Sheryl from my classical dressage list wrote the following sometime last week, and kindly gave me permission to post it here.
I was so moved by it. She touches on something very potent that I feel on a daily basis with our horses, even though I'm not rehabbing damaged horses.
The last paragraph, especially, feels like a gemstone. It describes the gift I feel every day when I spend time with the equines here.
The uncoiling of the life energy of both the horse and the rider is hardly ever discussed on this list because it seems that the members that post are usually caught up with technical details.
I have found it to be true that when one works with a horse that has had prior injuries or is unsound that one is constantly working on bringing out the inner horse. The technical knowledge on how to train the horse is important to a certain extent but success is dependent on getting to the inner horse for it is the inner horse that decides if you will succeed or fail at rehabbing a horse.
Some horses will never recover mentally from something that has happened as deep down at their core being they are unable to overcome it.
I am sure that Nuno was very aware of this.
We can look at top level competition horses and see the physical damage that has been done to them. Maybe with correct training the physical damage can be helped but the inner light of the horse can often never be kindled again.
It takes a very brave horse to work through the layers to get at the very core of themselves.
Sometimes the horse is not able to do this no matter how much the trainer may want it for them.
It can be very dangerous for the trainer working with them as often they can be suddenly explosive and dangerous. Other times they can become depressed.At times they can be calm and at peace but as you go deeper with them this can suddenly change and they can become irritable.
The trainer also has to go deeper and deeper within themselves and grow within themselves so that their life force is uncoiled along with the horses. This is a very hard thing to do as one also has to face their own short comings. At times one needs to become reclusive so that they can go deeper within themselves to unfold a part of themselves. I am always surprised at how the horse can sense this change deep within the trainer and the positive way the horse reacts to this change. I can only describe it as once a door opens inside ourselves then the horse joins us to go thru it.
billie hinton’s camera-obscura:
life and lessons on November Hill Farm
6 comments:
This is a wonderful insight into how to become one with the horses we are trying to rehab and train.
A wonderful piece that gets one thinking of ways to change the way training and rehabbing is done.
Absolutely beautiful...than you so much for posting. Gives me another side of the coin for me, considering my recent need to pull back and pull inward. Is it abandoning the horse, to sort through the emotional murk...or is it a necessary scouting step to find the path? Hmmm, give me a different answer, for sure.
Arlene, I agree - she really captured something about the nature of working with horses.
Wendy,
I'm glad you enjoyed it - I knew a number of readers here would identify.
I love the idea that you highlighted - sometimes we do need to go inward. It's part of the process. It's interesting to me to consider where I am on the "path" and where my horses are. And how/where our paths join.
Billie - This is so true. With Silk, who had been abused, when I "opened the door inside myself", it allowed her to trust me. And I don' t think she'd ever trusted anyone before. It took us 5 years to get there, but it was so worth it!
Glad you have experienced this with Silk. It's interesting that many individual horse owners find and bond and do this work with their special horses. I wish trainers who work with many horses would take this approach. I only know a few who do.
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