Now
and then I'm caught in philosophical pondering concerning what the
heck I'm doing in relation to my horse. What have I the right to ask
of him? These ponderings can be fuelled by a day when my horse and I
have had completely opposite ideas of what to do that day. But I can
also be attacked by them after a day when my horse has been quiet,
calm and responding to my every thought.
It
is the dream of having such a light and close relationship with my
horse that gets me out of bed all these early mornings. One would
think that the days when the dream comes true that everything would
be just fine. Apparently not. After a day like that, I sometimes take
a step back and look at what I've accomplished with amazement mixed
with horror at the extent to which the horse have given himself to
me. The better leader I am, the
better posture and balance I have when I ride, the
more influence I seem to have.
Let
me give you two examples.
The
first is my mum's Arab,
Pargon
OX.
Those of you who
have been through the seat training with me know him as
a very quiet
and steady horse. He has not always been like this,
very far from it. Today
he is 16
years old. When he was 9 he still wasn't started under saddle. The
previous owner said it couldn't be done. Pargon OX
was afraid of everything
and
would take off in a complete panic,. He would not allow you to even
brush him,
let
alone put
a
saddle on his back and mount. That was Pargon OX
seven years ago. Today he is the most mentally stable horse I know.
This change is
visible, not only in his
way
of interacting with humans and the human world, but also towards
other horses.
He
is more prone to defend his space instead of running away from other
horses in the field. Has his
personality changed?
Has his soul been taken away from him? Or,
deep down, has he
always
had
these traits but the
high level
of stress he
lived
with
made
him seem
half crazy, spooky and unmanageable?
The
other example is
my Connemara,
Hagens
Yeats.
He
is a former school horse and has had some difficulties in
adjusting
to life
as an individually
and privately owned horse
without
the constant company of all
the
other horses in his herd of school horses. I
vividly remember the first
few weeks after I brought him home. He
was
fully
aware
of where
all
the
other 20
horses
in the new stable were at all time. Me he didn't
notice. He
walked on
my
feet,squashed me against the wall and dragged me around
at the end of the lead rope. Not
that he
was
trying to be mean, it was just that he
did not see me
and
definitely did
not understand that I was trying to communicate with
him.
Today
it is
very different. I have
his
attention and, although
he probably still knows what all the other horses are doing, he
communicates with me and can even leave the herd and be OK with being
alone in the indoor arena or out on the trails. Since he is calm, I
have been able to school
him
according to classical principles, giving him
a
whole new way to
use his
own body. Today, just as before, he occasionally
runs around
the
hilly pasture
playing
happy, frisky horsey
games.
The
difference is that, in the past, I used to close
my eyes and
pray that
he would not take
a tumble because
his movements
were so uncoordinated,
heavy and
clumsy.
Today I
enjoy just
looking at
him because
he moves
with such
grace
and ease.
The
stiff school horse has
turned into a
master
of motion and posture. Have
I changed
his self-image
and his use of himself? Or have I helped
him to rediscover
a
way to be that he had as a foal?
Even if I have changed his self-image, would that be a
bad thing?
That
horses are
affected by the
people that surround them has been shown by research. There are, for
example, studies that have shown that a nervous
rider
makes
the
horse nervous.
But this is a
temporary emotional
reaction. What
I believe
I see with
my horses
is
a
change that is there even when
I'm not in
the
close vicinity. My
intellect
tells
me that this
change is
positive. Is
it not better for a horse to live without high levels of stress than
with them? And
even if both of my
horses now
interact
with other
horses in
a
different manner,
and
also
use their own bodies differently,
is
there anything wrong with this? Yet,
my
heart trembles
with the realisation
of the
incredible
power
of influence I
seem
to have.
Such
possibilities. Such responsibilities.
Thanks
to Mark Stanton of Horsemanship Magazine for checking my spelling and
grammar! All
other errors are my own.
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