LJB Clinic Notes

Mark Rashid, May 22-24 2008

2008-05-31T07:20:00.000-07:00

These are my notes for the first three days with Mark and Crissi. I did not distinguish what days or what horse and rider are the context for my notes other than during my horse time. Here they are:

Sofia and I:

In the round pen.

Speed, direction, destination. I need to provide all three or else she will. My presence is important. My posture shows my presence.

Feeling my walk and trot during ground work. It is not a change in stride length. It is a change in speed.

Mind set: "we are doing this" and then help Sofia meet that.

Mark demonstrated how he disconnects when Sofia was not making an effort to connect with him, by turning away (off behind her) while still walking with same rhythm and tempo, then when Sofia starts making an effort to connect, turning again to be moving in the same direction, together with her.

With Crissi, I worked on my walk and my trot, keeping my arms and hands quiet just like I would if I were walking down the street. Too much activity in my body becomes meaningless to the horse, like kicking every step while riding.

Finding the walk with the amount of life I want. Helping Sofia stay with it before she loses it. Encourage her to stay with the speed I've asked for just when she starts to lose it.

We are always asking the horse to be here now, present with us.

Others:

Instead of dealing with the horse's shoulder falling in on the circle, ask the outside front foot to step out. This works because of the balance of the horse.

Our balance on the horse: side to side is stable. Front/back is not stable but horse underneath us provides it.

When standing, our feet are more or less under our shoulders. Good lateral/medial stability, and feet (toes to heels) are designed to provide anterior/posterior stability. When we walk, that changes as our feet come toward our midline at the walk. (Try walking while keeping feet at shoulder width!) Horse does the same -- standing balance is different from moving balance.

If horse 'falls in' on a circle, he is doing it to maintain balance after the inside front foot steps toward the inside of the circle. So think about that outside front foot stepping out on the circle which will influence horse to keep balance by moving the inside foot toward the outside where he just stepped. Use the reins to bring that foot out if the thought alone isn't effective to get the change. Think about that foot landing to the outside. Replace those thoughts about the foot or shoulder falling in. Focus on the solution, not the problem.

Get a response to the rein when asking the horse to soften. Put hand with rein on thigh and let horse do what he needs to do. He'll find his way off that rein pressure. Put your hand so it doesn't move then he has to think about what to do to soften to that pressure.

Instead of giving when he softens, say: my hand is right here, you put your head wherever it's comfortable. If you want to struggle, go ahead and struggle with yourself.

Pulling between horse and rider with stiffness and tension on the reins: change intent. I don't want to be fighting with you even if we have contact. Nothing actually changes with the hands or the tension/amount of pressure on the reins. The intent does change!

Like talking on the phone, you can talk really loud or talk softly, but the phone doesn't change.

Another analogy: take contact. The outside of the rein stays the same but the inside of the rein softens. Visual might be outside of rein is a pipe and inside of the rein is fluid.

When riding, when we feel the effect, it's out of balance. If horse spikes and we spike, too, it doesn't feel right. (Mark talks at other times about this balance point.)

Demo with rider: difference between a cue or aid with or without energy. The difference between pressure with no energy and pressure with energy.

Looking for a consistent line of communication so the horse never has to go: where are you?

Looking for the feel of both of you doing the same thing at the same time. Effortless, like skating.

If we feel friction, we are out of balance with ourselves. If we are out of balance with ourselves, we cannot be in balance with our horse.

Visualization for riding from core: think about having two arms that come down around the horse then visualize opening your hands. To slow down, turn hands over toward midline and down. To bring more speed, open hands palm upwards.

The higher the horse's head goes, the higher the horse's heart rate goes. Get them to drop their head and we can get them to drop their heart rate.

Using the hands opening for increased speed tends to lift and bring the back up. This takes us away from using our legs for increased speed. The slow down movement: also brings horse back and up, onto hinds, and closes down the energy.

Use this for transitions up and down - gets us away from using hands/reins and legs/seat -- gets us using our core.

Use stable hands but with different intent to help horses soften to reins.

Intangibles of energy - much of Mark's thinking and experience comes from Aikido.

Control of the body to calm down: my body, horse's body.

Focus on what we do have, not on what we don't have. Maybe we don't have softness right now. But we have straight lines and we have impulsion.

It is different to give to pressure versus to soften.

We have way more 'middle' than 'edge'. Using the balance point scale of 0-10 -- the edges are 0 and 10 while the middle is 1-9. We want to use all of it, the whole spectrum.

We have to use whatever the horse says we need to use, then we can back off from there. But always offer softness.

Focus on what we want then make sure horse finds a way to get there.

Foundational stuff: speed, direction, destination.

Before we get to the destination, we pick another one, then another one.

Working from your core, define speed, direction, and destination.

Generally a spook will only last about two seconds. Horses are designed to get ready to run more than they are designed to run. Horse may jump but probably won't run away.

One thing that gets us in trouble is when a horse is worried about something and we drag them right up to it. A horse will check something out then turn and run off a bit. Later they will come back a bit closer, then leave again, then return again.

We create a problem forcing a horse close to a scary thing.

Instead take him away from it. He can start gaining confidence in the person, plus person is taking him away, not him taking the person away. Good leadership.

Horse may go past something in one direction but not in the other direction. This is because of his brain. Corpus callosum in the horse is less highly developed than in humans. Horses cannot translate information very well from one side of the brain to the other.

It is better to get something solid on one side, like mounting, then start on other side.

Back up with a horse who was very braced -- keep hands in one spot and let the horse work on it. Right now we're asking him to soften and we're using backing to do that. First get him backing, then work on backing straight.

We have to be able to offer softness if we want softness in return.

Nodding and lateral flexion happen in the first joint at the top of the neck. Rotation happens in the next joint down.

Horses don't hold grudges.

Starting a horse: lunging, ground driving (stopping, backing, turning), then saddled ground driving, then bitted ground driving, then mount.

If we release on something less than what we want, we'll keep getting what we don't want.

If the horse doesn't understand her job, it's difficult for her to do it.

Going backwards but not knowing how = backing a horse with a huge brace.

Get the horse calmed down. Introduce horse to what is expected. Show rider what to do with her hands. Then maybe the rider can follow through. Trying to set it up so the rider can do this with this horse or another horse without doing this from the ground.

Lightness = when the outside of the horse is doing it. Rushing, stiff, choppy. Softness is coming from the inside of the hrose and feels smooth.

Me and Mark again:

I warmed up first, remembering to set up some disconnect when Sofia wasn't connecting with me. It was effective. Mark helped with bridling. Sofia thought she could put her head up or her head to the right to avoid dealing with the situation. It's not about the bridle or the bit -- it's about the situation, my presentation. Sofia would say "no" and I would say "no". Mark was going with her "no" until she said "well, what now?" That is when there is an opening to offer her something new. I have missed these openings. Sofia and I have both felt frustrated. Mark said he allowed her to move as she chose, then augmented it. I asked him later about what he did to 'augment' and he did a hands on with me which I will work on until my timing and feel improves. Sofia will let me know -- by her response to what I offer -- how I'm doing.

With Crissi: Hands steady so Sofia can find how to release herself. Using my core sphere of energy for forward, reverse direction for backup. Softness. Sofia is feeling better about the rein contact. I'm finding clarity about the differences between pull, rigid, soft, firm, pressure.

Use back up after a halt only when horse pushes into the bit and contact when halting. Otherwise halt, soften, walk on. If she's soft at the halt, great!

More about bridling. I get frustrated, Sofia gets frustrated. Equine dentist has gotten extremely frustrated with Sofia, and vet got frustrated. I get frustrated. It's my job to avoid getting frustrated and/or quite my emotions as quickly as possible. If Sofia's emotional energy goes up, mine goes down so we maintain a balance between us.

All Mark's effort and intention with the horse is about: show me just how you feel. Once she shows it all, then she can come back with a question, 'what? what do you want if you don't want that?'

Sofia has a lot to offer! As I get the communication clearer, connection more consistent, then her bigness will be in her stride and speed, not her worry and surprise.

Mark demonstrated with the reins: pull versus pressure. Feeling the softness within the pressure.

Image of outside of rein and inside of rein. Inside is hollow, fluid, whatever. Intention comes through the inside of the reins from my core to the horse: soften. It works!

Others:

Jumping. Inhale locks things up. Exhale frees things up. Exhale allows the horse to go up and over, not hit the fence or flatten out over it.

Jumping is just a transition.

People say, "My horse bucked me off." Mark says, "No. Your horse did something horses do and you fell off."

Men and women: chemicals are different. After an argument, the chemicals in men will dissipate in about 15 minutes. In women it takes up to 1 1/2 hours or even longer. Chemicals are much slower to dissipate in women than in men. If we don't tap into them to begin with, that isn't a problem. Breathing helps!

Can you feel the movement in your hips as a figure 8? This will help with rhythm. Elliptical figure 8.

Sitting trot requires us to let our hips move longer than is usual like for a walk.

Creating openings for movement to either slow down or speed up -- not simply creating movement.

Maybe can influence a transition by opening up your right hip -- as it comes up, think about the hip disappearing -- nothing there to block horse's energy and movement.

Allowing the horse to move into an opening then augmenting. Open both hips to go to the canter.

Opening the hip is less about opening and more about disappearing. So there is nothing in the way of the leg to reach out, swing out -- so everything can flow forward.

For steering, engage core first. Stay in balance and more from core.

Ride from the core.

Turning the head to initiate a change in direction, changes our balance and disturbs structure of the body.

If horse can't respond to our core info, we need to follow up with the mechanics so horse can get with us in speed, direction, and destination.

It is much easier to keep the horse moving if we catch the first step of slower. Principle of inertia.

The more you do with your hands, the less the horse can move.

When we talk about being soft, we talk about using the least amount of pressure that we can. The soft-as-we-can-be may not be the soft-as-we-want-to-be. They are two different things.

How little can you use and still feel the movement? As soon as you feel the momentum change, take up a little pressure until you get softness and movement.

As she slows down, maintain that rhythm and speed, then the horse finds it with me again.

We want to be as soft as we can be. It may not be as soft as we want to be.

Sometimes it's more important to get what you're looking for than to get softness, then softness will come through.

The power for everything the horse does does not come from the hindquarters, it comes from the horse's core and comes through the hindquarters.

If the horse wants to run away from something, we want to keep head facing in the direction of the scary thing. OK if he moves his body away but keep him mentally there. When the horse settles, than take him away, then bring him back again. Then, before horse feels like he has to flee the scene, turn him and bring him back to what we were doing. We're not going to fight about it but we do need to accomplish what we set out to do.

If he shows us where the trouble is, we can help him with it.

It's OK if horse is scared but we really don't want him to run away. We want the horse to be able to think, not flee.

Most people live in a low level state of panic because we don't breathe well. Same with horses. If they are not breathing well, they are in a low level state of panic.

More important than horse staying in a frame is that horse will go there when we ask.

There are two emotions that control a horse from the day they are born to the day they die: fear and curiosity. A fearful horse cannot be curious. A curious horse cannot be fearful.

When leading, Mark is very clear that the horse doesn't pass him, doesn't even think about passing him. Always offering something soft through the rope even if it has lots of energy. Don't go very far when first starting on leading and respecting our boundaries.

A good stop when leading: look at what horse does when leader turns to face her. If one of her feet lands on the ground, what she does with the next front foot constitutes a good stop: a foot lands then the next foot lands at or behind the first foot. When showing a horse what we want, back the horse up if they step more than that. If they stop as we want them to, do not back them up. They learn the specifics of this pretty fast.

Horse is looking for someone to be leading. If we don't lead, horse does it. Horses want somebody who knows what's going on so they don't have to worry about it.

My third ride time:

Use core first then follow up with mechanical. Connect with my core, and Sofia's core.

Thoughts -- mostly I have stories to tell, they are just stories and take me away from the present. Even though my stories are about what is happening, the act of telling them takes me away from this very moment. In the moment it takes for me to say 'she's doing this' I have missed the next thing or two she is offering.

Whether I say I can or I say I can't, it's true. I was approaching bridling Sofia without Mark doing it first, and had doubts about our success. Mark coached me about my thoughts, I changed my thoughts, and I bridled Sofia.

I may be active but I can be still inside. Practice 'mind like still water'.

Crissi: walk, turns, breathing. Started work with turn on forehand. We got a good walk through a right circle and will work together to find it that good going to the left more consistently.

Others:

Jumping. Making adjustments. Speed, direction and destination. Don't just wait for the magic to happen.

It's not "my horse is jumping" -- it's "we are jumping."

Staying connected the whole time. Staying connected with ourselves, staying connected with our horse.

Maintain softness and use your core -- powerful.

With presence say "this is what we're doing today." We all have that presence but often turn it off when we get on the horse.

Engaging core -- not rigidly but engage muscles of the body's core.

Engage core for turns, and back it up with mechanics if you need (rein, leg, etc.).

Raising your core coming into the jump will pull the horse right up over the jump.

Thinking down/bottom weighting results in using the least amount of muscles to balance with gravity. Any muscles we engage while riding, our horse engages the same muscles.

Instead of floating up over the top of the horse, bottom weight.

Bracing is more of a fight than just tightness. Tightness has some anxiety with it.

This is not about fixing things but about finding an opening so we can get in and help the horse feel better.

When you ask the horse to turn and the horse turns stiffly, we feel it in our upper back above the shoulders and mid-back between the rib cage and pelvis.

The horse's two circles of energy (one with hind legs, one with front legs) become one tank track type circle. The key is for the energy to move and pass through the rider.

A buck at the canter = energy comes up and hits the rider's brace and goes up along with the back end of the horse. It is not actually a buck. More like the back end goes up while the front end continues to canter.

Referred to a book, The Holy Man.

Focusing on the problem will get us nowhere. Focusing on the solution will.

We're not going to get pulled into the horse's drama, that creates disconnect.

Breathing properly elongates the spine and puts pelvis in balance.

