What It Means To Ride (And Train) With Focus

Dorrence and other truly great horseman have written and spoken about the difficult concept of "feel." Feel is easy to demonstrate and nearly impossible to define.

My poor effort to come up with a definition is that "feel" is the ability to produce movement in a horse by wanting the horse to make that movement.

I have come to believe that there is an important precursor to achieving "feel." I think first one must achieve true focus.

Focus, as I use the term, means the ability to concentrate one's senses to the degree that one is able to close down all other senses while redirecting the energy of those senses in the one to be heightened.

Or phrased differently, concentration that allows one to block out all distractions. Focus is reached when one is able to direct one's eyesight to the degree that one might see the tip of the nose on the face of another person without seeing any other part of the face.

This kind of focus is part of what makes it possible to hit a baseball thrown at 100 miles per hour or to hit a bull's eye consistently with an arrow at 30 yards.

Focus comes easier for some people than for others. People who talk fast and talk a lot find achieving focus very difficult. People who spend a great deal of time talking about themselves find achieving focus impossible.

But those who are steady of eye and of movement find focus much easier. Chloe, shown above with Samson, a formerly wild Corolla, is predisposed towards finding focus. Though she has limited exposure to the horses she shows the same kind of focus that I have seen in Samantha, Lydia, Brent, Lido, Ashley and a handful of others.With experience she will be a first rate horse trainer.

People do not understand focus, but horses do. Focus gets stronger with use. On many occasions I have thought that I was alone in a round pen while training only to notice, as I leave, that several people have been standing there the entire time.

Some athletes call it being in the "zone." What ever one calls it, it is  frequency that horses communicate on and it is a channel that great horseman can all tune into at will.

But once again, this is a truth that generates no cash, therefore it is not taught. No money can be made selling videos that tell one to learn to shut up and focus, so it is never taught. It is very liberating to be able to simply teach truth without regard to profit.

I wish more of the big name clinicians had that freedom.

Posted by Steve Edwards

Knowing Matters, Doing It Matters More

Th cliche has meaning--its flight or fight. If the horse feels trapped and threatened violence is a typical reaction. I know that but this morning my mind was on something else and I slipped up--went to give dewormer to a horse who was tied.

I do not do that....but I did this morning.

If a horse feels the need to move away quickly because of a surprise I do not want to increase the reaction by making it impossible for him to do so. Even a horse that has no problem with something like wormer should have the right to shuffle his feet around if when that strange taste hits his tongue.

I went to worm Manteo and he set back on the rope--I released him from the tie but by then he was tensed up.  He went up on his hind legs and struck quickly--landed a quick jab to my left temple.

Could have turned out badly--don't think that it did but could have.

What you know is not as important as what you do.

Be ye not mere hearers of the word but also be doers of the word.

Program Growth--Two Pictures Say It All

The top photo is a great shot of kids in the music program several years ago. The other shot is of participants in the music program performing at Victorian Station Tea Room a few months ago. We get  together on Monday nights and learn to play ancient instruments and perform ancient songs.

Every part of our program is growing like this. We are about to burst at the seams and things just keep on getting better.

Health Benefits of Intense Horse Back Riding: A Case Study

I am fifty six years old and an experienced rider. My riding is primarily on lumber roads and trails through the woods. Beginning January 1 of 2016 I kept close records of my riding distances in order to compare the results of my blood work from my annual physical to the previous year in which I was riding but not intensely.

Riding for the past two months has been at a high level--much higher than the average recreational rider. During the months of January and February I rode 365.94 miles, the vast majority trotting or cantering. Weather permitting, I sought to do a fast five or six miles each morning before going to the office and on the weekends put in many more miles, but at a slower pace.

Here are the results:

Weight: loss six pounds

Overall Cholesterol increase of 7% (from 150 to 161)
Good Cholesterol increase of 12%(from 41 to 46)
Bad Cholesterol Decrease of 9% (from 111 to 101)

Triglycerides Decrease of 51% (from 142 to 70)

That is after just under two months of hard riding (I also did some Tabata Protocol for three of these weeks)

These are some pretty good reasons to go enjoy your horse more.

Your Horse Needs Physical Contact

When training we should never cause the simple to become unnecessarily complicated. One of the most important ways to build trust with the horse is to practice forms of affection that the horse understands. The most important is close contact with sufficient strength so that it does not tickle the horse or seem like a signal to move off.

There are three key points to keep in mind: use the palm or a closed hand more than finger tips, keep one's body very close to the horse, preferably touching the horse, and rub firmly but do not pet as you might with a dog.

By allowing your body to completely relax you signal to the horse that he is safe and can completely relax. But too much emphasis on technique can lead to a failure to understand purpose.

The purpose of the contact is not to simulate affection, but to generate affection. In this world the only thing that cannot be faked is sincerity. There is no doubt that the horse will come to feel closer to the person that uses affectionate handling in a manner that the horse can understand. The other side is equally important. The person that allows himself to relax and gently handle the horse will develop sincere affection for the horse. The more one cares for the horse the more time one will spend with him. The more time one spends with him the closer the bond will be between the two.

The closer the bond---period. That's right the, developing the closest bond possible is the goal in itself. Everything else that gets between a horse and a person hampers that goal. Other goals--winning a race, bringing home a blue ribbon, earning the admiration (jealousy) of other horse owners are all hindrances to the only goal that matters for the horse.

Affection is something that the horse is entitled to. It is not something that he earns.