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December 2009 Archive

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THURSDAY, DECEMBER 31, 2009

New Year, New Resolution

Tomorrow, it will be 2010. Have you made your resolutions yet?

While lots of people’s New Year resolutions center around becoming more physically active, my resolution is a bit different – to really focus on getting emotionally fit.

I realized the other day that I have much more in control of my emotions when I’m out with my horses than in other areas of my life. Out there, I see difficulties as puzzles that I haven’t yet worked out. I reward my horses just for trying to understand me. I analyze my horses’ personalities and try to understand exactly what their ideas are.

I’m better at mastering my emotions when I’m with my horses because it’s what I’ve trained myself to do.

I’ve done a lot of thinking about this over the past few days, looking at the correlations between natural horsemanship and the rest of my life. Doing natural horsemanship really is like therapy – it makes you think about and address all sorts of problems that are mirrored in your own life. Sometimes it makes you see things about yourself that you aren’t particularly proud of.

My sister, Anna-Marie, was telling me about emotional reactions the other day. She’d been reading this book, My Stroke of Insight by Jill Bolte Taylor, a brain scientist who writes about her experiences and epiphanies after experiencing a stroke herself.

Ms. Bolte Taylor says that when something happens to you, the first 90 seconds of emotional response after the incident is pure reaction – we can’t control it since it has to do with our biochemistry. But after that, the way we react is dependent on the circuits that we’ve created in our brains – if we continue to feel the emotion after that initial 90 seconds, we need to look at the thought patterns that are replaying this response over and over again.

Translation: after 90 seconds, how we respond is our choice, whether we are aware of it or not.

To change these circuits takes real focus – a real determination to change. The easiest thing to do is to let the circuits continue – but the healthiest thing, for us and our all of our relationships is to make a conscious effort to change how we react. Let yourself feel that strong emotion for one-and-a-half minutes – and then decide how you want to react.

So this is my New Year’s resolution, typed up here for all the world to see (just for some added accountability!): I am going to think about my reactions and decide how I want to respond, not just go along with the pre-programmed reflexes. I am going to focus on my emotional fitness.

P.S. If this kind of thing interests you, Jill Bolte Taylor explains the basics in an interview: http://www.bleepingherald.com/apr2008/taylor?page=0%2C1

POSTED BY CELENA AT 2:03 PM      0 COMMENTS     POST A COMMENT
CATEGORIES: ANNA-MARIE, APPLYING NH, EMOTIONAL FITNESS, HORSEPEOPLE - A BREED OF OUR OWN, NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTIONS

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 18, 2009

Dashing Through the Snow

Is there anything better than riding in the snow?

Well, yes actually. But tacking up on a crisp day and going out for a jaunt through the snow is definitely the best part of winter. Anna and I went out riding the other day on two of our young horses, Chica and Rosie. Chica, as always, marched through the snow with great enthusiasm. Rosie, an Andalusian-Arab cross who is our newest acquisition, was also eager to be out and about, despite not being in as good shape as Chica.

There was a definite chill in the air, but aboard the beautiful Rosie, I really didn’t care. We walked and trotted on the logging roads in the mountains behind the farm – and with that dusting of snow, the scenery was truly breathtaking and made all the better by being on horseback. We stopped and looked at animal tracks in the snow – Anna and I agreed that we need to get better at identifying tracks – and picked out a Christmas tree to chop down later.

Then we got to the meadow where we often canter the horses. Anna and I looked at each other and grinned, each knowing the other was up for a canter. Rosie is green and we hadn’t cantered her yet, but she was feeling fantastic – her gaits were smooth and easy, and her attitude was willing. I was sure she was ready for it, and I was eager to feel the canter that I had seen her do from the ground.

It was amazing. She stepped right up into the canter and followed Chica, winding through the meadow on the snow-covered logging road. She didn’t try to pass or lag behind – she maintained the exact same distance behind Chica the whole time. And she didn’t disappoint me – her canter was wonderfully balanced and rocking. It was, without a doubt, the best first canter I’ve ridden.

No matter how many horses I start, seeing them progress never ceases to amaze me. Riding out in the snow, having such a wonderfully positive ride and first canter, really made my day.

POSTED BY CELENA AT 9:27 AM      0 COMMENTS     POST A COMMENT
CATEGORIES: ANNA, CHICA, LAYING THE FOUNDATION, ROSIE, WINTER RIDING