Whenever presented with anything, ask ourselves three questions:

1) What? (What is it?)
2) So what? (How is it affecting me?)
3) Now what? (What am I going to do now?)

What happens in training it we teach horses how to turn their decision-making over to us.

Mark Rashid, Friday October 26, 2007 Thornton, NH

2007-12-29T20:15:00.000-08:00

"I don’t care if they get distracted. I care how much it takes to get them back."

The more consistent you are, the easier it gets.

If a horse is just running though a stop, turn him. If they stop with lightness and some brace, back up till you have softness.

If she puts her head up with the halt, she’s disconnecting her hind quarters and her forequarters. She’s not using her hindquarters to stop.

If she can’t stop out of a trot, we’ve got a problem.

With softness she can hear you all the time. With lightness, she will hear you only when things are going well.

Yielding to the bit is part of it. The other part is going to softness.

We want to eliminate her making decisions, taking over. She’s used to that but we want to change that.

Trot – halt:
1-2, 1-2, 1-2 rhythm. Breathe out on 1, use reins on 2. Breathe out becomes cue for a change coming, like a half halt.

Exhale on the exertion. Exhale can start as a cue/half halt, to be completed with the actual transition.

The backing is not a punishment. It is a way to help her get soft. So, don’t back every time, only when needed to find softness.

Horse will try different things as she’s gaining understanding. She’ll stop without brace then she’ll brace again. She’s trying to figure it out.

Mark would like to get it 80% -- and that reflects about how much he can expect of himself regarding consistency.

Get it so it’s working pretty well, then do something else – before they start searching for something else. In their mind, they say it must not be you wanted that because we’re still trying. Let her think about it – give her a break.

New info – generally it is up to 6 hours before it is understood, linked to prior info known; about twice as long for horses. Then all the info is available.

Horse has to not just understand it, but she has to figure out how to get her body to do it. [This sounds like me learning Aikido!] She has to reverse everything she’s done in her life and do it differently – engage underbody and let go of topline.

Student of the horse versus student of technique. Developing understanding versus training.

Rider T:

Soft turn. If you want a soft turn, stablilize your hands. If a turn feels heavy, where does it come from? Horse leans, rider pulls; even if the horse gives, rider pulls and horse leans.

Steady hands sets it up so she can get a release because rider won’t be pulling back when the horse gives.

With young horse especially, focus on one thing at a time: forward, stop and back, turns, etc.

If you are really concerned about forward, get forward. Then work on turns if you need to.

Focus: develop a quiet mind. In order for horse to have quiet mind, human has to have quiet mind. Mind like still water.

When our mind is quiet, we can see things for what they are. A worried horse is a worried horse, not a horse that is about to buck her off, just a worried horse.

Not a worried horse, just a horse who doesn’t know what her job is. So we need to help her know her job.

Mark’s 5 year plan: everything that comes his way he evaluates: is this something that is going to be important to me in five years? If not, let it go. It may come back in six months and need to be evaluated again but for now, it’s meaningless. Prioritize.

First thought around horses: how can I help you understand what we’re going to do? NOT: how can I make you do it?

This rider needs to give horse guidance when horse gets worried, not lock up and get lost.

Have something in mind all the time when you’re doing something with a horse. Mark always keeps “softness” in mind.

When horse gets in trouble, there is a beginning, a middle, and an end: troubled, directing horse, calm and resuming doing things.

Find a way to get the horse’s mind back. Feel it when the horse is getting tight and direct it right away rather than wait 10,15, 20 steps. Feel the softness and notice when it starts to leave and bring it back.

As a rider: if we don’t know what to do, our instinct kicks in. With horse or rider, when you get to the end of your chain of knowledge, instinct kicks in: freeze up and don’t know what to do.

In martial arts, practice, practice, practice, train, practice, etc. – the only way to get better. It’s OK to make a mistake; the idea is DO SOMETHING.

Inhale/exhale rhythm at canter: depends on horse and rider. With C and gray horse: 8 in, 9 out.

Canter: horse’s exhale is with exertion, with outside hind, the “power foot”, for canter.

Human’s exhale at same time for stop prep—exhale with horse’s power foot, then next step is stop.

Be part of the stop, not on the stop.

D and big black:

The heel thing: open left heel to allow right hind to step to center line, or vice versa.

Can also think about right hind landing under your left foot.

Lateral at canter: float it left. Float it right. It’s not a push. Don’t use your leg for this, it’s not a push. Working on half pass or whatever it’s called.

It creates a brace to use leg. Instead: barrel swings, want to float sideways, using the energy of the movement.

D is riding “on the movement” and she needs to be part of the movement. Most riders create the movement then follow it. Instead, use the horse’s movement as your movement. You won’t know where the horse stops and you start. Become part of the movement. You’ll initiate the movement anyway. What D and Crissi were working on: connecting centers.

A little dead zone is when she’s setting it up and waiting for it to happen. Everything we’re doing with this horse – we’re not teaching him something. It’s about us doing something the same way with him in a calm way.

Look for the good the horse is offering and build on it.

Technique is part of it, plus the intangible, the feel part of it.

F with young horse:

How foals learn: for approximately one year, they can do pretty much whatever they want in the herd. About a year old or when they are weaned (6 mo –1yr) the other members of the herd dictate that the babies become productive members of the herd, almost overnight.

F’s young horse has not bridged the gap. At 6-9 months, horses are ready to turn decision making over to somebody else. Ground driving is about turning decision making over. This youngster (F’s) isn’t ready because he’s not done certain things prior to ground driving.

Ground driving is an extension of other things. He needs to know how to respond when he is asked to do something. He’s looking for someone to follow. If we don’t lead, they won’t follow. They will lead.
1. Needs boundaries.
2. He can put himself back after he breeches the boundaries. Mark established boundary by swinging his arm out describing his circle of boundary. Hand went into horse’s head and nose moved away. Boundary is arm’s length. Horse’s anxiety level will start to drop once he understands the boundaries.
3. If he gets distracted, he can come back. Horse had been asking F to give way and now Mark is asking him to do the same thing. With no boundaries, he’s just looking for someone to tell him where to be, not just “stop that”. Plus he moves himself away. If he can move himself backward then he has let go of the forward thought. Then Mark moves to see if the horse can come back mentally.

“I don’t need his attention all the time but I need him to bring it back when I ask.”

Important that when Mark asks him to give way and back up, the horse keeps backing up even after Mark stops, instead of barging forward as soon as Mark stops asking for back.

This is the beginning of learning for this horse. Keep it simple. All that is needed is boundaries. Don’t add more things because then there will be lots he doesn’t understand. So keep it simple right now. Don’t overload him. Ground driving wouldn’t work because he can’t even give way right now.

If he gets sticky with leading, take him back over himself -- not off to the side -- and he’ll start getting prepared by moving his feet, hinds and fronts ready to follow.

Boundaries and following – that’s all for now.

Instead of shaking rope, just start with stepping in to him, with this particular horse, best to respond to the human's body. If out somewhere without a lead rope, then in trouble if horse has only responded to rope and not to one’s presence.

Start with presence and use rope or sound or whatever if you need to.

It’s not about making him back up. It’s about helping him find the right thing.

Energy – bringing up the energy without emotion.

Boundaries are the key thing in a herd – the very first thing. Affection is the last thing in a herd.

Being able to move another horse is really important for a horse to know. Teaching a horse to give way is helping him know how he fits into our herd.

Buckskin in round pen:

If he needs to spook, let’s see if he can spook smaller. If he has to run, we know he’ll feel better because he’s already found softness when he moves at the canter. So the distance of his bolting gets less and less -- we’ll help him deal with it.

Started on Wednesday with helping the horse find breathing and softness while moving. Horse has history of bolting when spooked. So started with finding softness when moving fast, so when spooks come again, horse can find softness rather than keep worrying more and more with speed.

Mark Rashid Wed, October 24, 2007 Thornton NH

2007-12-16T13:32:00.000-08:00

[I was auditing. Most of what is here are notes from listening to Mark. If I am confident I wrote his words down verbatim, they are in quotes, italics and bold.]

Balance point: I bring 5, the horse brings 5 = balance.
One horse started with 1 and rider brought 9 = not balanced.
Amount of energy we bring to the situation. If she resists, she brings a lot of energy even if it’s braced. Our job is to tip the balance of that. Pressure in hands/reins (in a backing up situation) – the more energy she brings, the less we bring, still with direction and softness. The less energy she brings, the more energy we bring, still with direction and softness. It feels good when there is balance.

Build confidence in a horse through consistency.

Using reins: resistance without pulling. We have to train ourselves to be soft even when something is resisting us. [This is so important to me right now. I have pulled and pushed and been aware of this and working attentively to change this. Historically when I felt scared, I resort to pulling – not nice for the horse! I have been training myself to focus on my balance through my center and leave the reins alone when it gets to that point. Even more importantly, I’m learning is to respond to the first thought of the horse that takes us away from what I’m asking, and address getting his mind back with me right away, not waiting ‘for the magic to happen’ as Mark kept saying, but to make the magic happen. And sometimes, in my mind, the ‘magic’ is simply being together mentally, emotionally, and physically doing something together. ]

If we explain it to her and she understands it, she’ll stop doing it. In order to explain it, you have to know what it feels like. [Mark’s demo on Friday evening helped me get a feel for what blending is, what it feels like to be soft when someone is resisting. Great foundation for me to experiment further with my horses, which I’ve been doing since the clinic. I do wish I had aikido lessons close enough to be feasible so I could further my kinesthetic understanding of the blending exercise. Update: I will start Aikido soon and I’m excited about this!]

We want to keep the momentum going. Help her NOT act on her thought, in this case, not act on her thought to stop.

Release for what they do and how they do it, how they feel -- soft when stopping, not just giving to pressure. Giving to pressure may be the start but it’s not all of it. We want her to go to softness. [Releasing for the quality of action and presence not just for what the feet are doing is something I have been doing, however I can only recognize softness to the degree I personally know it. I found a new level of softness resulting in the energetic opening guided by Mark’s awareness and sharing during my riding time. I will write more about this later in my clinic notes.]

[I want to feel more confident regarding is my horse giving to pressure and light, or is my horse soft? I asked Mark about this during my rides. I don’t recall ever getting an answer, yes your horse is soft or no, your horse is light, not soft, but I sure did get a few indications of where my body was tight and energy blocked, and got help with images and things to think about that allowed me to release the held energy and find a whole new world of softness available to me, and hence able to start feeling how my horse moved and responded differently when I was no longer blocking energy in my body. My dear Rusty was just waiting for more openness in me. This is different from my mare, Kacee, at home who seems to be able to carry on with less interference from my personal blocks. On some level I know I am affecting her but it’s not so obvious and drastic as with Rusty who literally can’t stride with ease when I’m blocked in my shoulders or back, or for that matter, when I’m blocked in my mind evident by doubts and uncertainty or indecision. Kacee will move ahead carrying me despite this, although she gets pushy herself. So much to learn.]

Lightness is on the outside of the horse, and will work when everything is familiar. Light horses are reactive, not necessarily responsive. If something out of the ordinary happens, all the lightness goes out the window.

Lightness through training. Softness through understanding.

Do it, repeat it, repeat it, repeat it until the horse has a light bulb go off: ‘oh that’s what you want’, then softness comes in.

[Mark guided a rider to lift a rein when her horse was stuck – not backing up after the rider asked for that. Maybe with Rusty, I can try that, too, so I don’t leave hanging out thinking he’s supposed to stay there without moving or lowering his head or anything.]

It’s about getting in the middle and blending with the horse.

If we can think more about the horse and less about ourselves, the horse knows it. This is good.

Rider brings calmness and focus on horse.

Don’t release for what we don’t want.

When we release at the wrong time, the horse will try harder/bigger brace the next time.

Equine species has the quickest reaction time of all mammals on the earth.

Rider T and her mare:

Red flags regarding physical:
Inability to pick up one lead or other
Not being able to go up or down hills well
Almost always lower back problems, short strided in hinds almost always comes from the hips.

For every muscle you tighten, the horse has to tighten a corresponding muscle.

You cannot fight softness. You can fight resistance.

Breathe out with the exertion – the stop, the walk off, etc.

Mechanics versus softness.

We want to help.

Collection: turn off the topline, engage the belly muscles.

Example of false collection: arm flexed and extended with loose hand, then tighten one finger and do it, then tighten two fingers and do it, etc.

She can’t put her head where you want it if the spot is a moving target (inconsistent rein contact).

Pitching the reins is like hanging up the phone. Better to have the lines open so you can have a conversation.

Rider D and her big gelding:

Stay engaged. She starts with the horse then starts to brace in the hand and it grows and he braces.

Circles of energy are under rider – and goes out in front, movement creates energy. Think of one big circle as a tank track or like a hamster on a wheel. The circle creates movement and maintains momentum. Half halts break momentum.

Breathe out and think about breath going where you want your horse to go.

Accuracy we can work on. A brace is something we can replace – replace with softness.

You create the rhythm and let the horse find it. Find the rhythm in yourself. Not: stand around and wait for the magic to happen. We are not going to wait. We are going to create it.

“Ride like you are happy to be here.”

Think of the best day of your life, think about it and toss it out in front of you and see what happens.

Animation! He’ll chase it. Bring the joy back into the work!

Understanding the aids, not acceptance of the aids.

After lunch:

Not concerned about how much the horse looks around, but how easy it is to get her back.

Softer sound of feet on ground – want it and notice when it happens. The horse will be using less muscle with each footfall. How do you ride so the sound is softer? Change of muscle use in rider affects change of muscle use in horse.

Rider F:

Work on forward, teaching him to move off her leg. Don’t punish the thing you want him to like. You don’t want a lot of time to pass between time her leg is on and time he moves. The lag time gets us in trouble, lag time between leg on and tap leg with crop or whatever you choose for back up.

Make sure you’re getting the walk you want. We prefer we don’t have to hit the horse with the crop. As your legs start to come on, if you don’t feel him getting ready to move, you can start to use the stick.

