tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-829570931882245246.post1125140708985948476..comments2024-03-26T08:22:23.744-04:00Comments on Glenshee Equestrian Centre: Your Thoughts on an Interesting Post...?Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-829570931882245246.post-47226615701058681992009-07-25T07:46:01.086-04:002009-07-25T07:46:01.086-04:00ha ha :-) i think we all need a little help after...ha ha :-) i think we all need a little help after taking any time off from riding! it's shocking how uncoordinated i've become after a long winter (and now rainy summer) of almost no riding. i need all the help i can get! the problem is, once you begin focusing on what's going wrong, it's hard to get past it. for me, anyway...<br /><br />i know they are a great tool but, i have mixed feelings about getting mirrors for the arena. on the one hand it will be enlightening :-\ to see where my position is these days and try to fix it, but on the other hand it might be traumatic to actually have to look at it! aaah!jmehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04295140724737185132noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-829570931882245246.post-92201243019223243582009-07-24T10:14:11.193-04:002009-07-24T10:14:11.193-04:00jme, I think you're probably too accomplished ...jme, I think you're probably too accomplished a rider to actually *need* the rolling focus technique!<br /><br />It was especially helpful for me, coming back to riding after such a long gap, b/c I could remember how it FELT to do things right, but my body didn't always cooperate. So this technique really gave me a low-key way to touch base with my own body as I rode.<br /><br />Ultimately, as each body part gets competent and stable, that part of the exercise should just drop off the 'list' - at least that's what has happened as I've continued riding and found some stability along the way.<br /><br />I still do use it though as a sort of touchstone to see where I'm at in a ride. <br /><br />However, I'm much more likely to get caught up in the moment and forget everything except the movement of the horse, so there is no danger of me turning anything into a rigid "checklist" - probably to the woe of past trainers who were trying to get my attention back on the lesson. :)billiehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18187141867284800597noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-829570931882245246.post-23192709588291338482009-07-24T08:49:39.128-04:002009-07-24T08:49:39.128-04:00HOC - thanks for your comment! i should clarify t...HOC - thanks for your comment! i should clarify that i wasn't singling out dressage riders, but just suggesting that maybe some of the more intense, single-minded (almost militant!) ones aren't doing their horses any favors ;-) i ride dressage and would like to think i don't fall into that category!<br /><br />billie - i have never heard of the 'soft eyes' thing until this subject came up, but it does sound similar. i'll have to read more about it. the 'rolling focus' also sounds interesting, though for me i think i could easily get caught up in it - i'd probably turn it into a pre-flight checklist! but i think i will give it a go next time i ride (if it ever stops raining here!)jmehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04295140724737185132noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-829570931882245246.post-77579645251365937882009-07-23T10:09:26.494-04:002009-07-23T10:09:26.494-04:00I love Sally Swift's 'soft eyes' appro...I love Sally Swift's 'soft eyes' approach, and it sounds like this is similar to your approach.<br /><br />One of my trainers taught me to do this sort of "rolling focus" technique, where I would go from head to toe with my focus while riding around the arena.<br /><br />I'd focus for a few seconds on each part of my body, noting if something was off and making a quick and easy correction, then rolling my focus down to the next part - i.e. eyes up and looking well ahead, shoulders open and back, arms relaxed and giving, hands... etc. etc. all the way down to my feet.<br /><br />Then I would ride with no focus at all, the soft eyes thing, until I felt something needed tweaking, at which point I would start the rolling focus again.<br /><br />It was an amazing tool and I think at this point it's just part of what I do. Now that more parts of my body can do what they need to for longer periods of time, I'm able to roll to the "trouble spot" more quickly, but overall it's a great way to have self-awareness w/o getting hyper-focused on any one thing.<br /><br />She also had me do this in response to the HORSE having an issue - instead of making a correction on the horse, I did the rolling focus and made the correction on ME.<br /><br />9 times out of 10 this fixed everything, and at least in the 1 time it didn't, I knew it was more than likely NOT me, and could then deal with what was happening with the horse.<br /><br />The mare/gelding thing is interesting. I have certainly ridden mares in my life but have only known one well, and that is Salina. The best way I can describe her is that she is not a "say/do" horse. She has an ongoing conversation with you, and it includes everything going on in you at the moment, whether or not it has to do with riding directly.<br /><br />With Keil Bay and Cody, I feel more of a yes/no/okay/you want me to WHAT? kind of back and forth going on... although I will say that with each of them I do feel a telepathy whereby I can think the requests and they respond. If I can shut down my body and get very quiet with the aids, then they listen better and they get quieter too.<br /><br />With Salina it feels more like we're doing a sort of intensive biofeedback therapy session, where she uncovers everything and THEN when you're centered and clear, things move into harmony. Sometimes it has happened so fast I couldn't keep up in my "head" - just had to go with her and let it roll - and that's when we did beautiful flying changes, etc. together.billiehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18187141867284800597noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-829570931882245246.post-35255425571530163202009-07-22T15:04:54.016-04:002009-07-22T15:04:54.016-04:00Very interesting posts, both yours and Kim's.
