2010

2009

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THURSDAY, APRIL 22, 2010

Repetition, Reward & Recovering Perfectionists

I am a recovering perfectionist. I used to be so afraid of doing something wrong – or worse, something “bad” – that I didn’t want to try new things. I wanted to sit in my little comfort zone and do things the way I had always done them. I didn’t even want to cook because what if – gasp – it didn’t turn out!

I am slowly recovering. It is a long journey, full of discomfort and mistakes. I have to keep reminding myself that mistakes are good – you really can’t progress without them. Figure out what doesn’t work and change how you’re playing the game.

One of the things I’m recognizing now as I try out new techniques and give myself permission to be wrong or awkward or a downright mess, is that I’m starting to see the small changes in my horses. It gives me more incentive to keeping trying because I can see those little tries and improvements.

Horses (and we) learn by repetition, and it’s hard to keep repeating something that feels all wrong if you don’t think you’re really getting anywhere. But becoming more aware of those positive changes in my horses keeps me at it.

I feel and reward the little improvements, which does two great things – it makes me want to repeat the lesson the next day, and best of all, it lets my horses know that their little tries are being recognized and appreciated. When I feel that small change and reward them for it in a way that they understand, they start trying even harder and they learn so fast!

When you keep each exercise short (repetition is the key, but it can easily be overdone!) and just keep looking for the little tries, it is incredible how quickly horses come along.

POSTED BY CELENA AT 7:46 PM      0 COMMENTS     POST A COMMENT
CATEGORIES: APPLYING NH, EMOTIONAL FITNESS, NATURAL HORSEMANSHIP TECHNIQUES, REPETITION, SOAKING

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 21, 2010

My Zephyr

Zephyr, my beautiful solid black APHA gelding, will go down in history as the horse who taught me the most. For a while, anyway – there may be another one who comes along to keep going with what Zephyr started.

The challenging thing about Zephyr is that he used to have a very small happy medium. He used to change very quickly from right brain to left brain and back again. If I wasn’t assertive enough, he would decide that I wasn’t the leader and try to take over. If I got too assertive, he would get scared and upset. Finding that happy place was a constant challenge for me.

Zephyr and I have been together for five years now, and every year he matures more and becomes more confident – and maybe a little less cocky! I used to think that he would be an ‘evergreen’ horse, but he is proving me wrong.

Since I co-own a horse training business, my own horses often get left on the back burner. We have been busy with our sales horses and one in for training, so Zephyr had been on vacation. Finally on Monday, I had the opportunity to bring him out.

The contrast between him and the youngsters I’d been riding with so apparent after not being on him for a while. He was so attentive and quiet, so focused and ready to work. After being on our smaller horses, his gaits felt all the more athletic and big.

In other words, I was in heaven.

POSTED BY CELENA AT 9:34 AM      0 COMMENTS     POST A COMMENT
CATEGORIES: MY HORSES, SOAKING

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