Sunny today?

Sunny today?

Every time we go to the barn we bring with us ourselves and present to the horse who and what we are and the horse presents itself in a like fashion. We both greet and meet each other.

While perhaps this may strike one as obvious because we see ourselves and the horse as the object of the presentation, what we fail to see is that we are a rather transparent mist of who we are as well. Parts of us exist beyond the realm of objects and things. We are living in a haze of intention.

We are not just solid beings, nor is the horse, but we are composite beings which present a micro-climate of sorts. The question that arises from this is ” What is the weather like today?”

This kind of subjective meteorology affects both the horse and human, but like the weather here, storms and clouds appear close to the planet and that if we can fly we can lift ourselves beyond the weather. There is always a level where the sun shines.

The power of the horse for most people is the power they have of lifting us from our local weather into the eternal sunshine above the clouds. Of course, it does not always work out that way, but a dressage of goodness exists always above the clouds.

The point of training is the find stability beyond any microclimate and while this relatively easy for the horse, it takes a lot of mind training for a human. It is not that horse’s do not have weather but that their weather easily changes; they do not hold fast to mental states like a human does. To find the best weather to train in is to find the calm sunshine of an attentive mind.

Good training is not a battle with the weather (horse or human) but rather knowing how to climb above the climate. In the end, this control over the weather is a habit of intelligent compassion, persistent focus, and skillful gentleness.

Train the mind first and as the training matures, you will find the body will develop itself. The physical conditioning has no value unless the micro climate is managed.

The best dressage is one of happiness. Efforts which follow from goodness seem easy. Sadness and anger make even the lightest load heavy.

Do you know this dressage? Such work is always in your horse and in you.  A good education arises when you learn not to block the sunshine.