Centered Riding Book 1 Exercises

I am starting to review and practice the Centered Riding Book 1 Exercises, one exercise
or group of exercises a week.
 

Chapter 1: Introducing Centered Riding, where Sally Swift talked about herself.

Chapter 2 Exercises:  Pretend you are a horse.  The rider gets down on all fours and has someone
rub, squeeze or massage your back as you stand and walk.  How do you think the horse feels?

Chapter 3 was a review of the Four Basics, Eyes, Breathing, Centering and
Building Blocks and a few exercises of each basic. More on that tomorrow!

Chapter 4 Exercises: Learning and the Brain.  Use your hard eyes and left brain to think through the exercise/pattern/what to do and use Soft Eyes and right brain to feel the ride.  Learn to ride with one brain then the other brain. Don't dwell on one problem... Your body will respond will less effort.
Chapter 5 Anatomy Exercises.

1. Find the hip joint by lifting your knee up and down while searching for the
bend with your fingers.

*** You can rotate the thigh using a lot of muscle and tension OR you can use
soft eyes, play the internal videotape and see the greater trochanter move
"forward" through the muscles. Use SOFT EYES and see the motion inwardly.

I find that anytime I ride, I exercise the hip joint! This helps me to be more
flexible in my riding. This keeps my hip joint from "catching" or "cramping".
I start out by doing simple leg exercises, just rotate the ankle and lift it up
an down. Swing my lower leg up and down at the knee. March in place starts to
relax the hip joint. Then I swing the leg, back and forth, from the hip, and
not bending the knee. I can't swing the whole let too far, but even a couple of
inches will start to get the hip joint released and working.

As always, do a little at a time, and only what you can do so you don't get sore
muscle.

The review of this part of the chapter is on my chat, Horses Are Our Lives. Click on the link below to join. Read along and/or discuss this and other books with me. I'll soon be back to talking about riding and training tips, health issues, grooming, feed and nutrition, etc.

Join the Horses Are Our Lives Chat Group to learn more of the exercises at:
http://sports.groups.yahoo.com/group/horsesareourlives/

"Embrace the Journey!"
Brenda

How Good Riders Get Good

You MUST get this book. I sat down tonight (really, I did), after chores, with
an ice tea, and outside on the lounge chair. I thought, ok... I'll read the
book cover and intro to see what this book is about. An hour later, I did NOT
want to put the book down. The first chapter even had me leafing through the
book to check out the other chapters. I especially checked out the chapter on
personal characteristics! LOL

"How good can you really be? It's up to you and your choices?"

Are you going for what you want? Find the riding sport that is right for you.
Life circumstances get in the way, what is your support team like, how does your
riding body feel, are you searching for more horse knowledge, is your horse the
right horse for what you want to do,

There are 9 character traits of a successful rider.

It is a nuts and bolts book. Real Life. Tell it how it is. It sounds very
familiar to how I used to be, and somewhere along the way, I've lost something.
This is what the book makes me think, already! I need to get back to my true
self, how I really am, and go for what I really want.

I am anxious to read more tomorrow!

Are you reading this book now, or have read it? What do you think about the
into and the first chapter?'

If you want to join in on my chat, Horses Are Our Lives, request an invite on the chat or at:
messickquarterhorses@yahoo.com

Brenda

Finding the Dream Part 2

Riding in the Black Elk Forest Summer 2010

I just finished reading a book by Nora Roberts, “Finding the Dream”. The previous blog post has the prologue about the story, and that’s all I’m going to say about it. I like romantic novels, what can I say? I especially like them if they are centered around horse farms. They are easy readers and my mind can drift… and dream….


Towards the end of the story, as things weren’t quite coming together for Laura, the main character, she stood on a cliff, overlooking the sea. She pondered about love and loving again. She wondered how to go on, alone, when all she wants is someone to love her?


She wondered why she was given a glimpse into a life of deep feelings and wanting a real love, for it to be taken away? She wondered why that one thing that she always wanted out of life if always just out of reach?


Can’t we all think this same thing? Through life, we all have wants and wishes. We all have something we are trying to work towards, or desire, and it’s always just out of reach. Why is that so? Why, when it’s so close, can’t we just reach out and grab it? Why does it stay unattainable? Are we not trying hard enough? Is it something we don’t really need? Are we selfish and wanting too much? Maybe yes, maybe no.


