Calm

In working my young horse I have been working with different versions of calmness.

At first I was scared, insecure in regard to both the technique and the horse. I appeared calm because at times my body was completely passive, frozen, but at the same time the inside of me was a complete chaos.

Now that I'm really confident my body works all the time, it moves constantly to position itself in the best possible manner in relation to the horse. I say "it moves" because in this calm mind set I can let it proceed its work undisturbed. It is a kind of calm that allows me to be present in what is happening without feeling a need to act, but still be ready to do so if and when I feel the need. So when I want something actively with the horse; stop it or turn it or anything else, I go in and control the body or in the AT-language give myself directions.

A horse also needs to come to peace. Being calm is a prerequisite for it to be able to benefit from the training. A stressed nervous system is busy dealing with internal signals that is really about its survival. The horse is a flight animal whose first defense is to get away from the thing that scares them. As a horseowner/trainer you should really make an effort to avoid giving the horse bad experiences, because it will affect the training ahead.

But that's where it gets interesting. How do we avoid bad experiences ... what is a bad experience? Which road should we choose, do we choose not to expose the horse to anything or expose the horse to "everything"?

It is not unusual for riders to ride with their lower legs lifted away from the horse's torso with the explanation that the horse is afraid of the legs. Spectators in the riding hall is being asked to be silent and still to avoid frightening the horse (read: so the horse remains calm). The pram is removed, the dustbin is moved, the hoses should be removed - all in order to keep the horse calm.

But the calmness that the horse gets in arranged surroundings is not the calmness that we seek. The on the outside seemingly calm horse may be a horse with an a huge internal uncertainty. What we want is a horse with an internal ease that allows the horse to react to the environment but without having its flight reflexes activated.

It is a kind of calm that allows the horse to be present in what is happening without feeling a need to act, but still be ready to do so if and when it seems necessary. So when the horse wants something actively, stop, turn or something else, it controls the body or in the AT-language gives himself direction.

"All human errors are impatience, a premature breaking off of methodical procedure." Franz Kafka