When I see the new foals running around, I realize that I’m not a baby anymore. But that doesn’t mean I can’t take baby steps now and then.
Sometimes a job is just too big and overwhelming to figure out exactly how to get it all done. When that’s the case, baby steps is the way to go. It’s like when my stall gets dirty. Someone has to clean it out one scoop at a time. You may not notice one scoop being removed. But when you remove ten scoops, it really makes a big difference!
What do you have to do, or want to accomplish, that seems too big for you to achieve right now? Can you break it down into little parts? Can you take baby steps? Can you accept slow progress over no progress at all?
Horses live in the moment. We really enjoy physical sensations because we are NOW. We don’t think much about the future or the past. We live in the present.
Jane and I are back in Vermont now. The air here is so different from Florida! The smell of the spring storms and the pine trees is much more like my first home in Holland. I love feeling the coolness of the snow in my foot feathers and the crispness of the air in my nostrils. I like Florida, where the grass is always green, but Vermont really feels like home.
Dressage is as mental a challenge as it is physical. Many humans are drawn to it because it exercises the precision-yearning part of the brain as much as the physical senses of the body. I’ve noticed that sometimes people get too caught up in the mental part and forget to enjoy the physical part.
People often tell me that their horses leg yield very well as far as going sideways is concerned, but they tend to toss their heads and show resistance to the contact. In desperation, some riders even use a tie-down to put pressure on the nose to discourage their horses from yanking at the reins.
If your horse finds it fairly easy to cross his legs and move sideways with his body, yet he’s tossing his head during leg yields, it sounds like he’s objecting to your contact with his mouth. Any effort to steady his head with methods such as tying it down or using draw reins is simply treating the symptom rather than the cause.
Leg Yield vs. Rein Yield
The first thing that occurs to me is that you might be “rein-yielding” rather than leg yielding. Often when riders begin to teach their horses to leg yield, they try to move them sideways by pulling them over with the reins. As a result, their horses feel restricted and unhappy.
I have VERY exciting news for you! I have purchased a farm in Wellington, Florida to be able to continue to give my clients and horses the best possible training facility and “home away from home” as possible. I’ve been working on this special project since last April, and it’s finally done.
I am going to be offering a special rate for the first season of operation at our new facility, as well as offering month to month full care and training for those who can not afford the full season. After talking to numerous people about their needs and budgets, I have found over the years that a lot of you would love to take the opportunity to come to Fl for training. But due to the traditional billing of seasonal stalls, it’s just not feasible.
Of course, stall priority will be given to those horses who would like a stall for the entire season. But I am determined to offer training and full care at an affordable price for those who would like only 2 or 3 months instead of the entire season. I feel that this is a service that has been overlooked in Wellington.
Misunderstandings happen. It’s just part of life. But it sometimes it hurts when we feel like we aren’t heard or we are misunderstood.
I thought Jane asked for a left lead canter depart but she apparently was only asking me to collect a bit more. I got confused and got upset. She was quiet and patient with me, but I was still a bit rattled. I remembered getting in trouble when I was a little colt, and that memory came back to me and frightened me. Once I understood what Jane was really asking, I got it right and we both felt better.
We perceive our lives through our personal histories. There is no such thing as an unbiased perception. For this reason, the best practice is to recognize that we all see things a little bit differently. Sometimes we need to ask for clarification or an different kind of explanation. We need to be kind and gentle with each other, and with ourselves. We are all doing the best we can.
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