I always think, that in time, what we need is right in front of us. We just have to figure out what it is when it’s there for us. That’s the hard thing, the knowing what it is and when and how and on and on. When is the time right? How will I know what to do and when to do it? Why do we give ourselves all of these self doubts?


Laura, the main character, had changed over the last 2 years in the story plot, but inside her, deep inside her, she was always the same. And she had a depth to the amount of love she had, and was willing to give, if only she had someone love her as much as she wanted someone to love her.


We can want things, but does it always happen? Does what we want always what we should have, or is there something, right in front of us, that is different, maybe better for us, if we just can see it?


We all change, and grow, and adapt. We all want something. We all love deeply, especially our horses. How do we know when it’s time to move on and do something different? How do we know when it’s time to gulp and take the plunge into our dream?


I think for me, when I start thinking it’s time to try this, whatever it is, a CTR, an endurance ride, find a new horse, ride the horse I have, get the young horse going better, then the thought is there for a reason. Do these thoughts go hand in hand in feeding my dreams? I don’t know. Sometimes, and some days, I don’t even know what my dream is, or even if I should dream? Life is life, and you have what you have, so why should you dream?


But I’m not dreaming about wanting more. I just dream about doing something different with my horses? And this is the reason for today’s blog…finding the dream with your own horse.


I think anything we want to dream about and wanting to do with our horse is within our reach. Then why not dream? Dream about a new trail ride. Dream about an endurance ride. Dream about doing more and more trail obstacles and having a fun relationship with your horse. Dream about horsemanship camps where riders will come.


Dreaming is one thing, taking action is another. Go ahead and find that dream and then live that dream. Put your dreams into action. Start doing with your horse what you are dreaming and wishing you could. Start little and grow. Start one step at a time. Start one day at a time. Don’t change overnight, but grow with your dream.

Maybe go on that first overnight trail ride, and I will say it’s easier to do than you think it would be. The horses really do stand tied well and do fine overnight.


Maybe for me, I should go on that first endurance ride and ride for fun. See what it’s all about. Know what to work towards for next year.


I’ll start doing more obstacles at home to develop that quiet trail horse. This will make a better CTR horse, but it will bring the fun back to my riding. Dream of Trail Challenges and go try one.


The point is, if you are going to dream, then start acting on those dreams. For me, I really want to do an endurance ride, even if I never get to Tevis. I have a few horses I need to look at. I have an opportunity to work with an older rescue Arab mare, who may not be ready to ride this year but maybe she is a horse that I need to work with. Maybe…


I know now I should just start building more fun trail obstacles. I’ve been wanting to for a few years, so now is the time to start. I want all my horses to be good trail horses.


What is your dream, if you dare to dream of doing something different? If it’s too big a dream, break it down into smaller steps so you can reach your dreams.


I think we all need something to dream about. I think we all need to work on our dreams.

Finding The Dream

I’m reading a book by Nora Roberts, “Finding the Dream”. The main character is Laura, a divorcee at the age of 28, with 2 young daughters. Alone now, because she caught her husband in bed with another woman. What a swine! Why not just get out of the marriage and leave her if he can’t stay loyal? Not only did he cheat on her, he took all the money and left nothing for the woman, who had adored and loved him with her whole heart, or for the 2 little girls, who he never really loved. He won’t even go to the father-daughter time at school with the 10 year old.

Now Laura has turned 30 and she is still getting over the self-doubting of her abilities. She gave up a lot of her life, a life filled with privilege and wealth, for this man. We know why he wanted to marry her! Now she is rebuilding her life.

Laura’s family, along with her 2 best friends, made her take her birthday off, and then gave her a wonderful birthday dinner. During the day, she reflected back on the previous 2 years and came to the conclusion that she has started to rebuild her life, and without financial help from her family. Even though there is a family business, she is in partnership on another business with her 2 friends. She is taking care of the home she was raised in, loving the gardens, and bestowing love on her 2 daughters, who she adores. She is finally getting back to doing what she enjoys, gardening, having pets for her girls, and horseback riding lessons.

As she thought about her life, she went through moments of dread, going into the next decade. (don’t we all?) She was reminded of all that is good in her life. (Don’t we all need to set back and remind ourselves?) She was taking stock on her life!

I like that. Better yet, I like that wording. Taking stock! My first thought, was of course, animals. Cattle and Horses. How do you take stock of your life? Your possessions? What you have accomplished? What you enjoy doing?

