Harley-D's

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World

of the

FEAR, FLEXIBIITY, FOCUS

Bridging the gap between instructors

and beginning adult women riders.

by Haley Ashland

CONCEPTUAL CONTENT

Purpose of this Site

Who it is designed for

Paradox of Learning to Ride

Foundational Concepts

FEAR

FLEXIBILITY

FOCUS

ONTOLOGY

OSSILATION

SUCCESSIVE APPROXIMATION

WATER

1+1+1+1+1+1+1=1

IDEAL VS POSSIBILITY

CONCEPT FORMATION

PURPOSE OF THESE PAGES

The purpose of my communication is to share the nexis of my 'learning to ride as a middle aged women adventure',  background in adult learning, teaching and deliberate practice.

I think these concepts and ideas may contribute to other women like me and their trainers and instructors. Most of mine were many years younger than myself and have been riding for decades.

My theory is that the memory of what it is like:

• to be on a horse as a beginner who is not 'young',
  

• who is less flexible,
  

• and whose learning for the most part goes through the brain before it is useable in the body
  

is a VERY distant one to the young instructor who is good at riding but might never have considered how middle aged women learn.

PARADOX OF LEARNING TO RIDE

Riding is difficult and teaching an adult women to ride well is impossible.

The trainer is trying to teach the language of riding which contains no words using only words.

The language of riding contains:

• multiple nouns referring to specific  body parts as separate entities or automatically energized combinations of separate parts
  

• infinite verbs consisting of how to move and how to move the head, shoulders, back, arms, wrists, buttox, leg, heals, knees toes..etc.
  

• adjectives describing the weights and pressures
  

At some point all the details must be let go of, the analytical brain disengaged, and the body must speak the language of riding to the horse in fluid confident  sentences that he can respond to.

That may come many years from your starting point unless to deal with the first obstacle first...for adult beginners, FEAR.

COMING PAGES:

THE LANGUAGE OF MOVEMENT

The moment you and your horse are in proximity you are communicating something and he is answering you.

He's learned over his years what human beings are saying and has learned to respond in a way that serves his purpose - which is to survive, to eat, to be comfortable, to not be afraid, to avoid pain. Each one has learned very specific things for very specific reasons in the context of being a horse.

EX: Polar bears hunt, swim etc differently based on their mom, Humans have accents, different languages, cultureal differences and genetic tendencies (fast twitch muscle fibers etc) so a trekaner and a saddlebred are horses first, their breed second, and their unique background of experiences last.

FLEXIBILITY and BALANCE

"Riding is only about balance and trust and the lack of balance belays trust'

I heard this from Paula Kirkegard, one of my most experienced early trainers and a contributor to sections of the official USDF manual. She was and is a real character and passionate about classic dressage...From her I learned choose your trainers well. more about this in COMPATABILITY: YOU AND SHE

Back to F and B. Here are the ABC's of this topic..

Balance is what it's all about.

Balance on a moving object - your horse - requires movement of the object that is trying to balance - YOU.

If you watch a tight rope walker, or a cheer leader squad making a pyramid...They are not tense. Their joints and muscles are listening to the object under them the rope, each other to discern with their body which way to tilt, to hold, to stiffen, to adjust to stay in balance based on the movement of what is underneath them. If they do not, they fall. It happens too fast to think about it they simply listen with their body. AND it quite possibly took many hours of practice and falling to get to that level of listening.

Sit on an exercise ball, lift up your feet and don't move. YOU WILL FALL OVER.  Move and adjust as quickly and as gently and as quietly as you can and you will find yourself barely vibrating to stay on top. How long does it take before you can balance for even a minute? It's not easy or quick.

FOCUS - Where does your attention go?

There are several types of focus...immediate reality, short term,  and long term. To ride and have it be fun (more about what makes riding fun here), someday, you need all three.

RELAXATION

One day I had another epiphy about riding. You must be relaxed to ride well, AND learning to ride is definitely NOT relaxing! You must think, and feel, and disregard your fear, and listen and sweat and until you can sit the trot comfortable trot with a bit of pain while you learn.

A teacher may tell you to relax. She does not mean become a wet noodle. She probably means let go of your automatic tension and become an alive, listening energetic body that is flexible and taught at the same time.

RIDING WELL IS DIFFERENT THAN LEARNING WELL

So many of us look at photos, or videos, or show riders and dream of riding like them.

We want to ride well and think we need to do exactly what good riders do right? Like hold your finger 4 inches above the withers, point your heal down at the bottom of a very long leg, and hold the horse's head in place.

These are not the things to emulate.

These are:

• Practice as often as she does.
  

• Adjust your practice sessions for the level, age, and confirmational capabilities of your horse.
  

• Have a high level of physical fitness yourself so you can keep up with your horse.
  

• Have a horse that is capable of the amount of practice learning, and stress that he'll need to keep up with you.
  

• Ride with a trainer who understand you, your goals, and how your horse fits into this.
  

• Tell the truth to yourself about the commitment of time and money necessaary to ride well.
  

It's not what they look like.

It's how they practice.

FEAR

November 18th, 2004 I turned 48.

December 8, 2004 was the first horseback riding lesson of my life.

I was not afraid at all.

June 11, 2004 I bought a 15 year old, 15.3 hand saddlebred with a terrific personality.

July 25th, 2004 while on a local trail  with my trainer both our horses 'got away'.  Details later.. THE TRAIL RIDE

NOW..I was afraid.

MY POINT?  At some point in any adult beginner's experience she learns to be afraid, a feeling far beyond  basic respect... 

She learns that it is a long way down  from even a 15 hand horse, that even the softest arena can damage one's body, and if she's got any intelligence at all she knows somewhere inside that any fall from that height, to any surface - if done in a specific way - can produce a result that one can not recover from.

I have known a women who during a casual ride showing her friends a slow trot fell and rode again 7 months later after 7 surgeries.

I have heard of a women alone on her trusted mount of years ended up dead. It was inferred that her horse spooked, reared and then took off on the trail snapping her neck and leaving her dead.

I myself still cannot completely raise my right arm after an incident on a 5 year old prospect that three trusted friends told me was completely safe to test in an indoor arena no other horses present. The inference was that he went 'berserk' upon being saddled with  my unfamiliar saddle and girth that might have buckled a bit when done up and 'felt funny."

At some point yourself/your client realizes the potential and begins to tense up. Tension is the opposite of what is needed to ride and therin is Obstacle one....FEAR.