A little while ago I wrote a post about how important it is that if we are to ask our horses to perform upper level movements, we must be capable to receive that level of energy.
Some people got triggered and said that it was unfair and that just because they aren’t comfortable with galloping their horses doesn’t mean they shouldn’t be riding.
This wasn’t what I said.
I hope that we all continue to ride even after we are unable to walk.
However, if you find yourself nearly falling off or gripping on your horses faces and desperately screaming at them to stay quiet when they decide to test out their wings, I do not believe that you should be asking them to perform upper level movements.
This called cherry-picking and it has deeply negative consequences on all species.
When we are asking our horses to levitate from the ground and perform with exaltation (thank you, Tara Davis), we are calling up a primordial energy.
One that must be met with a receiving energy of whatever comes out of them.
Otherwise, we risk “shutting down” those brilliant wings while they are just testing them out for size!
The first thing that I have fo heal in nearly every horse thaf I bring in for training is their loss of joy of movement from this very thing.
The physiological and psychological effects that come from being told over and over again to “stay small” has on them is the barrier to them ever wanting to move freely through their bodies.
Can you imagine screaming at your child the first time they really tried to dance and go crazy with their body but accidentally ran into you?
I feel it’s the same for our horses.
These incredibly kind and generous beings live their lives trying to please us most of the time, and those first fragile moments of experimenting with their body are absolutely precious and deserve to be treated with tenderness so that they never lose their joy of movement.
After all, it was our idea to make a 1200lb flight animal a dance partner.