Balance point of energy – not pressure but energy!

An atemi – breaks the focus. In martial arts it distracts the opponent. A sudden move or sound.

Mark’s stop when leading: when he turns around he wants the horse to set his next foot and his next foot can stop next to or behind the stopping foot. Boundary – at arm’s length.

“The quieter we are, the more he’ll listen.”

Worried buckskin:

Need to help him find some success.

1) Start with breathing – let’s get him breathing. At canter, he’ll be exhaling with each hind foot thrust (and inhaling) and I’ll help you come down to slower gait once you find your natural breathing rhythm.
2) Softening in canter then bring him down.

This horse wants to go, we can help him by letting him go, breathe, soften, and bring him down… Get to the place where you do feel good then we’ll bring you down.

Don’t pet him when he’s nervous and in a worried state of mind. Don’t reward him for that state of mind. He needs to reach a little more inside himself before we pet him and tell him he’s doing ok.

The last thing I’d do is be fixing things with this horse. We need to find ways to tell him he’s doing things right, not a horse to tell he’s doing something wrong.

He has softened at canter, trot, walk, but is still tight at the halt.

Release him for breathing and softening so he knows what he’s successful at.

Mark has in his mind: Go ahead and do what you have to do, and the release comes when you’re breathing and softening.

Mark went into RP with ‘go ahead and do what you have to do’ and ‘give a little more’.

One of the keys he looks for: how is eye blinking. Slower is softer and more thoughtful. Also inside ear.

Joe Wolter, August 2007

2007-08-06T12:11:00.001-07:00

I took few notes. I have many memories. I will share what I can.

I took my two Morgans, Fairlane Rusty and Fairlane Kacee, riding Rusty the first two days, and Kacee the last day.

My experience of Joe was better than ever. I felt like I was celebrating ten years of clinics, as ten summers ago was my first clinic experience, there at Piper Ridge Farm in Limerick, Maine, and with Joe Wolter, and with Kacee, the only horse I had at the time.

Things have improved in ten years. I feel good about that!

Zero pressure. That is what horses prefer, and they can learn to hunt for it when around us. That means we have to present our ideas to them so that they can find the answer, and in finding the answer find zero pressure. It is quite simple. What is hard is retraining the mind and body. I suspect with someone very new to horses it would be an easier path. No old habits to replace.

I am grateful to all those who keep helping me, and especially to Libby Lyman for her help this past year. Phone calls, email exchanges, and a clinic in person helped get me tremendously much clearer about what I can do to set it up so the horse experiences our time together as his idea. Let it be his idea. I have blogged about this phrase on my horseytherapist blog.

I have ridden more this past year than before, more regularly, with clearer plans about what I was working on. It has paid off. Joe tweaked my timing especially. I am grateful for his increased outspokenness with ideas about what to change, something different to try. I need that. Not all the time, but now and then it just helps me over a little bump in the road. Or a larger bump in the road depending on the horse.

Go with him so he can go with you.

Let him work at it -- it will mean more when he finds it.

Let him do the work. You do less, he does more.

Set it up so he feels like he's winning.

You can draw when he's already giving, but not when he's braced.

Let him find his way off pressure. Don't help him so much.

Fix it and leave him alone. Let him fall off, then you can fix it again. Maybe you'll find that he fixes it himself.

Settle for the slightest try, the smallest change.

Help him get straight, even before you walk off.

Ask for more than you want.

Start with the thought of what you want.

Offer him the best deal first, then back it up. But always offer him to best deal first. The horse remembers what happened before what happened happened. Pretty soon he'll be moving off your lightest request, off your thought to do something.

We create the braces.

When you reach for him, feel him reaching for you. That's what you want it to feel like.

========

We all had some good laughs about translation problems, the challenges of finding some common understanding of certain phrases and words. Joe understands now that some words and phrases that he uses all the time are meaningless and/or misunderstood by us, so we cleared up as much as we could as we went along. Even some basic cultural differences such as the morning he was coaching someone with trailer loading. Joe asked the woman 'would you like to use the longer lead rope?' that was lying on the ground near by. She declined and continued doing what she was doing. A moment later, Joe spoke up again: 'Oh, right, I remember. I'm in New England. I've got to say 'use the longer lead rope.'

What an eye opener for me. To Joe and his background, a suggestion is a request, even a directive. It occurred to me that if Joe was going to make the effort to say a suggestion out loud, it really was worth doing, otherwise he wouldn't just be formulating an idea and verbalizing it for the sake of hearing him self talk!

The following is a list of phrases I heard that might warrant some translation to make them crystal clear to some of us who didn't grow up in the same environment as Joe Wolter did:

Go with your horse.
Let him go.
If he throws slack, you take slack.
Get quiet when he's straight.
Draw.
Support your horse.
Let him work at it.
Turn him loose.
Get him hunting.
Corner him a little.
Your hands will complement your legs.

I might run a contest to see who comes up with the most interesting definition, or the most hilarious, or the most accurate, or the most bizarre!

What I cleared up about my timing, is that I tended to wait too long -- waited too long to release for the thought, waited too long before I backed up my suggestion with some support to help him find his way off pressure, waited too long while he was getting more and more commited to his own idea before setting it up for him to work at it more. (So... how did I do using some easily misunderstood phrases to describe my successes of this past weekend?)

Oh, here are some notes I did take:

Totally halter broke is when you can put rope on him anywhere on his body and he won't let the slack come out.

Get it so when you reach for him, he reaches back for you.

Don't put him on it, turn him loose just before he finds it. (This was working on a circle that we had in mind, where we helped the horse find the circle but didn't keep him there but helped him back to it when he veered off, time and time again. At some point the horse starts carrying the idea of the circle that we have in mind, without our needing to use any rein or leg.)

I can think of two things I really deserve to celebrate from this clinic as clear indicators that I've learned something in ten years:

1) Kacee stopping from a suggestion on a slack rein.

2) I directed my horses early enough to avoid even coming close to invading anyone else's space.

Mark Rashid Sunday, May 27, 2007 Campton NH

2007-06-07T22:34:00.000-07:00

[Mark tends to use “we” or “you” for the human, and “he” for the horse. I’ve left those as he spoke them as much as possible. When I truly wrote down his words verbatim, I put them in “bold italics in quotation marks” however most of my notes are jotted down as he spoke.]

Trying to bring anxiety level down, help to diffuse that instead of feeding into it.

Backing – keep going until you feel almost nothing in your hands and he’s still backing with life.

If you don’t pull, he won’t push.

Need to distinguish between when you’re pulling and when you are not.

Bad – horse has default behavior of turning head laterally when he gets in trouble instead of thinking. Lateral flexion turns neck into rubber and ends up disconnecting front end from back end.

Softness will work 80% of the time. Lightness will work 20% of the time. When things are going well like at home in the arena, good weather, etc.

Analogy: poorly built dam. Stop is messy, leaky, etc. then to let go into trot is bursting out, hence messy above dam and below dam.

Ask for softness all the time. Be very diligent about it.

Fix for when horse brings head down and in: bring one rein up. Horse is looking for direction. Give it to him. Lift his head up. ‘This is where I would like your head.’

Mark did something to talk rider out of his pulling. Mark did some “giving and giving” – resistance with softness built into it. Human can resist the pull but with softness built into it.

Looking for a way to blend with him, get inside the horse.

Mark is helping rider get rid of things that are causing problems, to help rider become softer. Then rider can help his horse become softer.

Trotting to softness in arc – take one rein and put hand on inside leg to create stability instead of bouncing hand, bouncing head, etc. – create a spot where the horse can feel an opening.

Lightness has no joy in it. There is no joy in lightness. Lightness is useful because you can ride your horse in lightness and it looks good when everything is going well.

When you feel that softness come through, just ride that straight and forward.

We have trained him not to pay attention to what we’re thinking. We train it out of them, not to listen to what we think. Then we spend the rest of the time trying to get it back. We want to develop this kind of connection but we’ve trained it out of them.

“Lightness is just stuff. Softness is everything.”

There is a look that comes through when a horse doesn’t understand the job that’s being asked of him.

You have to really want to make a connection with your horse.

Consistency breeds dependability, dependability breeds trust, and trust breeds peace.

‘My horse doesn’t trust me’: then work on doing things so your horse sees you as consistent and dependable.

We have to sincerely care about what the horse feels.

Softness doesn’t come from the hands. Softness comes from the heart, and is transferred to the horse through the reins et al.

Technique is important but not everything. It’s the feel behind what you present that is most important.

Carry weight on bottom of arm -> head will go down when you ask for a stop, instead of carrying weight on top of forearm. Everything is low and heavy if you are supporting your arm from your center. Called ‘bottom weighting’ in martial arts.

Rider: may be trouble with left lead more than right as horse’s right hip moves more than left hip.

Backing – giving feet but leaning. Horse says I can be soft but can’t be soft AND move. He let go pretty quickly. Braced but when he lets go and gets soft it’s really fluid. He kept trying to distract himself because we’re asking him to think. He’s moving his feet but mentally not involved. “Rather than think through what we’re asking him to do, he protests.”

We can teach them to try and not ever get more (response to practice of rewarding for the smallest try).

Remain a presence, quick release as soon as there’s a give. If you ask for a brace, he’ll come through with a brace.

Bottom weighting: center in ‘hara’, can visualize weighted arms, legs, feet, even roots into ground from feet. Ride this way; live this way.

Horse under saddle: resisting with a lot of energy. Mark raised the noseband of the sidepull.

Very braced for back up. This brace has been trained into him. Even if he’s in pain, if he lets go of the brace, he’ll feel better. You can feel his anxiety level drop a little and once that happens, he’ll start doing what we want him to do. “He is doing just enough to get by -- to get the release – and no more.” What’s been done: do enough for the smallest try.

Everything gets soft when he makes the offer (still working on back up with rider in saddle).

Back until we say so, so he doesn’t dictate when he stops. It’s not just about the steps, it’s about the softness that goes with it.

My thought: when we have an openness we carry a question mark about the other and connectedness is limited by the closedness of either.

Mark guesses that after today with this work he did, plus rider working with Kathleen, it’ll be gone tomorrow. It feels better to be that way – he doesn’t want to be this way, he just is. He’s not physically soft but he’s becoming mentally soft, and next he’ll become physically soft, too.

Mark was always looking for softness and the horse’s mind was focused on one thing and he was not going to move off the thought. He is starting to see there is a benefit to him to do something else. Mark is not convinced yet that horse is convinced.

Rider: be soft from the get go. There will not be a time when you are not looking for soft. All the time. It’s a full time job with overtime. Not ‘giving to pressure’ but softness.

‘We’ are doing this together, but human is doing the directing.

Get three steps of softness at the walk, then 5, then 7, and then move into trying this at the trot. Like yesterday, you are looking for him to balance himself (not balance leaning on the reins).

In order to do something well, he has to be in a straight line – stop, lead change, buck, rear – he can do it ‘not straight’ but not well.

Right leg swing in = right front comes off ground.
Right hip drops = right front leaves ground.
Left shoulder goes back = left front comes off ground.

When his shoulder goes back, your shoulder goes back.

Now you are going to ask him to stop by using his hind feet. Count the walk into 2 beats by counting his hind feet. To stop: breathe out on 1 (it’s a small, short exhale), use reins on 2. Count the walk as 1-2, 1-2, 1-2, then in same rhythm: breathe, hands.

At walk: if you time your breathe with outside hind and rein with inside hind, the stop will allow him to do a turn on the haunches without having to move his hinds. Ultimately stop square so you can do a quarter turn and go either way.

Trot: think about going into 2 beat, change the thought in your head. Exhale on the exertion, to come to a stop.

Be in time with the feet while riding. Mind is still while riding. Everything is reflected, no ripples made.

Ride down and around your horse instead of on top.

“When we breathe, it’s a joyous occasion for him.”

Trot-walk transitions: be sure to take your momentum through the transition. Have the thought ‘we are going forward’.

Demo: sending energy up rein: NO action! Rider said she could feel a pulse. He was sending the energy of the cue but not the movement. That is how little it can be but you have to be connected to the horse and have to be looking for it.

It’s available to anybody here, but do you want it?

Still looking for contact and softness. The technical still needs to be done. You’ll still offer this even if you need to go bigger, but offer the really soft stuff first and throughout. The horse will learn to recognize it and respond to it.

Our scale will keep changing as we progress. Today what is my 1 on a scale of 1-10 will be my 10 in the future.

We’re talking about energy – energy of the person, energy of the horse – getting the two to go together someplace.

Rider: If horse is pushing against the bit when asking for a stop, turn him – don’t let him push. If we have to turn him, then we straighten and back. We’re asking him to yield to pressure and through that we’ll teach him to go to softness. Everything you say is ‘we want to be soft.’ If we can end on soft with movement, that’s better than ending on soft with no movement, after some brace at the stop then backing for softness.

Ground driving yearling: he was starting to lose his life. Outside line, let it ride above the hock – use it for turns and stops, otherwise it is slack.

If you are directly behind when teaching ground driving, it’s a lot harder to tip the nose if he has trouble stopping.

Question about ‘try’ – Would ask horse to try and do. First get him trying, and then get him doing something! Mark was looking for back straight but horse didn’t want to do that. Horse was just pushing not necessarily aiming it at Mark but sometimes horse did direct his body (head, foot) toward him.

An aggressive horse is often one who has no confidence.

Most work with horses is about understanding – what we are doing, what horse is doing, and why it doesn’t match up. We want them to match up.

A lot of round pen work starts from a negative place – from a place where we assume the horse doesn’t respect us. That is silly. Mark feels very strongly that ‘the horse has to respect us’ is the lazy man’s way of training. It puts the blame on the horses. Bottom line, anything the horse offers up is something a person has shown him. Every behavior is a learned behavior. If we teach a horse something and they do it, to Mark that’s the ultimate sign of respect.

