Are you present ?

I have just taught 2 back to back clinics, and during the courses, I was talking to riders about what they could feel.  Or what they were thinking about.

It got me to thinking how much 'white noise' we ride with, and how much of that our horses can feel.  

I had one lady that wanted to work on soft feel at the trot with her horse, and being an ex racehorse, he came into the arena with his head high and travelling 'upside down'.  

The first thing we focused on was the rider relaxing through her thighs, allowing her leg to lengthen, and then her breath.  Like magic that horse relaxed, lowered his head, and started to take up a 'soft feel' in the hackamore.

We repeated the same exercise, simply focusing on breathing, and emptying the mind - and the result was repeated time and time again.

As soon as the rider tried to focus on something else (like a correct diagonal) I could see it before she even said anything - because the head came up, the horse went hollow.  As soon as we focused on breathing, the whole body shape changed and the horse relaxed.

When we are riding our horses, how many of us are focused on simply breathing ? Simply being in the moment ?

All too often we are focussed on training the horse, training us (developing a better seat, hand or leg), and we forget to simply be present.

Emptying our mind and being present with the horse, allows us to get in sync.  It allows the horse to relax and connect with the rider on a deeper level.

There will be time to focus on the horses training, or our riding ability, but the first thing we should be looking to do when we are with our horses is become present, breathe, and connect.

Have a great week!

Tanja