5/21/2013- We have had a great spring in Illinois!! With some horses in Development and students in Bootcamp it was very busy. I got to visit some new barns and teach a variety of Clinics, Workshops and Lessons. I have been finding a new awareness of things in my own horsemanship and horse development which causes me to be very excited to play with more horses and continue growing as I pursue never ending self improvement.
Some of the ideas that I have been thinking about that I will share with you have to do with Details and The Big Picture. Details would be things like flexions, footfalls, foot placements, weight shifts and specific maneuvers like lead changes. Big Picture would be things like making it a game, psychology, a pattern and the horses responsibilities.
I have shared the importance of awareness with you before and as we become more aware, we are able to have within our awareness/focus more things. Then we are able to accomplish more things at once. It is like learning to juggle. First you have to be able to throw and catch one ball before you can learn to juggle two, then three, then more and more. It takes a LOT of focus to juggle 10 balls at once. (The World Record is 12 balls at once.) If you can have a big picture awareness most of the time and allow your focus to catch the details that are out of place, we can put the details back in place and get back to the big picture awareness so we don’t lose sight fo where we want to go. The better our awareness, the sooner we catch things before they are out of place. Less sooner rather than more later, sound familiar?
This idea of seeing the big picture and getting focused onto a detail that needs tweaking, is isolating, separating and recombining. Isolate a detail, a small piece, separate it out and then recombine it back into the big picture once you have that part of the communication clarified.
The problems usually arise when we get direct line, and over focused on the details. We lose site on the Big Picture and more and more pieces fall apart. Like juggling, when you drop one, more are likely to follow.
So check your focus. Do not allow yourself to be over focused and stretch your awareness every chance you can.
I am going to be making a big move in June as I go back to having a home base versus living on the road full time. I very much enjoyed having a facility to call home and a place to do horse development and have students come to learn. I have had a big adventure traveling all over the country and I have learned a lot along the way. I will be moving to Marshall, Virginia and traveling to my teaching stops from there. It is an AMAZING facility so I hope you consider coming there to participate in an event, you won’t regret it!
Keep your eyes on the Schedule as I will be in Illinois again in the fall, we have rescheduled Nebraska’s stop to the fall and I will be starting to host events in Virginia. I will also have a few horses for sale that I am going to be strengthening their foundation training so that they be a perfect partner for a lucky person. Lots and lots going on so stay tuned, and as always I hope to see you sooner rather than later!
Jake