Hurry Up and Wait

Long associated with the military, where the grunts are mobilized in double-time to get ready for action and then end up cooling their heels for hours or days until being deployed, "hurry up and wait" applies to horsemanship as well - with a twist.  Giving up the hurry and being willing to wait gets you to your goal faster than you'd think.

I think we all know by now that quitting on a positive note is a good idea, but even so it seems that horses all too often still end up doing things the human doesn't have in mind.  Almost always that is what you get when you push a horse - when you hurry the process along on human time rather than horse time and end up having to backtrack to an earlier stage in the training or, worse, give in to the use of "remedial" training - punishment as a way of gaining "respect", force as a way of getting obedience.  In other words, forget the partnership.

"Longeing for respect"
Seriously - I didn't make that up
Hover over image for link

With Spiritual Horsemanship, partnership is not optional and is not a part-time relationship.  It's not the kind of phony deal where the human makes it "hard for the horse to do the wrong thing and easy for the horse to do the right thing" - a popular "natural horsemanship" sound byte that seems like a good idea but amounts to the horse having no say in the matter.

The partnership of Spiritual Horsemanship is a true one in which a horse can say no and the human accepts that response.

Which is not to say that the partnership can't bring about results the human wants.

A horse is content to go along with what the human wants because horses are herd animals and they are hard-wired to go with what the herd leader has in mind. Thus, if a horse says no, it means that either the horse doesn't believe the human is herd leader (a position mistakenly confused with forced dominance), there is fear involved, or the horse just doesn't understand the issue.

Part of the responsibility of the human member of the horse/human partnership is to recognize even the most subtle of communications from a horse. The trouble is, it's not quite as easy to tell when - or why - a horse is saying no as you'd think, particularly when you're holding a lead rope or reins or the horse is confined.  Is a hesitation and then a continuing a true no?  Is a shifting of weight to another leg a no or is it nothing?  If your horse turns his attention from you for a moment, is that a no or is it something else?

No or not no?

From the Spiritual Horsemanship perspective, the most unequivocal way to know what your horse is saying is to get rid of the reins, get rid of the halter rope, get rid of the fence.  Interact with your horse without anything restricting him and you will learn immediately what he is thinking.  If he's okay with what's going on, he'll stick with you.  If he's not okay, he'll leave. That's what would happen in a herd, that's what a horse understands, and if you are communicating with your horse on a level he understands you don't need anything more than that to get where you want to go.

Everything comes from you giving your horse true choice.  Without the freedom to leave, any interpretation you may have of what your horse wants is going to be shaded by what you want.  Trust your horse to voluntarily partner with you and allow your horse to come to your goals on his own. If you cannot trust your horse enough to do this, then what can you trust in yourself or the world?

Dive in.  Immerse yourself in true partnership.  Change yourself and the world will change for you.  Spiritual Horsemanship is about more than you and your horse - but this is where it starts.


Next week (March 6, 2013 or thereabouts):  Real world application - Sophie

Paean to a Good Mare

In memory of Suletta HCC (*Sukuris x HCC Rusletta)  1983-2013

Spiritual Horsemanship is so much more than a mere horse-human partnership. Even the best of partnerships are limited to a joining of entities with defined and separate roles that allow unequal entities to work together. Spiritual Horsemanship, however, is a much bigger concept. It is based on embracing and opening to all forms of contact on all possible planes of existence, as well as maintaining flexible and goal oriented roles through actively seeking some kind of basic equality. With Spiritual Horsemanship it doesn't matter on some levels that there is a human and a horse involved - it's much more important that there are two souls involved.

Think of it as bonding - a relationship where there's no true line between where one entity begins and the other ends, where the two (or more) bonded entities are One. There can be no inequality in a bond of souls.

Spiritual Horsemanship means an acceptance by the human in the relationship that all things are created of god-stuff, and that while all things may not be precisely equal on the physical level, they are equivalent - and One - on the spiritual level.

Learning by Doing

Suletta HCC was an interesting mare who taught me a tremendous amount about horses and Spiritual Horsemanship. When my husband and I set out for a Hyannis Cattle Company sale in Scottsdale AZ, way back in the mid 1980s, we didn't know that this particular mare would be joining our herd in California. We had checked the pedigrees of all the horses in the sale and had decided on her younger sister, a two year old that would work well with our own bloodlines and would be in our price range. That didn't happen - Su was meant to be our horse and so her sister went elsewhere and we ended up paying the maximum we had budgeted for a half-broke mare with a scarred hind fetlock and an attitude.

