The Duality Of Horsemanship

In working with relational horsemanship principles and bringing them into each partnership and discipline, we have the opportunity to consider how our horses feel about the work on an emotional, physical, and energetic level.

Horses are wonderful and generous beings. They work hard for us; offering themselves to us over and over again. Trying as hard as they can to work with us without always understanding what we want from them. I’m continually humbled by their willingness to try.

What I’ve noticed both in myself and in other people I’ve worked with is that often we’re either focused on technique or we’re focused on the ‘feel’. One isn’t better or worse than the other. Technique and process is as necessary as feel.

If we’re more feel based, there are times when we can get so lost in the feelings and feedback that we’re receiving, that we can end up not knowing how to move forward. The feedback can either be so fulfilling or so overwhelming that we don’t know what to do next. We can end up repeating the same work over and over again. This can be challenging for ourselves in our advancement and for our horses as they begin to lose sense of what we’re asking.

On the other hand if we’re really process oriented and focused on precision, we can often feel unsatisfied and frustrated. We are continually striving for the perfect maneuver, the optimal balance and continue to critique our posture, our riding and our horses. This can make us feel like we’re never good enough and can cause us to lose the joy of being with our horses.

The trick is learning how to blend technique with feel and maintain progress while allowing ourselves and our horses the opportunity to feel and have fun in the work.

Over the next few months I will be diving deeper into this topic as we explore what a balanced relationship with our horses can look like.