Finspång

Do what makes you happy, be with who makes you smile, laugh as much as you breathe and love as long as you live...

Fotoshoot

"My darling girl, when are you going to realize that being normal is not necessarily a virtue? It rather denotes a lack of courage" Aunt Frances

One day, someone will walk into your life and make you see why it never worked out with someone else....så sant så sant.....

...bursting with happiness....

Långrunda med Elisabeth & Orkan

Høg mysfaktor på en søndagsmorgon.
Peter har fixat løsdriftsplats till prinsessan i Finspång :)).
Småskrattar fortfarande nær jag tænker på hur han gick till væga och vilken jobb han har lagt ner på detta.
Mycket bra detta hær med en vuxen, ordningssam hæstkarl ;)

You know the feeling when you think you can conquer the world....

yeah...that´s how I have it right now...

Thursday morning

Stable day

Lots of fun with the girls today!

Something to think about....

Here is a short list of good advice I have received over the years. They are in no particular order of importance or chronology. They have helped keep me on the right path and I haven’t found any reason to throw them out yet.

1. Assume everything you have been told is wrong until you are satisfied that it isn’t.

This was advice given to me by my PhD supervisor when discussing scientific research. But it’s worked equally well for me in my progression as a horseman.

2. Never be content with what you know.

Again, this came from my PhD supervisor and has been an enormous help to me in becoming a better horseman.

3. Whatever a horse does, it’s never personal.

Horses have no agenda except to seek comfort and safety. No matter how badly a horse behaves or how well he behaves it is not about the human.

4. There is no place for punishment in training.

Horses don’t understand punishment. It has no meaning to them. To a horse being punished is only about people taking out their rage for no reason. Punishment is never a good learning experience to a horse.

5. When you tame something you are responsible for it.

This notion came to me by the book “The Little Prince.” The fox explained to the Little Prince that bringing something into your life made you responsible for its well-being. You don’t own it and you don’t control it, you are just responsible for it.

6. A horse doesn’t need you to be his boss.

There is a big difference between being a boss and being a teacher. Horses don’t nee to made to do things. They need to be guided in how and why to do things.

7. There is no such thing as winning or losing when it comes to horses.

Some people think you should never let a horse win. This is up with there with the idea of not letting a horse put one over on you. Horses don’t think in terms of winning or losing. They think in terms of surviving or dying. If it’s about making sure you win, then it also becomes about making sure the horse loses. A horse should never feel like he lost.

8. When riding down a hill lean forward, not backwards.

As years of trekking have taught me, leaning back when going down hills is a really quick way of giving your horse a sore back.

9. Don’t buy an unbroken horse in the hope to avoid inheriting a horse with problems.

If you don’t know how to fix a problem in a horse, you probably don’t know how to avoid putting a problem in a horse.

10. You don’t need a bit to control a horse.

Control is something a horse gives you, not something you impose on a horse. A bit is only one method to convey to a horse’s brain your intent. But it is not the only or most important method

Left Brain Extrovert Boys

Weekend in Finspång, playing with Prim and Peter ;)...not quite sure who is more playful actually ;), both sure make me laugh alot. You just gotta love lbe and their ideas and sense of humor. Prim is so much the mirror of Peter, it´s hiliarious!
I played three times with him over the weekend - online and at liberty. Sunday night we did figure 8s and backing up and stick to me at liberty. Such a smart cooky!!
I think I found a stable for Milva as well.
Peter boards Prim in a big ridingstable - where they give lessons and all that. Don´t think Milva and I would fit in there - all kinds of people taking in and out the horses and handling them - ah, don´t think so... not with Milva...
It almost seems impossible to find a descent turn out stable so I have to compromise on a stableplace right now until we have our own farm but then we gonna have a turn out stable and Prim & Milva can play together.
Strange how life can change in the blink of an eye....:))

Lösdrift sökes i omnejd från Finspång

Alla pusselbitar faller på plats nu.... Milva och jag kommer flytta upp till Peter och Prim ganska omgående och därför söker vi en lösdriftsplats till prinsessan tills vi har köpt en gård. Jag har sett att det är en från Norrköping som läser bloggen - kanske du vet någon lösdrift i närheten?  Mycket som händer och fler överraskningar kommer det bli ;). Underbart är det!!

Getting there...

Parelli Monday with the girls

Sunday morning kissing training with the chunky monkey girls

With Milva online, traveling circles, sideways in different variations, walk piruette. With Trollet acknowledging her bubble, draw towards, lowering her head, touching her halter without her brazing against.

Butterflies in my stomache...

Mm...that´s how it feels when you meet your soulmate....
Can it be thursday now...

LBI vs. RBI/RBE

Elly took those two pictures yesterday. How very characteristic for those two horsenalities...
Milva - COOKIES???
Trollet - I´m not really here, you are not really here...no one can see me...

Free Your Soul...