...Very interesting posts, both yours and Kim's.<br />I totally agree with your conclusions, and I very much feel that our horses have to be our partners. There has to be an element of play and of mutual joy in the work we do together.<br />However, being a dressage rider I don't recognize myself in your description. I believe this has more to do with what kind of person we are - how we ride mentally (left or right brain rider), and not what kind of discipline we ride. <br />Personally I tend to go very much with the flow when I am riding dressage - so much so that I have a problem when I am jumping instead. I have problems to focus on the course and the obstacles just kind of happen, lol!HorseOfCoursehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15907659164579327290noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-829570931882245246.post-7274768856813985922009-07-22T08:33:00.627-04:002009-07-22T08:33:00.627-04:00kim- i can't wait to read your next installmen...kim- i can't wait to read your next installment!jmehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04295140724737185132noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-829570931882245246.post-32633515516178318202009-07-22T01:54:01.121-04:002009-07-22T01:54:01.121-04:00"I believe a horse is only capable of giving ..."I believe a horse is only capable of giving its full focus, as described in the post, to something it fears on some level. The sense I get from the horses whose owners demand complete focus is of a deer in the headlights - of an animal so absorbed by his own hyper-alertness that his ability to function normally is impaired. This is hardly where I want my horses to be, above all during training – I want quite the opposite!"<br />You said it--so well! <br /><br />I love your term, "composed trust."<br /><br />"I realized in reading this post that my riding actually improves when I make the effort to avoid focus." With this statement, you actually make the point I was aiming for in my next post on the subject, which is taking a cue from the neurological organization of the horse. It speaks to the state of mind taught in Centered Riding, best typified in Sally Swift's "soft eyes," which is more than an isolated exercise, but an entire approach to riding in, as you say, composed trust, and moving about the world much as a relaxed prey animal does. <br /><br />"The moment I start to focus too much, it all falls apart" Ordinarily, when this happens, folks blame the horse. But whose problem is it, really?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-829570931882245246.post-31179365439068874832009-07-21T18:53:35.999-04:002009-07-21T18:53:35.999-04:00I have to agree with you completely and applaud yo...I have to agree with you completely and applaud you and Kim for putting all this into coherent thought for me. <br />Once again great post and food for thought.Grey Horse Mattershttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05837575441967937196noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-829570931882245246.post-38940077709829184182009-07-20T21:48:11.506-04:002009-07-20T21:48:11.506-04:00that makes perfect sense! and yes, i do agree tha...that makes perfect sense! and yes, i do agree that the boys tend to be more black and white than the girls - something i have to remember when going from training one to the other!<br /><br />i have actually gotten to the point where i use trail and field riding to gradually school a lot of our dressage (think of all the dressage moves and aids you use to open and close a gate, collect going down a hill, or keep on a spooky trail!) that way the basic training sort of takes care of itself, and it helps keep the arena work form getting too intense. then when we're in the arena we make work into games and patterns to refine everything while still trying to keep it on the light side :-)<br /><br />i've been told by old school h/j trainers that they used to teach young horses to jump in the hunt field by just letting them follow the more experienced horses and figure it out as they went along! there's something appealing to me about training in an environment where what you're doing has a practical application. i think it has to make more sense to the horses than learning something new in the arena where it is sort of out of context. but i digress! ;-)<br /><br />now i'm the one who's tired and not making sense! thanks for the interesting comment!jmehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04295140724737185132noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-829570931882245246.post-56395543347478749752009-07-20T21:11:22.824-04:002009-07-20T21:11:22.824-04:00Very interesting! I have a couple of thoughts.
M...Very interesting! I have a couple of thoughts.<br /><br />Maybe that's why I'm a better trail rider than an arena rider? On the trail I'm a big picture person. In the arena I'm detail-oriented, even though I hate it because that's how I thought I had to do it to get better....Maybe a change in thinking is in order. My horse AND I certaintly enjoy the trail better, probably because we both aren't stressed out by perfect circles.<br /><br />I've always been drawn to mares and I think some of that is because I feel like mares "get it" better than geldings. They "get" the grey areas better. Sometimes it's OK to eat while riding, sometimes it's not. Sometimes it's OK move while mounting, sometimes it's not. Sometimes you get to pick speed and gait, sometimes you don't. (I'm completely brain dead from being exhausted, so that's my excuse if this post is way off subject or doesn't make sense!)Melhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16627065628317652042noreply@blogger.com