Laura reevaluated her life. Her marriage was over, but not her life. The bitterness is leaving. In it’s place comes acceptance and the ability to move on. This sounds like what I’ve been feeling since losing Finny. I guess lose, in any form, is lose. Sadness, bitterness, acceptance. Moving through the emotions to moving on with life. But this wasn’t the intended purpose of this writing today, but I guess that is where my mind moved to, sometimes, and sometimes always, on to Finny. Today is about moving on and finding that dream.

Laura sat down and let nature surround her. Maybe that is what we need to do. Sit quietly. Sit somewhere where you can think and be yourself. In the fields. Out on the prairie (not me, but many of my friends here in Nebraska love the open prairie). In the woods. In the barn. Among the horses. (I’m sure my friend Tammy goes to her horse trailer a lot!) I personally love the country life, and I love having trees around me. I love riding a forest trail!!!

You can handle anything that you set yourself and your mind to handle. Quit doubting, quit moping, and quit doing nothing. Or should I say, start realizing you can do anything you want to do, anything you set your mind to do, and anything is possible. Put the positive on your way of thinking.

And the emptiness and loneliness with leave. Your life will be too busy to think about self doubt and whether or not you have the ability to do what you want to do. Busy-ness makes for tired bodies. And the ability to sleep better. And being busy builds up muscle and stamina and strength. I believe this can be both physical and mental. When we get our sleep, and eat well, and that has to be nutritionally well, we feel better. When we accomplish something, even the tiniest thing, we feel better. This still wasn’t what I was going to talk about today. Geez, I do get sidetracked.

I was going to talk about how to Find the Dream. I guess I’ll have to leave that for tomorrow. After I read more of the book. And maybe my mind won’t drift so much. But I don’t mind the drifting, as it helps me to sort out my thoughts.

The Walk

I recently read Richard Paul Evans “The Walk”. A sad story. The man’s wife died from complications of a horseback riding accident. During this same time, he lost his business to a lousy partner, and his home was foreclosed. He thought about suicide, but he stopped himself when he remembered that he promised his wife that he would live.

Alan walked away from everything he knew, literally. He lived in Seattle, Washington, and he determined where in America would be as far from Seattle as he could be. And he drew a line to Key West, Florida. This book is the first in a series about his walk to Key West.

Alan’s mother taught him about God when he was a child. Both before and during the time she was dying of cancer, and I feel that she continued teaching him about God after she was gone. She prayed as if she was talking to a friend in the room. Often, he would open his eyes during her prayers to see if she was talking to someone was in the room. After reading this first book, I could sense his compassion and gracious manner, but apparent only after he began his walk.

“Live.” McKale, Alan’s wife, told him to live as she was dying. The voice told him to live again as he was holding the pills in his hands. He had promised her he would. He cried, he packed a backpack, he had his friend sell his possessions since his home was foreclosed, and he started walking.

He had journals that he had written during his life. He took a blank, leather bound journal with him. He had ‘decided on a destination; the path is just a detail. I have begun my walk.”

“The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” The saying was written in a Chinese fortune cookie.

We need to start the single step. By choosing a closer destination, one that is achievable in a short time. Everyone is on a journey. Where should we be heading? What should be our first destination?

My journey is with horses. I love trail riding. I rode the hills of PA when I was a kid and I missed doing that for a long time. Riding CTR’s has given me back the terrain and scenery that I miss. Now I’m ready to start some endurance riding. My next step in my journey is to buy an Arab, condition, ride the trails and CTR’s this year, and maybe try 1 or 2 short endurance rides this fall. I just have to wait to see where this journey is taking me.

I’m ready to move on from the memories of the rides with Finny to the rides I’ll have with this new horse that I don’t have yet. I’m looking forward to riding the same fields with a smile on my face. I want to wake in the mornings with a sense of excitement and anticipation of the ride that I will have that day. I am ready to move on.

And I feel that happening. I’m anxious to go outside this afternoon and ride Savannah and Chick. The sun is shining. The outdoor arena is dry. The fields are drying. I’m ready to ride.

Sometimes we don’t now the answers or hear them until we are quiet. Answers come at the strangest of times, from the quiet of the mornings, in the middle of a hail storm, or in the peace of a summer evening. When the timing is right, you will hear the answer.

Don’t give up. Stay on the path. Continue your journey. The book said “the real sign of life is growth. And growth requires pain.” No one, or no pet, or no horse, is ever gone. They will always be with us, in our hearts and in our souls. They also help to make us who we are. Like the book said, we need to choose to remember them with sadness or with gratitude and joy. We find what we are looking for, so look for happiness and fond memories. That is the chose we need to make.

