Master Horsemen talk about “getting in time with the feet” or “freeing-up the life in the body through the feet to the mind”. Since I began rediscovering a more willing partnership with my horses some fifteen years ago, I have had the opportunity to listen, watch, and study several true horsemen. Tom Dorrance, Dennis Reis and Bettina Drummond have helped me to see and feel glimpses of freedom with movement while riding, ultimately leading to a trusting relationship with my equine partners.
In time, phrases such as, “ride all four feet…all the time” have begun to mean something to me. However, it was not until I got in time, rhythm, balance, and focus with my own feet that I truly understood how to get out of the way of the horse.
It was somewhat by accident that I stumbled upon the idea of physically connecting the human’s hands and feet. In our T&T Horsemanship classes we work with people to understand necessary positioning, focus, and direction of energy to accomplish basic ground maneuvers with the horse. Difficulties often arise in transferring that communication when people find themselves on-board. Some seem to try too hard, with BIG motions, which not only confuse the horse, but put both horse and rider severely out of balance.
To add to the confusion, many humans don’t have a good concept of their OWN balance and center, let alone add in rhythm, timing, balance, and intention! It becomes a multi-tasking nightmare!
Here are some awareness exercises on the ground that help prepare your body to get in time with your horse:
• Attach string to each foot under the arch of the foot. (Progress strings come in handy, but good ol’ bailing twine works just fine.) Tie the ends of your strings together, so that as you prepare for a transition you can simulate using your mecate reins, feeling for the horse.
• Start by thinking about your posture, and experiment with moving your feet forward and back with your eyes up, down, and then closed. Feel how your body automatically aligns itself with your eyes closed by stacking head on shoulders, shoulders on ribcage, ribcage on hips, and hips on legs.
• Open your eyes and prepare to depart forward on a circle to the left, letting your hands get in time with or slightly leading your feet. If you discover a snap in the strings you are probably trying to lead the feet too much, and without rhythm. Experiment with how your body feels when you guide the strings – thumbs-up. How does your energy and focus vary when you lead with the knuckles up, as if you were playing the piano?
I think you will find that your body stays much more relaxed, with balanced shoulder weight, if you guide your feet first by focusing with your eyes, then aligning your body, and finally giving direction with your hand in the piano playing position. It is amazing how parts of your body will shutdown or block movement with the slightest change in your hand position.
Now prepare to stop your forward motion.
• Experiment with pulling on the strings to see how little effect that creates, and where the braces appear in your body.
• Next try stopping the forward motion by looking ahead and slightly up. Flex both knees, and lower your center towards the ground. Try pulling your tummy muscles towards a “C” shape in your backbone.
• Next, straighten up a bit by tilting your pelvis so the “C” has disappeared from your backbone. From that comfortable position, think about backing-up by squeezing the strings slightly back, become internally light, change your focus from slightly up to level, and back your feet with a bounce or flex in your knees. Pretty easy!
• Now try pulling your feet back! I think you will discover it just does not work to physically pull.
• After accomplishing the back up with feel, timing, and flow, make a change in your seat, focus, and intentions, and prepare to depart of on a circle to the right. This time note how you prepare your body to tell the feet you are going slightly to the right. I bet your eyes have changed to a right orientation, that your weight shifted to your left leg, and that your hand aided the foot by slightly leading with the knuckles up, and right little finger suggesting the direction.
Now that you have mastered your feet and body for going forward on a circle and backing, it’s time to try some fancy stuff! Turn-on-the-haunches, spins, half-pass, canter pirouette, flying lead changes, and transitions between gates are but a few of the maneuvers at which to become proficient. I have yet to have my two-legged horse lead me astray for being a direct comparison to the focus, balance, rhythms, and timing I will need with my four-leg partner!
For the “Rest of the Story”, visit www.tnthorsemanship.com/articles or attend one of Alice’s clinics.
Copyright © 2008 The NW Horse Source, LLC
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