This is going to make some of you laugh. At last … at long last… I understand how to describe what we do here – “Happiness and well being of horse AND rider as a path to excellence”. There was a “derrr…” moment! It’s so unique that I have always had trouble describing it and it turned out to be that simple! And that big…
Actually the word “rider” is too specific, because you don’t need to be a rider to experience this, so if someone can think of a better word to use there, I would appreciate it – because none of the words that I can think of fit properly.
Back to what I wanted to ask you. There’s 1000’s of horses and people out there who need those simple changes that have increased YOUR well being and your horse’s well being – that have made your life with your horse easier.
So, I am looking for your stories and even your horse photos (yes please email me your horse photos!) that best describe the changes that you’ve made, the deeper connection that you’ve made with your horse as a result of any of our programs or books or even the blog.
Over the years, I’ve heard a 100 – actually it would be a LOT more than 100 stories … of things people have achieved with simple changes in The Six Keys to Happiness with Your Horse, stories of people finding relief from anxiety and peacefulness in their lives with Fast Track to Brilliant Riding, people finding confidence and better riding seats, transformations in the on-line clinics and more recently, people feeling much better in their own bodies with the Arthritis Program.
And I need those stories again please, in your own words, as we work out how to tell people what we do here – there are so many different facets to it aren’t there?
What you are going to see over the next couple of months is a major revamp of the website to reflect these stories and photos and the power of using well being for yourselves and your horses as a pathway to excellence in horses. We are all in much excitement about the changes that are coming
Coincidentally, The Universe seems to be conspiring at the moment to push this along. Is it really coincidence or is it that mysterious hand of fate that seems to push us along just when we need it?
So, in the comments below, could you please give me the words from your heart to tell people what these programs have done for you or for your horse? So that we can use these words and these stories to revamp our marketing and find those thousands and thousands of horses and people who need us.
It’s about getting the message out to those who need it, hey? And your stories will help us to do that.
Just pause a moment now if you would, don’t make it too big and complicated and risk not replying at all. You can always put another comment in later if you like. 🙂
And photos – photos please! Photos of your beautiful horsey moments, photos that reflect our philosophy of happiness and of mental emotional and physical well being for horse and rider, photos of lovely lifted up horses backs – whatever you think fits with what we do here.
You can be a part of our horse revolution! 🙂
You can email your photos to me jenny@jennypearce.com.au
OH Jenny where do I start, firstly I joined the fast track because my horse needed it, but how wrong was I, I soon learnt that when I changed my ways, attitude, speed of functioning, listening ability my horse suddenly changed before my eyes!! Yes it has taken time, but time very well spent, everything I have discovered and learnt through your programs have had a huge impact on my life in general – you are not just running a horse course you are running a life course! So many other things seem to spin off from what we learn on your courses.
woohoo as you would say, thank you so much for turning up at Sue’s two years ago and visiting when Robyn was over because otherwise I might never have joined in, and life would have been so different………..
with love Mary (with Sasha)
You’ve nailed it Mary – we think it’s our horse that needs to change hey? I did too! 🙂 And then I discovered the power of “Be the change that I want my horse to be”. And you’re right, it’s a life lesson as well as a horse lesson, bringing inner peace and happiness with it…
I am glad to take advantage of this opportunity to try to put into words how Jenny has transformed my approach to horsemanship. For several years I was a bit stuck in perfectionism, striving to improve my technique and was always a bit disappointed and left feeling not quite right with the results even when, objectively, they were pretty good. And then I discovered Jenny, Six Keys and Fast Track and what a shift – so subtle yet totally transformative. I had not been doing anything wrong beforehand other than questioning and dismissing all the communication that was coming from my own feeling, the whole time I was with my mare. As soon as Jenny helped me trust that the internal-feeling-communication with my mare is the real communication, mounted or on the ground, our relationship has grown and is so much fun now, all the time, no matter what the outcome – we are relaxed and I feel liberated from confusion and doubting myself. Opening my hips and relaxing my lower back through breathwork has transformed my seat to a much smoother and balanced one. I know that this is just the beginning though and through the superb monthly seminars I appreciate more and more the connections that Jenny’s approach to feel and horsemanship has to all other aspects of life. I just wish her wisdom could get out more as this is a truly special community of horses and people.
Bless you Jo, thanks! That’s the thing that we all used to do, isn’t it? Looking for perfection and not understanding HOW to get what we want. Dismissing the communication from our own feelings because we didn’t understand what to do about it. I know I didn’t. Clearly of the five feels, you have emotional feel as a natural talent like I do! 🙂
Very inspiring… article and posts!
