With this post I am beginning a new thread of my life. That is the one that I have with my horse. He came to me when he was 2 years old, twenty years ago. He was unbroken and very much self-absorbed and his life revolved around himself. It was up to me to arrange things so that he took notice of me and started to care about what I thought about everything. It was up to me as the Master to become his trustworthy leader and savior  from his own instincts, fears and dangers–whether rational or irrational. And he was highly  fraught with a myriad of these–given that he was weak in his body and mind. I did not choose him for what he was but what he could become in my hands.

Basically the goal in horsemanship, is to apprehend the horse totally in his body and mind—that his power and being is now for the Master’s use and will. With those goals in mind, the rider first makes it pleasant for the horse and follows his natural motion. Gradually he asks that the horse begin to follow him, with the Master’s gaze as the first indication of the way to be taken. The Master’s position of straightness in body is also followed and as simulated by the horse as the way (whether on a straight line or curved)  and the horse becomes in the same measure in that form of straightness both in that moment of time and as character trait. He becomes a reflection and a mirror of the Master’s  character.

Below is a photo study for you of a performance where my dear horse was distracted and afraid of actual strange sounds coming from behind the nut and cherry trees. The cherry pickers had arrived , unseen but heard by my horse. I have always used these occasions as a test for my relationship with my horse. Pick out the photo where he is looking to the dangers,  and I am merely sitting quietly and asking him to come back to me and follow my gaze and intent. The other photo is where he has yielded his power to my use and is quiet in his trust to follow my gaze. I am actually asking him to move  to his left, in the next moment as that is the way I am gazing with my intent and he is listening with all his heart, overriding the dangers he has sensed.

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