Without the Mind There is Nothing
"Direct the Mind and the Body will Follow."
Now that we have the horses attention, we can do something with it!
First, we need to be able to direct his attention. Ask him to look at various things; the cat in the corner, the horses playing in the pasture, the tarp on the ground. How effectively can we tip his attention from one thing to another? We get this very good from the beginning, both on the ground, and under saddle. It needs to be so good that when we look from one thing to another he is right there with us! This is where it starts, it is all in the small things!!! Soon it will be tipping his mind from the red oxer to the triple combination, to the vertical across the diagonal and so on.
When we are able to influence the mind in this way, we begin to feel the horse "line out" or "turn loose". This is where the horses idea and yours are one and the same. Imagine coming back from a trail ride on your horse, you can fee his mind go to the barn, and his body "lines out" in that direction. You can feel total commitment on the horse's behalf, he is truly "through". This is a great feeling and one we would like to build upon. The horse is "turning loose", the greatest accomplishment you can have when ride.
Once we can direct his attention then we need to be able to bring up his life (energy) and bring it back down. We may ask "See that tarp, go over to it, now stop and smell it". We just directed his focus, brought his life up, and let it settle back down.
To the horse, it felt good and harmonious. He found it was easy to follow our feel. This is because we presented our ideas to him in a way he could understand and easily interpret.
Eventually, we may have the horse lunge over a fence, do flying lead changes, or gallop in the field, all while focusing on directing his mind. There is a natural progression that moves the training forward in a meaningful manner. We will increase the difficulty of tasks as the horse progresses, not overexposing him, or putting him in a situation where he loses confidence in himself or us.
The horse should remain calm in his work and confident in what we ask of him.
We set him up for success, and he becomes proud in his work. He finds a friend in the human.
"Direct the Mind and the Body will Follow."
Please leave your comments below, I would love to hear your Feedback!!!
Happy Riding! ~ Paula
"Horsemanship polishes our interactions with everyone we deal with, not just our equine friends. I can even explain how horsemanship has helped me be such a better human all around. And a lot of lessons and 'a ha moments' have been taught to me by you and Jack".
-Holly Lohr
"I have listened to the initial lessons(i.e not yet subscribed) but they were very good and the idea of having a virtual coach in my ear is very appealing, especially since I ride alone most of the time. They are presented well and easy to follow. Distance learning is an excellent way to supplement in-person coaching, and to provide support when coaching isn't readily available or doesn't quite tick all the boxes. Videos are great but unless and until someone devises a way to view video instructions while riding , the benefit is somewhat limited. I think these audio lessons are a great complement to other types of instruction. Well done".
-McPeak KE
"The audio lessons are great to listen to in (and out) of the saddle to give you an extra set of tools to take with you to the barn".
-Monique Valentine
"While I have not had time to the lessons while riding, I have listened to the on my daily commute and find the lessons to be quite valuable, I will be putting the lessons to the test under the saddle soon".
-Kim Vandrisse
"I rode to lessons 2 and 3 last night! Gotta say I love the idea and can't wait to see where it goes from here. You can never have too many tools in your toolbox when it comes to communicating with a horse, and this, from what can I tell, seems to be a particular useful ones. So far, to me, the best part is that Paula is all about you forming a partnership with your horse, and that's what I believe it should be".
-Mike Oswald
"This is outstanding! I tried this lessons while riding my Half-Arabian Pony cross mare, and it made a huge difference.She is a every smart, but hot horse. The calming effects happened right away. I will definitely be using this as often as I can. Thank you for making a difference in my attitude towards bonded horsemanship".
-Shari Olm Riesterer
"I LOVE these lessons. It is awesome to be able to have focus and a direction while I ride, just as if you were right there instructing me! I like the videos as well just to see it while someone else is doing the exercise. It really brings it all together! I can't believe no one has thought of this before. I am looking forward to more of this lesson".
-Rossane Korinek
"Paula's audio lessons are the perfect supplement for any rider. They are SO helpful in between lessons for the little extras you may need to work on, or focusing in on a specific tactics/tools of horsemanship. LOVE these!"
-Leah Gulyas
"I'm enjoying the awareness, communication and relaxation these lessons are providing which is improving my horses performance! I love the Ride Playfully slogan which reminds me to always make fun for both of us".
-Tammy Risseeuw
"These lesson have been great! I really like how can watch the short video and then ride to the lesson. I am getting so much more done now when I ride. Thank you for the lessons!".
-Sue Lorenz
"Fabulous! Great solution over watching a video or reading and the trying to apply it".
-Vanessa Brown-Nerbun