Go into the pen with mentality ‘I’m here to help.’ Go into pen like ‘I own it’ and the horse is the visitor. ‘If you break things I’ll have to speak to you about it, but otherwise I’ll work with you.’ “I always go into the pen with the mentality that everything is going to work out.”

Rider: Take control of the situation. Don’t let the situation take control of you. Mount up and see if we’re in the place we were yesterday to progress from there. If we’re not, then get that back. Get on and go… to point A, to point B, to point C. This is where we are going. Horse, I want to go over there. That has nothing to do with what we are doing now. (To distracted horse.)

Triage: most important thing is that you and the horse are doing the same thing. Then can work on foot fall. This is what we are doing. This is where we are going. This is how fast we’re going.

You can talk your horse into softness or into hysteria.

Aikido – spirals, etc. – energy. He spoke specifically with this rider and her spiral of energy: clockwise spiral down around the spine. Suggested she project energy out and bend to the left and have him move into the opening.

Try this: shoot the energy out in front of him about 10’ and look like it’s going to hit a wall and splash. (This changed how the horse went.)

You can do a lot by using your center. But what we’re doing here is taking energy that is already available and using it to direct the horse.

Bend it across his face to turn him. Splash it in front of his face to stop him. Send it out and create an opening for the horse to go into.

Rather than using a lot of aids, we use the tool that is our body.

It’s not that you pretend to be quiet -- you really are being quiet.

“It’s not about not doing anything, it is about doing nothing.”

Pick trot or canter. Listen to the way his feet are hitting the ground. Soften the sound, however you want to think of it. Hint from Mark: lighten your heart, bring a little joy to this and see what you get. Then get him to land heavier. Then soften again.

It’s you and your horse going together. It’s not you riding your horse.

If you want it all the time, you have to live here. It’s where we are, it’s how we live, and offer that to your horse.

Can’t just say ‘don’t walk slow,’ it has to come from a positive place: ‘we need to walk faster.’

Spiral around the spine: everyone has one. It can get compressed and show up peripherally. The direction of the spiral can change. In health, spiral is small just around spinal chord. Can go either direction and may change.

Moreg Higgins: book on energy. Martial artist and horsewoman. Mark will have link on his website when book is published. About kundalini.

Rider: flying lead changes. Do nothing, just breathe. Breathe in moment of suspension. Breathe in – bring foot up. Breathe out – puts foot down.

Mark Rashid, Saturday, May 26, 2007 Campton NH

2007-06-07T08:57:00.000-07:00

Mark Rashid, Friday May 25, 2007 Campton NH

2007-06-07T08:28:00.000-07:00

Harry Whitney Fri Feb 16, 2007

2007-05-12T18:25:00.000-07:00

I wouldn't leave a couple of riders out on the trail with their worried horses, even though they were saying 'don't wait for me, go on', etc. but I felt their horses weren't ready for that, might be supported by my horse hanging out near by. Then later in the ride I miss it that my horse needs that support! Harry was near me at the back of the trail -- I didn't totally leave my horse hanging but I missed taking care of his worry in a way that was effective right then. I was stuck on what worked the day before with another horse.

Why didn't Harry bring up more options earlier on, or even bring up the conversation, ask the question? How does one teach options? What was going on with Harry that he saw but didn't direct? Yet it worried him a lot? I asked him about this and he said it wasn't the time. Often he finds a rider can take in the new information later on when the heat of the moment has passed. Then the rider can integrate the feedback and new ideas and try them out later on. This became true later in the day when I rode Cajun again and had more options in my toolbox, and things went well.

PV asked about just going out there and riding (like yesterday in the desert) versus working in the ring a lot. Harry responded: you'll probably have a more versatile horse if you get it going out there rather than in the ring.

Me: my memory of how to screw up a horse is greater than my memory of options how to help a horse.

You can't see the problem or fix it if you're in a panic yourself.

The best you can give may not be the best he needs.

Cajun is opening up, has a better look in his eye, is waking up.

It can be too much to keep track of what otherse are doing when adrenaline comes up and focus gets narrow on what the horse is doing.

Leap frog game can be effective. Also have someone trot right through the middle of the herd and out the other side, then turn and go back through again.

But it's harder to get a horse feeling good right here, and Harry focusses more on that than on other stuff.

If you get a 10% change every time you go out for a ride, pretty soon you've got a lot going for you.

People don't work on these things till they need them, but there are so many opportunities to work on them.

Reins: Use your reins enough to get a change, then release them.

It'll look different from horse to horse. Some horses you have to stay close to, but you can be fanning the flames because they think you're trying to put a lid on it instead of embrace it.

You know the squirt forward is going to come but you gotta sit there as if you expect him to walk off. Get a change, release him. Get a change, release him.

More talk about getting it good in a more quiet setting before you expect it to work out on the trail or with a larger group or whatever.

In a group when one horse is bothered, another horse might be on edge and it'll get bigger being affected by the bothered one.

Tempted to let her go but don't just let her take over -- direct her, let her trot here and there, away from the group and back again, for example; pretty soon they'll think why go through all this?

PV firmer and more confident than before.

Do not lean into turns even when horse leans.

Harry gets frustrated because he expects people to process information like he does. He'd get frustrated if he taught weekly lessons. Working with us, you gotta say it over and over and over again. Not seeing us often so enough to begin to think we're not trying. We're a lot like a horse -- if we weren't trying we wouldn't be here. Out on the road at 'normal clinics', some are seeking a fix, not seeking help.

SH's question about how she handled Belle at the end of the ride, reflecting her awareness of how she rides her Tbred nutcases.

Riding closer to the line -- the line between doing too little and not getting a change, and doing too much and horse blowing out.

Discussion of how overly confident horses affect other horses (referring to Cajun's impact on other horses on the trail ride -- he is a very confident horse).

Me: I may not be right but I'm sure.

Ace in round pen: worry in transitions, depends on where it's coming from. If it's lack of willingness to go out of fear versus if it's overreacting and fleeing. Ace understands to come to SH on the fence. When SH noticed his thoughts coming to her there, she said thank you. Without fence or pedastal, it's different. Those things make it very clear to the horse when they are getting close to what we're asking. Out on the desert trail, we're not that clear.

When you pick up the reins to stop, it means "stop", not "maybe stop".

I can't get you there, but I want to give you the feel of what it is you can get.

It's better to quit on a bad note than to quit on a tragic note.

Harry Whitney Thu Feb 15, 2007

2007-05-11T12:48:00.000-07:00

[I've put Harry's comments that I took down word for word in bold italics. There are more of his words here, but when I wasn't 100% certain what he said word for word, I did not quote him as such.]

The more I understand and try to deal with the horse's insides, the more I use just stopping them and am able to get a change.

Able to get it done without a lot of circling, etc. now.

What's the difference? Having a conversation versus trying to force something.

What all is going on when you ask a horse to stop and wait? ... offering him a place to stand still by not allowing him to be anyplace else.

This is not going to work, this is not going to work, etc. until horse finds the quiet place inside.

A lot of times you have to allow their feet to move so all that will dissapate.

Asking them to get centered -- not just a physical centered.

Harry referred to what SH said in the playground: The difference in what she was doing and what Harry was doing -- she was trying to stifle what the horse was feeling and Harry was embracing it: 'you need to do something? Let's go, let's do it; I'll help you jump and twist and back up.' But I had him close enough so it didn't really feel good to the horse. Pretty soon he tried to feel different because it didn't work out to feel the way he did.

SH said: history of combativeness so she'll now say "no, try something else", direct that energy; she has clarity about her ability to help him out if she helps him in to a fit, rather than stifling that fit.

With people we say, they have to hit rock bottom to make a change. To them it's not bad enough to want to make a change. Harry is helping the horse hit rock bottom, adding to how bad he's feeling to help him make a change.

Redirecting: there's a time to redirect it and it takes care of the bad feeling. There's a time when you redirect and the horse goes in your direction but is just waiting to follow their own throughts, hasn't changed his thoughts. You gotta do something about the bad feeling first.

Adrenaline and cortisol -- thinking and accessing solutions versus being frozen, etc.

To get a horse just to let go and go somewhere is an important thing that needs to be available, but does that mean he's feeling OK inside? Or maybe he thinks he'll be feeling better up there someplace, going in 'hopeful mode'?

SH's story of the first time horse was freed up and going rather than beating him to go fast (former race horse).

Relaxed horse, seeing the thought forward -- their mind is sucking them forward. What that feels like is when you're riding the horse following a tarp or something.

Sometimes you ask a horse to look and they turn their head but don't really look out there.

I would like to think each of you would get to the point of being intolerant.

If the horse is taking over, it'd be troubling to the horse if I made an adjustment. Horse carrying me can sort out feeling like taking over except he's mentally with me when he's carrying me and it won't trouble him when I make an adjustment.

A horse can't be truly forward in his thought and be too troubled inside.

If they're not doing their best, they're not feeling their best. And what's their best? It's their thought taking their feet out there.

Harry: I'm in the awareness business. Get out there and find it. If you don't know it exists, you won't look for it.

From time with Tom Dorrance: seeing how to get from where I was to where I wanted to be a few different ways.

SH/Legs, saddle. Most people think it's about the saddle but it's not, it's about the anxiety he brought to that moment. Harry's table story. People get so infatuated with the tables in life, but it's not about the table.

SH round pen: If horse knows what you want, be more insistent. If horse is figuring out what you want, be more persistent.

(My decision to work Rusty on lead first then at liberty, to help him understand what I want, so I can communicate more clearly what I want and improve his responsiveness. If I stay thinking about "help him be responsive", it doesn't matter what I do to improve that, he'll feel better.

SH/Legs/flag -- persistent when she could've been insistent. A little threatening with flag instead of with a promise you will do it. Nagging = repeat something repeatedly without getting a change.

Harry might have done enough so horse reacted and knew he meant it then deal with reducing the upset afterward. Maybe SH was avoiding troubling the horse.

These horses are really good at teaching us humans to wait.

Ray Hunt said 'Set it up and wait' when a horse doesn't understand. Don't make it happen. There comes a time when there's no waiting.

My question re flag: when to support a horse and when to be insistent that he let go of his worry about it?

(I start to see the value in teaching a horse to change how he's feeling so that is an option you can reach for whenever you need it.)

If horse thinks fleeing is the solution, he says 'fine, go ahead and flee but I'm right here with you so what are you going to do?;' Not driving him, but still there with him.

Not every horse has to flee in action like Ace. SH was going with him while he was exploring his feeling in round pen -- he found out himself that he didn't need to flee, that it wasn't working out for him.

Yesterday Harry took the end of the lead rope and slapped his leg and said 'search for a better spot'. Today no lead rope but still there with him asking him to search for a better spot. Kinda doing the same thing.

Back to my question about flag: Harry said Ace didn't even stop to consider it, just caught it in the corner of his eye and took up directly to his upset place. If he'd looked at it, snorting and quivering, then you might go slow and let him figure it out a bit. But Ace went directly to a very troubled place so SH did something about that -- insistently.

Harry: if you need to have a fit, OK, let's have a fit, go ahead.

"He spit the dummy" -- Australian phrase for having a fit. Dummy = pacifier.

Afternoon ride in arena, playground, desert.

Harry re reins and me on Cajun at the end of the ride: either he gives to the reins or they're not there.

Harry Whitney Wed Feb 14, 2007

2007-05-11T03:20:00.000-07:00

[I've put Harry's comments that I took down word for word in bold italics. There are more of his words here, but when I wasn't 100% certain what he said word for word, I did not quote him as such.]

(Phone call with RNB: 8" of snow and 2 feet due!)

Self preservation does not equal self defense.

If you know you can help him from the ground better than from the saddle, then get down and help him from the ground then get back on and see how it's going.

Cajun -- why leave him feeling stuck/braced/tight when you could help him change -- talking about when to help him with better response to reins, legs, etc.

When I ask more and trouble comes up, is it me addding trouble or not?

Stop evaluating each move the horse did and focus on now, what to do to help the horse feel good right now.

I'm so interested in getting my horse to feel better, I don't have time to think about how I'm feeling.

Regardless of the size of the horse's expression, it reflects that the horse is feeling bad and that needs to be dealt with. Not just if horse is running you over or rearing up. Help the horse feel better when those little things show up.

PV asked: how did Harry come to believe that a horse feels better when they give 100%? Rode enough horses that were stiff, rigid, and unresponsive that wanted to get rid of you... and sat on some horses that are pretty responsive... there's a connection between horses that are dragging on you -- it didn't feel good to you, it didn't feel good to him. Why would a horse do something that doesn't feel good? Nobody has shown him anything better.

When they're doing their best = how they would be when no human is there or close to that.

When a horse is not responsive, he can't feel right.

How can you speed up the process of searching through options and coming up with one that works and is his choice? (Example: horse and trailer in round pen.)

Sometimes you make him do it so next time it might be one of his options to choose from. Whereas before, going in the trailer for example wasn't even an option to the horse.

We are riding insecure horses. Insecurity at times comes from lack of natural selection. Sometimes horses gain security from environment and predictability so some insecure bred horses are upset by changes in environment like when going trail riding, so it bothers them rather than a mustang for example who would have confidence in a changing environment.

Once a horse knows the good feeling, then you can get intolerant when the good feeling is missing, insistent about regaining the good feeling.

Really look at all the spots you can get good at home, then start building from there. Like go 1/4 mile then repeat until horse is feeling good every step of the way. Then extend what you're doing.

Like for a kid who is antsy and fussing for 3 hours in school, then sits focussed for 1/2 hour movie... If it's of enough interest, has enough meaning, it's amazing how much a horse can focus, even a young horse.

When Harry was growing up: When a teacher is in the classroom, class is in session. There doesn't have to be a bunch of foolishness but recess can be lively even inside when it's 30 below outside.

Harry didn't force Ace but: understand the process, limit the options, set it up so they are making choices.

It's not about physical change. The horse knows if we're asking for emotional change not just physical change.

SH/Legs round pen: playful energy in Legs. I asked Harry if his approach to horse feeling playful around him was the teacher in the classroom deal? He nodded his head.

