In the daily working with the horse there is no goal as such. There are however many points at which can grab our attention. A thousand small details can be found and strung together to give our work a purpose. When we permit our attention to enter into grasping, accepting or rejecting these details, we lose our way.
Anything connected with goals involves a journey toward somewhere from somewhere and always has the danger of sacrificing our relationship with the horse. Good dressage is learning to be with the horse in a very simple way. Being is always in the moment and so being with the horse is never a goal. Any goals which we choose to make arise in any given moment will eventually block the work we undertake with the horse.
Therefore, in the practice of the finest dressage, there is no goal, no journey; you are just just aware of what is happening with the horse. Secondly you harmonize with the motion as the horse starts to move. The dance has started then and the horse who has learned to accept our presence now welcomes the enrichment of the harmony and finds a certain magnetic quality arising spontaneously.
This welcomed magnetic and enriching quality which arises where there is harmony draws the horse in a very specific way along very specific lines. From the human view, this is called “control;” we lead the dance. What are called resistances are simple mistakes which are resolved and cut through by the application of intelligent kindness.
This way of working with the horse is difficult to grasp but simple enough to practice. Releasing fear is the challenge. On a physical level it is about a discovering the center and the process of mechanical centering. On a mental level there is a willingness to surrender aggression. Changing the mind is pretty simple, but there is nothing easy about it.
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