Jenny, I get drawn to your site at always the right moments for me and my horses… and always get the inspiration, encouragement, light bulb moments, and answers I was needing at that time. I just love the ESSENCE and FEELING of all that you do…. your page, your articles, and your chats… they are all incredible and helpful beyond words! What you do is very spiritual, yet practical and simple… and I really think that is an element that is lacking in the horse world! I love that you offer information to help build STRONGER and BETTER RELATIONSHIPS between horses and people… and to me… that is VERY SPECIAL!!! What you teach… IS… the missing key!!!
There are horse training methods out there that anyone can do or attempt to do, but they are just techniques… without what you teach… there will eventually be holes in the training and confused people with unhappy, and even possibly frustrated horses. I’m so glad you teach what you do because you have confirmed what I feel and know to be true. Thank you!!!
Keep up the great work!
I LOVE what you do!!!
Lenee
Ah bless you Lenee – thank you. You’ve touched on something very important – techniques. If we apply techniques without connection and without feel – for example by thinking in advance “if the horse does this then I will do that” then techniques can DISCONNECT us from our horse further. So how do we use connection to decide which techniques to use how do we apply those techniques with feel? Well the answer is in The Six Keys, but it’s so simple that I think people often miss it. So… we have some exciting things happening with The Six Keys, but you’re going to have to wait to find out! 🙂
By the way sunshine, please… tell us a story about one of those “right moment” where you have been drawn here for “inspiration, encouragement, light bulb moments, and answers I was needing at that time”. It’s the stories I am after more than anything else – those heart warming examples of breakthroughs and light bulb moments.
I also love that you get the practicality of our spiritual approach here. It’s funny isn’t it, how that combination translates into a practical gentleness and feeling good more and more as we go along. I keep thinking I’ve done it, got that lovely feeling of well being this time and then a bit later one, along comes a deeper layer. It’s wonderful stuff!
when i got my andalusian, goloso, i had my hands full. he was friendly, and i could tell he liked me, but he didnt allow me to touch him anywhere except his neck and if i tried to touch him elsewhere he would try to bite me. when i would lead him he would stop and refuse to go or he would leap in the air and take off. he had quite a bit of riding training, but when i tried to girth up his saddle he got serious about trying to bite and even threatened with his hind leg. i tried working with him using the methods i had used on my other horses and had stayed safe enough, but only had mediocre results. in fact, i had become bored with that program and had started seeing its flaws but didnt know where to go from there. anyway, goloso hated it and if i upped the pressure he increased the refusing to move and the biting. finally, during one session i saw a change in his eye and got the feeling he was saying, i hate you. this was heart breaking and i knew i had to be completely different which led me to jenny’s way.
so i started looking for not quite right moments and realized goloso was not even in his comfort zone with me leading him. so i stopped right there and sat down and after a bit he began licking and chewing and yawning and his soft friendly eye was back! i was thinking, wow, maybe this stuff works, but i needed more proof to be sure.
one day i was standing on a mounting block and just laying across him and when i saw a not quite right i would sit back down and wait. pretty soon he started looking sleepy, blinking his eyes and twitching his lips. jenny says this is how horses release tensions. so i just sat there near him. then the sun moved off me and i moved the mounting block back into the warmth. to my surprise and delight goloso walked over and rested his chin on my head. joy.
now goloso comes to me whenever i am in the field, sometimes he whinnies when he sees me. not only can i touch him all over, he is now showing me where he would like to be scratched. he has no problem getting saddled up and i have started riding him. the biting has almost disappeared and he only does a very soft nip in the air when i have not noticed his discomfort with whatever i am doing. he quite often follows me around and i have no problem taking him away from the other horses. of course, if i do notice a not quite right i just get him back in his comfort zone. it really is simple and wonderful.
What a lovely story Shelley and woohoo! and high five to you!
I have been following the arthritic trials and the Fast Track programmes. Both courses have given me much to think about. I am definitely in less pain because of info in the arthritic trials which is absolutely wonderful and when I embrace other changes int the future I trust that pain will reduce even more.
The Fast Track programme has give me so much to think about and I have noticed a big change in my state of mind whether I am riding or not riding. This has helped when I am on my horse so I am now making progress with him. Thank you Jenny.
Hey Gerry – thanks for writing in! What things in the Arthritis Trail have had the most impact so far on your pain levels? And what progress are you making with your horse? Do you know, I often do blogs about the big stuff, the big breakthroughs – but it’s really making progress with the smaller day to day things that bring us such joy hey? Like Oliver throwing his head so clearly into the halter when I hold it out, saying “take me!” when he had sooo… much angst around the halter when we started Even though he would get caught, he didn’t actually want to be caught, he just knew he had to. So please… tell us a story! 🙂
Harder to write about those things without that ego thing popping up!
