Working From the Center

Most people reading this know a few things about the action of the leg. To most it means go forward or go sideways. It would be fine if this was all we needed it to mean. But what if I told you that the rider's legs can tell a horse to move his legs visually in one way but inside he can be using his muscles in 100's of different combinations. In other words a simple collected trot can have any number of combinations of muscle usage and still look the same! The research and exploration in biomechanics of trainer Jean Luc Cornille elaborates on this fact and calls us to use care with what we ask, how we ask it and when we ask it.
You don't need sophisticated understanding to figure out the what, how and when. Equitation researcher Christine Sander is in the process of translating into English her sensitive approach to starting(and re-starting) a horse. I found this approach quite meaningful, mainly because of its simplicity and consideration of the horse on a level more in tune with the orchestration of motion as the horse sees it. And it is congruent with Jean Luc's work and demonstrates an important idea. That is if we work from the center, the parts that follow it will find the right combinations of muscle usage with the least chance of getting it wrong. And by that I mean that the horse, being so willing, is often so ready to answer that he hurries to do so and the configuration in which he answers is not always healthy for him. But he does it to please!
Eventually we are so lost in a mire of tensions and misunderstandings that we cannot find our way out of it! A simple request of the rider that SHOULD produce a simple clean answer very often does not produce anything. Why? Because it did not originate from the center! Example: The sensitive horse that lost his sensitivity...shut down. This can be avoided if we ask consistently from the center.
What is the center I am talking about? I see it as a spiritual place. The horse has one and the man does as well. Combining these centers is a first step. How to do this?
The center is our place of identity...like our heart. If we work from the outside we see identity as flawed---we see all the imperfections. But if we view our work from the inside(the center) we will see that God has not created imperfection.
Today, instead of looking to the outer horse, search to the inner horse, the perfect horse. Go to that place in quietude and ask, quietly, from there. Whatever the answer, know it is the perfect answer! Maybe not the answer we want or expect but it is perfect. Let it suffice. Now change the question---change the direction, change the intensity---even wait with no questions. You will soon be amazed. What you will find is that on the inside of the still horse is a lot of motion! The frenzied horse has chaotic internal motion. It is useful if we claim our right to restore order. We do not do this by imposing order from the outside but more from suggesting on the outside and waiting upon the horse, with the horse, from the inside....and go on with him when he answers.
If we are sensitive and open to the horse's way from the inside we get a clearer sense of how to sit with better poise to help the horse do his job. We hold our reins more delicately and touch with our legs more gently. We turn with the motion from this center and we find the tone we need, the breath, the beat. And we dance in heavenly romance. Riding should be deeply romantic. We should fall into it and get lost there...in the center.

Self-Possession - Self-Carriage

In many equestrian circles the concept of a horse having self-possession is frowned upon. Horses should be brought into submission, dominated, controlled completely lest they go astray and do bad things to their riders--right? hmmm Think again. What really needs to be brought into submission? Not the horse himself but the manner of our requests. You see the horse that has control over himself moves the best, feels the best and reacts to outside stimuli more appropriately.
Self-carriage is more than just a horse moving straight and holding himself up at all times. Self-carriage is not something we force or even 'ride' the horse into. It is the result of calmly helping him to feel where to place himself, allowing him to try different options and find what feels the best. The difficulty with all this is that as a result of our not sitting well, asking inappropriately or our demanding in ways that upset balance, very often what the horse choses as the best option doesn't agree with our plan. For the sake of some pre-conceived notion of correctness or to satisfy some dressage test criteria, we may ask for too much forward motion, too much sideways, too much bend or transition from a poorly balanced posture. It goes without saying that riding a dressage test is difficult but if we really think about what is so difficult we may be less inclined to send in those show entries. Ever notice how so many horses do not make it above second level? It isn't because they cannot, will not or that the rider is not good enough. I rather believe it is because we have taken away so much of the horse's sense of self that he gets into a situation where his self-carriage cannot be located.
Rehearsing the shoulder-in over and over does not make a better shoulder-in! And what is the shoulder-in but an exercise to help the horse. If you are having difficulty helping him with an exercise that needs help itself....hmmmm....maybe something else is wrong!
This may sound strange but I would like to step back from 'dressage' and just look at balance and quiet, testing the waters of motion to see how this affects balance and calmness. Can we get vertical impulsion with all its appropriate tension, not hear the horse huffing and puffing and return to walk and halt with complete ease? What is all this I am speaking of? It is working with the horse's cooperativeness without taking away from him...allowing him his self-possession....encouraging it. By this self-carriage is fostered. All we need is patience while the horse tries to make his own adjustments. Contrary to what most would have, the resistances we feel are not to be interpreted as the horse always saying "no"....the horse trying to defy us. He innately wants to partner with us and we push him away with our disappointments over his seemingly wrong answers to our questions.
Mastering ourselves and how we project our energies through our subtle motions within
'parameters of stillness' is key to gaining ease in partnership with the horse. Much can be relayed with no apparent motion from the rider. And likewise much can be disturbed in the horse with improper relay of energy and with too much rider motion. Knowing in the mind what we want, envisioning it, waiting upon the horse for the right postural adjustment and balance makes the resulting response from the horse more like an intelligent and pleasant conversation than a mere shouting match---words flung at each other in careless, thoughtless chatter.
Let me ask this. Do you pause for a moment of peace before you speak to someone, look them in the eye or feel for the energy of the state they are in, get their attention first and then choose appropriate words to say what you want and bring 'building up' to your relationship? Think about this. Try it with a person. Feel the difference. Talk to someone who is in a moment of self-possession and you will find optimal balance and peace and good feelings will emanate from the interaction. Words carry energy. By the same token, help your horse to find peace and calm....self-possession...then choose your conversation well to preserve self-possession and see what amazing self-carriage results.