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Horse INKlings
Volume 2 Issue 7
Wednesday August 22, 2001
Welcome to the
seventh issue of Horse INKlings. Its aim is to provide
interesting, entertaining and useful information about the horses with whom we
share our lives. Please let me know what you think.
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SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT
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"And God took a handful of southerly wind, blew his breath over it and created the horse"
-- Bedouin legend
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FOR WHAT IT'S WORTH
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This month's joke is like the verse a minister builds a sermon around.
For many riders, the hardest part is not the ground itself, but overcoming the fear of landing there. I teach riders of all ages. A few of the younger children are afraid of falling off, but most aren't. Adults, though, are very conscious of the risk even when they're riding in soft arena dirt. Another common, related concern is fear of losing control of the horse. And then, in older beginners particularly, there's the fear of looking silly.
Horses are very sensitive creatures. The ideal of the mythical centaur -- half human, half horse -- exists because horses are able to read the emotions of the humans sitting on their backs. Unfortunately, the same quality that allows great partnerships to develop between riders and their horses also prevents some partnerships from happening at all. A nervous rider (or an angry rider) makes a horse nervous. A nervous horse acts unsettled and makes the rider more nervous (or angry), and so it goes.
Learning to ride involves learning to manage those fears so they don't interfere. As long as you have minimized the real risks, relaxation, visualization and other mental exercises can help overcome the imagined ones. But make sure you're riding a suitable horse in a safe area doing activities within your abilities. (School horses who tune out the nervous vibes coming from their passengers and whose reaction to an unbalanced rider is to stop, are worth a fortune.)
The mental aspect of riding goes beyond dealing with fear and connects inseparably with the physical side. A good rider doesn't just manage her fears. She also thinks through what she and her horse are doing and maintains a two-way communication. She makes sure she's consistent in her demands and that the horse understands what she wants and is physically able to comply. Throwing your heart over the jump only works if the jump is jumpable and you and your horse have the physical skills to make it.
With the help of a good instructor, you can develop the physical skills, but don't forget the mental ones. They are more elusive but just as important. Riding is as much a mental activity as a physical one.
For more, see this month's featured book
. . .
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GROANER TIME
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Q) What's the hardest part about learning to ride?
A) The ground.
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HORSE TRIVIA
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It can be hard to tell a roan horse from a grey. In both, white and coloured hairs are mixed through the coat. A roan is born roan or sheds to roan after the foal coat. A roan changes
colour with the seasons, usually being lightest in the spring and darkest in the winter. A grey horse is born a solid colour and gets progressively lighter as he ages. A roan usually has a dark head, mane, tail and legs. A grey will lighten in those areas as well. A roan rarely has dapples. A grey often does.
SOURCE: Horse
Color by D. Phillip Sponenberg and Bonnie V. Beaver.
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THIS MONTH'S FEATURED BOOK
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Sometimes it seems the more we try the worse we ride.
Developing mental skills along with the physical ones allows riders to ride more effectively without the tensions we set up by 'trying'.
With Training from the Neck Up, chartered psychologist April Clay has written a practical how-to manual that leads riders step-by-step through the process of becoming 'thinking riders'.
I have read many self-help books and, while reading, mentally applied the concepts to riding. What a treat to read a book in
which all the examples are taken from equestrian activities! She helps horse riders learn to use goal-setting, self-talk, visualization and focus to improve their riding whether for pleasure or competition. She discusses how to manage butterflies and deal with fears of various kinds.
Available in both paperback and e-book formats, Training from the Neck
Up includes clear explanations as well as exercises for you to complete. Drawing from her own experience riding hunter/jumpers, Clay also gives lots of real-life examples.
The e-book version has several advantages. The most important is that you can get it immediately. You can download your copy right away, print it out and put it in a binder (or read it on screen and just print the exercise pages). To repeat exercises -- for example if you want to re-assess your goals -- you just print out a clean page.
For more information, click
here.
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