When Tom Dorrance said that he wanted the inside of the person to know the inside of the horse, he was talking about the five types of feel that we teach here.
Yeah well, many of us already know, that Tom Dorrance talked about feel, timing and balance being the basis for being good with horses. But what many of us didn’t know, is that in his later years he did a lot of pondering about the “spirit” of the horse as being the missing piece for most people. He talked about even really good, really top riders missing that special thing that completed the relationship between horse and person, that created True Unity.
And I have figured out how to teach that missing piece – step by step leading you to the discovery of the kind of feel that Mr Dorrance wanted you to know.
He talked about the inside of a person knowing the inside of the horse as being the key to real “Feel”. He talked about knowing a horse on all levels as being fundamental to being really good with horses.
The first time I read his book True Unity, it overwhelmed me. I didn’t get it. I’m not surprised, I actually wasn’t that good with horses back then.
I didn’t get it because he talked a lot about things that I couldn’t grab hold of, couldn’t visualise, couldn’t practice – that I couldn’t actually DO.
All these years later, I get it. And I get it because I have found a way to teach that “feel for the whole horse” that Mr Dorrance talked about. I have found a practical way, I have found practical techniques for people to find the feel of the whole horse – mind body and spirit – the missing piece that even really good riders can miss – just like Mr Dorrance talked about.
And anybody can get it. I have beginners that have it. I have helped world class riders find it.
The one-ness – the True Unity as Tom Dorrance called it, comes from five different types of feel, comes from using all five of these different ways in which it is possible to connect to our horse – at the same time. I talk about that extensively in the FREE LESSONS The 9 Keys to happiness with Your Horse – I’ve put a link below so you can pick those up.
I made a big breakthrough in my teaching recently, when we realised that when we focus on OUR OWN strengths, rather than trying to copy other people, then the other kinds of feel can gently and naturally unfold, without struggle.
Can you feel me nodding at you and smiling? This is REALLY big.
And I am sooo… over doing things the hard way personally and have sooo… dedicated my teaching to helping everyone else to do it the easy way too.
I have noticed that NOT focussing on our own natural strengths, is probably the biggest block that is getting in the way of people reaching their dreams with their horse. It is natural for us to admire someone who is really good with horses – but when we try to work with our horses in THEIR way – that’s when we can feel clumsy and incompetent and out of our depth at times. That is when we are less than what our horse needs in that moment.
And when we work from our OWN natural strength, the whole journey becomes so much easier.
If you haven’t seen the FREE LESSONS The 9 Keys to Happiness with Your Horse yet, you’ll find them right at the top of our Training programs page here.