Stop and see what is in front of you. Appreciate what life has for you. See everything with happiness and not with sorrow. Let the life around you show you what your life should be. Does that make sense? Look at your life, look around you, and see your life differently than how you’ve been seeing it. Enjoy your life to the fullest. Appreciate the little things. How many times have we heard that or have been told that. But it is true.

Start the walk. Start or continue the journey. We never know what is in front of us or where we are going if we don’t start walking or looking or listening. Maybe sometimes we just need to wait. Patiently.

“The Walk” is a book about loss and the choice we have to grow from them. We need to continue our journey in life so that we can grow into the person God intended us to be. Walking helped Alan find the peace that he needs. Riding will help me find the peace that I need. Just as Alan met people along the way that he was meant to meet, there are horses in my journey that I am meant to meet.

And I am healing from my loss. The pain is less. I am smiling now.

The "Wild Horse Model"

My Horse Lot

Anyone hear about The Wild Horse Model before. Joe Camp in his book, “The Soul of a Horse” talks about a natural pasture. One with rocks and stones and steep up and down hills. This is an imitation of how the wild horses live. Joe states that the horses in the wild are healthier and more sound, on the average.

Horses in the wild would travel 15-20 miles a day. They would stay as a herd, with safety in numbers. They would spend 16-18 hours a day eating. They would control their own internal body temperature. They would walk on firm ground, and not be standing in their own manure. And wild horses would get REM sleep, unstressed sleep, where they would lay down, surrounded by the herd for safety.

He states that a horse should eat from the ground. A horse should have a wild horse trim. A horse should have plenty of movement on rough, uneven ground.

The horse’s instinct is to have food, water, safety, and to reproduce. Survival includes a life of instincts. This includes how to be part of the herd, understanding the herd language, and understanding the social order of the herd.

The horse’s instinct kicks in all the time. When to move and how fast. When to try to see something in the distance and decide to run now or stay. Why horses do what they do.
Pete Ramey uses the “wild horse trim”. The horse’s hoof is suppose to flex. The flexing provides shock absorption and acts to pump the blood through the leg. The hoof can’t flex with shoes on. A hoof that can’t flex becomes unhealthy due to lack of circulation to the hoof wall and sole.
But our modern day horses aren’t all wild mustangs, or descendants of mustangs. We don’t have horses with rock-hard hooves. We have horses that are stalled or need to be in lots. We all don’t have acres and acres to make a natural pasture.

So we need to shoe some of our horses. And when we don’t shoe, we keep our horse’s hooves as healthy as we can.

If you had the chance to develop a “wild horse model” now, how would you do it or what can you do now? I don’t have any steep hills. And I’m not sure I want to put boulders in my horse lots. This will take some thinking.


We are to do what is best for the horse. Sometimes, that is hard to do when you have limitations.
Maybe we have to do the best we can for the horse, with what we have! But we can change what we do or how we do something, for the benefit for the horse.


Once again, this will take some thinking to figure out what changes I can make. I have kept my horses barefoot as much as I can to strengthen their hooves. I do feed them on the ground, since they like to pull the hay out of the round bale feeder and onto the ground. I feed them grain in low feeders.


I do keep them living as natural as I can outside. They don’t have winter blankets. Some of them have to go to a tree lined area to get out of the wind. The horses know how to turn their butts to the wind.

What I can do is to look for as different of terrain, as I can find, to ride. I can try to keep their lots as clean as I can so they don’t have to stand in muck. I can try to toughen up their feet by riding the ones, that I ride the most, on the soft gravel areas and sides of the road.


I’ll have to keep thinking of ways to change, as change can be good.

Any other ideas?

Start with a Blank Sheet

First, I have to say, I can't believe it's been a week since I blogged! Geez, where does the time go? I've been gone for a week and time is flying by.

anyways... to continue the Book post....

"Start with a blank sheet and fill it up." Another quote from the Book, "The Soul of a Horse". Joe Camp wants a relationship with his horses. He wants his horses to chose him. He wants himself and his horse to work together to build a relationship.

How would we start our blank sheet? How would you start now to build a relationship with your horse? Where would you start?

My blank sheet is in front of me (that would be the blank page of the computer screen with the title "Building a relationship with my horse".

I'm starting with a blank sheet, a clean slate, a new beginning to how I think and how I train. I want the horse to chose me. That only comes from the horse seeing you as a leader (and not a predator.)

