ELISE'S RAMBLINGS...

I played the guessing game with this for a while before looking at the answer.  I knew it wasn't jumping, or polo, or racing. But what about hunters, trail riding, or liberty work?  Boy was I wrong.  The safest sport according to my research is Vaulting!  This was shocking to me at first until I really looked at it, and how it can help me be safer in any horse riding I do!

First of all, it is rhythmical, at least for the horse.  The horse goes in a circle and the horse canters in a rhythm.  How can I apply this? How does rhythm fit in?  This is something I had not thought about, but really makes sense.  If we can practice with our horses, walking in rhythm, and make corrections if they change the rhythm without us, won't we have a horse more in tune to us?  A horse that is more relaxed because it has one job, go at this pace?  IT keeps us focused on the connection with the horse, not matter what we are doing.  It is easy to practice too.  Fast Walk 10 steps, SLLLOOOWWW walk 10 steps until it is really good then start doing it at the trot.  Imagine how responsive your horse will be to you.  Fast rhythm, slow rhythm.

The second thing that stands out is that it builds on what has come before, repetition.  The vaulters practice on their own, without a horse.  They practice a move until they are good before they ever mount.  They start small, getting on and getting off.  Over and over.   I have talked a lot about some of Warwick Schiller's principles and this falls right in line.  I get on and take four steps and decide to go back, get off, or go on.  Then I get to 50 steps and same questions.  It is repetitive.  If I have any issues getting to the 50 steps, I turn around and go back to the beginning.  A lot like playing a video game.  You start over and over and over and get really good before moving to the next level.  

Imagine what a relief it will be to our horses to know that we have them, that we expect them to be the best that they can be and will be the best we can be for them.  It will improve our confidence and our timing.  We will get better and better and most importantly, we will be safer!

If you are not riding yet, or want to improve your connection before trying the above, here is my free guide with some Ground Play examples!  Just click here!

The horses were happily munching their breakfast today.  The wind was swirling around, and a bunch of little dust devils were blowing through carrying the fall leaves for a ride.  I was cleaning the three-sided shed as while I listened to them munching.  Then I heard a crazy noise.  

All around the horses' legs, feet, faces, etc, was a packaging pillow.  One of those air-filled pillow sacks had blown off our porch and was dancing with the horses.  I heard it first for a while and then I looked.  The horses had not moved.  They were happily munching away with it battering around beneath them.  I started to panic but it was only a split second.  I completely relaxed.  In that split second, they all three lifted their heads, looked at me, and then because I had relaxed again, they all just went back to breakfast.  I know if I had panicked, they would have too.  I know because I was able to just forget about it and enjoy the show, they were fine.

There are so many times, when our emotions get in the way, and we are not even aware.  Leading Michelle, a few weeks ago, and thinking she was going to run me over had her convinced something was chasing both of us.  Playing with Michelle with the flag, she was in a panic.  I set it down on the ground and walked away, she walked right up and played with it.  

I have done this riding so many times too!  It is so powerful to change our thoughts and feelings around to the positive.  To the amazing rides, the amazing partnership with our horses, and truly step into that feeling of being the leader, the safe place for the horses, for our little herd.

How?  We start by playing the what if game with amazing things that could happen.  We fill ourselves up with amazing ride feelings until there is no room for fear to creep in.  We can even pretend to be a trainer that we admire if we want!  Whatever it takes, if we want to ride, we can make it happen.

If you would like to see a few more ideas I have for feeling better about our rides, Click here.

I started to write about riding horses if you really want to ride horses. Don't let anything stop you.  I was going to give a pep talk on making it happen.  But then I realized, the loss of confidence can turn into feeling like riding would be a chore, at least it did for me.  So I changed course and decided to write about how to have fun riding again.  I have had so much fun and thinking about it, helps me want to get on and ride!

 

First of all, riding a horse, is all about the connection to your very best friend.  It is like going to the mall and shopping with your bestie, only riding a horse takes that connection one step further to actually feeling the rhythm between the two of you physically.  Hearts connected and bodies connected.  That feeling of pure joy as the two of you see the sights together.

 

With that in mind, riding can be fun for both of you.  I spent most of my hours riding as a kid, riding trails and playing, almost no time in an arena.  We would race each other and even race motorcycles.  We would jump over anything and everything that we could find.  I think my favorite was playing tag in the heat of summer.  We would swim in the ponds and if our horses touched the ground, we were out and had to sit out in the heat until everyone was out.  We would do this for 8 or 9 hours.  I think back now to our poor horses swimming for hours but I think they enjoyed not being in the 100 degree heat.

 

As an adult, I love to play "I Spy", "Red Rover", and tag (having the horse touch all kinds of stuff while I am riding).  I also love a good jumper competition but the arena work can feel too much like work!  What are two or three things you can do to make riding more fun for you?  Think about them, picture them, get excited about having that fun on your horse again.  It will help overcome the confidence issues as you bring joy into your thoughts of riding, more and more.

 

Picture what that fun will look like.  Develop that picture and share that picture with your horse.  The more you can imagine that fun, the better you will feel about riding. 

 

Why is horseback riding fun?  I would love to hear the number one thing you would enjoy having fun with your horse!  Whether it is riding or not riding, not everyone wants to ride.

 

If you enjoyed this and would like to see some fun ways to ground play with your horse, you can get my guide, 5 Fabulous Ground Play Challenges here!

Watching the horses graze, soaking up the sun, sharing the calm all around them, I realized that calm and fear cannot exist in the space.  There are of course exceptions but in general, this is true.  So how does this calm scene turn into a place of fear?  How does the fear spread and why is it important for riders?

We had a tree fall in our pasture and I didn't know directly since I couldn't see the tree, I knew from the horses' panic that something was wrong.  I felt fear.  I felt their fear and added my fear to it.  All three horses were running, fleeing for their lives in their mind.  There are so many examples of this and watching a herd can be a tremendous learning opportunity.

Let's back up and look at this closer.  The tree probably cracked a bit, which would have had the horses looking.  One horse may have lifted their head first, and then the others followed.  Then, as the tree fell and made noise, they ran away from the noise.  This is a great thing; it kept the tree from falling on them.  It truly was a matter of life and death, and they chose life.  When they no longer heard the noise, they stopped, turned and looked at the tree.  Very quickly, their heads went down, and they returned to grazing.  Nature at its finest.

I talked a little bit about the fear behind me, when I thought Michelle was going to run me over.  She reacted by thinking something was behind "US" that was going to eat us, so she tried to run me over.  Once I realized the nonsense and filled up with confidence, she walked along behind me quietly and looked to me to lead.  There is so much of this in riding as well.  If we are looking around for what might scare our horse, guess what they are looking around for?  This is why the police clinic teaching was so important.  FOCUS 100 feet ahead on where you are going and completely ignore everything else.  They have to ignore all the rioting, bottles being thrown at them, etc and they never know what that thing is going to be so they can't desensitize to everything.  They have to FOCUS on what they want, where they are going, and what they are doing and the horses feel that confidence.

It can be so hard at first to feel that confidence and have that focus.  I had to use a few tools to help me out (you can check them out here if you would like), and that got me over the hump.  Once I had a few confident rides, I had more confidence, and it was like an amazing snowball of becoming the leader I used to be.

If you enjoyed this, here are a few exercises to help build that confidence so our horses can feel it!  Ghosts of Anxiety - Past, Present, Future