The nature of it all

The nature of it all

Most students who work with horses quite naturally progress in their insight along the path of dressage, whatever their instruction may be. No matter what technique they start with, their experience and understanding of that technique will naturally evolve over time.

Working with and training horses is a natural process. Likewise the education of the trainer, it follows a parallel path. The key point is to know and to find a balance which is true for both the horse and human. Such a balance is never static, and hence the need for relaxation in movement which is called suppleness.

What we are doing in this work is a progression to help cultivate awareness. Thus we seek and find the confidence and experience to dynamically find a true stability and lightness in the work. Into this we bend and blend, ultimately to find a the point which can go beyond the technique itself. Good instruction’s purpose is to lead in such a direction.

The technique is just a method to help us uncover basic, functional, goodness and the nature of the horse and expand our innate awareness. It is not that the technique, itself, creates good dressage or awareness. Therefore, it is said that in being aware and applying the technique intelligently, we can and should eventually wear the technique out.

So it is that the artist stands above his medium, creatively manipulating it. In equitation the medium is both the art and the artist. This art is beyond words. It is not “clever,” rather it is “connected.” Harmony is never forced, rather it flows. Connect, get in the flow and leave aggression behind. This is the artist and at the same time, an answer to the horse’s prayer.