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"Bill’s book ["True Horsemanship Through Feel", by Bill Dorrance and Leslie Desmond]
makes so much more sense after seeing how we are working with my horse. My horse is getting so
clear in his understanding now, compared with pressure/release
used before." a
student and first time horse-owner told me after her first few lessons. "It’s
very exciting!" It is: it touches and lifts the spirit to see how the
horse opens his mind and his try.
This is my goal, to help you help your horse understand how to give you his best and to
offer it to you.
If you are seeking a coach, please take a look at the site
and check
out my background. An article about my full
story is at www.lesliedesmond.com
under Trainer Profiles or you can view it on this
site.
I’d love to hear from you!
Why The “Art” of Riding?
The Art of Riding is about:
- the art of reading
horses
- the art of quality
leadership
- the art of refining
skills progressively
- the art of relaxing
and having fun!
- the art of developing FEEL
Working with horses through 'Feel' depends on our ability to be present in
the moment, with a clear mind and open senses. Thinking about being
with horses as an art form opens the mind to the spirit of a wonderful
creature, and reconnects us to our own natural senses, that are so often
dampened in the hustle and bustle of life.
Enjoy your journey!
Karen
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 Enjoying a true connection with our horses
so that they can offer their best is not so very complicated: all you really
need is the exchange of clearly understood, reciprocal feel. The gift of
feel is in each of us.
Offering true feel means to bring your full presence,
sureness and clarity to the moment with
your horse. Horses are masterful readers of body language and intention –
they have to be, to survive as the hunted in the wild. Horses constantly “read”
us, and respond in the moment to how we present ourselves. The response we get
from our horse will mirror what we offer from the inside, because this is the
true feel the horse operates from in his natural state.
We decide to 'own' a horse and ask
him to accommodate our ideas on what we would like to be doing. It is up to us
to offer our horses a meaningful connection based on respect
and trust. Otherwise, why would he put energy into offering
us his best?
And then there is the holy grail of
lightness... Horses all have it, just look at them in
the pasture. We can only expect lightness under saddle if we preserve his
natural balance and 'life' - by shaping the kind of life you see when he frolics
out in the field, not dulling that life. This is achieved through lightness in
our riding and meaningful flow between horse and rider through feel, with
variety of activity and purpose.
As we understand and build in these
ingredients of true feel, we see how it touches the horse's whole being. He’s
sure, he’s proud, he knows he is safe and he sees value in your partnership. In this state of mind,
he is freed to offer all he has without hesitation or brace. This is the hallmark of working with true feel through
just “release”,
without the pressure. It is about horses performing with heart.
Sureness requires your full presence
in the moment, clear thinking, clear intent, a state of inner calm, peace
within, and a focus on the positive. When it comes to working with 'Feel',
sureness develops with understanding and knowing horses, as well as yourself.
Sureness lives in offering a good feel to a horse, so that he can offer what you
ask. Sureness is built from within. It is a state of being. The horse knows when
you have it and knows when you don’t. So we take the time it takes to bring out
the true horseman in you.
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Sureness in you improves the respect relationship you have with your
horse. For your horse to respect you takes another important ingredient:
your respect for him. This means to understand what he is, who he is, how he
sees his world, and how this changes from moment to moment. It means to respect
his space, so he can respect yours, respect his physical being, so he can
respect yours, respect his mind, so he can respect yours. It means to know
that he never lies, because the only thing he knows is to operate from the
actual facts of what is presented to him in the moment, through 'Feel'.
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Respect earned through 'Release' yields trust from
your horse. When we are talking about working with 'Feel',
trust is when your horse sees you as an important and useful force in his life,
that he can count on for his own well-being, without question. When his heart is
safe, his 'try' and desire to 'try' are released.
Pressure between horse and handler kills this type of trust,
because his 'try' is based on the alternative consequence of an increase in
pressure, rather than trust and his willingness to be guided by you.
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Help your horse get clear on his
particular job as a riding horse, or whatever job you have in mind for him to
do. Clarity is everything. If you are not clear on exactly what you mean in your
presentation to him, he will not be clear. And just as important, if you are not
clear on what your presentation means to him in terms of 'Feel',
misunderstandings will occur, and this won't lead to the best result.
Clarity is developed through awareness of yourself and your horse, and consistency in what you mean by what you do on the ground,
so that it carries to the saddle coherently and seamlessly. Clarity is
when the meaning of the feel you offer your horse flows in time with his feet.
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Enjoy lightness in your horse’s
performance under saddle, by preserving the diagonals he needs for balance and
the life that delivers lightness, whether you are handling him on the ground or
under saddle. Understand how he needs to move to be light, so you can blend with
and direct this movement as a rider. Know that above all, he needs to be his
whole self, with his spirit in tact, in order to be light: he needs to be proud.
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Variety is the spice of life. Horses need variety too.
Trail riding, classical dressage, show jumping and riding across country,
including fences and other obstacles are my speciality – according to skill
level and desire.
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When your horse is not doing what you
expected, there is a misunderstanding. He is naturally wired to get along and
respond to 'Feel', that's how he has survived. I will help you develop your
powers of observation to understand why your horse is doing what he is doing, so
that you can offer a presentation that fits better to achieve your goals.
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