It is not that I am against competition. It is just that I cannot support it as it exists today. Correctness is never forced. Forward is not mindless running. Aids are not mechanical devices used to compel the horse's submission to the illogical will of a rider hypnotised into a rule driven obsessions.

Where is the kindness? Is fear and avoidance of pain all that is needed to train a horse? Is winning the result of buying the most expensive horse? Competition is something I cannot afford. The price of admission is too high. It is not the money (and there is that) but hidden cost to your soul.

I have chosen to free my horse from my ideas of correct and explore its happiness. My greatest happiness now comes from my decision to do this. Upon making that choice, I find it funny that the horse ends up looking like a dressage horse and performing high level work.

I favor competition which is a playful banter among friends whose love for the horse is placed first and who sees test taking as what it is; a silly ritual devised to give one something to do with the horse when you lack the imagination and education to hold an intelligent conversation with a horse.

Now, as I read this, I can see how this could be seen as a bit mean but that is not what I intended, it is just I lack enough imagination to say anything else.

RBE vs. LBI

Trollet is a RBE I found out. I did have my suspicioun but of course I had to play the seven games first to be sure. It took 10min of catching game before I could put a halter on Trollet than we played with touch-it and the seven games. While I played the catching game Milva performed her own circus show in the pasture next to Trollet - everything for cookies. Too funny! I took my little lib for a walk afterwards.

Day1, getting to know the herd and lots of undemanding time with me. Trollet is not very interested in human interaction yet. Pretty flighty right now and nervous, definitely more right than left brain. Doesn't dare to do anything or express an own opinion - but coming from a traditionally dressage stable that's pretty normal. It's gonna be very exciting to find her true inner self...

Trollprinsessan has arrived

LBE-hästar.....och nej, Milva har inte mutiert till en LBE ;), men det är Prim - Peter´s häst ;)

De luskar ut vilka dina regler är och sedan utmanar de dig.

Det betyder om du inte har några relger kan de inte hitta något att haka upp sig på och spelet är slut.

Left brain hästar är dominanta, de utmanar ditt ledarskap varje dag och hela tiden.

Många undrar om deras LBE hästar någonsin kommer att lugna sig och blir lugnare. Vad tror du?

Kom ihåg att vi pratar om en medfödd karaktär, precis som i mänskliga karaktärer, så svaret är: ABSOLUT INTE!

Antingen kommer du att få fram det bästa ur din häst eller det värsta.

Här kommer några regler som människor förväntar sig av hästar och som LBE-hästar älskar att utmana:

Jag förväntar mig att min häst ska vara....

-lugn

-lydig

-medgörlig

-känslig

Hmm....det låter som motsatsen av vad denna häst med sin fria själ tycker är roligt!

Om hästen hade haft en T-shirt, skulle det stå "Född att utmana" på tröjans framsida och på baksidan "Du är inte min Chef".

Desto mer du försöker få din LBE häst att bete sig väl, deste värre bli det!!

Men desto mer du uppmuntrar honom och stimulerar hans nyfikenhet, desto känsligare blir han och desto mer bjuder han till.

Men det kan vara svårt för oss människor att ha med dessa hästar att göra eftersom att vi har våra egna agendor.

Nyckeln till en LBE häst är att lägga din agenda åt sidan för en stund.

Ge hästen vad den behöver så kommer han att ge dig vad du vill ha.

Det finns inga regler - bara principerna ;).

"Children should be taught to respect animals -- circuses, rodeo and equestrian sports teach the opposite, there are no educational values in seeing such magnificent animals reduced to performing tricks or being forced to jump colored poles. It is vital for children to learn empathy, or the ability to put themselves in someone else’s shoes. Events in which animals are forced to put their life in danger or to perform demeaning tricks teach the opposite." ~ Cloe Lacroix, NHE Representative in Canada and Dean of School

The attitude of justice is effective - Kathy Baar

It sounds simple and we know our attitude is vitally important on our horsemanship journey! Then, why, does it sometimes feel so hard to carry out the attitude of justice?

In my path of helping humans learn about natural horsemanship I am often repeating the need for the ‘attitude of justice’ while demonstrating a technique or concept with a horse. In answer to this statement about ‘justice’ I am greated by blank stares or nodding heads with little to no change to how the student is handling their own horse. What I have discovered is that this response comes from a core difference in belief on what “justice” and “natural” actually mean. So, I’ve looked up a simple and concise definition from Wikipedia to help us get on the same page:

Natural – “existing in or caused by nature, not made or caused by humankind.”

How interesting! . . . What does it mean to be natural? Often when people hear the words natural horsemanship they think, “oh good, I can think great thoughts about my horse and they will do what I want just because I am thinking it” or “I will never have to become effective to be understood and my horse will become a willing and safe partner”! Somehow when people first hear of ‘natural’ their minds travel down a thought pattern of believing that actions no longer have consequences. However, if you take the quote above and think about things in nature – things “not made or caused by humankind”. How many actions in nature do not have consequences?

