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2009

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TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2009

The Power of Soaking

One of the best things that I have learned through natural horsemanship is the concept of ‘soaking’ – that is, giving the horse time absorb the information or lesson. My background is in hunter/jumpers, and we just rode. If our horses did something wrong, we did it again. If our horses did something slightly better, we did it again. If our horses did something well, we still did it again!

My horses have come so far just because I give them a chance to soak up the lesson. You can see them start to think about things and understand more and more. As a goal-oriented predator, it can be hard to stop for a few minutes instead of ‘working towards the goal’. But one of the things that I have come to understand and witness time and time again, is that just stopping and soaking at the right moment can get you way further towards the goal than endless repetition.

Don’t get me wrong – repetition is not a bad thing. Horses learn best by repetition. With experience, you start to be able to feel when repetition is needed and similarly, when soaking is needed.

The day (or a few days) after having had a great session with a horse, I love to feel the changes in them. A lot of the time, you don’t just start where you left off. Sometimes you get on that horse and you can’t even believe the change. Sometimes, I swear, my horses spent the whole time out in the pasture thinking about what we had worked on and decide to come out and blow my socks off.

POSTED BY CELENA AT 9:34 PM      0 COMMENTS     POST A COMMENT
CATEGORIES: APPLYING NH, EMOTIONAL FITNESS, INNER PREDATOR, SOAKING

SUNDAY, JULY 19, 2009

My Inner Predator

Are you ever out with your horse, having so much fun, enjoying a bit of success playing around with something new and – BAM! (as Emril would say) – all of a sudden you flip back to your old pre-NH ways. Your horse was understanding what you were asking and so suddenly you want more. You expect more. Your predatory nature comes out – you become task-focused instead of principle-focused.

And everything falls apart.

It happened to me the other day. I was out playing with our big warmblood, Lex, and I was starting to ask him to lie down for the first time. He was incredible, bowing way down right away. Within minutes, he lay down voluntarily.

Success really can be far more destructive than failure. Instead of rewarding him by leaving it at that, I decided to try again to prove to myself that it hadn't just been a fluke. Instead of taking it slow like I had the first time, my expectations for him rose; I wasn't accepting each little try. By the time I realized that I had switched into predator mode, poor Lex was confused and becoming anxious.

I'm glad that I was able to recognize what was going on and slow it all down again so that I could help Lex feel successful. Again, I was grateful that horses are so forgiving - and big, beautiful Lex takes that equine trait to the extreme. Although I would have preferred that it didn’t happen, it was a good reminder to be constantly aware of what’s going on inside myself - to notice and rein myself in when I start to feel that my Inner Predator is on the loose, even if that means walking away from my horse for a bit.

I've shared my Inner Predator story - and I'd love to hear yours!

POSTED BY CELENA AT 1:03 PM      0 COMMENTS     POST A COMMENT
CATEGORIES: EMOTIONAL FITNESS, INNER PREDATOR