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horse-back ridingMotivation from Moshi 76, by Jane Savoie Photo by: Liz Ritz Photography A terrible thing happened today, and I’m really struggling to get over it. There was a loud hissing sound that hit my nervous system with a scream that said, “RATTLE SNAKE!” I was so startled, I jumped sideways really hard and fast, and unseated Jane! Her off balance body clinging to my side triggered “MOUNTAIN LION!” in my brain. So, I bucked. Not just a little, I bucked from one end of the arena to the other until I shook off the “Killer Lion!” But that lion was actually my best friend, Jane. I dumped her! In the dirt! I bucked her off! I’m so upset! Jane and I have been best friends for ten years! I’ve never bucked her or anyone else off. NEVER! Not even once. Fortunately, Jane was not seriously hurt. She’s a bit banged up, but no broken bones. Of course she was wearing her helmet. She ALWAYS wears her helmet. Thank goodness! I would never have intentionally hurt her, but I could have anyway just reacting like a normal horse! No one has ever come off me before, and it freaked me out. I was wide-eyed for twenty minutes. But I’m not going to let this ruin my time with Jane. I’m going to look at this with clear thought, do some EFT meridian tapping to release the energy pathway that my neurons created during this fear episode, and move on. Jane understands that I was acting out of instinct, not maliciousness. Still we both feel really bad about it. We have to just have to make sure that we FEEL our feelings, do the techniques we know to release the energy of the past, and move on. Motivation from Moshi 72, by Jane Savoie
Words have power. They have energy. They create a state of being in our minds. Horses don’t use words, but we understand the energy behind what you say. You’ve probably heard the saying, “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.” I say, the wounds from a stick or stone will probably heal, but the damage caused by the negative words we hear may sting for life. Never underestimate how your words affect those around you, as well as how they reflect back and affect YOU. If your self-talk is negative, your experience is going to be negative. If you speak positively, your experience will reflect the same. If you bark and growl at your horse without careful thought to the attitude you’re projecting, your horse is going to feel insecure and you’re going to maintain a negative vibration. If you’re snapping at the people around you, the energy you’re projecting can be just as damaging as a pointed stick jabbing into someone’s heart. Have you ever asked yourself, is it better to be right, or is it better to be kind? It’s a very pertinent question. Sometimes you have to stand your ground and be firm in what you consider “right.” Sometimes being right is just not that important. Choosing which applies in each situation is one of the things you have to decide on your own. Observing the results of your choices, right or wrong, is where wisdom is born. Motivation from Moshi 71, by Jane Savoie
Winning. What does that feel like to you? For me, I’ve “won” when I feel that flow through my body and everything comes together. I find it easy to feel flow when I’m cantering. I have a “winning” canter. It’s my favorite gait. When Jane was first teaching me tempi changes, I lost that sense of flow until I had the muscle memory of changing leads whenever she asked. Once I got that muscle memory, the changes became easy and flow returned. I felt like I’d “won.” Winning doesn’t have to be about blue ribbons. If you’ve been away from riding for a while, you may feel like you’ve won if you simply get out to the barn and get on your horse for ten minutes. Walking around may be as far as you want to go today. If you’re a serious competitor, you may have that sense of a w in by perfecting that challenging movement. If you’re a teacher, you may feel like you’ve “won” when your student ends the lesson with a smile. There are many ways to find that sense of a Win. The key is simply to look for it. And when you do, remind yourself to pay attention to how it feels. Then you can consciously create it again and again. It’s being in that positive space that creates even more success. What could you do today that would make you feel like a success? I’m going to perform perfect pirouettes today, both directions. That gives me a terrific successful feeling! Motivation from Moshi 69, by Jane Savoie
She likes me! She likes me! I’m so excited! That new mare told her friend that she really thinks I’m pretty neat. She said I had the most handsome face and cutest butt in the barn. I was blushing pink through my black hair. I’ll admit it’s true… I do have a nice big, round hip. It’s one of my best attributes. There’s a joke I hear in the barn a lot. People say, “Does this saddle make my butt look big?” I don’t understand why so many people worry about the size of their butts. People like horses with big rear ends. I’m constantly hearing people talk about losing weight, this diet or that, who’s too fat and who’s too skinny. It’s strange. We horses don’t care what size you are. Your weight is not nearly as important to us as how you ride. One of the most uncomfortable sessions I’ve ever had was with a really skinny rider. She pounded my back like a farrier’s hammer. And one of the most elegant riders I’ve ever experienced was a very large woman. She was so balanced and so at one with me, that it was very easy to carry her. Riding is a sport, and all sports require some level fitness. If you’re a casual rider who just wants to walk down the trail, you won’t need to be as fit as a rider who is a serious student of jumping or dressage. As you ride regularly and learn more, your fitness level will naturally improve. It’s a given. If you want to improve even faster, add a regular brisk walk to your day, and do some crunches or sit-ups every evening before you go to bed or every morning when you first get up. But please, stop worrying so much about your size and weight. You get more of whatever you concentrate on. So, if you concentrate on a negative view of your weight, you’ll hold onto or increase the problem. You can’t help it! Instead, concentrate in getting FIT. Think about all the small ways you can become stronger and fitter, and you’ll get more of that. Put your bathroom scale in the back of your closet and stop obsessing about the pounds. They’re not that important! Instead, learn to ride light with softness and balance. Your horse will be happier. Motivation from Moshi 64, by Jane Savoie
