The leader-follower balance in the rider-horse relationship has been fascinating and mystifying to me during these early stages of learning to ride. Let’s see, you have to direct your horse, but you must also allow your body to follow your horse. Soon you realize that you most definitely must lead, you must have clear intent and assertiveness, all the while maintaining a quiet centeredness as well as a responsiveness. Let’s just say this: “easier-said-than-done” is really an understatement.
The uke or following role was easier for me to learn in aikido –- it seemed natural. And as a beginner in aikido, you can get away with not being a leader for quite some time. It does not work that way in riding –- your horse will be the first to show you this! The confident, assertive person I can embody on the aikido mat does not seem to be the same person who is learning to ride the horse. This is one of many fascinating discoveries so far. I am learning that all my ideas and conceptual understanding are going to be put to the real test -- the horse test.
Last week, while riding the dream horse “Phoenix” who seemed to respond positively, almost at my first thought, I began to imagine that I knew something…”I’m really beginning to get it” I told my friends later. This week, the smart little being, who is technically a pony in horse's clothing, aptly named “You Who,” quickly got my attention when he did pretty much just as he pleased, despite the clearest intent and aids I was able to muster –- a humbling experience!
“Clear Intent” is one of the Centered Riding basic principles of particular interest then. How do I communicate to my horse that I am capable, calm and the leader – something horses as herd and prey animals need in order to feel secure. And how do I quietly provide all that without engaging the tendency to push, pull or generally add something extra to the interaction, especially with a less responsive or more willful horse. While I do understand that many of my goals and concerns will be learned on and from the horse and worked out in the riding ring in the course of “more time in the saddle,” I cannot seem to stop trying to further my understanding by reading, watching and making connections between the various other disciplines in my experience.
Obviously, it is not force which allows a 120-pound woman dressage rider to prompt a 1,200 pound horse to dance around a riding ring with her! As you watch her you really cannot see what she is “doing” even when someone describes it to you. Similarly, it is also not force which allows a 120-pound woman aikidoist to receive and neutralize the power of the strike or grab from a 220-pound training partner and even sometimes project him dramatically yet safely across the mat. And often to the uninitiated observer what she “did” to allow a positive outcome is too subtle to grasp.
So the leader-follower balance seems to correlate to understanding what you have to do versus what you must then allow. And the very first thing which you actually do is really quite a subtle mental activity – a clear thought or intention. If you mix up the order of priority and attempt to allow to happen the very thing which requires initially and simply the application of clear intent, you may then find yourself having to try to do something to compensate. The cart before the horse, so to speak? In aikido the correlation is seen in the timing of the response to an attack. In fact we are developing our awareness of situations so that we are not “caught off guard” for an attack but are sensitive to the first hint of the movement of that aggressive energy towards us. The more closely timed your response is to that moment, the less you actually have to do after that. Being in the right place at the right time might describe an effective aikidoist’s reaction.
Once your priorities and timing are in order, the right amount of effort becomes more obvious. Clear intent is something you initiate with your mind – it begins as a thought and it continues as a thought put into action – we get into trouble when we add something extra in the form of unnecessary muscular tension or force which we think will enhance our effectiveness. Renewing the thought or intention repeatedly seems to describe what it is that we must do; after that we must learn to more and more “get out of the way” and allow the activity to have a chance to unfold.
How does this translate into horsemanship? My hope is that with experience and practice of clear intent a kind of natural leadership may emerge and that I may develop a quality of intention that will encourage my horse to want to follow me. Idealistic? Yes. One thing I’m beginning to understand is that, especially when a horse is involved, you can think about it, read and write about it, watch videos and demonstrations, conceptualize, wish for it and hope for it and yes, dream about it -- but when you get on that horse you have to ride it! And that’s what I’m so excited about learning.
The photo above was taken at Susan Harris' CR Clinic at Chapter One Farm in Pedricktown, NJ. Lacey Williams is a wonderful young rider who impressed me in so many ways -- her quiet demonstration of the principles we were learning, her brief mention that she used to enjoy breezing horses at the race track and playing polo!, the fact that she was still recovering from a serious back injury, her courage and composure after a fall, her curiosity about the Alexander Technique -- not to mention her patience showing me how to tack up the horse I was to ride in the clinic, answering my endless questions and listening to my beginner's observations.