Maybe be more insistent about hunting for the good spot emotionally -- not so important to keep him mentally with her though, maybe let him search for something, like what she's asking, but not if he's not OK inside.

The better you can get it working under ideal circumstances, the better it will go when it's not ideal.

Saddling Legs: it's not about him looking around at Harry or the saddle, it's about the ill feeling he had.

It's not about showing him he shouldn't bite, it was about asking him to change how he was feeling. A fine line between the two.

Harry with Thor, cracking the whip -- not to get horse used to it, but to get a better response to it.

If I can get a change in his response to something he's afraid of, I know he'll respond better to something else he's afraid of. Not necessarily for him to feel OK about it, but to have a better response.

Keep pressure up when he turns to leave, keep him searching for a better spot -- don't let him just escape. Later it'll help him to know that when he's worried, he can look for a better spot.

Training mounted police -- they don't care how the horse responds as long as he doesn't respond -- getting a horse used to thing. Not what Harry is doing.

Horse is cranky about responding, not about doing something.

PV experimenting with more clarity and responsiveness and upping her energy. Horse knows what she wants but he's not sure he really has to. Clearing up his williingness to go on and go forward cleared up his pushing in on her.

Round pen and ride in PM on Belle/Marge. Not fully sound but responsive. Question: does Marge settle when brought to a stop because Harry has done it with her a lot before and she knows how to change how she's feeling through coming to a stop? Yes!

I got to feel Marge ready to start with me; and felt what it is when she's left me at a walk, 'surging' like SH spoke of; likewise, feel her 100% with me at the walk.

Nice complement from PV, that I have a nice way with horses -- they all seem to respond well to me, that I did a good job with Belle out at the playground.

Harry Whitney Tue Feb 13, 2007

2007-02-26T18:16:00.000-08:00

[I've put Harry's comments that I took down word for word in bold italics. There are more of his words here, but when I wasn't 100% certain what he said word for word, I did not quote him as such.]

'Surging' on Ace -- he moves up rather than forward, energy up but without being asked for it. Energy up means horse is having his own thought.

Doing something to help the horse let go of thought that triggers that increased energy versus energy up and I'm thinking how to move him.

BD suggested SH give the horse Rescue Remedy. Harry said: A lot of times, if you take the Rescue Remedy, the horse will be fine.

PV -- what is important from the horse's point of view? -- asking what happened with Harry that the horse looked to him a week later (in a prior clinic). Was it that Harry was being black and white? That he put his focus on getting the horse's attention?

How can there be clarity if they aren't mentally with you? If they're not mentally with you, how can it be clear?

Can't separate those things. Horse won't get anything from your presentation if he's not paying attention.

Clarity in everything. Clarity about horse staying present and clarity about what you present.

And, is that what meant so much to him?

Ray Hunt is quoted as saying: They know when you know and they know when you don't.

It's not necessarily what one does. Horse picks up on some sort of intent and horse knows you have faith it's going to come through. Another person has a doubt and horse might read our question mark and know we don't have certainty.

PV: understands clarity is really important and attention is really important.

Harry asks about yesterday with Legs -- what did we see differently between what SH did and what Harry did? When Legs started to get trouble, Harry tried to hang in there and keep presenting something that caused him to have to search for the better spot within himself, then it was over. He didn't say 'dang you for feeling bad' then leave him hanging. He kept wiggling the flag until he saw a change then stopped and said 'thank you.'

Poor timing, or good timing with poor intent, leaves horse feeling criticized.

As someone said, "We're always chasing a reaction."

Harry and Legs -- trying to stay in touch with what's happening in the present and reqarding/noticing/marking when he makes a change on his insides.

It's not about what he's doing, but about how he's feeling.

In the wild, a very troubled horse would be coyote food.

A horse kicking another horse -- aggression -- based on insecurity, would not want to avoid other horse. Cranky/unresponsive?

A less responsive a horse is, the more trouble it is every time we ask something of the horse.

SH: let's make this marriage work rather than be black and white about the approach.

My question about 'riding the line' versus 'riding the path' -- Harry's story about teaching someone to drive out in a field between two ditches.

Feeling of the horse, then interpreting it -- two parts.

There is a feeling of freedom of forwardness that you can get at a walk. Mental change and feeling of freedom when a horse is let go -- at a walk, you don't need speed.

You're working on the external to get the change even though it's an internal change you're getting.

Analogy: for leading them into where they should be versus chasing them into it. Carrot on stick in front of horse versus beating their butt with a carrot on a stick.

Thought for today: me using less leg activity for forward and more thought coming up through legs, etc.

Harry never ever asked Legs to go because he wanted first to have a connection. Legs chose to go, a lot, but Harry never asked him to go. He was asking Legs to be here and settle and allow connection.

Ziggy last week: Harry rode her then BD was a little scared to ride her afterwards. It felt so unusual to have her so responsive, so ready.

Told a story about a fellow who said his mare was "notional" -- she a notion to do it and she did. She had a notion not to do it, and she didn't.

It can trouble a horse if you get him to let go of a thought without having a place for him to go. You need to ride with a place to be.

PV got her horse "here" then dropped him -- too much of a release.

How difficult or easy did he let go of a thought? Where is he in his understanding of what you are doing? All goes into your judgment call about what to do there, how close to ride the line, how wide are the ditches.

Work at not only him letting go of a thought but helping him know where to be.

SH in round pen: Harry: I don't want his attention all the time but when I do want it, I want it available. If it's not, I'm sure going to do something about it.

We joked about this being "Judgment Call Horsemanship".

Legs -- he has to do other things while he's arranging himself to get with SH. Like BD filing her nails while listening to conversation per Harry's report. So now maybe don't be so picky about him lowering his head while he's turning to come in. Later SH might be more particular.

Sometimes, you don't need to get bigger, you just need to hang in there.

Other things to do with him (in addition to round pen activities) to be getting him to slow down, think, get with you mentally and be available: in and out of gate, over poles, etc. but watch how he's feeling not so much what he's doing.

Mouthing the lead rope -- give him something to focus on and it will stop. Like with pawing.

Pawing -- I know he doesn't feel very good about being here so how about trying this? Or this?

These patterns can change. He may not have to blow today because he started in a better spot today and maybe he can settle without having to blow.

SH: There's a spot where Harry was being more supportive before he got stronger.

'Keep asking till the back up is straight' doesn't mean back up straight away from you. It can be he gets his thoughts lined up to go back straight but not necessarily away from you.

He couldn't hear me when I asked him to stop so I asked him to back up and there's a stop there before he backs up.

That straightness will bring a change. You'll only get the straightness when you get a change of feeling.

Helps him physically to find the straightness so he can find the OK inside.

A horse's best is straight, not quantity but a desire to be here, present, taking care of this.

PV in round pen: Horse takes over running the program if he sees we're not running it at an adequate level.

Fulfill the role of leadership in a way that makes sense.

Going with him in the round pen, walking when horse is walking, more energetic when he's trotting.

Before you get on a horse, get him OK with walking with him, like at his hip, while touching him.

Thor had been made to flee (when lunging in his former life) so he's unsure, he thinks PV is confused (because she wants something else from him).

I don't care where his nose is. I care about how he's feeling. What does his nose tell us? Get him feeling better. Don't kill him for turning his butt in on you. If he felt good enough, he wouldn't be trying to protect himself ... I don't get worried about a horse's nose tipped to the outside.

Be infatuated with how he's feeling inside.

We have to prove to this horse that we're not going to get him. Ask him to go while standing at shoulder and go with him when he walks. He shouldn't have to think he has to save himself.

PV saddling in round pen -- she took her time for him to be OK without halter or contraint.

Me and Cajun in round pen then riding in arena, walk, trot, canter with saddle. He's more responsive today. It worried me a little having more life when ridden. Harry directed me to trot, whoa, backup, turn on hinds, trot, whoa, etc. -- lots of transitions to check his responsiveness and build my confidence. We did lots of trotting and some cantering. He has a big trot.

SH and Harry in round pen. Helped horse let go with Harry really close to him. We work on lead but it's not the same feel as when we ride and get a little scared and ride close to the horse. Working close on the lead line replicates that more closely.

All directions should be just as free -- forward, backward, sideways, shoulder over, hind over.

Slippery saucer feeling -- it shouldn't weight anything to go any direction with life. (Slippery saucer was phrase from a person describing when you're doing dishes and put a saucer that is covered with suds down on a surface that is wet, referring to how easily it slides.)

My riding lesson with SH:
- seat bones
- energy down back of thighs and calves through heels
- puppet strings hold up my shoulders and rib cage and hold out my shoulders
- 'engage belly' means push belly out, not pull it in.
- contact through inside of thighs
- transitions -- ask for trot and start posting right when horse trots = horse trots right when I start posting. No gray area, either we're walking or we're trotting.
- down transitions -- make it clear, no sitting trot as horse slows but when I stop posting, horse walks.
- hands on reins like squeezing sponges tells horse to slow.
- right shoulder back through turns to left!

Harry Whitney Mon Feb 12, 2007

2007-02-26T18:01:00.000-08:00

[I've put Harry's comments that I took down word for word in bold italics. There are more of his words here, but when I wasn't 100% certain what he said word for word, I did not quote him as such.]

SH's 4 year old reminds me of Rusty when she describes him -- mentally all over the place; intrudes on boundaries of people and horses; gets aggressive when you get close; insecurity based turmoil inside. Like Bo as well. Maybe he was raised separate from other horses, never learned how to get along in a herd.

Aggressive in play versus aggressive in defensive ownership.

Setting limits without squelching his curiosity and playfulness. Horse doesn't mess with electric fence so he can learn to not mess with human but still be curious and playful.

Auditor asked about horses who want to be tactile with mouth -- any common theme? Harry: no. Easy to become biters if uneasy inside themselves. Not necessary that it happens, can simply be a curious mouthy behavior. Mouthiness can be related to lifestyle when without 24/7 grazing, nibbling, munching, etc.

Horses who do not want to be caught -- this may reflect more interest in what other horses are doing; may reflect unease about what human offers.

Insecurity – can it significantly change? Versus should I be accepting of how it is and resign myself to offering more support as a regular thing? Ie, can Rusty ever be like Soli?

Cradling – leg contact that lets horse know “I’m here, I’m here” – a comforting thing.

Re riding away from the herd discussion: partly let them work it out, or keeping horse from being aggressive, partly get better at keeping them with me mentally so we can go places – responsiveness for example.

People don’t work on these things till they need them and then it’s too late. …Take time to work on them before it gets important.

Each of us has to decide how much focus and intensity we want to be riding – is it enjoyable to ride this way?

IM asked – how to bring up that amount of focus, like when we get into a little trouble, without the horse’s situation creating the adrenaline?

SH talked about riding through a blow up. Harry: times when horse lets go and lets down after a big old fit, even at the end of a lead rope. It’s over and they go on, they find out it didn’t change things. And it’s OK to work at it in little ways so it never gets to that.

There's a difference between worried and scared.

Experimenting by horses – if you can let them experiment.

Maybe try to avoid a big fit because things can go awry too easily. Harry prefers to avoid the big stuff. (But he's certainly willing to step up to the plate when we bring him our big stuff horses!) Don’t want the horses to think the solution is to get rid of us when they are pretty troubled.

On horses that are pretty confirmed that having a little fit is the answer – then set it up so they might want to offer a big fit – so let them have the big fit and find out that doesn’t work either and they can give it up.

SH in round pen with Legs.

Harry: get bigger when horse is unresponsive, not when he’s not paying attention but when he’s not responsive. He might get bigger when his attention isn’t there.

Harry in round pen: he won’t let Legs come in when he’s feeling bad even if he’s feeling better than at the start. Harry wants to see him try harder, put more effort into seeking a better spot.

Maybe before, he went, but he wasn’t changing how he was feeling.

I’m going to do the best I can being intolerant of him not searching for a better place.

I’m going to hang in there with quite a little pressure until he tried to find something better.

He comes in crooked – he has a plan then, he doesn’t need to have a plan.

(Me: thinking about attachment disorder and containment with Dan Hughes PhD as a helpful model for some horses who aren’t looking for human contact as comfort.)

This is not about not letting him look around; it’s about him not checking in. He’ll let go of a thought but it goes right by – he doesn’t check in with me.

Change – moving less but emotionally building up. Physically he knows what Harry is asking but he doesn’t know that Harry is asking for something else. The closer I get to those emotions, the more troubling it is.

Horse knows something about the good feeling but he’s not searching for it; it doesn’t have enough meaning.

He started out thinking what I was doing with the flag was a performance thing.

Hang in there with some pressure in those spots that don’t feel good until he puts some effort into checking in. Some day he may put some effort into seeking that spot. He’s finding it but he’s not really hunting for it.

Flag means:” you gotta change something”. When horse got lost going, Harry blocked him until he checked in.

It’s foreign to him to be asked to change his feelings. He’s pretty used to being asked to move. He’s pretty certain nobody is there for him.

I’m not saying ‘dang you for being that way.’ I’m saying ‘what can I do to help you feeling better?’

PV with Thor in round pen: Head on ground while moving – he’s hiding. No mental participation in what’s going on. He needs help to feel good then you can do anything with him.

Harry with Ziggy in round pen: Help them respond better to sudden noises. You can’t desensitize them to every sound you’ll ever come across. Ziggy gets stuck then moves big once she moves. Worked with flag and hula hoop.

Harry with Prince: circling – establish where his mind is. He’ll put his feet where his mind is. ... shouldn’t have to try to make it happen every time his foot comes off the ground.

JR riding: Harry stays close with a horse who is not responsive and listening. Once they’re listening then can have more slack in the reins. Close enough to get a pretty good hold if he needed. He’s looking for a feel between him and horse. The connection will remain even if “contact” is looser.

Try to get horse freed up without having to go fast necessarily. Get them thinking forward even if not going fast.

Fox trot – handbook says trot in front and walk in hinds. Harry says it isn’t that. It is a running walk but just on the edge of being trotty. Four beat broken trot: 1-2, 3-4.