Patience. I hear it is a virtue. I think it’s a habit that can be developed. Having patience with your horse is very important. He or she thinks differently than you do, so you have to be able to recognize when he tries to do what you’re asking, even if he didn’t quite get it. Rewarding the “try” is very important. It’s also very important to recognize why you might be losing patience. Very often it’s because you’re afraid. Fear is very uncomfortable, so many people appear angry when they’re actually afraid. It’s a natural human coping mechanism. Recognizing this fact is very important, especially if you’re working with children and animals. Do you have a temper? Are you sure it’s anger you’re feeling, and not fear or lack of control? If you suspect this might be true for you, or really don’t know why you get angry, it may be time to take a second look. Next time you feel your temper flare, stop and examine what’s going on. What caused this? What are you REALLY feeling? Could it be fear you’re covering up with a different emotion? Motivation from Moshi 63, by Jane Savoie
There are all kinds of dreams. Big dreams, small dreams, fantasy dreams, and the important dreams you really want to realize before you leave this life. Funny thing about dreams. Sometimes they take on a life of their own. The key is holding the vision of what you want to accomplish, and then follow the trail that providence sets before you. A good friend of mine calls it “following the spiritual popcorn.” Do you have a clear vision of what you want to do? Do you think about it much? Are your thoughts positive or negative? Do you see yourself accomplishing the dream, or do you fret about the obstacles in the way? Remember, you get more of whatever you give your attention to. Knowing this, how might you direct your thoughts in a way that serves you best? I have a dream of rolling in fresh, dew covered grass with the bright sun warming my shiny black coat. Then I dream of sleeping the afternoon away in total peace and relaxation. Maybe today is the day. Motivation from Moshi 62, by Jane Savoie
Today is the day! Right now, this moment, is the point where you can change everything you’d like to change. Right now! You have the ability, you have the power, you just have to make the decision. What would you like to do/be/experience? Are you ready to commit? If so, now is the time! You can do it! Just set the goal and then plan the steps you need to take to get there. If you don’t know the steps, find a mentor who can help you. Find someone who’s where you want to be, and ask them to help you make a plan. Then, one step at a time, follow the plan. Horses live in the moment. We don’t really plan ahead. Living NOW gives us an advantage in that we don’t carry a lot of grudges or baggage. Sure, we can get programmed to respond with fear at something that’s hurt or scared us in the past, but we don’t wallow in the memory. We just react. Because of this, we can be re-programmed to react in a different way. Humans can do this too! But, with people it takes a conscious decision to let go of the past and move on to a new way of being. You can’t move forward if you cling to the past. It’s like the old saying, “If you do what you’ve always done, you’ll get what you’ve always got.” You have to let go of where you are, to get where you’d rather be. Motivation from Moshi 61, by Jane Savoie
“Aha!” I love those moments. Don’t you? When you suddenly GET IT? It’s such a rush when everything comes together and really works for the first time. How do you create more “Aha Moments”? When Jane is riding me, they come when both sides of my brain kick in, along with the muscle memory of the new movement. And that comes with both intellectual understanding and physical practice. It happens when the left side of my brain, where logic and linear thought resides; meshes with the right side, where emotion and artistry lives, and then shows up in my physical body as the execution of perfect movement. My whole being responds to everything coming together with an exciting and satisfying “Aha!” Learning to ride well doesn’t take good luck or exceptional talent. As the cowboys say, it just takes wet saddle blankets. In our case, it’s wet dressage pads. I learn something from Jane every time she rides me. And she learns from me too. Sometimes our progress is imperceptible, and sometimes it comes in huge Aha’s. But we only have forward progress when we actually put what we’ve intellectually learned into physical practice. And that takes commitment and work. Motivation from Moshi 60, by Jane Savoie
I’ve been in love a few times in my life. The most recent mare I fell head-over-hooves for was a beautiful palomino Tennessee Walker, named Annie. Oh my gosh, that girl was a beauty! Long blond hair, lovely big hip, with the most elegant sashay as she’d walk down the road. My heart went pitter-patter every time she and her person rode by our barn. I’d not seen her in awhile. I would watch the road hoping she would come by, but nothing. Then, a long time after I’d last seen her, Annie’s person stopped by our barn and told a friend that Annie was gone. She’d gotten into something poisonous and had severely foundered. Her owner tearfully shared that they had tried for months to save her, but she was in so much pain and her coffin bone had rotated so far, that the vet had suggested that the kindest thing to do was to end her suffering and put her down. Her owner was still distraught about the decision, not sure she had made the right choice. Annie’s person’s guilt and self-doubt was tearing her apart. It’s a blessing to us horses that we live in the moment. We don’t fear death because we don’t project our thoughts into the future and wonder what it will be like when we leave this physical existence. We are now. Being now also means that in spirit we don’t have judgment as to the reason why we may have left the physical world. Of course our natural instinct is to survive, and our fight and flight instincts will kick in if we are threatened, but that’s not a conscious thought. That’s programmed impulse. Motivation from Moshi 59, by Jane Savoie
It’s a touchy subject. It’s one I’ve avoided for a long time, because it’s going to hit some nerves. But I overheard someone tearfully share that a trainer had told her she’d become too fat to ride, so I figured it was time to break the silence. Weight. There, I said it. Human society is incredibly obsessed with body size. How many people don’t ride or stopped riding because they think they are too fat? How many people hide their talents and abilities behind a wall of shame because of their BMI (Body Mass Index)? When I hear people talking about weight issues, it makes me so glad I’m a horse! We are expected to have a big, round “hip” and be well fleshed. Unless you’re a racehorse, it’s perfectly okay to be plump. In fact, we are “fattened up” for halter classes and viewed as healthier when we have some meat on our bones. Why aren’t people like that? I hear it’s mostly because of movies, TV, and magazines. Back when food was scarce and only the rich were plump, “Rubenesque” women were all the rage. But now that food is abundant for almost all people, you’re expected to be waif thin and wrinkle free if you want to be “in.” The media perpetuates this ideal simply by glorifying the skinny and the young. |