The uke or following role was easier for me to learn in aikido –- it seemed natural. And as a beginner in aikido, you can get away with not being a leader for quite some time. It does not work that way in riding –- your horse will be the first to show you this! The confident, assertive person I can embody on the aikido mat does not seem to be the same person who is learning to ride the horse. This is one of many fascinating discoveries so far. I am learning that all my ideas and conceptual understanding are going to be put to the real test -- the horse test.
Last week, while riding the dream horse “Phoenix” who seemed to respond positively, almost at my first thought, I began to imagine that I knew something…”I’m really beginning to get it” I told my friends later. This week, the smart little being, who is technically a pony in horse's clothing, aptly named “You Who,” quickly got my attention when he did pretty much just as he pleased, despite the clearest intent and aids I was able to muster –- a humbling experience!
“Clear Intent” is one of the Centered Riding basic principles of particular interest then. How do I communicate to my horse that I am capable, calm and the leader – something horses as herd and prey animals need in order to feel secure. And how do I quietly provide all that without engaging the tendency to push, pull or generally add something extra to the interaction, especially with a less responsive or more willful horse. While I do understand that many of my goals and concerns will be learned on and from the horse and worked out in the riding ring in the course of “more time in the saddle,” I cannot seem to stop trying to further my understanding by reading, watching and making connections between the various other disciplines in my experience.
Obviously, it is not force which allows a 120-pound woman dressage rider to prompt a 1,200 pound horse to dance around a riding ring with her! As you watch her you really cannot see what she is “doing” even when someone describes it to you. Similarly, it is also not force which allows a 120-pound woman aikidoist to receive and neutralize the power of the strike or grab from a 220-pound training partner and even sometimes project him dramatically yet safely across the mat. And often to the uninitiated observer what she “did” to allow a positive outcome is too subtle to grasp.
So the leader-follower balance seems to correlate to understanding what you have to do versus what you must then allow. And the very first thing which you actually do is really quite a subtle mental activity – a clear thought or intention. If you mix up the order of priority and attempt to allow to happen the very thing which requires initially and simply the application of clear intent, you may then find yourself having to try to do something to compensate. The cart before the horse, so to speak? In aikido the correlation is seen in the timing of the response to an attack. In fact we are developing our awareness of situations so that we are not “caught off guard” for an attack but are sensitive to the first hint of the movement of that aggressive energy towards us. The more closely timed your response is to that moment, the less you actually have to do after that. Being in the right place at the right time might describe an effective aikidoist’s reaction.
Once your priorities and timing are in order, the right amount of effort becomes more obvious. Clear intent is something you initiate with your mind – it begins as a thought and it continues as a thought put into action – we get into trouble when we add something extra in the form of unnecessary muscular tension or force which we think will enhance our effectiveness. Renewing the thought or intention repeatedly seems to describe what it is that we must do; after that we must learn to more and more “get out of the way” and allow the activity to have a chance to unfold.
How does this translate into horsemanship? My hope is that with experience and practice of clear intent a kind of natural leadership may emerge and that I may develop a quality of intention that will encourage my horse to want to follow me. Idealistic? Yes. One thing I’m beginning to understand is that, especially when a horse is involved, you can think about it, read and write about it, watch videos and demonstrations, conceptualize, wish for it and hope for it and yes, dream about it -- but when you get on that horse you have to ride it! And that’s what I’m so excited about learning.
The photo above was taken at Susan Harris' CR Clinic at Chapter One Farm in Pedricktown, NJ. Lacey Williams is a wonderful young rider who impressed me in so many ways -- her quiet demonstration of the principles we were learning, her brief mention that she used to enjoy breezing horses at the race track and playing polo!, the fact that she was still recovering from a serious back injury, her courage and composure after a fall, her curiosity about the Alexander Technique -- not to mention her patience showing me how to tack up the horse I was to ride in the clinic, answering my endless questions and listening to my beginner's observations.
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