If, for example, an ant colony gets lazy and decides not to go out to gather food, what happens to the colony? If a horse herd leader can’t outthink a predator, what happens to the survival of the herd? If the herd picks a leader that isn’t aware, effective, and smart, what happens to the herd?

Just for the sake of argument let’s say that same herd chooses to have no leader, in fact every horse is equal and has a chance to “voice their opinion”. Now imagine, this herd full of mares, foals, yearlings, and a stallion ranging all the horsenalities LBI, LBE, RBE and RBI. They are all eating grass happily enjoying their equal opinions and contributions. They hear a rustle in the trees. The LBI’s say, “oh it’s probably nothing, let’s wait and see what happens”. The RBI’s say “ “ (nothing – they have frozen for the moment). The LBE’s want to go check out what made the noise, maybe they can play with it and the RBE’s are running circles around the herd, they want to leave but don’t want to leave the herd. At this stage they agree to have a meeting to discuss what should be done about the rustle in the bushes and who’s opinion they should follow. After several minutes of deliberation they have come to the conclusion that they can not act on any ONE opinion and are better off not reacting at all so as not to offend the horses feelings that were voted down. So, at the end of a lengthy discussion they have chosen to do nothing. This time the rustle turns out to be a squirrel and everything is fine, but what about next time when it is an approaching group of wolves/lions? Will the herd loose a few members? Does this system really work in nature? Of course not! The herd needs a leader, right or wrong the herd can follow the leadership and have a better chance of survival. It makes sense if you think of nature. Nature has laid out a perfect system, one where without humankind intervening their feelings and opinions the species survives.

Now here’s the interesting part, somehow humans have decided that our way is better and that everything should adapt to suit what we ‘think’ is best. Some examples of this specifically in the horse world range from not allowing horses to interact with each other; so they won’t get hurt. To never allowing horses to experience consequences for acting inappropriately in the human environment, until they are so uncontrollable we have no choice but to put them down because they endangered themselves and others. Perhaps we should put children in a bubble wrap suit with an air purifier mask and have them walk around in a little bubble. This way they can’t get hurt, they won’t get any germs and the bubble will protect them from getting to close to other humans, just in case the other humans say something ‘mean’. Also, the bubble will protect the other children in case the perfect little angel is mad and feels like hitting or slapping someone. Sounds perfect doesn’t it? The funny thing is that to some humans this does sound perfect, this way we can control everything that happens to the individual and be sure no one is ever hurt, but is it natural? Is it natural to keep horses separate from their own species? Is it natural that their actions have no consequences in our human world, until it is too late (doing more later instead of less sooner)? Is it natural for humans to think we know more about what horses need then horses do?

To me the attitude of justice isn’t about punishment it’s about cause and effect. If you touch a hot stove – you get burnt. If you stick your hand in a fan blade – you get whacked. If you don’t look and pay attention to where you are going on uneven ground – you fall. Plain and simple – no emotion involved, it is just natural. It is the most natural part of learning. Cause and effect is how we learn. If you text while driving in traffic you could crash – simple, no emotion, if you choose one path/action there are reactions put into motion.

When I talk about being effective with horses and using the attitude of justice all I am saying is to be natural. Sounds simple, however, this doesn’t mean that it will be easy. Many humans get into habits of living and ways of acting that are supremely unnatural, this can cause the shift to becoming natural again challenging. To be successful this new and natural journey must be filled with thought, decision and purpose. One doesn’t just wake up and say “I’m natural” and then go about their day as usual. Becoming natural requires a conscious choice and many choices along the path until natural becomes our new way of being, of living, until it makes more sense than all the other ‘stuff’.

In the end studying natural horsemanship may be a different picture then some had originally envisioned but if you are dedicated to becoming truly natural, it is a never-ending journey worth taking! One filled with discovery, awareness and a feeling of peace to experience “existing in nature”. The horses give us a window with which to peer in to the world of natural. The love for the horse gives us the motivation to go against the flow and learn how to become natural. The attitude of justice is intrinsically natural horsemanship. If you can remember and internalize what natural truly is, your horsemanship journey will proceed with more smoothness and fewer stumbling blocks. So, if you endeavor to take the journey, keep ‘natural’ in mind and see what unfolds!

Mm...Tomorrow...

Horse first want to feel safe, They want to be happy, healthy and want things to be easy. So do we. 

Each of us feel that we are the center of the universe. Life turns around us. So it is that the horse feels this way too. 

These are most basic things that we have in common with the horse. We all can see and acknowledge that we share these basic things with the horse but the horse only knows that we share these things by our behavior.

Show by kindness that your respect of these common things. Be generous, gentle and consistent so that through good intention you prove to the horse the truth of who you are and that we are together.

Think of how to be like this in all of your actions. From this behavior a wisdom of goodness will show itself in you which will find reflection in the horse.

This way of being will manifests as a lightness and the beauty of self carriage that then will manifest itself in your work. It is when heart, mind and body are aligned and held in kindness that this arises. This is a dressage to be proud of.

This month study :)

Horse Lovers Weekend