It was the attitude that taught me the most, of course. Attitude - meaning something other than a docile willingness to go along with the human program - is what can teach the most about horsemanship, since it's the biggest and clearest communication of the existence of a problem, a lack of communication, a block in the flow.

Su had been broke to saddle for the sale - more or less. We could see as she was trotted back and forth across the stage that she was barely under control, but we figured we'd work it out down the line. We didn't ask Su about that idea at the time, which would have been a good idea since she had a very different idea of what she wanted for her future than we did.

Hyannis Cattle Company horses were bred to be working athletes, so it wasn't surprising that Su was powerful and swift under saddle. Unfortunately, she also was a great candidate for rodeos - not as a roping or cutting horse, but as a bucking bronc. You never knew when she'd decide she'd had enough - it could be a few minutes or an hour or more under saddle, and it wouldn't be every time she was ridden. Su was clever about that - she had perfect timing, which is to say she was totally unpredictable in when she'd dump her rider. And dump them she would, no matter who was on her.

It took a while for we humans to figure it out.  We had enough horses under saddle right then (we were actively competing in endurance in those days) and since we had little enough hours as it was for all the conditioning we needed to put in, we decided there was little point in spending the time with the bucking issue if we could breed this mare.

What a great decision that was. Su was a spectacular broodmare. Her foals were athletic and well conformed, and we made money finding them good, competitive homes. But ultimately for me, the best and most valuable thing about Su was that she was a strong lead mare for our herd and as long as I listened to her, she would do whatever I wanted in that capacity.

Listening and Hearing 

Su wasn't the only horse teaching this lesson about Spiritual Horsemanship - we had dozens of horses at that point. But she was the most stubborn in getting the lessons through my own thick human head.  She was one of them that helped me understand what horses really were:  Fellow travelers along the spiritual path, souls temporarily manifesting in physical form.

Su helped me learn that listening, and then hearing, are an essential part of Spiritual Horsemanship. Both are acts of choice, particularly necessary when what is being listened to isn't offered in the usual human spoken language.

Listening is setting the intention to hear a message in whatever form it is delivered. Hearing is the act of receiving of the message. But it is the acceptance of the message as valid and meaningful that opens the door to Spiritual Horsemanship.

Honor and respect

Although they seem to be fading from our world these days in too many areas, the concepts of honor and respect aren't gone yet. They mean something very similar: Approval, pleasure and even wonder for another being (or object) for their abilities, qualities, or achievements; and to hold a being (or object) in high esteem.

Spiritual Horsemanship is about hearing a horse's message and following up with honor and respect.  It took many years before I realized how important it was to act on honor and respect. On the physical plane, actions are the true expression choice. Promises are empty words and honor and respect are meaningless concepts if not accompanied by actions.

Su's message to me always involved both what she didn't want to do and what she did. She was playing the same game we humans aim at our horses: She made doing the thing she didn't want to do (being ridden) unpleasant, while she rewarded the steps we took towards what she did want (being a broodmare). Being bucked off and hitting the ground hard while your horse runs off with her tail in the air is so much more dramatic than clicker training - yet we persisted for probably long enough that Su must have thought we were really dense.  We did get it eventually, though, and then we took the next step:  We honored and respected that message.  She became a broodmare and eventually the lead mare of our herd, and wow, what a great job she did of it.

Su is gone now, but she not only lives on in her foals, but also in me - the person I became through who she was.  For this is the ultimate reward and point of Spiritual Horsemanship:  Not to make a horse do what you want, but for you to become a better person.  A better person is a better horseman.  Your horse knows that already and patiently waits for you to learn this, too.

"...so in a poignant moment of awareness of another person's undesirable situation,give your undivided attention to the idea of improvement that has hatched from your interaction/observation. And as you learn to do that, not only will you be of increasing value to others, but you will see how your relationships with others adds immeasurably to your own becoming." ~ The Vortex: Where the Law of Attraction Assembles All Cooperative Relationships, by Esther and Jerry Hicks (an Abraham book)