Number 1, start in the round pen, building that trust and that leadership, having the horse chose me.
#1. Becoming a better leader.

what is your #1 and how will you get there. Think ahead to HOW you will fill up your blank page.
Right now, my last number, and maybe yours, could be doing that endurance ride, or that intense trail ride, or that day long trail ride, or that day in the arena playing games with your horse. Because what better way to know you have a true partner is when you do something together, and you move together, and you work towards your dream together.

For me, # 1 was to start in the round pen, building that trust and thatleadership,having the horse chose me.

#1. Becoming a better leader.

#2 After the horse chooses me and bonds with me, then I'll work on the horse"walking" with me in all directions. Front, back, sideways, etc.I think I will get the horse to do more manuevers by thinking of it as "fun"time and not "work" time.

#3 Saddling, Bridling, Ground Driving - everything I do, I'll continue, but onceagain, I'll think fun maneuvers. Keep the horse thinking. Do many smallermaneuvers, circles, serpentines, etc and keep it fun and interesting for thehorse.

I'll take the pressure off by doing less collection work in the beginning tomore "just riding" work/fun time.

By the time I leave #3, I should have a horse that is riding well, ridingforward, eagerly looking for the next thing, ready for the trail and the realworld. I'm heading to the bottom of the Blank Sheet.

As I am that confident leader for that horse, I want to develop that confidenthorse underneath me.

What are your #3 and #4? How will you get to the end of your Blank Sheet?
Start with 1, think of a plan, and fill in #2 and #3, and even to the end.

What do you want to start with and where do you want to go?

What is your #1 and how will you work on it, your #2 and #3?B

"Embrace the Journey!"

Book and Article Reviews

Click here to join the Horses Are Our Lives Chat Group. We'll talk about Centered Riding and exercises, horsemanship and training tips, and book and article reviews.

I'm going to start a book review every week or so. By spring or summer, it may turn into an article review when I don't have enough time to read.

This week, I finished the Book, "Chosen Forever" by Susan Richards, who also wrote "Chosen by a Horse". I'll wait and talk about these 2 books after I read Chosen by a Horse again. I read it 2 years ago, and I want to read it again and talk about it before talking about Chosen Forever. If you get the chance in the next week or 2, get one or both of these books if you would like to add some input about them.

Yesterday, I started the book, "The Soul of a Horse" by Joe Camp. He is a dog trainer and worked on the Benji movie sets. He met Monty Roberts and learned Monty's way of "Join-Up".
I think that is what I'll start with, the Monty's concept of Join-Up, as this is the foundation of Joe Camp's thinking. Later in the book, Joe talks about what he is learning from horses. With only a short time with horses, Joe's animal perception and what makes them why they are, is what his book is about.

Monty talks about 3 stages:

First: Grow yourself big, like a predator, then "chase" the horse by tossing a rope behind it to keep it running, not letting it stop running until the horse shows you some signs. This is Flight.
Signs that the horse wants to "communicate" with you"

1) The horse cocks an ear at you, turns his eye to you.

2) Licking and chewing

3) Head drops, almost to the ground, and the horse circles closer and closer to you.

You stop what you are doing, turn your back to the horse, and lower your shoulders. You are no longer the predator.

You have talked to the horse in "horse language".The horse does not look at you as the predator anymore.The horse is looking for you as a herd member and leader.

The horse needs to chose to come to you. With your back turn, the horse "joins-up" when the horse comes close enough to you to touch you with his muzzle and breath in. Now, the horse will follow you and treat you as his/her leader.

I've been doing this ever since I started round penning my colts. I round pen to let the horse know that I am boss. I move them until they turn and come to me. As I think about this, when I act as the "boss", I was the predator. When they turned to me, I lowered my arm/hand/rope, all my defenses, and they understood that they could trust me as I no longer acted as the predator. When they came to me and I rubbed their forehead, I was now part of their herd, friend and leader. I could be trusted. Now is the time to not break that trust. Now is the time to stop acting like the predator and continue to act as the herd leader.

and that is the Matriarch of the herd. More on that tomorrow.

For now, are you your horse's leader?

What do you do to become it's leader?

How will you change your thinking about being the herd member/leader without being the predator?

If you would like to join my chat group, to discuss or just to read the discussion, not just about a book or article review, but about Centered Riding and the exercises, horsemanship and training tips and ideas, or general health questions and concerns, click below to join at:

Horses Are Our Lives Chat Group.

Brenda