fiona brag: Fiona is a local lady who did Reiki Level One a few weeks ago and has been doing 21 days to a Quiet Mind with her horse Opal. I was doing a healing session on Opal yesterday down in the arena and I am smiling about how far Fiona has come in such a short period of time. And Opal made a huge breakthrough yesterday.
Fiona’s keys to success – hmmm she’s going to be listening to the call on recording this morning so I can’t ask her, but to me it looked like she already knew almost all of what came up in the session. She ALREADY had good instincts, she just wasn’t using them because she didn’t have confidence in what she was getting. We’re not taught to pay attention to our Inner Guidance system and when we learn how to, wow… the changes come in thick and fast.
Kathy brag: A video lesson that we did with Kathy & Bo a couple of weeks ago was the inspiration for today’s lesson. I was so incredibly proud for the breakthrough they made. I’m not sure if Kathy realises how incredibly special that breakthrough was. She was not only feeling HER own Feel, her own Inner Guidance system beautifully, but she was feeling when Bo was or was not connected with her and was able to do something about it to bring him back to her.
I felt Bo disconnect, then watched her pause and wait for him to re-connect again (no point in continuing on when there was no one there listening), sometimes needing to smooch or move the hind end a little, but in such a gentle inviting way that by the end, he was re-connecting in the pause itself. Wowww…
Almost every problem is solved with a deeper connection.
Then in this week’s lesson she had a bear (yes a BEAR!) in the paddock earlier in the day and we had a whole different lesson getting Bo relaxed out of his hypervigilance!
Pignon video
Today we’re going to be talking about Pignon’s philosophy that underpins his so beautifully expressive horses (he’s the guy who co-founded Cavalia) and the HOW to get his kind of success.
Pignon’s foundation philosophy is about getting the horse to say YES willingly and enthusiastically and kind of celebrating everything they are and everything they could be at the same time.
And even if we don’t have his skills and experience and sheer knowledge – we CAN have his Feel and we CAN have the results of that Feel.
Saying YES is bigger than just allowing the horse to say NO. Although allowing the horse to say NO is part of it, Pignon actually apologises to a horse if he’s pushed them too far to a NO. Now that’s different from a horse saying “get stuffed” – he treats that differently. In fact, he treats every horse uniquely in the moment. But still, he consider it HIS responsibility to fix it, if he pushes a horse too far and they feel they have to resist him and say NO.
This is HOW he has such willing, expressive horses who turn themselves inside out to perform for him, with him. This is HOW he has horses so willing to say YES to him.
Every time I watch a Pignon video, I get excited because I know how to TEACH that incredibly special thing that he has that is the cause of his success. And it’s waaaayyy beyond mere techniques. In fact at that clinic that I went to in Sydney with him year before last, Narel and I sat there saying “That’s in Fast Track” and That’s in Fast track” and “That’s in Fast Track too”.
So, knowing that having a horse say YES consistently is the foundation for his magnificent work, let’s have a watch of this video with his three black stallions and talk about the keys to success that are already in your hands if you’re on Fast Track already.
Video notes
Oriana tells me that two of these stallions are Friesians and one is a Lusitano.
We’re going to watch this video from beginning to end and just appreciate it the first time. While you’re watching, notice that the horses are happy with HIGH energy. I know that didn’t happen by accident.
And FEEL it – it’s not performance smiles with this guy – he is really ENJOYING playing with his horse.
Notice how much appreciation there is in this video – Frederic just oozes appreciation of his horses and has pause moments for that all over the place.
Watch the video and enjoy, then come back to the notes below.
You’ll find the pause button on the left hand side bottom of the video and if you put your mouse along the play line with the white circle on it that shows where the video is up to, notice that it will show you the minutes and seconds, along with a tiny picture of what’s happening at that time.
Take a moment to practice – just click on that line a couple of times and see how the video changes back to exactly the time that you clicked on.
Now – here’s the places on the video that I’d like you have think about as you go through.
3 – 5 seconds in to the video – notice the “Pay attention to me please” – at higher energy / building energy. Did he start that high in his training together? Or did he build to that higher energy?
From 11 seconds it feels to me like he’s cantering with the horse in his whole mind and being – just not physically. And hey that’s in the Mirror game from Fast Track – that made me smile!
FEEL the horse following his leading energy on those circles around 22 seconds.
I got the strong impression while I was watching, that at one time the horse OFFERED that particular way of changing sides and that Frederic was in tune enough to notice that and then worked on how to communicate that together.
At 26 seconds – notice the draw as his body language just sucked that horse in to him. What do you think would have happened if the first time the horse came to him like that, if he had said “Thanks that’s excellent, now go off in the other direction”? Yep, I don’t think the horse would have offered to do that again in a hurry. Pignon would have stood and appreciated the HECK out of that moment.
What do you think would have happened if he had TREATED the horse coming in to him like that the first time the horse offered it? Well I think he would have interrupted the horse’s thought process and had him focused on the treat instead of the feeling good, feeling appreciated feeling. Now, the interesting thing is that no two horses are the same, no two situations are the same – so maybe one horse you WOULD treat when they offered by coming in like that. What I AM saying is don’t treat thoughtlessly. FEEL into what’s perfect in THIS moment for THIS horse.
