Is it there

It is there, trust me, or better still trust yourself. You can find it at the core of dressage. You can find it at the horse’s core and yours too. It is that principle, that substance and that thing that makes it all work. It slowly dawns as your fears abate.

We become tame and we tame the horse. It is acceptance without fear. This is the essence of tame. This “it” and what is “it”? It can be called herd instinct and other things as well but perhaps a simpler way to express the idea is “basic goodness.”

Basic goodness it the primordial glue which holds everything together. It runs through everything. Existing internally, it is a confidence which has no object. We find it inside when we learn to become our own friend and we have it outside when we can extend our friendship to others.

Kindness and gentle actions flow without special effort or thought to our friend the horse and from this a circle of psychological energy arises which we call a positive and healthy “relationship.” Surrendering fear and trust then grows and we find the centaur effect. Now, we have come to know a noble and vibrant dressage.

The dressage we know then is very personal and very sweet. It is not the kiss on the horse’s lips which declares it but the touching of two souls. We have earned it and this dressage is ours but we did not create it as much as it has shaped and created something very special in us, through the horse, something very sacred and very alive.

Having found this basically good dressage has been the quest of every great master and while many times unspoken, it is the quest of every beginner from the sight of the first horse to the vision of the last. We whisper in a most sacred of tones, “It’s a horse, AH….”