I got this idea of making a beginner's guide to "this". (I would also like to find a real name to replace "this" with... ideas?)
It seems to me that more and more people are interested in "this". Usually they are asking what to do and how to start? There are of course teachers like Carolyn Resnick from whom you can certainly find directions with nicely named steps that have circled R after them. So I don't think of this guide as something that isn't invented yet :)
Stormy is telling people to join NHE which is also a good place to start, but with very strict rules that might scare off those who are in the very beginning.
I am also a bit hesitant in recommending anything that even remotely reminds me of "Parelli cult" or any sort of studying where people might forget about learning from horses, instead they think they can learn everything from some honored man/woman (or a computer..).
I had this idea already when I commented in June's blog about how freedom to choose seems to be quite easy way to "teach" horses their freedom of speech.
I just thought it would be nice to try to think of a sketch with some outlines?
(omg NKOTB starting to play in my head..)
step one (we can have lots of fun..)
Be available to your horse. Be around in the paddock, but let your horse decide if he/she wishes to be near or far. Learn to be present in every moment, like your horse always is.
step two (there's so much we can do..)
Learn the art of scratching. Find out what your horse likes about, and not only in scratching.
step three (It's just you and me..)
Be nice to your horse. Give treats. Appreciate and respect your horse. Forget about dominance (-schmominance) and control.
step four (I can give you more..)
Start to suggest action. Mutual playing, working, hiking... what ever the two of you like.
Step five (don't you know that the time has arrived..)
Grow together. Sky's the limit. Now it starts to get visible.
Huh!! Well the lyrics from 'Step by step' actually fits quite nice :D
How do you feel about these? Of course there are a lot of books to read and web pages to browse to get you in the right ground to start growing. But it doesn't look so bad when it has got 5 steps in it?
PS. Also a very good way to start is to read all my favourite blogs, that will most certainly set you in the right mood:
Kris
Lynne
Stormy
June
Máire
Images from January 2024
2 kuukautta sitten
Very nice! These are excellent tips for someone starting out - and they're open-ended, which is good. Cos if you follow someone else's "program," you might forget to listen to the horse.
VastaaPoistaHmmm, what should we call "this"?
All right, here we go. We can call "this": GEE UP:
VastaaPoistaGestus - deed, action, gesture
Equo - with the horse
Eligente - choosing, deciding,
Usuque - and with the enjoyment/use/experience
Pace - of peace.
Note the use of the ablative absolute in the EE part. The Usu is an ablative of accompaniment I believe. And the pace is ablative cos usus takes the ablative.
OR, we could just call it Equo Agente - I like the word ago - implying to be the driving force - better, but Eligo has an E which is important for the acronym!
Next suggestion? Anyone?
Kirjoittaja on poistanut tämän kommentin.
VastaaPoistaI think Gestus has to be plural - same spelling, of course, but with a long "u."
VastaaPoistaJen-ska,
VastaaPoistaAs I was reading your lovely five step nameless "this" again, so many thoughts about recipes, lists, guidelines, etc. came and went through my mind.
I find your particular steps marvelous, and yet it makes apparent to me how far apart from the horse we humans are that we need a list to tell us how to behave and develop relationships. Apparently they are considered necessary because most everyone who trains and writes about horses puts together such lists and recipes and steps.
Do we need such things when we think about friendship with other humans?
For myself, though I know that such "steps" help people, I tend to rebel against trying to place heartfelt, sensual, fluid, dynamic interactions into linear progressions.
I approach the horses in friendship with an underlying mythic admiration for them--this seems to be all the direction I require, all else flows naturally...even the times when maybe the energy is too strong, my sense of comfort breeched (or the horse feels her sense of comfort is breeched), we react to suit the moment, not to suit a progression of steps. Our dedication to mutuality is our guide.
But, if this is not enough for seekers of a new way of being with horses, well, then, Jen-ska, your five-steps is a "godsend".
You are going down the river in a beautiful way.
June, being with horses for me is a nameless thing, really. All mystics who have entered that particular state of bliss, where there is unity and timelessness have the most difficult time trying to describe in words that which has been experienced. Can there really be a name for "this", Jen-ska and June? Must there be a name?
It reminds of before my first child was born, and I was reading all the "how to" books about babycare.... the schedules, the feeding, the clothing, the this and the that ... it made it sound like your baby was some kind of exotic marsupial that would perish if you didn't keep it in an exactly correctly thermostatically controlled environment, fed on a diet of rare eucalyptus leaves. And then the baby arrived, and it was like: "Oh! She's one of us - we don't need all those rules - we just treat her in the way that seems right." And to some extent, although horses are a different species, they too are "one of us." And part of the problem is that we think of them as specimens, even when we're trying to be kind.
VastaaPoistaHowever, any excuse to come up with a Latin motto...!
Thank you so much for commenting, June and Lynne!
VastaaPoistaJune, you know I love it, because it's in Latin :)
Lynne, I noticed that I have been only thinking about people who already have a history with horses and who have a lot of things learned about horses. I find it so much easier to explain my ways to people who haven't been around horses before.
I think Klaus is calling it authentic horsemanship...? Again I was just hoping to find an informative name to it, for those who are not yet familiar with it.
And I too find it often impossible to even find words for the feelings I get with horses. They reveal knowledge that I think doesn't even exist in human perception and therefore cannot be named. Or maybe even should not be named.
I like the idea of calling it "this". It reminds me of a story I read to my youngest daughter where Wibbly Pig finds things in his garden: an acorn, a leaf, a bean and "one of those". One of those is a little insect, who appears nameless in each page of the story thereafter. My daughter loves this little insect and totally gets it having no name. Maybe "this" turns up namelessly in our garden with our horses.
VastaaPoistaMáire