"No hour of life is wasted that is spent in the saddle." - Winston Churchill The greatest challenge is not in learning lessons, but in applying them in as many other areas of your life as you can in the few precious years you have on earth. Some of my most important lessons have come …
Tag: training horses
Moral Collection
My wonderful horse, a large and long Hanoverian named Leo, has taught and continues to teach me a great many lessons about life. One of the latest centers around a concept which is just beginning to germinate in the soil of my mind, one that the classical riding masters called rassembler. Rassembler or "collection" as we …
Calm, Forward, Straight
As a living, breathing human being, you are an animate creature, capable of orienting in, being motivated by and coloring your expression with a wide variety of spirits. The spirit which compels or dominates your expression in any given moment gives evidence to the true centering of your heart, regardless of what you believe mentally …
The Spirit of the Method
The old and familiar maxim: "Knowledge is Power" shapes the way we look at education, marketing, politics, religion and many other areas of human activity. The idea that knowledge begets power is based on the limited view that humanity is meant to dominate his environment, rather than have dominion over it. Domination is established through …
Forward-Upward!
Circumstances have a wonderful way of letting you know if you're on the right or the wrong track. They provide useful feedback that, thoughtfully reviewed, compels changes in approach or direction and occasionally in underlying orientation. Those in the habit of bemoaning their circumstances often miss these cues as they are so busy reacting to …
The Ascending Spiral
There exists a remarkable parallel between raising children and schooling horses. Both horses and people move through a period of intense physical development in their youth, followed by mental and emotional growth and maturation. Handled rightly, this process oscillates back and forth between tension and relaxation. In the moment it might feel like you are …
Volition and Spirit
The pace of personal growth is directly related to the ability to apply lessons learned in one area of living to as many others as fitting and as time permits. These are the "aha" moments or personal victories, the magical moments where an area of limitation is overcoming, where frustration gives way to satisfaction. I've …
A Better Way
"Playing both ends against the middle" is an old saying that means trying to get opposing people or groups to fight or disagree so that you will get an advantage from them. It is a way of distracting the attention of others so that the one playing the ends can swoop in and take what …