I mean REALLY look at the horse people around you. Soften your eyes by smiling with them a little and without judgement or criticism (and this is very important, without judgment or criticism) – just with observation – notice how tight and tense most horses are. Notice their reactions when they’re ridden. Look at the horse’s eyes.
Google “horse photos ridden”. And again, with soft non-judgmental eyes, look at the horses.
Are their eyes soft, alive, interested and happy?
Is their horse turning itself inside out to co-operate with them?
Are the horse’s movements smooth and flowing and easy to ride?
Is the rider sitting beautifully still with signals to their horse so subtle that you can’t see them?
Do horse and rider just FLOW together as one?
And does it gladden your heart to watch them?
Do you REALLY want what these people have got?
Or do you want what Frederic Pignon has with his horses for example? Do you want a horse that can switch from high performance in the arena to a relaxing trail ride out in the bush or the forest or the quiet country roads? Do you want an easy to handle, happy horse to catch, saddle, bridle or ride bridleless with safety and freedom and joy?
Do you want a happy, expressive, healthy horse filled with mental, emotional and physical well-being?
I hear from people a lot, those people who dare to be different with their horses, that from time to time they struggle with other people’s perceptions of what they are doing. If they and their horse are not ready for riding safely yet, then they feel questioned and under pressure to “get on that horse and ride” from others. If they listen and are considerate to their horses and don’t want to hit them or use punishment and dominance as a training method – they feel weak under the stern eye of other people in their environment who think that they know better.
I was listening to Marie Forleo a few weeks ago (if you have a business you would LOVE her business philosophy) – on a similar topic and it suddenly dawned on me…
DO YOU REALLY WANT WHAT THEY’VE GOT?
Stop and think about that for a minute. I mean REALLY stop and think about that. Do they have a heart connection with their horse that gladdens their heart every time they go out to work with their horse? Does their horse turn themselves inside out to do what they want like the little Brumby did in that article about Frederic Pignon a couple of blogs back? Are they bubbling with happiness with a horse who is bubbling with happiness? Are they confident on a confident horse under just about all circumstances? Does their horse love to learn new things? Do they have a healthy happy horse in self carriage whose stride is rhythmic and comfortable to ride? Do they have a horse who is a soft and willing partner? Do they have to stop and turn by pulling on the reins, or does their horse just flow with their rider in harmony?
Are they working happily together with their horse to achieve those things?
Do they think of their horse as a thinking, feeling, intelligent being or is their horse a furry motor bike?
Do you REALLY want what they’ve got?
Why would we listen to what these people say if we want something so different to them?
Our OWN individual and unique Inner Guidance system will give us what WE are looking for from our horse, just like other people are getting what THEY want from their horse in their own way – sometimes successfully, sometimes not.
But sure as God made little green apples, we will not get what WE want, by listening to other people who don’t even have what it is that we want.
And aim high. Be INSPIRED by someone like Frederic Pignon, someone with his high standards – but even he – you won’t get what he’s got by trying to be like him. You’ll get what he’s got by embracing the amazing individual that YOU are, embracing YOUR uniqueness, embracing the amazing and unique individual that your horse is, by developing your Inner Guidance system to be a reliable “feel” for your horse.
Through our OWN path – through our OWN feel – lies the Magic.
Ordinary people being extraordinary – everyone can have their version of the Pignon Magic.
This applies to horses as well, These days I try to make a conscious effort to take time, not only to appreciate my horses, but also to applaud their differences. A while back , I wanted my horse to be like everyone else’s,….. if only he was prettier, less spooky, a little bit more athletic……. Just as it was important for me to be picked early on for team games and not left kicking my heels until the end, so it was important for my horse to “fit in”.
I realise that by viewing these differences in this ” not enough” manner I was turning them into inadequacies. Wonder how that left my horse feeling?
Now I am able to celebrate each and every individual horse’s uniqueness and abilities but certainly that was not always the case.
Gorgeous observations Sue…
Hi, I haven´t had time to read this blog until now. We are in this process of magic, developing our own inner guidence system through listening and feeling.It is a bumpy road, somtimes it hurts and sometimes it is pure joy. They say it is life. I can understand that it must have been lovely to listening to Frederic.
🙂
Don’t know quite where on the site to share this, so I’ll just plonk it here. Jenny talks about encouraging the experience of a feeling of appreciation. I’m reading “The Gifts of Near-Death Experiences” by the Linns, and found a paragraph which addresses this, and I’ll just quote:
“Since the heart generates the body’s most powerful electromagnetic field (about five thousand times more powerful than that of the brain), it pulls or entrains the body’s other energy fields into alignment with itself. When we hold a feeling of appreciation in our heart, all other organs, including the brain, begin resonating to the frequency of love. The brain is then less likely to focus on fear, and stress and more likely to focus on peace and love. Moreover, the heart’s electromagnetic signal can be felt and measured at a distance of from six to ten feet away, …. So, if you hold your appreciation for a memory of love in your heart for even a few seconds, the increased coherence of your heart rhythm encourages the heart rhythms of those around you to become more coherent as well.”
Lovely June. Do you know if someone actually measured the resonance of the heart like they did in the HeartMath studies? Or is it a “feel” thing like I do?
I don’t know, but Franz Halberg did some interesting work with entrainment I believe.
I went and looked up the endnote about that quote – it IS from heartmath
Thank you! 🙂
love it Jenny – great follow on from the seminar.
That’s must be the universe at work, cos I wrote it long before! 🙂
Thank you Jenny for your continuous inspiration. Climate has not been very kind lately in Uruguay so my time with Embrujo has diminished since I have no roofed pen to be with him. But we have been spending time together just being and developing our relationship.
Is it colder than normal? Or wetter than normal? One thing Oliver taught us (or we learned during our time with Oliver which includes his contribution! 🙂 ) is that so very often what looked like a problem turned out to be absolutely perfect when we looked at it differently. Lameness became an opportunity that had us doing something different that turned out to be VERY needed, a storm turned out to be an opportunity to help Oliver release a major trauma from him as a new born foal and now he can be in wind and be calm – what a gift that is! There were so many things like that, that happened, I can’t even remember them all.
Steve, the guy who rides Oliver regularly until other commitments just recently, is a strong committed Christian and an elder of his church. He laughs and calls it “Don’t argue with God”. i.e. When God gives you an opportunity, just notice the perfect opportunity in it.
Alice I thought you had Fast Track, but I see it’s the Foundation for Riding Excellence? Maybe this is an opportunity to get your riding seat brilliant or something? I see that way back you talked of needing to develop his back? Maybe you could add some of those earlier Fast Track lessons to help Embrujo bloom in all the routine things that would strengthen his posture and thus his back?
Love this blog, Jenny! Inspired to let go of my agenda and tune in to my horse more deeply and fully. We’ll see where this goes…
From what I read, you certainly have the right attitude!