Last night during class, Sensei paused the lesson for an urgent distinction.  All the world is some combination of yang or yin, expansion and contraction, sending forth and drawing back.  Before yang/ sending forth, or bodies naturally draw back slightly to prepare.  Before yin, our bodies prepare by slightly moving away from the new movement, by expressing yang.  This seeming contradiction is natural and necessary.

Go ahead, pause your reading and try this now!

Again we moved through the tai chi form, only this time we intentionally prepared for each movement by moving oh-so-slightly towards its opposite.  The movements expressed a new and beautiful flow and groundedness.   The “human half-halts”  created seamless transitions and expressive movements.

Play with this the next time you ride!  Before asking for yin (collection, downward transitions, quiessense), generate slightly more yang (impulsion, extension, exhuberance) and  vice versa.  Come back and share your discoveries with us!

I only chuckled at the irony.  Since then, I was also involved in a bad accident. Naturally I was wearing my helmet.  I know by the way I landed my results would have been very different had I NOT been.  As it is, I have small fractures in 3 vertebrae that are, thankfully, well on their way to healing completely.   No riding for the next month or so, but teaching and writing are doctor-permitted and self-prescribed

Spring traditionally sees the young horses’ teeth floated and formal education begun, and the older horses’ return to schooling and showing.  The accident occurred literally the day this season began. For me, forbidden from the saddle, this will be an adventure, a season unlike any other I have experienced.

Let the journey continue!

Basically, the human body is not designed to operate under forces greater than the human body can generate. By riding more than 5 miles an hour, on an object that weighs 500 pounds or a horse that weighs 1500, You run the risk of exceeding conditions the human body can cope with.. particularly when it comes to head trauma.

Dressage… is not “inherently safer” than anything other discipline. Other disciplines just add -more- risk. We ask other motorcycle riders… “Open Casket or Closed, your choice.” Sadly, the disparate cultures around elegance, tradition, and “the cowboy way” all conspire collectively to keep helmets off when on horseback in their respective disciplines (or as some of you would probably posit, lack thereof…)

Fertilizer happens. Every day. The chance may be one in a million, but if you draw the “one”, you’re either prepared, or you aren’t.  I’ve gone down on bikes, I’ve yet to come off a horse. It will happen, I’m sure. But my helmet saved my life once… I went in head first on the asphalt at 45 mph. I was prepared. Are you?

I’d rather be laughed at for wearing a helmet than eulogized for not. Macho isn’t riding without one, macho is is stepping up to the plate and setting the example for those who don’t.

I love riding. I love motorcycles. I love my horses. I love my wife. I wish to continue to do all of the above. I wear my helmet, every time.

I challenge every single one of you to set an example for your friends, families, and fellow competitors. Put it on, keep it on, and stand your ground: Safety first.

Stay Safe,

Mark

All too often we fail to turn this discerning focus onto ourselves.  Sally Swift, founder of Centered Riding (TM) pointed out that when we are working to evoke change in another, whether it is our student, our horse (or even our spouse!), that change comes about most effortlessly when 80% of our focus remains on evoking that same change within ourselves.

I just stumbled across this great acupressure resource.  As stretching and bodywork for the horses are vital pieces of my daily training routine, I’m excited to find simple, parallel exercises I can do for myself.

Explore and enjoy!

Looks like we’re not the only ones.  A group of donkeys and llamas were stranded at a zoo… but I’ll let you read the whole story!

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/02/16/AR2010021605634.html?hpid=sec-metro

I flash between enjoying the present, and jumping from past to future. Our culture trains us to make these leaps back and forth through time at New Years. I join the bazillion other pensive people pondering goals achieved– or not–in 2009. I measure the value of addressing last years shortcomings in 2010 or simply letting them rest as outgrown or simply irrelevent.

2010 unfurls before us! More than a day or a week in my planner pages… here is an entire year to dance with! I recall the quote but not the author: “you can have ANYthing you want, but not EVERYthing you want.”

So the question rises before you, before me, as we balance on this cusp between the years (between the DECADES I realize with a start!)

What are the ANYthings that will totally transform your world, your horses and your horsemanship in 2010?

Ally was a champ! We added a caparison to the mix which she calmy accepted, and also added scary stuff: full contact with weapons engaging targets.

After a little bit of nervousness, the crash bang boom of the reeds and the resounding CRACK of the lance on the quintain were met with cooperation and control. If I had to put words in her mouth, I think she would have said its in her blood to tilt!

Pig lancing didnt seem to bother her at all, Im not entirely sure she even noticed what was going on We made two passes at the pig and stuck it both times for a flinch factor of zero!

I did have some issues with the heads row, but they were short and had more to do with communication steering than with anything else… Yes, I really want you to weave! It is, of course, quite the pleasure to be asked if thats what I want! What a pleasure indeed!

Hopefully it will stay dry enough long enough today to get another day of practice, but at this point, Im feeling at rest about having a safe, fun ride on Saturday!

Major kudos to Metallica!

And while Im at it, major Major kudos to my Wife who taught me and continues to teach me how to do all this stuff Happy Birthday, Love!

Yesterday was a day of straightforward run of the mill successfully uneventful horse training! The goal was simple: take a horse that had fairly limited experience with me, build on the trust relationship we’ve been establishing, and introduce medieval weapons… a rattan sword and a 12 foot lance… both for the record are very blunt 1-inch minimum rounded edges… to the equation and get her to calmly accept their presence. Uneventful was the goal! And uneventful is what I got!

Here’s how…

Ally has an awesome foundation in natural horsemanship. Rock solid foundation. I took the extra time yesterday to take advantage of that fact and stack the deck in my favor from the get-go.

Beginning with leading out of the pasture with calm presence of authority, I took the time to very pleasantly do a thourough job playing friendly with various grooming supplies and tools, ensuring a happy, well scratched and contented horse entered the round pen.

I spent time starting at square zero with the lead rope over all quarters of the body. I ran the rope around legs, etc etc; and did the same with a carrot stick. All quarters, all angles, rubbing with the stick, and tracing with the rope. At convenient points she was clicked and rewarded for calmness.

After Id exhausted the possibilities of friendly, I ran a couple cues to make sure she responded to pressure and cues, trotted her once around each way to break up the boredom, and set about the real task: weapons training.

I started off just holding the sword in front of her until she sniffed at it. After we had that calmy accepted and rewarded, we just rubbed along all parts of the body and neck gently and friendly, just like the carrot stick. After that, waving the sword back and forth, up and down, slowly by her face. Click! Reward! We’re done here!

The lance was a bit more scary and difficult… but only like walking into a light breeze. It -is- 12 feet long, and may in fact be the first large stick shes seen not firmly in the ground with leaves. I held it vertically for control and weight, about 6 inches away from her.  She moved away at first, but I just followed with the lance until she stopped and rewarded the calm. Soon thereafter, I was rubbing the 12 foot lance everywhere on all quarters and down both sides. Rewards galore!

We finished up with a brief, in-hand introduction to the quintain. No reaction at all, even when the wind pushed the shield against her nose. Our last little bit was an in-hand walk through the reeds and on the correct pathing for the heads games.

Praises galore!!!

That was a fine time to leave well enough alone and so we wrapped up the day with radical success… a radical success built by careful planning, encouragement, and solid foundational work setting the correct tone for trust, communications, and learning.

9 days left until showtime. And I hope to continue applying the principles of horsemanship in a careful and accurate manner to achieve not only the short term goal.. Siege of Glengary… but also the long term goal of educating the horse to implicitly trust the human!

Until next time!

Mark