My ground work and ride with Cajun: I was careful to help him find what I was asking. Looking me up. Ride – stiff but got better. Canter very stiff, reminded me of Scout’s canter. Stiff but lots of try!

My questions about: riding a line versus riding a path? How much to firm up versus let them wallow a bit and let them find it? (Harry later responded with his story about learning to drive between two ditches…)

Harry guided me to firm up sooner when Cajun wasn’t responding to “stop” or “back up" requests from me.

Listening to SH teaching a riding lesson: Bring your energy through inner calves into core and forward. Have your energy send horse forward. Use rate of seat to rate gait. Be black and white with the horse (regarding transitions).

Leslie Desmond early - NH? date unknown

2007-01-02T11:42:00.000-08:00

Notes from some time with Leslie Desmond. I found a pile of small index cards with no reference date to when... If I recall correctly, many of these were comments directed at me. I'm picturing a clinic in New Hampshire (1999? 2000?) when I was working with my young Morgan gelding.)

Set feet to stop whether forward or backward, whether I’m facing horse or not.

When horse is walking off on his own, stop my feet then stop his feet.

Look at feet, not at face. Or look at girth or whatever area where you want to claim space.

Still hands unless I’m asking for some thing specific. Learn to talk without moving hands!

When standing still with horse, stand back by shoulder not by head.

Leave face alone/ don’t pet/touch!

Lean forward with weight on toes and hips forward = move away.
Lean back with weight on heels = come here.

Horses cannot see directly in front of themselves up close.

Two hands on the lead. Hand closest to horse’s head directs, hand on the loose end energizes.

Standing in front facing horse with one hand raised on each side confuses the horse !

Get the horse looking for the float.

Whenever possible, offer slack first – give slack to the horse.

Move hindquarters to right to create float/slack on the left; drive horse to the slack.

At a standstill, then at a walk, then at a trot, then at a canter: help horse understand how to shape up his body and move into the float.

Turning: sitting up tall, look in direction of turn.
1) idea
2) turn body from head to shoulders to torso, to hips, to legs
3) release leg
4) release inside hind foot to step under and toward outside
5) if necessary, bring inside hand with shortened rein to inside knee and give slack once horse has given slack.

When I start walking and horse hesitates, keeping walking and slip some rope to avoid any pulling/to leave slack, maybe slow my tempo, maybe increase my energy/intention.

Give Rusty something to think about, something to do before he gets aroused.

Claim that space (“that’s my space”) instead of pushing horse away or pulling horse away (“you, move from here”)

Need six things:
1) attention
2) energy
3) forward
4) back
5) left
6) right

Have a plan before you start. Have a plan before asking for horse’s attention and energy to liven up.

Keep bridge of nose tipped toward you when driving. Never let head turn away to the point where you couldn’t control hind feet which would be in good position to kick you.

Bring up life then direct it.

Leslie Desmond July 2002 Ballston Spa

2006-09-26T10:20:00.000-07:00

Leslie Desmond

7/11/02

It’s the inner attitude you’re going to ride.

As long as horse is uptight, you’re just cramming your agenda. Not in a learning frame of mind.

To firm up on him before he knows what you want, will only lead to trouble.

Just go home and change the way you are.

Don’t pull, don’t hit, don’t confront.

It’s not a mystery. First I have a thought, then asking, livening up.

Quoting Ray Hunt: If you like what you see, do what I done.

They need you to be sure. They don’t need you to be right or wrong or kind or anything. They need you to be sure. Sureness about your own space requirements.

The way you hold a horse with you is how you let him go.

In round pen: horse is looking to have that loneliness ended.

Pace of walking with horse is what he’s looking for. Match right and left footfalls. Follow cadence exactly of front footfalls. When horse can’t get with you, then you get with the horse.

Experimental accidents and accidental experiments.

Looking in the eye tells horse that we’re in some sort of mutual communication. Don’t look in face when firm or emotional – don’t confront.

Experiment in new ways to get horse’s attention, to break horse’s expectations.

Sometimes these horses get so used to the range of choices the humans present, that we need to stretch out and do something different.

Livening up and controlling the direction the life is going are distinctly different.

Give the life a place to go.

What is the value of “yes” if “no” isn’t possible?

When “no” is not allowed, the life gets dialed down.

Life up and go after the space.

Horse dies on a turn because float comes out of the rein and horse leans on rein/shoulder/forehand.

Need your belly button to ride the back feet.

Left lead footfall:
RH push off
LH brake leg and balance in combo with RF
LF roll over

Both hind legs serve as brakes when loping downhill.

Belly button on left lead: forward and up, back and down/stability

7/13/02

Groundwork for shoulders:
Leading rein/direct rein/opening rein
Indirect rein/supporting rein
First ask for life/withers up

It’s OK to have a horse that is obedient but not that THAT is all there is. Horse also needs to know he has choices.

What matters is the horse is clear and calm.

Help with straightness in the ride: be able to drive/lead horse from behind with horse understanding going in with straightness – can start by doing this down the side of a fence or arena wall.

We have to think to get this right and shorten the distress in horse/human relationships. What do they need us to do for them in order to give us the ride we want later?

UP! Up under chin with hand or halter knot, then give horse choice to back or not. But back from my energy, my taking the space in front of horse.

Distraction is not necessarily disrespect. But I’m not prepared with a job for horse to make me more interesting than whatever horse might drum up for good ideas.

Dullness is just bottled up courage.

Mounting a green horse: teach them right away about dismounting.

Show horse how to wait for you to get ready.

Fine line between getting stuck and being too free, between standing still and walking off.

Step down and bounce right up again at times when horse is standing still and relaxed.

Cones exercise – go fast around cone then walk casually between cones.

Indirect rein for turn – active but not necessarily against neck.

Asking for readiness when pick up reins.

Sun AM 7/14/02

RW:

Put that pushing to work for him. He could teach other timid horses how to go through streams, all sorts of new situations.

Horse get security from contact, confidence from 'I push in, you push away.'

Looking at head, holding him with gaze. (Not a good thing when you are asking a horse to move away.)

Intellectual awareness becomes knowledge through feel after lots of experimenting.

Horse is looking for sureness from RW when it comes out of realm of thought and into realm of knowledge.

Your plan was not clear.

Your body wasn’t telling him what your picture was. Something got lost in presentation of the picture you have.

You’re still looking ahead of shoulder when you drive him away and this leaves him confused.

More sureness about moving him off ground, not moving him. Clear the area, settle for his moving off.

Energy up – have less in your body and more in your presentation.

Turn and look at HQ not face.

Horse says: if you want the space, take the space dammit, don’t pretend about this.

“How do I know that I’m safe if I don’t look at the horse?”

You know he won’t [run you over] because you’re not thinking he will.

Set intent with sureness. The sureness you want from your horse has to come from your own being.

Leslie: I don’t have that sense of possibility around me, in my being.

Horse’s stopping was not an accident, it was response to RW’s turning to look at him.

Intent has to be like surgery.

Running across pen – with sureness – this is work regarding bringing up life.

You do want to work toward light cues, but start with BIG, unlike Parelli where you start with a little and build. That leaves horse certain about how uncertain the human is.

Horse needs to get sure about your sureness.

Changing focus from horse to space.

No sureness about lope. Need feel of your vision to come through to horse.

RW: "[My horse...] is really doing everything I asik, all at the same time.”

You teach him to crowd you, run you down when you drive him and block him at the same time.

Coil up, get lively and suck back with your hips -- this releases him to the lope.

Don’t be on your guard – be clear this is my space.

Need to turn him away in the pen. He already turns in fine.

He’s looking for a place to get right with us. So don’t pull him in then send him away (after he stoped and turned in from the circle.)

Stuck leading forward, stuck leading to right. Knees need to bend more.

Clumsy when he didn’t get weight off shoulders.

When weight is on shoulders, near front leg will go ahead. When weight is on hinds, near front will track behind far front. BACK until horse can turn with weight on hind quarter.

Ideal – front end free to step over because not using front end for balance.

Paradigm shit doesn’t come from change in technique.

FG:

Colt: has sureness about his dullness.

Leave curiosity and uncertainty in him – keep him guessing.

Direction of float needs to be something horse can follow when you’re walking in front leading.

Want horse to notice meaning in your life without pulling on him.

'Get firm when nothing else works' = expecting that nothing else will work.

Think about how to get sure so that firmness isn’t required.

Turning hand upward allows breathing to continue.

Leslie Desmond - RI date unknown

2006-09-25T14:10:00.000-07:00

Another set of index cards, this time large index cards, undated, from clinic time with Leslie Desmond. Rhode Island

Educate them so their only job is to keep a float in a rope, by shaping their head, neck, shoulders, ribs, hips...

Plan: follow horse then draw. I'm not reading her mind, she's reading my mind. Follow... lead... follow -- not "drive" but follow.

Horses do really well when the human is sure about what they want the horse to do.

Letting the horse run into the end of the rope teaches a horse to expect pressure, to wait for pressure before responding.

Accepting "no" from the horse.

Set horse up to succeed - mentally and physically.

Regarding "firm up and wait" business, all it does it teach a horse to wait for pressure.

Shared intent, feel. Story about mural in St. Louis of horse lead by string by women.

Decide instead of practicing. Do instead of trying. (Referring to holding a mental image for long enough.)

Be sure. Hold thought long enough for horse to be sure.

To make it clear especially with a stuck horse, both hands on one side of face, in one eye during change from leading to driving.

If we don't experiment too quickly, it gives horse the chance to experiment.

Trailer loading: interest in trailer. Knowing how to get out of trailer with ease.

Practice trailering ahead of time will make it so you can count on the horse loading.

You are only able to deliver what your experience has been -- dictated by how you were raised to feel about yourself.

Release horse forward, not chase.

Leslie worked on changing the horse's expectation of the human -- that way the horse can deliver.

One basis of a good ride is having the front end connected through a float.

If you've invested pressure, you'll get pressure in return.

Horses need flies to keep them fit when it's too hot to ride.

Leslie observes horses, doesn't try to pretent to be a horse or label any horse as lead or dominant, etc.

Use the horse to learn everything you can about being human.

Training routines create bored, tuned out horses.

Ask horse to participate.

Power - from strength and clarity versus fear and doubt.

Problem: delay between ask and response. Feeling like I'm talking throught molasses at times.

When to say "NO", when to say "OK I'm going with you", out on trail.

Working with the space gives meaning to the float.

Crowding and push/pull with head and halter creates heavy front end.

You are not going to get the withers up unless you can control the head, the neck, and the shoulder.

Basic things:
forward
back
left
right
start
stop

Feel that reflects an accurate intent.

Don't need to be aggressive or angry, just clear.

Being dependent on praise: as much as I am dependent on external praise, I will assume others need praise and offer it which, if they don't need it, it's an intrusion, an insult, to give it. Presumptious.

I'm not looking for a new way to teach my horses, this is not about teaching them something. It's about asking, waiting for answer, and hoping to help the horse find the float.

Friday PM: PG said it looked like I knew exactly what I wanted the horses to do. I responded: when I was really focussed, I hardly knew where the horses were, simply that this area in front of me was clear of horses.

Sunday AM: I came to be reconnected to some ideas I was introduced to before. Ideas I've tried out then lost sight of amidst the input of other clinicians. But ideas I was eager to retrieve, to find again, because parts of my horse handling had gotten harsh, in my opinion, with my impatience and my idea that I can do this or that to make my horse do this or that... I really like what happens for the horses Leslie relates to. I want to do whatever I have to do in order to be in a frame of mind to want this more than anything.

Back: lift on halter knot under chin to elevate. Use body moving into space to move horse.

Joe Wolter, August 2002

2006-09-09T14:01:00.000-07:00

About backing up: you won’t pull on him. He won’t pull on you. Release for shifting weight, don’t pull him back.

Take the slack out and wait. Reach for him, gather up the reins, take the slack out, and wait for him. I’m not giving him anything to pull against.

Feel how he’s starting to get ready to back.

If you were effective, it was understood.

Only the horse can tell you how much to do.

Horses are just looking to get along, to have zero pressure. And they’ll do whatever they need to, to get zero pressure.

Do something different.

All that these horses want is zero pressure. It’s when you release that tells the horse what you want him to do. Everything they do is what we’ve taught them to do.

If you release him and he springs forward, he might have been backing but he was thinking forward.

Gather the reins up slow.

The horse is getting ready to speed up when she picks up the reins because he’s getting ready to be pulled. Those reins mean “nag”.

I’m going to give him the opportunity of not stopping. I’m not going to try to make him stop. I’m going to fix it so he wants to stop.

Go slow so you notice. Slow down and think. What is really taking place?

Don’t be so predictable.

If you don’t like what’s going on, change what you’re doing, don’t be trying to change the horse.

I’m lazy. I like to see how little it takes.

The first thing I offer a horse when I want to stop, is a thought to stop.

A lot of us don’t release soon enough. Turn him loose when he’s thinking about stopping.

Ray Hunt used to say: I want my horse to do my thing his way.

Be inventive.

Ask the horse to leave before he’s thinking about leaving, or just when he’s starting to think about it. Take him a different way: use legs, use reins, rock back and take him to the left...

You take them before they take you.

Allow them to stop but it may not be for too long.

We’re talking about getting with the horse more than them getting with you. If you get with them, they’ll get with you.

Before he leaves, take him someplace and make it interesting. Feel how light it is.

Your job is just to get him ready. Work on the preparation.

They need to be exposed. Be a little less predictable. Get things interesting. Change directions, change speed. Be smooth about it though.

Ride her. You’ll feel like she’s right with you. You’re not holding her. She’ll get straight, even, and ready for you.

Be smooth with your hands on the reins (said to someone who was wiggling the reins a bit).

Gather up the reins real slow.

She’ll speed up if you slow down.

Let the horse carry you.

Sometimes you have to do too much to find out what’s enough.

Let things get out of shape, then do something.

