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This was written for Leslie Desmond's trainers' listing, which can be viewed at www.lesliedesmond.com Contents
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Trainer Profile: Karen Musson
Background
I was born in England, lived in Scotland, then
in France for six years. At age five I was riding my first pony,
Caravel. When we moved to France I enjoyed good times at equestrian
centers near Paris and have great memories of galloping bareback along the fire
breakers in the forests of Maisons-Lafittes. I had a 12.1 cracker of a Welsh
pony Roana (right), and
we traveled quite a bit in our rusty trailer to breed shows and one day events.
Most memorable moments
I went to study Cognitive Sciences and Computing and Artificial Intelligence at Sussex University, which fuelled my interest in psychology. During my career in software technology, I met my husband Tom, and moved to Ohio, USA, in 1994. We have two wonderful daughters, Camille and Heather. When I moved to the US I soon had an OTTB (Off the Track ThoroughBred), Cassidy, or Just Plain Hector, his jockey club name, then Chase, my tall, red Holsteiner, who together showed me how important it is to understand and develop true 'feel'. I was thrilled to start The Art of Riding™ in 2004 and offer coaching in horse handling and riding through feel: I combine my passion for horses and coaching, life long experience with horses and fascination for psychology with a sincere desire to inspire and assist my students on their own journey with horses. Three horses that will forever live in my horsemanship Every horse has something
to teach and here are three special ones who offered something that would define
my horsemanship. Sequin (a.k.a Storm
Bay) carried th This is a gift: they feel what every horse feels but might not express. They add depth to what I bring to every horse I encounter. When a horse discards feel in favour of a cued response, you lose his truth -- he dulls his natural connection to his world and to the human. When he abandons feel, he abandons his natural lightness, which is the only kind there really is. How Chase led me to discover “just release”For years I worked with Chase using the approach known as “pressure and release”. We developed a connection in our groundwork that I had not known was possible. The discovery of how the release teaches the horse when he is right changed my horsemanship forever. I thought things were going well, until I saw resentment show up in Chase. I puzzled over what in my presentation was causing this: horses don’t lie. With many unresolved questions floating in my head, I stopped being truly present with Chase and began doubting myself. I rode with less sureness. My inner lack of clarity confused my presentation, particularly under saddle. The Chaser, as Leslie would put it later, is a “humdinger” of a horse and needs a supremely confident rider with a clear head! Our relationship was not thriving… Eventually I understood that although Chase was responding to requests expressed in my body language alone, he still felt pressured: the intent in the request was still rooted in pressure towards him. His other option was to evade in some way, with the promise of… pressure. Even with the consistency of a timely release, to Chase, pressure lived in the relationship between us and this did not fit him. I had to adjust my presentation, somehow. In April 2007, I met Leslie Desmond. I brought Chase to Leslie and she used him as a demonstration horse for her sessions at the Ohio Equine Affaire (EA). Learning from Leslie and Chase at the Equine AffaireLeslie showed how to free
Chase’s mind, and shape his natural lightness through ‘release’ on the ground:
no pressure, just release.