My reply here to Sue turned out to be very personal, so I have sent it privately! 🙂
ok, jenny. story coming up. have to bale hay now. is it ok if it is long? and what kind of pics do you want?
Ahh hay time Shelley – all those lovely summer smells are just a memory here in the middle of our winter! Yes your story can be short or long and the pictures I am looking for are of those lovely moments that show the bond that you have with your horse – whether that’s on the ground or in the saddle. I’m looking for lovely pics – with feel – to use on the website as we revamp it.
Sorry Jenny, I got a bit carried away there, you said to speak from your heart and it kind of wrote itself. Edit it, delete it, do what you will with it!
Sue in the bush!
You certainly did that – thanks! And a much appreciated testimonial it is too. The stories are the biggest part of what I am looking for with this post. The story about your horse that was so scared that he ran through fences when a stranger came into the yard for example and the cahnges that he’s making and what you think the keys to success are. Or the more simple one (ha!) of your horse who was too fast out on the trails that you are now working cattle with, bareback and bridle-less? And what was HIS keys to success? Or the horse with the … was it stifle lock? that is getting better? Please please please tell them those stories! 🙂
This is for all those sceptics out there, who, if they did happen to stray onto the health and Happiness website shuddered and thought, as I did ” I can’t be coping with all that warm , fuzzy, airy fairy stuff”
Now you cannot get much more down to earth than I am. I live in the bush and use my horses for work around the property. My idea of relaxation is to head off on a three or four day ride, on little used historic bush tracks. I have never had a riding lesson in my life and know nothing about the correct seat, leg or hand position! However I am a horse lover and wish to do and be the very best I can for my horses.
When one of them had recurring bouts of what I call the heaves , but is maybe better known as COPD ( chronic obstructive pulmonary disease), the prognosis did not seem great. The vet told me he would get progressively worse with age and could not be cured or even helped with drugs ,long term. This horse was my mate and had much more knowledge of the tracks than I did, I was not ready to give up on him, so decided to search the web.
My search lead me to alternative , natural approaches.
The long and the short of it was he was over breathing, thereby reducing the carbon dioxide levels in his blood, which in turn was having a detrimental effect on his physiology. He needed to reduce his in and out breathe to optional levels, in order to build up carbon dioxide, thus enabling the biological in balances in his system to heal.
Fixing this turned out to be not so difficult and drug free, however it did require me to spend a lot of time with him each day, helping him to correct his breathing. When we were doing this I noticed that the rest of the herd would gather around and spontaneously slow down their breathing and fall into the same relaxed state as the horse I was working with. What is more I found myself doing the same thing. After experimenting a bit, I discovered that this was a much better state of mind for all of us to be in, when working on a range of things such as de spooking, learning new skills, trimming and even backing. There was much more relaxation and understanding between the horses and myself, but it was patchy and at times frustrating.
I went back to the internet for help and my search kept turning up various articles and blogs by Jenny Pearce. However when I had a look at her site it made me a bit uncomfortable , it sounded far too new age and mystical for me.( The fella’s I rode with did not talk about such things) Never the less I got the six keys, read them and thought ” this sounds reasonable but basic , I need more than this.” So I put them aside and did no more.
The horses however had different ideas , they wanted something from me , kept pushing me to step up a notch, the wild eyed terror even suggested I rode him for goodness sake !! So I bit the bullet and decided with much trepidation to put my name up for a clinic.( if there was any wand waving being done , I wanted to see it)
BEST THING I EVER DID. Let me tell you folks that there are no fairies at the bottom of Jenny Pearce’s garden , or at least if there are she keeps them well hidden. This lady is all about basic common sense, she has the means to find the ability in you and your horse and to help you to utilize it in the best possible way. Providing clear practical lessons which give you everything you need to succeed. She helps you to develop what I call your horse feel, that elusive something that all the best riders and horse people in the world have, that thing we all long for but though only the chosen few were given.
What is more you decide how you wish to do this….by attending clinics, having private lessons, receiving lessons by email, joining online clinics, sharing in discussion groups and online seminars ,the options are endless. You even have a choice of teachers and can chose the one most suited to your needs. Best of all this comes without BLAME,CRITICISM or JUDGEMENT, all of which abound in the world of horses.
It does not matter what discipline , level, age, creed, ability or speed of learning you have; you can mix and match, take this, leave that, revisit later , whatever is right for you and your horse on the day.
If this is your goal……TO BE THE VERY BEST YOU CAN BE FOR YOU AND YOUR HORSE ….. then look no further, you need what Jenny has in bucketful’s. Join in and begin the journey to excellence, I promise you will never look back.
Sue
NB Just one thing , now you know it is not magic , you must be prepared to put in the time with your horse.
