by Craig Stevens | Feb 23, 2015 | Craig Stevens' Blog
Four stages to superior dressage: 1. Align your mind with the mind of the horse. In conventional/military dressage, such practice as aligning the mind was not practical as a method. In fact, what was require was a concrete method that could be applied to the lowest common denominator of horse and rider. The work was done by the organization of the herd mind. Training was minimal individual experience immersed in a collective experience. In authentic high dressage, alignment of the mind is everything. The harmonization of the individual horse and rider is the proof of successful alignment. This upper-level work organizes the individual mind and the herd mentality is transformed into individual experience of a horse/rider. The training is a mutual immersion in a healthy relationship. The ideal is the centaur effect, which is a merger of two minds. 2, From an alignment a path unfolds. How do we proceed with the horse when there is no method? The path unfolds before us once the minds are linked. We see where the link is strong and where it is weak and so this connection to the horse/human mind is our guide to the training process. The mind-body connection is individual and collective. This work is not about movements, but it does contain and produces all the movements. Movements are the path which arises from linking. Work in hand and work under saddle forge and perfect the link. The in hand work, correctly understood, helps the horse find its connection to its own body and the work under saddle then relates that connection to the rider. The path to this...
by Craig Stevens | Feb 20, 2015 | Craig Stevens' Blog
There is a simple and genuine dressage. The best dressage is a matter of the heart and the horse. The problem is that simple teachings take time to be understood and even more time to be absorbed into our hearts. Dressage, if it is good dressage, must be simple because complexity is beyond what the horse can muster and frankly it is beyond what most of us can put together too. This is not because our minds cannot handle the complexity. Our egos love to bath in the elaborate and complex and dressage has an ocean of that, but it is our heart which needs the beauty of a simple love. This is the healing a horse gives us; simplicity Every day, that we work with the horse work, is a day which needs to start with silence. Give your goals and plans a rest. They are not needed here. Only seek to listen with intelligent compassion can we find not only our own wisdom in this, but the wisdom of the horse. Out of this sacred place, training arises. Resistances occur when the lines of our intentions are cut but finding a listening dressage is to keep the lines of intention in harmony with the horse’s movements. In such a wisdom based dressage, what is called, control, arises from a deep feeling of simple harmony which connects us to the moment. In seeking to make our work acceptable and in harmony with the horse, we learn to reflect. Our awareness becomes our mirror and we learn to mindfully place ourselves. To reflect is to work at making our...
by Craig Stevens | Feb 19, 2015 | Craig Stevens' Blog
There are a few things I have been reflecting on lately. Sometimes words are very hard to find. My suspicions about this “wordless” state are that these reflections there is a connection with a very pure primordial dressage. One of the most peculiar issues which have arisen in both my practice and reflections is that I find myself increasingly in this state of mind whose main characteristic is wordless. Needless to say, this is difficult to explain, to talk about, to say the least. The boundaries between subject and object are porous or transparent in such a mind and yet there remain a dialog and logic of sorts which prevails. The field of perception is both vast and fine at the same time. So why mention this? The point here is to say something to what is perhaps a very small group of people who have had such an experience. By doing so, they know they are not alone and can find comfort in this knowledge. The other reason is to help others make the jump into this mind space without fear because there is a great value here. For the even greater group, the point here is to evoke a curiosity about the depth of dressage practice. For that group, who is the majority, it may forever remain and interesting possibility or just a bunch of dribble. The worse effect in mentioning this is to turn this into some kind of mystical magical thing which exalts the author or gathers around the author followers. It is important to understand that we all have access to this level. To...
by Craig Stevens | Feb 15, 2015 | Craig Stevens' Blog
Experienced horse people use many devices to avoid admitting to themselves or others their fears with and around the horse. Not always, but usually, beginners are more willing to admit to their fears. Whenever the body and mind are out of synchronization fear arises but we use three devices to avoid the experience of fear. 1. Ignorance. Literally we focus our minds on something else. We grab at ideas of correctness and hold to some sense of right to ignore the fear. We create a fantasy world in which the horse becomes a personal friend. We offer bribes and tribute to insure our status for what horse would kill the one who holds the carrots. 2. Aggression. We attack and learn to attack the horse before it can attack us. We cover this using terms such as leadership or the need to control the situation so we consider every gesture as a threat from the horse. The horse is naughty and needs our constant correction. We are always fighting the resistance in a battle which we never lose but also we never seem to win. Keeping hostilities low but active blocks the full realization of our own fears. 3. Passion. We use excitement to avoid seeing the fear. We jump the big fence, We gallop faster The idea is that we create an experience in which we create adrenaline to overcome our insecurities. Always pushing the envelope, we appear recklessly brave. We must compete and win at any cost. The ribbons earned and titles won are the shield to hide our fears. Another form of passion is when we...
by Craig Stevens | Feb 14, 2015 | Craig Stevens' Blog
We step into an area with a horse. A stall a paddock enables us to have contact with one horse. If we step into a field which contains more than one horse, we no longer experience a horse but now experience horses. That, of course, may be similar but it is different and for our purpose we will only consider the singular case. Here is the place from which dressage starts; one horse, one human, one space. If the space is too large the horse’s mind, and even our minds are divided but a 12X12 stall is a space which gently convenes a convergence of minds. What does this mean and to what end? There are simple sentences we use to convey intent in such a place but let’s look at closer than the superficial intention in which we allow our minds speed by. The term “meaning” relates to the Old High German “meinen” which is to have in mind, So what do we have in mind? There is the obvious; we want to catch the horse, pet the horse or move the horse. These are superficial intentions but what if we have in the mind another purpose or intention? If our intent is deeper how do we proceed? What purpose do we seek to serve or intend to convey, show, or indicate to the horse. What is the meaning of this moment in time? Is there a deeper significance or importance? This is the sacred moment in which dressage starts. We see meaning here or not. We choose at this very moment what to show from in our...
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