This is a rare photo of the great but retiringly shy horseman Philip Nye from Tasmania, riding his Arab stallion Takari. I once saw this guy galloping bareback and bridle-less across the skyline in a giant open paddock of … er… maybe 20 acres or more – reach into his pocket for a thin bit of rope, held it in two hands and threw it as a loop down over his horse’s head. Takari reached out, snatched it out of the air into his mouth and they came down from that gallop into a beautiful piaffe using the piece of rope like a bit.
And he calls himself a sheep farmer… Head shaking here…
Philip also trained Pat Parelli’s black mare Magic for four years all the way to a beautiful piaffe, before Pat collected her and took her back to America. I have some video footage here somewhere on an old tape format, of Philip having just unloaded Magic from the Spirit of Tasmania on his way to give her up to Pat for the last time, bareback, piaffing his way down the busy docks. Brilliant and magical and happy and sad all at the same time.
Our Comfort Zone model was Philip’s and I am privileged to share it with you, this central key of one of the world’s great horsemen, that is an essential component to world class feel.
This is also the lesson that Corey Mindlin raved about in the testimonials when she talked about how excited she was to discover that you really could learn the “have to be born with it” Feel. I’ve put what she said at the bottom of the page, so you can bask in the enjoyment of what you’re achieving here.
This Lesson pulls together information that you already have, in a way that will have YOU – yes little ol’ you – having a major quality of a world class horse person. Well, I don’t know if you noticed yet – but THAT is already starting to happen.
This Lesson explains how you know when to do something, when to NOT do something, when to take action and when NOT to – to know what is perfect for you and this horse, in this moment.
I didn’t think it was appropriate to talk about this subject until we got to this stage of Fast Track – it’s too easy to misinterpret unless your knowledge of how you experience Not Quite Right is very solid. So make sure that the Quiet Mind Lesson about a gentler experience of Not Quite Right is on your review list for this Lesson!
Click here for an alternate recording
Philip Nye’s Comfort Zone Model – except he never swears!
Review Lessons
You can review these lessons to add to your understanding of this Lesson:
– The early warning signal that something is Not Quite Right
– and most importantly of all, A deeper connection and a gentler Not Quite Right
Written Version of the Audio
Here’s another one of those REALLY important lessons.
I am going to talk about how to combine using your early warning signal that something is Not Quite Right with the comfort zone model in a way that I haven’t talked about before and then we are going to apply this new perspective to some practical things in the next few lessons.
Have you noticed yet, or has it happened yet – that you can SEE your horse clearly not comfortable about something – CLEARLY in their Not Too Sure Zone – but you have double checked and you are STILL not feeling that anything is Not Quite Right?
Well I am about to explain how that can happen and what it means for you and your horse.
Philip Nye who created the comfort zone model, talked about only being in the Not Too Sure Zone for no longer than two minutes because, as he said, two minutes is a long time when things are a bit tight and tense. But the trouble is that Phil is an amazing horseman with incredibly good skills and mountains of experience – so he can handle 2 minutes out there in the not too sure zone.
Our problem is that when we don’t have those skills or such a huge personal comfort zone, then it’s not OK for us to stay out in the Not Too Sure Zone for as long as Phil does.
So how do we know what is right for US and for OUR horse.
When you can see your horse is NOT comfortable about something – that they are in their Not Too Sure Zone – AND yet you are feeling peaceful or excited or something else positive – then you can choose to help your horse by keeping them in the Not Too Sure zone for longer than we have been doing on the course so far. THAT’s how you KNOW when it’s OK to keep going – when you feel good.
And when you feel Not Quite Right, THAT’s when to stop and back off or change it.
And THAT’s how we can deal with each individual mix of horse and person experience and size of each individual comfort zone.
Let’s say that again because it is a very big deal.
When you feel good, you know that you can choose to keep going even though your horse is clearly and visibly in their Not Too Sure Zone. And when you feel Not Quite Right, then it’s time to stop and back off and wait for The Chew or to change something – no matter WHAT your horse looks like – no matter how comfortable they look.
Does that make sense?
You are going to start relying on your feelings that something is Not Quite Right even more than you will rely on your eyes.
AHHAA – but the key to success with this is that you HAVE to clearly recognise both the good feelings – the peacefulness, the excitement and the happiness and be able to recognise them quite separately from how you feel Not Quite Right and be reliable in experiencing those feelings.
Now if any of you are still not clear on how you experience Not Quite Right, then this is the time to get in touch with us and attend to that – because you cannot take this next step effectively until you are very clear about feeling and using Not Quite Right.
I have noticed that lots of people who THINK they have a problem, often just need a short time with me or one of the staff here to clearly recognise what they are already doing – so don’t be backward about adding on to your core lessons with a small private over this issue which is soooo… pivotal to your happiness with your horse.
You want to be VERY clear on this one before we get to the ridden work.
And being able to do this folks, is what makes a world class horse person.
Have a bask in what Corey wrote about this lesson and soak up how wonderful you are – think about the importance of what you are achieving for you AND you horse:
YOU CAN’T TEACH ‘FEEL’. How many times have I heard that in clinics/lessons, or read that from some of the most renowned, well published great horsemen over the decades.
Well they’re utterly and completely WRONG. THEY can’t teach it. But Jenny can.
I’ve been a participant in Jenny’s online course, Through The Grace Of The Horse for seven months (now called Fast Track to Brilliant Riding), and now that we’re approaching the end of this miracle-packed series, the lessons are revealing even bigger and more dramatic breakthroughs than ever before. Looking back, this gradual build-up to more and more mind boggling “AH HAAAAAA’s” has really been Jenny’s purposeful, methodical way of bringing us to a point where suddenly this lesson arrived to my computer.
After a few days of having to read, think, re-read, re-think, read, quiet mind it, read, visualize it and re-read it again, an avalanche of understanding swept over me and practically knocked me off my chair when I finally realized that, because of everything she’d taught us up to this point, and making SURE that we “got it”, she was able to give us this lesson which is nothing less than explaining and TEACHING us that ever elusive, high on an unreachable pedestal unless “you were born with it”, FEEL.
I am NOT exaggerating. I am NOT describing a uniquely personal revelation: just ask the 23 other members in our online course. This is NOT a paid political announcement.
If you want to LEARN “feel” and LEARN how to open your heart to reveal all the skills you have inside you to eventually be on a par with all the great horsemen and so-called horse whisperers, there is no other way that I am aware of to do that, to LEARN that, than by taking one of Jenny’s meticulously, brilliantly constructed online courses.
Tell every horse person you know. Do it for the grace of the horse.
Just in case this inspires you to want to tell someone else, here’s the link – Fast Track to Brilliant Riding 🙂