She showed me how to ride through ‘release’, while she was teaching Chase
(right) about
this -- in the cold wind and the chaos of the warm-up area at EA! This
twenty-minute ride from Leslie brought much clarity to both of us. Yet I asked a
confirming question, I was doubting myself! “If you can’t see it, you won’t
get it, trust what you just saw, now RIDE”. It was the best ride I’d
had on Chase. I was riding in the moment with sureness again, and getting
a feel for just ‘releasing’: freeing and shaping that life Chase has, by releasing the mind through clarity in
what we mean by what we do; offering sureness about my intent through my seat,
line of sight and release of the reins to free the shoulder, neck and rib cage. The feel between us showed up right there. Leslie’s approach touched Chase’s whole being. He was sure and he was proud. His heart was safe and, in this state of mind, his ‘try’ included everything he had to offer, without hesitation. Pressure did not live in Leslie’s requests, just release. To Chase, this meant the world. I found that many aspects of my experience with my coaches and my horses in Europe dovetail beautifully with True Horsemanship Through Feel. My knowledge of ‘pressure and release’ and studies in biomechanics also helped me to see and understand what Leslie was doing and its effect on the horses. Leslie helped me to see that my relationship with Chase (right) was actually intact and had helped us get back on track. She said the gift of feel was mine for the asking: “Karen, you are doing a lot better than you realize, so go, now fly! Chase is waiting and you surely are ready. Just add these new pieces to what you already know and do…and pass it along to others when you can.” Moving forward -- at warp speed!I went home to work on developing these skills. In September, five months later, I had the opportunity to host and participate in a trainers’ clinic with Leslie in my home town of Granville Ohio. Six weeks after that, I was California bound for her “total immersion” trainers’ clinic in the desert -- at Four Points Ranch in the tiny town of Aguanga. Trainers' clinic in the desert: riding through feel with CallieI had the opportunity to work with six wonderful horses of very different types -- each offering its own far reaching lessons. Leslie offered me the opportunity to ride Callie, her saddle horse. And it was Callie who would add immense depth and clarity to what I had already learned from Leslie about what it means to ride with lightness, through release and how truly different this feels to the horse.
The quality of information and the practical opportunity Leslie delivered at this clinic were outstanding. She taught with sincerity, mastery, integrity, endurance, patience and heart. The depth of what I learned is still being revealed as I move onward. I am writing a collection of articles and will publish these on my Web site at www.theartofriding.com. My goal is to keep this experience alive, savour it, process it, develop it and share it with my students. Philosophy and Approach to Coaching"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 -- through an exchange of clearly understood, reciprocal feel. As your coach, it is my pleasure to explore your goals and help you acquire the skills you need with your horse to achieve them. I will help you gain more confidence in the moment, by not focusing on the past or the future. In this state of awareness you will experience the two way flow of feel more fully. I will help you to see the horse’s perspective and to understand how the horse needs to move to offer what you ask with lightness, using his natural athletic ability -- and how to stay out of his way. We talk about the psychology, the how’s and the why’s. Knowledge, I believe, leads to greater understanding and confidence, both of which help you cultivate better feel. Together, we interpret the horse’s feedback, and learn how to adjust as needed to keep the ride in balance and have FUN! The important things to me in a student -- be they beginner or advanced -- are an open mind and a desire to develop a better connection with your horse. When we develop our powers of concentration, observation and feel it becomes obvious that the horses are crystal clear that this approach through release frees them to perform for you with heart.
Enjoy your journey! Karen Musson KarenMusson@TheArtOfRiding.com Hector's Hill Farm Granville, OH 43023 (740) 973-4234
© Karen Musson 2007, All rights reserved. The Art of Riding™
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The Art of Riding © Karen Musson 2007, All rights reserved. |
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were riding at the Salon du Cheval in Paris, and the
championships at Fontainebleau. We returned to England when I was 12. Roana
and I had a last fling on the pony club Prince Philip Cup mounted games team. As
a teenager, I rode a dynamite Irish mare, 
Two other horses have
touched my horsemanship to the core in a different way:
anner
that would require them to mask the true feel offered in that presentation. Many
horses replace this natural response to feel with a learned response. Through
the integrity with which these two horses reflect my presentation, and the
clarity with which they express themselves, they teach with great purity about
feel. 
Callie(left) also plainly showed
me the importance of knowing how to preserve your horse’s diagonals beneath you
-- in any gait, speed, turn or other sort of challenge -- for balanced
locomotion. Another big lesson was to appreciate how powerful a decisive line of
sight can really be. She educated me about really freeing up to go and really
stopping -- from a feel deep inside ourselves. Callie is present, sure and wise.
These qualities in her took me on a blast to the past -- there was a feel to
this that was just like Sequin (