Photo: Steve didn’t like this game at first, because the head down position reminded him of the many times he’d been bucked off – but now he thinks it’s right up there as one of the best things we do with and for our horse. It helps anchor our beautifully magnetized seat into the beginning of movement with our horse. And just as importantly, it gives some horses their very first experience of lifting their back to carry the rider properly. It also allows our horse to stretch over the back and regain their Comfort Zone if you have been working on something new.
The Lesson
People are often taught that it’s a terrible thing to allow their horses to graze while they are riding – and if they haven’t got their horse lifting their head easily and happily when they are on the ground, then I understand their reluctance. The “My Grass” game from the foundation principles, will allow even a small person like Bree – pictured left using the pulling between two hands technique – to lift a food oriented horse like Bobby easily.
When many of us were taught to ride, we were put on a horse and bounced around until we found the rhythm and started to move in time with it.
This created tensions in our bodies that for some, remained even when we found that rhythm. These are often small tensions but still get in the way of us being brilliant riders.
You have been releasing a bunch of those tensions in your simulated chair lessons. This Lesson enables you to re-learn, re-program and anchor into AUTO-PILOT more useful ways of flowing with your horse’s movement in a baby step that will blow you away at how powerful it is.
That same model that we used to help your horse is now coming up for YOU:
1. RELEASE any of YOUR tensions that were programmed into your horse’s movement.
2. RE-LEARN a beautiful way to flow with your horse.
3. And then RE-PROGRAM that beautiful flowing togetherness into AUTO-PILOT.
You’ve done most of your releasing in your simulation work. Now what I want you to do is go and sit on your horse while they are grazing and RE-LEARN how to flow with your horse’s tiny movements as they shift weight whilst grazing.
Do this for as many days as you need to until you anchor that lovely feeling of your body effortlessly mirroring your horse’s tiny movements while you are in your safe, stable and magnetic seat.
Be in your Inner Awareness, your listening inside feeling, your soft eyed smile where all your joints are available for movement – and allow your soapy bones if you would like to review that to slide their way softly into keeping your posture effortlessly powerful and your butt magnetized as you follow your horse’s tiny movements.
And notice everything about the lovely feeling you will get when this has fallen into place – anchor it into AUTO-PILOT.
No matter how good a rider you are, do yourself a favor and take advantage of this step to being a brilliant rider.
You can simulate grazing by scattering small bits of tasty hay onto the arena if you need to. Oh and you might need to have an extra piece of rope to loop through and extend your reins if they are not long enough for your horse to graze comfortably whilst you sit in your perfect riding position.
As you can see, this is one of the lessons from Fast Track that I extracted for the Foundation Riding program