Deepening Feel and Connection with Our Horses, Ourselves
Often people that I meet have questions not about their riding or training, but about the nature of their relationship with their horses. For example:
What is it that I want from my relationship with my horses?
Why do I experience the same issues from one horse or instructor to another?
What other perspectives might I include to expand my experience with horses?
Embodied Horsemanship is a unique video program for those who would like to become more attuned, happy and successful in their relationship with their horses (and other animal companions) regardless of their goals or the discipline. The practical touch and movement skills in this video will help to build a relationship of trust and connection with the horse, gaining confidence and connection in the saddle and on the ground. Embodied Horsemanship will be published (streamed) and distributed by Trafalgar Square Books in 2021.
The Embodied Horsemanship video contains detailed exercises and body-mind meditations to help deepen connection, ease, and attunement with our horses - fresh ways of awakening the body of both horse and human and focusing attention in the present moment.
Here are a few of the main themes of the film:
Deepen Connection: Finding ease and attunement with the horse as we become more AWARE of our bodies and minds and discover more pleasure in our movement.
Build Confidence and a Spirit of Improvisation and Play: Albert Einstein said that the highest form of research is play! How can we find more playful, improvisational ways of being with our horses?
Create Co-regulation: Co-regulation means finding harmony and a shared settled state with the horse, where we are listening more than telling, creating responsiveness, and resonance rather than tension and reactivity.
Let Go of Habits:Any habit shuts down the here and now. Habitual patterns may show up as tension or pain in certain body parts, or ways of reacting that feel automatic and reflexive - for example an impatient reaction with your horse or an outburst at work or at home.
Horses are continually reading our behavior and intentions through the expression of our bodies and emotions - reading their environment is key to their survival. It is important to remember that a frightened animal (or human) cannot listen or learn - he or she just wants to get away from the threat.
Often the more challenging behaviors of our horses are the result of our own patterns of behavior. Our ways of moving around, speaking to, touching the horse - our emotional absence or presence - act as inadvertent messages to the horse. They may be learning that we are abrupt, quick to anger, or ungrounded and unreliable based on our actions and reactions.
How can we make our presence more inviting, allowing the horse to choose to connect? Can we ground our horsemanship in mindfulness and softness? That is the mission of this film.
Embodied Horsemanship is designed to deepen and expand the lessons and stories contained in my book, Our Horses, Ourselves: Discovering the Common Body. The USDF (United States Dressage Federation) Connection describes Our Horses, Ourselves as, "Part Zen and part movement workbook."
We are still raising funds for this project! Please make a donation. Thank you!