Changing Balance Longitudinally Fruit
Salad Light
Well, to be truthful, this is 'watermelons' -- not much
of a salad. When I was riding I was using cantaloupes
and bananas, too. That's a little bit more of a
salad! In lessons, we often get lemons, limes, cherries,
apples, pears and bananas involved. Sometimes
blueberries and pomegranates. But today I kept it
simple!
The fruit represent the range and type of motion in the
hip sockets. The low, flat melon correlates w/ longer, flatter
strides. The higher, thinner melon correlates w/
collected, lifted movements. The rounder melons are more
of the regular and working gaits.
Each week I focus my training on one of seven
topics. This week's topic is 'how to shift the balance
longitudinally.' Or, in more horse-like terms, this is
contractibility and/or collection.
Different levels of expectation
In the training program I've devised, there are seven
'modules' built around seven topics. I spend one week on
a module solidifying one of the skills from that module.
The idea is that by the end of seven weeks, I have seven new
skills. Then I return back to the first module and
develop a new skill from that module. At the end of
fourteen weeks, I have fourteen skills.
Every week when I'm on this
module, I'm asking the horse the questions "How well can
you transfer forward energy up?" "How well can
you transfer forward momentum into carrying
capacity?" "How well can you lift?"
"How well can you let go?"
When I'm starting a horse out, I'm asking for the easier
things from that module. In that case, it might be,
"Can you change from a flatter melon to a round
melon?" This week I'm asking my horses, "Can
you step through a range of melons?" I start with a
very flat melon for four steps, move to a sort of flat melon
for four steps, go round for four steps, go sort of up for
four steps, and then stay a really skinny and up for 8 steps,
then come down with four steps of each size until I hit the
flattest melon.
In this manner, I increase the tractability of my horse
through leadership by example. I have a thought, that
thought affects the way my body behaves, the horse picks up on
this and changes it's way of going. It's not so
much a matter of I hold back on the reins or I use an active
leg as a matter of channeling the energy by way of
communicating directly with the nervous system.
If you'd like to experience this first hand, or
understand this better, call me for a lesson.
Cheers!
L
* The original picture was of a pretty well
balanced horse. The imbalance here is represented by the
burst of color.
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