Break it up. Be unpredictable. The horse will start waiting for you.

Don't try to keep her going, let her die out. Ask again. Be effective. Let her go someplace once she’s going. Don’t ask for more once her energy is up.

A real green horse will be searching all the time for zero pressure. I like it when they start leaning on you, shows they’re getting gentle. LIke a kid who only misbehaves when they feel comfortable with someone. Don’t leave them there, but it’s nice when that shows up.

(When looking to back up:) Wait until he backs away from the bridle. Let him do the pulling.

Don’t be so predictable, keep life interesting. Have the horse thinking "where are we going now?” That’s where I like to have my horse.

All “straightness” means is they are right with you.

Any horse, especially a stallion, I want him to wonder what I’m going to do, not me wondering what he’s going to do.

(Talking about using spurs:) Real gradual, turn your toes out and let your spurs meet. Real gradual, press...

Let the horse die out. Don’t try to keep her going. Real gradual, press. Don’t poke her. Let her take you.

Press, let her press into you until she moves out on her own, then heels off.

Don’t rely on spurs. I want them to feel my leg getting ready. The timing is when it comes out (getting ready) not when it comes in, when they get lighter.

I am experimenting. If it works, it’s a good thing. If not, I was just joking.

I’m trying to get you more sensitive and more effective. If it’s effective, we can take these spurs off. It it’s effective, I want to develop a feel, an understanding. The spurs are just a last resort.

We need to catch up to our horses. We need to learn the opportune time to do things. Life is timing... when you ask for things.

You might be getting the maneuver done but it’s almost under duress. Getting the physical done without getting the mental.

That’s what I’m always deciding: is it a life issue or a straightness issue. It’s the life that comes first. Do what it takes to get the life up, then you can start directing.

Don’t ask your horse to lope, ask him to get ready to lope. See how fast he’ll trot.

If you’re effective, the horse will be doing more and you’ll be doing less.

Make sure you ask her to slow down and she doesn’t quit (on her own).

If we applied it correctly, tomorrow we’ll have to do less.

I wouldn’t start out using my spur, I’d start out using my calf.

99% of the problems are because they’re not moving, not going anyplace.

Allow them to search. Allow that to happen.

You’d ease off when he got ready to... [go to the left, go to the right, walk off, etc.]

Don’t pull him back, let him feel his way off that rein.

Don’t make it happen. It will happen. Set it up and wait.

[Backing:] Try to let there be an escape for the horse. At first you might need to give and take ever so slightly.

Reward her for making the arrangements, not for the action.

If they don’t act, maybe you didn’t make the arrangements. Or you held too long.

It’s not a take over if they’re trying to get the job done. [Referring to a horse who will offer something before you ask.]

When I have a horse that wants to go too fast, doesn’t want to stop, I’ll work at placing those feet, not trying to stop him.

[Speaking about S’s horse:] She trusts you. She might not know what to do but she’s searching, looking for what to do to get along with you.

A lot of us try to get it our way right off the bat. But if we drift a little here, a little there, pretty soon... [the horse figures out what we want].

When you pick up on the reins, you should notice where the horse is going. She’s trying to get out that way [forward in this case] but the answer is out back through here [front feet reaching out and back for the start of a turn on the hindquarters].

When cantering a horse in a circle and they drop a shoulder at one point in the circle, shorten them up and drive them by the opposite side of the circle, then let them loose. Don’t drive them when approaching [the area where they lean in]. Another thing is to cut across, driving across [area they are drawn to] and open up, get out of their way [when they are approaching the area where they lean in].

Instead of bumping shoulder and picking up the inside rein to hold them. Work on it before the fact [at the opposite side of the circle], not after the fact [when you are already there and the horse is leaning in].

To stop, just sit down. Don’t push your feet out in front of you. Especially if you go to working cows, you need your feet under you. Otherwise the horse thinks it needs to go out and around your foot [walking a small circle instead of stepping directly over to the side].

A lot of people try to hurry a horse away from where the horse wants to be. I ask the horse to speed up when they’re moving toward the thing that draws them. Take that into consideration. Ask for speed, you’ll get a better transition.

Instead of worrying about where the shoulder is, worry about where the mind is.

With the older horses, start riding with your hands a little bit closer together. Start there and spread your hand out if close doesn’t work.

You need practice getting short [on the reins].

If their nose is leading the way, they won’t drop their shoulder. They only drop their shoulder if the nose is not leading the way.

Speed him up when he’s heading toward where he’s drawn. Just go with him when he’s headed away.

The horse wants you to come along [improve on what you’re doing] while they are coming along. They need you to do that.

Harry Whitney Friday June 23, 2006

2006-08-31T16:35:00.000-07:00

I took Sofia first, then Rusty to turn out, on purpose, feeling ready to deal with Rusty's emotions. (Before I had taken them both at the same time and was not as able to keep track of how they were doing with both in hand.) I let Sofia go before I got a full change of thought. Rusty did well but I'd like to get a change of thought so that his worried look is gone.

Small circles correct will help the bigger circles. Many times you have to do the extreme to get it clear for the horse.

Rusty yesterday afternoon: bringing his life up = bringing the worries to surface versus they are a bit hidden (to me!) when he's duller?

Rusty -- studdish -- would've taken Belle out if he could yesterday.

Taking Sofia's halter off -- I might do other stuff to get her mind with me and feeling better. If it's a project or argument about the halter coming off, then you've missed dealing with their feeling bad already.

Nothing runs unmingled.

When you start to see your horse feel worried, just do something about it now.

Yes, Rusty has a worried spot in him that we haven't gotten to yet, but I'm better at helping when the surface worries come up.

Time spent in round pen getting horse to make a choice to be with you is important. It helps with catching a horse.

Morning ride: "Do it now" -- my motto for taking care of getting mind with me when it shows up that horse's mind is elsewhere.

Harry says I will go back and forth between worrying Rusty and not, because what it may take to get his attention might well worry him.

Ride today: working on getting off the left shoulder at trot (and walk) and releasing for long low neck. Also went over near bicycle and helped him get more confident there, then got four feet on teeter totter.

Harry's sense of the biggest thing that happened this week was under the tent. You can talk and talk and talk, do and do and do, get good at all kinds of mechanical stuff but still don't get to the inside of a horse. How do you get someone to pick up the reins and put your leg on and get a feel? How do you teach this to someone? How to teach someone to feel the inside of the horse?

How can you put leg on and pick up on reins and get a feel for the horse and change how the horse feels? Can you change how he is feeling? How can you effect a change in how the horse is feeling?

Horse is all over the place without even going anywhere, so fix it so he feeling right inside before even walking off.

A's question: is Diva OK or is she learning to shut down and DWI (Deal With It)? Harry: Diva is OK.

R: we get so used to our horse being not OK that it feels wrong when the horse gets OK.

Is this a horse thing as well as a human thing? The good feeling when I can offer my initiative and it's valuable?

You have got to get each piece then put the pieces together. Like R working on just going forward. Then at some point R will work on using reins for softness, then they'll go together unless either piece isn't working then work on either piece. Might put them together at trot first. You can ruin your walk if you start with trying a collected walk. You don't have the impulsion. In most areas, if you don't get it good at the walk you'll not get it good at trot or canter.

Softness and forward are always separate issues. Jigsaw puzzle analogy so find the spot that is missing.

Ride a few finished horses and start a dozen colts before you own a horse.

It doesn't take a lot of strength when it's right.

Horse proves he knows what we want when they put a lot of energy into not doing it.

Difference between disobedience and what horse thinks is best for himself. It's about that horse. "Disobedience" is about human's perspective. Horse is taking care of himself. Not disobedience but instead it looks like the best deal to do that action. Example: Bo steps away when K goes to mount. Both have to make stepping away a difficult choice, but also see that the riding experience is better so he doesn't mind carrying, even so he enjoys the riding experience.

It is not "evasive" -- it's about the filly having a plan and her efforts to make that plan come through. "Evasion" is about the human.

Pretty is as pretty does.

They need to understand how to look to us, how to fit in to our world.

It's our responsibility to show them how to fit in our world.

From a Shel Silverstein poem:
Listen to the mustn'ts, child. Listen to the don'ts.
Listen to the impossibles, the won'ts.
Listen to the never haves, then listen close to me...
Anything can happen, child. Anything can be.

Sofia in round pen this afternoon. Does she understand intention? When I was thinking "send your thought out there" she responded better than when I thought "move!" Or was it just that I was coasting on what Harry had done with her?

Increase or decrease my foot stride as I ask and if no response, then do something now about it -- don't leave them unclear!! Sofia's thoughts are still behind her but her feet scurry forward. Harry was able to send her mind ahead effectively!

Sofia needs more exposure to strange things and movements, human and otherwise.

After dinner:
My question re intention and Sofia. I was working at getting the physical done, and not focused on getting inside the horse and changing their thoughts.

Recognizing that Harry got something different with Sofia than what I got. Harry's mental attitude that "there is no question this is going to work out."

Instead of looking for a physical shape, look for the moments of mental availability and responsiveness.
(I'm going to repeat this.) Instead of looking for a physical shape, look for the moments of mental availability and responsiveness.

He asks her to try -- she said she's worried. He said he know but try and she tries and he knows it and stops asking.

How does this mental part interface with developing a good ride?

It's an ongoing thing for Harry, being aware of how an animal feels inside.

Empathy -- my word to describe it.

How can you be around another living entity and not know how it feels inside?

If something is worth doing, it's worth doing poorly.

Harry pondering, where did this come from? His degree of fear around horses as a child developed his empathy for the amount of fear the horse has.

A: differences between shut her down and help her feel OK.

Summary: keep searching, keep floundering around and making mistakes. It's not going to come out right. Your horse is going to forgive you and hopefully you're going to remember what happened before, and learn from it.

Harry Whitney Thursday June 22, 2006

2006-08-28T21:50:00.000-07:00

I want to ask Harry to let me pretend to be a horse so I can feel what he's doing with the reins. (I never did.)

Questions:
Whenever the reins mean pull and the horse thinks about bracing, there can be no softness or collection. With this in mind, it makes sense that we have to come through for the horse every time we ask for something. With Rusty, I need to use longer rein and off set rein (more left than right, or more right than left) so he won't tuck his head which is his form of bracing (or avoiding getting to the answer I'm looking for)... Brace in horse = not giving answer or not trying to find the answer when I ask a question.

At this point then, two most helpful things I can do are develop better habit with reins, and develop better habit with seat and legs?

Can Harry see when I ride what I'm doing ineffectively with seat and legs? I know he's mentioned a time or two when I stop using seat when I'm using legs, I go stiff. Would it be good for me to get responses from a squeeze and use bump for a back up?

What's special about earplugs? (That was a trick question though at this point, I don't recall what I was thinking. Perhaps earplugs gave respite from all the questions someone like myself is asking, asking, asking!)

R: "Anything worth doing is worth overdoing."

In response to A's questions: Harry doesn't even think about footfall. In between disengaging this way and disengaging that way, they'll find a back up. A's missing this was about not using both reins properly -- gotta keep both reins close, being ready and not let the horse fall in the hole.

Re: momentum, etc.: If horse doesn't let go through back, then it ain't gonna happen. They aren't going to give through the back. If back doesn't give, there is no place for the hind feet to go.

There's time to say "will you stay forward" with legs and ask with reins, so they might let go through their back. If they can't stay forward without brace then give up forward and get the softness in the back.

Reins: it's not static. It's a give and take like when he was getting disengagement with Bo yesterday.

Round pen: reason to use is to get some work done in a more controlled setting -- getting clarity, responsiveness, developing good habits -- then go out into a larger area where there will be bigger distractions.

A: little tape recorder in her mind: 'where's your horse? where's your horse?' Her efforts to pay attention to what the horse is thinking about and feeling.

Question: Better to pony Sofia off Sandy first so she gets it, then add me and Rusty to the equation?

Morning ride:

I asked a lot of Rusty. Harry told me some times when I was late, need to be proactive, confirmed that with Rusty I often will need to ride him a LOT closer than I have in the past.

Worked on shoulder bulging to the left on a left turn. It happens when his mind is to the right and his front feet are heading to the right. Today's fix was to use left rein to invite the front feet to the left on a left circle.

Also: focus -- I need to focus bigtime like when riding through other horses -- me keep on a line and keep Rusty on a line. This will help with shoulder because it's about his mind in either case.

Getting to the inside is different from the mechanical stuff. Getting rid of resistances is not the same as getting OK inside.

Is this connected to how good we feel inside? If I don't have it, I can't offer it?

Rusty letting go, learning to let go of his thoughts = less troubled in human world and with other horses, too?

Intention and ability to allow -- when seeking to bring out trouble and help a horse to settle. Others who can get to inside of horse according to Harry: Ray Hunt and Tom Dorrance.

Is getting a mental change the same as getting to the inside of a horse?

Ray Hunt has the ability to see and feel deep on the inside of the horse, and he takes care of it even before it becomes an action.

The horse has to feel good inside.

There is a mechanical component, got to do something in physical realm to get a change of thought and change of emotion.

Harry was asking yesterday for Sofia to change how she was feeling.

Harry tries to help us recognize real correctness, that's what we need to strive for. If it's not correct, the horse doesn't feel right.

My comments about what I bring to the horse and stillness; how Harry on Belle working ChaCha are a threesome.

Harry does get worried but doesn't get thinking about himself but thinks about the horse he's riding and figuring a way to help the horse feel better.

We often want to leave a horse soft and light but we are afraid to do enough, are acting unclear to the horse and that in itself are troubling.

Harry's definition of abuse: Every time you leave a horse mentally confused, he feels abused.

So if you aren't firm enough when needed, and it's not clear, you might just as well whack on the horse. Physically there will be bruises but mentally no different.

Herd doesn't allow poor behavior, so we can think that way and let a horse know they got to feel better before they can get close.

You can't make someone think anything. You can discourage a horse from thinking to the outsie, but just blocking isn't the same as having some reason to think in the circle.

