If our thoughts create a matching feeling in our body and our body language is made up of how we think and how we feel. Our thoughts need to be purposeful. Before a ride I tell my students to create the lesson in their mind exactly how they want to experience it. If a rider can see themself having a lesson on a calm horse, sitting up straight and riding confidently, they start to feel confident. Confident feelings create confident thoughts. Confident thoughts create confident actions. If a rider feels confident before a lesson they are more likely to be relaxed when they are on the horse. If the rider feels relaxed and thinks relaxed thoughts, there is a good chance the horse will be relaxed as well.
If I teach riders who have lost their confidence, I make it a priority for them to collect 'good experiences'. The more good experiences a rider has and the more memories of good rides, the easier it is to feel confident.
By purposely remembering these 'good experiences', the rider can gradually change their story about riding and their perception of what's going to happen.
That's how you change your reality.
Monday, July 26, 2010
How our horse reads us
We have talked about how our thoughts effect our feeling and with that our body language. We all know that as a rider we use our body language to communicate with our horse by using our weight, seat, legs and hands to apply aids and therefore tell our horses what we want them to do.
But do we really tell them what we WANT them to do?
A rider who is scared that the horse is going to take off and buck will generally pull on the rein, grip with the knees, lean forward and possibly even dig in their heals. All this while they desperately want the horse to be quiet, relaxed and calm.
From a horses perspective, it has just been pulled in the mouth, kicked in the guts and feeling the panic that comes from the rider, which signals to the horse that there is danger near by.
The horse being a fight or flight animal, now has only one thing on its mind: 'to get away as fast as possible and at all cost'!
So do we really communicate to our horse what we want them to do?
No, that's because we generally focus on what we DON'T want to happen, like:
- I don't want to get bucked off
- I don't want my horse to be stiff on the right rein
- I don't want it to stop at the first fence.
With these thoughts we keep creating a body language that communicates exactly that!
So how do we change? The first step is to be aware of what your thinking and doing.
Stay tuned next week.
But do we really tell them what we WANT them to do?
A rider who is scared that the horse is going to take off and buck will generally pull on the rein, grip with the knees, lean forward and possibly even dig in their heals. All this while they desperately want the horse to be quiet, relaxed and calm.
From a horses perspective, it has just been pulled in the mouth, kicked in the guts and feeling the panic that comes from the rider, which signals to the horse that there is danger near by.
The horse being a fight or flight animal, now has only one thing on its mind: 'to get away as fast as possible and at all cost'!
So do we really communicate to our horse what we want them to do?
No, that's because we generally focus on what we DON'T want to happen, like:
- I don't want to get bucked off
- I don't want my horse to be stiff on the right rein
- I don't want it to stop at the first fence.
With these thoughts we keep creating a body language that communicates exactly that!
So how do we change? The first step is to be aware of what your thinking and doing.
Stay tuned next week.
Friday, July 23, 2010
You feel how you think and you think how you feel
The language we are using, internally and externally, create chemical reactions within the brain. The brain then sends messages through the body searching for a matching feeling. That means that you feel the way you think.
We also know that our thoughts and feelings create our body language and it is that body language that communicates directly with the horse.
So, how does your thinking influence your riding?
From an instructors point, I want my students to sit tall with their shoulders back and chest open and relaxed. The arm needs to hang of the shoulder with the elbow soft and flexible and a closed fist that controls the contact to the horses mouth.
The riders tailbone needs to be tucked in and the groin open to allow the riders weight to be on the seat bone. The knee needs to be on the saddle without gripping and the calf being the main driving force with the weight remaining in the stirrup and the heal the lowest point of the rider.
This is how we generally would describe a good seat.
Now what happens when we feel anxiety, get scared or get pushed too far out of our comfort zone, the body goes into what we call the 'fetal position' which is a automatic protection mechanism designed to protect our vital organs in our body.
And it looks like that:
- the shoulders become round and the arms get tense, pulling towards the body
- the groin closes up and the wight comes out of the saddle
- the heals come up and the knees start gripping together
Does that sound familiar and could your thoughts be the trigger of it all?
Over the next weeks we are going to look into this more closely.
We also know that our thoughts and feelings create our body language and it is that body language that communicates directly with the horse.
So, how does your thinking influence your riding?
From an instructors point, I want my students to sit tall with their shoulders back and chest open and relaxed. The arm needs to hang of the shoulder with the elbow soft and flexible and a closed fist that controls the contact to the horses mouth.
The riders tailbone needs to be tucked in and the groin open to allow the riders weight to be on the seat bone. The knee needs to be on the saddle without gripping and the calf being the main driving force with the weight remaining in the stirrup and the heal the lowest point of the rider.
This is how we generally would describe a good seat.
Now what happens when we feel anxiety, get scared or get pushed too far out of our comfort zone, the body goes into what we call the 'fetal position' which is a automatic protection mechanism designed to protect our vital organs in our body.
And it looks like that:
- the shoulders become round and the arms get tense, pulling towards the body
- the groin closes up and the wight comes out of the saddle
- the heals come up and the knees start gripping together
Does that sound familiar and could your thoughts be the trigger of it all?
Over the next weeks we are going to look into this more closely.
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