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| Two lovely ladies who I am preparing for Development programme; after our lesson on Saturday |
Whether we want to admit it or not, we ride for many different reasons. Some riders want a social buzz of like minded people around them, some seek adventures in the saddle, some look for variety in their riding experiences, some for skills to impress with, some for self-development.
And then, there are those who seek a deeper understanding of schooling for soundness in the horse and the same quality in own seat. These are the riders I seek to teach :)
What they learn are not easy tasks. They might mean going back to the very basics, or falling off, or getting scared (even if irrationally) or wanting to do more but having to hold back. It might mean training out of your comfort zone, asking questions you never thought of, discovering riding for many aspects that perhaps before have not entered the equation.
I also think, whether we want to admit it or not, we teach for many different reasons. My predominant, conscious reason is to bring the best out of the person as a rider and the best out of the horse as a riding horse. I have low interest in riding drills, "effectiveness", social aspect of riding (even though I really enjoy my riders' company before/after lessons I do seem to prefer to teach the type of rider who engrosses themselves in the horse rather than celebrating the gregariousness of the situation).
Maybe when we are honest with ourselves why we ride and why we teach, then we find the right place to learn from one another?
When I ride, it's almost a form of positive escapism for me, of intense yet relaxed focus on making movement beautiful, confident and effortless, athletic but for fun not for "effectiveness".
When I teach, I seek the clients who want to arrive at that feel too :)
Most horse training methods, including many 'natural horsemanship' programmes, are based on negative reinforcement (pressure of rein or of a bit, or a noseband, of a leg that releases ones the desired response occurs). It's interesting to explore methods that do not...
I think I am mostly very lucky with my riders so far, even if some are nowhere near the stage they would like to be...yet ;)
Day 151: Sunday
Long lie-in, lazy morning, a lot of reading and writing. a little bit of walking - that pretty much sums up my Sunday :)
Wx
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