I’ll bet he clicker trained / treat trained that pick up of the whip.
1 minute 22 seconds notice the way he’s holding the whip – like a paint brush – he’s a very good painter too – but I love the energy of the way that holds the whip.
FEEL his appreciation for the horse at 1minute 22 seconds. You couldn’t fake that hey? You couldn’t fake that appreciation and have it mean anything to the horse. You have to FEEL the appreciation, for the horse to FEEL your appreciation. And feeling genuine appreciation means feeling authentic hey? There’s a whole topic in here alone.
Take the video to 1 minute and 33 seconds and notice that gesture of the whip that halts the horse in place. At the clinic that I went to I noticed that he was quite strong and clear about “stop here” – even with horses he didn’t know before the weekend.
And there’s moments and different ways that he says “Pay attention to me please”. The smooch, the call, the banging on the stand, a flick of the whip when the first stallion lost focus not long after the second stallion came in.
At 4.05 I suspect they lost focus on him and started playing together and out of camera range you can hear the whip crack and I think he changed directions a couple of times to get their focus back on him. What do you think would have happened if he had punished them for that? Or even said “Bad boy!” I guarantee there was not even a “bad boy” in that – just changing direction a couple of times to get their high energy focused back on him.
Now back to 4 .36 for a piece of freaking poetry. From High energy to lowering it at a shhh… And more of that admiration for the CLARITY and ONENESS of their connection together at 4.58.
Into his pocket for a treat at 5.23, specially for that horse on the far side from him who had had more “trouble” bringing his energy down.
At 6.16 there is another bit of what I think is poetry. He realizes that one of the horses isn’t following him and turns and calls. Horse stays there on the stand. He calls again, smooches, gives inviting body language, horse still stays there. And he just seamlessly changes it and I don’t believe that’s just for the performance.
7.56 when he starts laying the horses down. Do you think he EVER did that with ropes? Even at the beginning? Yeah… I doubt it too. Whole topic of conversation there though, cos it COULD be done with ropes and gobsmacking feel to NOT be taking something away from the horse. But if you had that kind of feel, why would you ever use ropes anyway?
8.05 when that boisterous young horse gets another treat and as much as I have looked, I don’t believe the other horse got a treat for the same thing. It’s like Frederic KNOWS that what motivates ONE horse is different to what motivates the other. It’s like he truly understands deeply who this first horse is (the one who doesn’t get treated) and feels and appreciates his dignity and power and gives him that acknowledgement of that in the moment they shared together. Sue was talking on the call about how a treat can be almost an insult to some horses and that’s my experience too. 🙂
And know that it takes a LOT of muscle strength for a horse to hold a bow for that long! It definitely would take time to build up the strength…
So HOW do YOU get what Pignon has with these horses?
They have no fear of him – he doesn’t push them into something they are afraid of and they can count on that.
He is UTTERLY authentic with his emotions – centred, balanced, utterly Present and the horses feel confident because of that. We have often talked about how when WE have made a breakthrough into being more Present, then our relationship with our horses automatically takes a leap forwards.
WE too can be more and more authentic about our Feelings, more and more Present, by following our Inner Guidance system, not just with horses, but in the rest of our lives too.
He doesn’t blame the horse when something goes wrong – he actually apologises to them when he’s pushed them too far. He is ALWAYS looking behind the horses behavior to what’s REALLY going on with them and from THAT knowledge. It gets easier and easier to notice what’s going on behind a horse’s behavior when we have techniques to bring us into the Present Moment.
When we’re present, the understanding flows easier and that expansive understanding ALWAYS FEELS GOOD – so it adds to our authenticity. (See the circle happening here. ) 🙂
He has phenomenal Feel for his horses. He KNOWS what’s going on with them at almost the same moment they do, because they are so connected. Kathy felt the same connection when she made that breakthrough with Bo the other week – feeling the nuances of when Bo was connected and when he had drifted off.
So… how do YOU get what Frederic Pignon has?
You commit to you and your horse feeling good in your interactions together and when it doesn’t feel good (cos’ we’re learning how to be more and more Present) we simply figure out what we have to change to feel good again. And this “feel good” is more important than the goal – in fact learning how to follow “feeling good” is essential to reaching the goal easily. It’s what makes fast track a fast track.
It doesn’t matter that your horse has been stuffed up – you can unstuff them with our simple Release, Re-Learn and Re-Program approach to everything that may have put resistance into them and maybe even trauma.
You work with your Inner Guidance system, getting more and more Present as you practice your unique sense of Feel, until – like Kathy did with Bo the other week – you get to the point where you can feel when your horse is and is not connecting back with you and from there it’s a piece of cake. Because from that connection, real two way communication is possible. Feeling the connection like that comes from being Present in the moment and when we are that Present, understanding of everything that is going on flows so much more easily and with that understanding flows first joy and then results.
I say first flows joy and then flows results, because what speeds everything up hugely is going for the feel good of joy first – in whatever way it takes to find it. Feeling good is the most powerful motivator under the sun.
And from the place of feeling so good, then it’s EASY for horse and human to communicate together about what they are looking for from each other. Training then isn’t even about training – it’s about learning to communicate together and expand you abilities together.
See you on the forum for more discussion – click here for that. 🙂