Oh my goodness Sue – this made me laugh and laugh – thanks! THAT is the big deal isn’t? The practical-ness of what otherwise looks like airy fairy. It makes me smile too, how often in recent times, science has proved what we already knew that might have been thought of as airy fairy previously. Just one recent example of many, is the study that showed the effect that the proximity of a horse has on our heart rate and blood pressure and breathing. Holly’s going to write an article about that report for us. I think our success here is because it’s not just words, we actually teach you HOW to achieve those things that are usually just pretty words.
Too, I hadn’t noticed until I read this post of yours, that we really DO have a complete mix of all kinds of different ways that people can achieve what they want to do – well noticed – thanks!
The horse and his/her person
Thanks Clara! And hey Clara – you are the first person to discover the circuit of energy on Magic and the change in your physical condition from the work on Magic was huge. You went home to The Yukon 20 years younger. For the benefit of people new to the blog, Magic is a static vaulting horse. Have you got any stories about that?
Hi Jenny,
I have been thinking hard about what happened to me on Magic….and I don’t know….But I will give a little background
I arrived at the fast train station to visit Jenny for a week. My husband and I had travelled 36 hours to save 500$ on China Air to get to New Zeland ( 12 hours direct from Vancouver B.C. Canada)–then a 0 hour round trip to see friends briefly in Palmerston North N. Z. then a 5 hour flight to Australia and a ? long trip on the fast train. I could hardly walk, let alone stand up straight.
Next day I met Magic. and Magic he was. I had to lift my leg up over the saddle to mount from the mounting block. We talked of many things…I can’t remember that part. and we did this over the next few days. One day at the end of my session, I dismounted. Jenny said “Do you know what you just did?” I had no idea…she told me I dismounted like a normal person instead of clinging to Magic and gradually getting my leg over and back with two feet on the mounting block.
Wow…I had not done that for some years. Seems every time I get tossed off, I land on my right hip.
That happened last fall when I allowed Bob to pressure me into asking my horse to do something I KNEW I should not–the NQRs were screaming at me. Anyhow, I ignored them and it was all too much for Blessing. She had no where to go but up and then bucked. Bob was blocking her in front and the big tractor she had never been introduced to was still running beside her. long and short. I went off on my head and then hip. That was the end of that. And my hip problems started up again….lots of visits to the chiro and doc.
But when I began to recall my visit to Jenny and what I could possibly write, it was amazing. The feeling I had while on Magic came back to me and my hip pain disappeared. I have found that if it returns, I go to a quiet mind and seek that feeling again and the pain leaves. What a gift you gave me and my horses Jenny.
Thank you thank you thank you! Also smartened me up to pay attention to my NQRS . Amazing!
How cool is THAT Clara? Wooohoo! Not woohoo to allowing Bob to pressure you through your early warning signal that something was Not Quite Right (in this case a big alarm bell!) but woohoo! that you were able to melt the pain away in a Quiet Mind. I keep saying that Magic really IS magic. Magic looks like a 44 gallon drum on 4 metal legs covered in carpet that we use for saddle simulations – but as you can see, its really much more than that… 🙂 Simulations, practicing something without our horse, enable us to focus completely on ourselves and are SUCH a powerful and effective pathway to change in our own bodies and our own reactions under stress.
you probably thought of person, too.
Jenny pearce has really discovered the easiest, simplist and most rewarding way to be with horses. the releasing of tensions,/past traumas work that i have learned has made a huge difference to my herd. we have bonded on a deeper level , and created mutual trust. i have had a pretty easy time bonding with my horses, but trust has been alot harder to gain. and i am still discovering deeper levels of bonding. this trust has made evrything i want to do with my horses SO MUCH easier.
i know this sounds amazing, but my horses have actually become more beautiful and move more fluidly. another great deal is the herd gets along better. i am calmer and happier and have more moments of joy.
another thing i have lerarned is how to find solutions to any issue that comes up. i see problems as just another opportunity to improve my communication with my horses.
and my riding position is better than ever and much easier to maintain. i can easily tell when my pelvis is not neutral because my core becomes loose and my hips get tight. i am also walking with better posture almost automatically. i feel younger and it takes less effort to walk with good posture.
jenny also has empowered me to develop my own way with my horses instead of just imitating someone else.
i am so grateful i was introduced to jenny, she has changed my life.
Wow that’s a lovely testimonial Shelley thankyou. There must be some great stories in there. Can you think of one off the top of your head? (nothing like pushing my luck!) 🙂
jenny, instead of saying rider, maybe just say human.? more later gotta run…
Yeah I thought of that one too, but it doesn’t … resonate… to me. I look forward to hearing the rest of your thoughts!