Sabine Birmann Today I want you informe from experiences from one of the basic clinics . For your understanding of “being with horses” I would like to reflect on certain impressions: We met a horse there, doing lateral movements, yield perfectly with the hindhand and walking freely on the circle. Apparently it had a very close relationship to its owner. It carried out every lesson for her, trying to please her all the time. That horse was a true knight by nature, though appeared like keeping a low profile. It was not all it could have been. For its owner, this was difficult to recognize, since it was “with her” all the time. She’d have a “contract” with her horse, so she told us, and it would have behaved very difficult before when working with other “trainers”. It walked freely with her on the pasture as well as on the circle, but with no charisma at all. It was not unhappy, giving the impression of being very grateful. Nevertheless, what meaning does a “contract” have – with a horse like this one? What is our work all about? Is it sufficient to maintain a good relationship with our horse? Everyone supporting this attitude may stop reading right here. Couldn’t we consider self-development to be our challenge, rather than degrading a horse and restrain its energy to meet our own low level, just because we are afraid of this? Shouldn’t we evolve to meet that horse at eye level instead of keeping its personality low and manageable for ourselves? This horse was finally allowed to run at its own will, without being constantly controlled and constrained – and behold! Suddenly it started to communicate subtly. It revealed its true personality for a brief instant and dared showing emotions. It had completely different glance and appearance: proud, wide awake and free. Shouldn’t we, however, sustain a creature communicating its discomfort and embrace the opportunity to reflect on ourselves, be more empathic and question our own actions about making sense in the current situation? Do we prefer a wimp, achieving every exercise for us or rather evolve to sustain a substantial relationship? For a trainer, the risk of judging a book only by its cover is imminent – resulting in rating a horse simply by results rather than by accomplishment. Would we actually conclude a contract with a true friend? No way! We would meet and discuss our opinions every now and then. We would not permanently share intentions. Still, one is important to the other and we enjoy spending time together. A friend would even trust me in unpleasant situations, support me, and forgive me. Speaking in terms of our horse, lateral movement, neck ring riding or rearing up are irrelevant. We should rather allow our horse to communicate being tired today, our actions just being an annoyance or the request of a defined boundary as requirement to respect us. Beware of judging a book by its cover … all this is not about “functioning”. A knight only shines in glory when he is allowed to be proud and not just a wimp in armor.
Posted on: Tue, 04 Jun 2013 20:44:33 +0000
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