It's OK to say "let go of that thought" especially with a greener horse. We might say "This is the line, let's go" with a more experienced horse.

The day Sofia lets go of her thought, I have to be there and show her where to go. There will be a pause in their thought when they wonder "what do you want?". I have to be there saying, 'let's go here, thank you' and take her someplace.

Major insight which Harry supported enthusiastically: I need to wean myself from riding Rusty like he's green!!

When we don't give a horse direction when they are ready, the horse will take over, will be the one to make decisions about what we're doing.

Let go, let go, let go, then here, show them where to go once they let go.

The sooner and the softer a horse can let go of a thought, the more the horse is available for my thoughts to direct. Like in round pen if horse checks in easily versus horse who thinks about other stuff very strongly and doesn't check in easily.

Slow thinkers don't come up with other options very quickly or easily. Like a horse who wants to go to the gate and might come off rein a little but won't think of other things to do other than the gate.

Every horse: their biggest asset is their biggest detriment.

Afternoon ride in arena with bull/flag on bike pulley.

Rusty needed closeness -- slack but very ready to ask for his thought. Harry coached me about really getting his hindquarters. Rusty got lighter to reins and over time, more relaxed about approaching the flag. Though Rusty was on edge more and startled at the teeter tooter and where the bike was set up, but I helped him like I was doing around the bull/flag.

Did some riding on Heyson. Nice! Then rode Rusty again with expectation that he feel like Heyson. Then Harry worked Sofia off Belle and that went well. Rusty got very excited when Sofia was approaching the gate afterwards, and Harry coached me through getting his mind back to his body. Asking him to left, to right, back up, a lot of little things. He started to respond and attend. Harry later commented that Rusty wanted to kill Belle at the start for having his Sofia. It was intense but I was able to follow Harry's directions well enough to get a change in Rusty's feelings.

Harry told story later with pictures drawn on dry erase board. About riding a mare out from home and up to the rail road tracks. The mare chose where to go instead of going over the tracks, and then Harry asked for circles but without hurry or worry. Eventually the mare ran through all her options, several times, and chose to go over the tracks.

At the flag -- ask them to move, and let them be successful at whatever they tried, could be off to the left or off to the right.

Later thoughts about Rusty excited: It was like: come back here into your body! My timing could have been better but basically I'm asking him to be with me and responsive just like he is in more quiet situations. As Harry said, "don't let him take over." Don't let his thought rule what is happening between us. Keep seeing if he's present and has given up his overpowering thoughts yet. Be ready to do what you need to to help him let go of the thought and be here again.

I'm amazed that my shame/guilt stuff is gone, that I've grown so much this year emotionally. Thank you, RNB and all the guidance from Harville Hendrix and Helen LaKelly Hunt.

Side pull.

Not just "block that thought" but also bring your thought here, here, here... (Rusty yesterday.)

Harry Whitney Wednesday June 21, 2006

2006-08-27T01:10:00.000-07:00

Group ride, everyone in the ring. Great ride.

Me: getting a nice back up from one rein and wait until hindquarters give and back. Then other rein then pretty soon horse gets to the back up without the bending and stepping over, which is what you want.

A's question regarding stopping on front end. Harry will ride Diva this afternoon.

Question about ears pinned around other horses. When a horse is timid enough, they have to protect themselves like Sidney. If you have a horse with you mentally, it doesn't have to happen. A horse that is responsive won't pin ears. They are busy and involved with their job.

Biggest thing is to fix it every time you ride by, getting him listening and responsive to your aids.

Black Morgan: remember his pinned ears in round pen yesterday. Don't be critical of pinned ears, instead give him a place to go.

To have horse feeling best can be when you direct and say when, where, and what.

Can horse get into habit or does it always mean something? It becomes a habit to feel bad inside, like Rusty pins ears when I'm leading him. But when you get them to feel better on the inside, these behaviors won't show up so much.

Judgment calls cannot be taught.

If you have to get into an argument with a horse about something, it's probably a big enough worry that you need to let them deal with it rather than push them through or beyond it, rather than apply more pressure.

A: story of stopping her thoughts 'oh silly, it's nothing' and starting 'you're right, that could be dangerous -- let's check it out.'

Keep them focussed all the time you ride, but don't get in an argument if they really need to look.

A horse either has a pattern in life of hanging on to a thought, or of letting go of a thought. It needs to become a way of life -- letting go of a thought.

Mistaken application of patience... referring to times when I ask for something then wait... and wait... and wait... Harry has spoken in the past about teaching a horse to be wait.

Harry's ride on K's Bo (gaited horse): I'm gonna ask him to relax into these reins, not to rush. When a horse is worried, he gets tight. And when he gets tight, all four corners don't work as well and he gets pacey.

The magic is not in the feet. The feet are just a barometer for where the mind is. The feet are a manifestation of the mind.

When we wait after asking for 'go', the horse doesn't know how much effort they have to put into not going.

How many times? Every time.

Harry on Diva: He'll not let her fall into hole (stop on front end). He's letting her lose it but not as big as others might let her lose it. He is not preventing her, but is helping her find it again.

Hands don't move back for back don't move ahead for forward.

Use reins to say get round and soft.
Use seat and legs to stop and back up.

Ray Hunt: make the right thing easy and the wrong thing difficult, but never impossible.

Get the collection before the transition.

Harry and Sofia: Help them get into a little panic and see it through with them. Sofia was dragging on the lead rope.

Harry rode in bridle then I rode a little.

The better use of my hands I was developing or perhaps finding this morning with Rusty helped what I was doing with reins on Sofia. (Stop pulling!)

A and Harry's mule.

A's questions:
How did Harry keep the momentum of collected trot?
What is the footfall especially with hinds doing the left/right deal that leads to light back up?

My ride today: focus, creating a purpose with fixing the fence at lots of spots.

Question: Is Rusty's back ok? Is he carrying himself in a way that is healthy?

Harry Whitney Tuesday June 20, 2006

2006-08-26T13:00:00.000-07:00

When it's over, it's over. Horse gets over it, so can I. So do I.

Being particular when leading. Asked Rusty to wait without eating when I got to turn out area.

Being creative. Bridled Rusty in pen before leading him to turn out.

Being particular. Asking for horses to turn to me in pen when I went in.

Needs work: getting attention without touching.

Focus all the time. Be present. That's the hardest part.

AD raised issue: leader horses do not walk around other horses -- should we never walk around a horse? Harry: No. If you ask, horse should move or if horse is coming down fence where you're standing, horse should walk around your space.

Ego: it's safer not to ask horse so no chance he'll fail us.

Can you see where it started? The stuff that today you feel "I've had enough"?

RR: I'm about tired of it.

Round pen: C and Sidney:

Timing of whacking ground = when horse is commited to leaving her.

When you ask for something, get a change. Backing up, stopping, moving head out of my space. Get a change of thought, not just a body change.

Effectiveness of what you're getting done more than how you go about it.

Stepping toward hindquarters, NOT to drive it away but to bring thought around with you and meanwhile his body will shape up.

To a sensitive horse, even a little ask will be too much pressure. So they're always trying to get ahead of the pressure. Instead help him slow down, stop, wait to find out what you are going to ask.

Being the Knight in Shining Armor doesn't help horse be confident. Like standing out at the end of the lead rope, see if horse can make it there. Don't leave him too long without a pet but don't stay too long petting him.

"Every time you ask, you have to stick with it until it comes through."

"You get what you settle for." From the movie, Thelma and Louise.

K and Bo:

Where is horse's attention? In circle, left/inside ear is with her.

Eyes are more indicative of where their primary thoughts are than their ears.

Longer reins let Bo relax neck.

Circle: keep walk at same speed and look for head to drop.

Sets it up so horse has to use hind end better in order to keep moving through the circle.

Break up pacing: lateral work, bending to release topline, cavalettis.

What's wrong with just going out for a fun ride and not being so particular about all this stuff? Every time you settle for less, your horse will give you less. Like pick up a rein and not getting a change in thought.

RR and Brighid:

Can really firm up to block a thought, but not to make a horse do something.

Can start with lots of transitions and direction changes, etc. RR's habit is to get those at the end.

"If my horse is tight, not listening, I'm going to be doing frequent, frequent, frequent transitions."

Work on bump with leg more effectively then leave her alone. Nagging is asking every step before she quits. Instead, let her quit and ask her forward again.

Set up for right lead by getting her balanced over her shoulders at trot before asking for canter.

Sofia and LJB:

Send and allow her to find me, wait for her to come without my drawing her! Then send more and go with her, walk trot then lots of trot canter transitions.

Sending her off from in front of her. Using my energy -- speed and energy of my body regulating her gait.

When changing direction on leadline, me keep facing her and let her/help her back and yield to my space in order to negotiate the turn.

Don't worry too much right now about her crankiness when I ask for more life.

One time when she had some bouncey head shaking reaction to my asking for up transition, Harry told me to drive her forward when she does that, don't let that work out, which I did.

AD and Rusty:

Gets his life up easily! Harry helped with getting change of directions on lead line.

Under saddle: backing: don't pull or shorten reins so much that he tucks his head.

It was a gift to watch AD ride Rusty!

Harry Whitney Monday June 19, 2006

2006-08-25T10:40:00.000-07:00

Harry started the first week demonstrating with his horse, Sandy, at our request. The following are my notes from that session. I have edited them in many places to make understandable phrases and sentences. Direct quotes from Harry will be in parenthases in "bold".

Sandy is overconfident -- he has ideas how to run things. He has strong thoughts and struggles with giving them up when Harry has an idea that differs from Sandy's. Then when it's over, it's over, like after a tantrum. Sandy has let go of his ideas and holds no lingering bad feelings, no resentment, no caution, nothing.

These things are not personal but we take them personal. It's about whether he got his thought to come through. The more times he lets go of his thought, the easier it is. People don't see the things horses do and see how often horses keep their thoughts, then letting go becomes harder for those horses.

Decision whether to block a horse's hurrying off or not or go with him? If really worried, might go with him for awhile. If just feeling good and blowing off energy, might block horse.

"Always start with what you're going to end up with."

Harry uses his energy up and down to guide what he wants from Sandy. Very little hand action.

He didn't attack the problem of Sandy's attention with other horses outside the pen, but got Sandy working with him.

Beneficial to get the horse with you first, before saddling if horse is upset about something.

Pre-saddling groundwork can be invisible to someone else but he's assessing horse's readiness -- to be caught, to come through the gate, to stand for saddling, etc. May result in spending more time in round pen or such.

Being particular all the time -- consistent from start to finish all the time he's with a horse.

Online - circle - correct circle:
Horse being ready, ready to get prepared to go any moment you ask. Prepared to use his hindquarters to support his front end, instead of horse getting ready to come forward and person moves out of his way. That first step from halt, you can be asking the horse to step to the side... shift weight back then step front end around to the side.

Mentally on a circle versus walking in a circle around someone even if the horse's mind is outside the circle.

Fix: when horse gets straight, ready to go out, have him give his hindquarters; do this a few times until horse gives up thought to head out and is ready to come back mentally. Get that thought to come back in here, eventually get thought back to circle for a step or two. "Take your feet out there, but don't leave me."

Can work on leading and getting shoulder over.

What does Harry do to get ready? The same thing you'd do to get ready to get up out of a chair.

Reins are here for a reason: to direct a horse's thought. Take your thought to the right then get ready and then horse moves his body to the right.

Demonstration of using the reins for turns on hindquarters and turns on frontquarters using a stick or whip in hands, representing the bit which is there to influence the horse's thought. Use the bit to influence the horses head, and the horse will shape his body. You can do this with legs, too. Learn to do it with reins alone so you're effectively using reins as best as they can be used.

Nagging = repeatedly asking and nothing changes. Getting a change is not nagging.

Are they thinking? Trying? Getting ready to do something? Wait, it's a good thing when they're searching.

If you know they know and you feel them sucking back, then you might come in with your leg.

Trouble getting a lead:
a. Is horse crooked and can't get lead? or
b. Is horse worried abouat transition and tenses up then gets crooked and can't get lead?

Fix:
a. Balance trot better if it's a physical thing.
b. Get confident about transition then address straightness.

Rounding up and coming together is not a high degree of collection but it's in the right direction.

If horse is resistant to bit, no need to drive a horse gorward. Let him stop and work it out. When he's correct, encourage him forward with leg as collect up a bit but not if he starts resisting the bit. Keep using whole body for forward.

Might encourage forward but not drive forward. Try staying forward when I pick up the reins... Give to bit and step under stronger.

If horse is going to push or lean on reins, don't give until they give, right from the first ride.

We set a horse up to be resistant: pull on rin, horse pulling on rein, but release because a horse headed to the direction youwant. We overlook all those little spots.

"I question how good it can feel to a horse to give you less than their best, so I ask for their best."

Round pen with Sofia: online first because she gets so lost away from me. Circle, getting her 'straight' on the circle'. Sometimes asking hind away and sometimes asking head toward me.

Me standing in front of her, sending her mind to left or right without feet. Sending mind then feet a step or a few steps. More circling then offline, sending and drawing or allowing her back.

She got more lost so Harry coached me to wait for her to make the decision to be with me. It felt much better when she came to me secondary to her choice rather than compliance with my asking. Harry urged me NOT to use my body language to influence her movement.

A little startlement factor can help a horse settle -- it gets his mind here.

Muscles of topline get hard and flat when used (not desirable!). Developing a look to topline but not developing the muscles of the topline.

Don't step toward horse with intention of doing something to the horse. Instead step away and make a commotion and see if you can draw his attention.

If you are going to buy a horse, present something that they've not known before and see if they panic or try to think their way through it.

Horse can get confused and think he's being chased unless you're clear about transitions up and down and releasing and lots of transition changes. He'll gain confidence and feel better.

Don't criticize the horse for looking around but do give the horse a line to ride.

Helping horse lift back: horse may get short strided as he's getting ready to lift back. Follow through until he raises back even if stride shortens, and even if horse stops and backs.