"Suddenly—Don’t Use in Writing or Horsemanship"

Howdy Folks, "Suddenly—Don’t Use in Writing or Horsemanship" ... 

I often think about, and write about, how living and working, or playing and learning with our horses, and writing have so many similarities.

The other day I was reading a writer’s blog about the overuse of the word “suddenly” in a manuscript. Every word she said was exactly correct, and I’d hoped she would say more. I’ve always found the word “suddenly” to be a speed bump in a story or novel. Instead of propelling me forward with the action as the writer intends, it stops me dead in my reading tracks. Pushes me away. In fact most “ly” words have that effect on me. If the author replaces the “ly” word with the action she’s trying to portray, we readers can be drawn in and feel the action. Instead of “hearing” about it. But “suddenly” for me is the worst of the “ly” words.

Here’s a brief example. “Suddenly she burst into tears.” Not much there, even if we knew why she had to cry. How about something like, “She needed to see him again. Where was he? Why can’t she find him? Sucking short breaths, she tried to be strong, but her burning eyes flooded, tears streamed down her face.”

I’ve always found while I’m editing, if I re-write scenes or sentences replacing “ly” words, the scene embraces me more. Adds depth, meaning and emotions. Yes it will add words, but I suggest they are words that build emotions and connection with the reader. And for writers, aren’t they the two most important things?

In our relationship with our horses, “emotions and connection” are most important as well. If we do anything “suddenly,” it’s more than a speed bump to our horse. It’s a “failure to communicate.” And as “authors” of the moment, it’s our job to “re-write the scene.”
If we replace that “ly” word, or action, with a more descriptive series of words and actions, our horse will follow us, feel the emotion, and sense the connection. And our relationship will deepen.

It makes no sense to the horse when we bark commands, jerk on the lead rope or wave our hands and arms. Sure, we get a reaction, and that’s just what it is, a reaction. It’s not a connection. It’s best, even if the horse is making a mistake, to follow through that mistake, see where it takes you, then build on it. Write the scene with easy to embrace description.
Engage your imagination, your intuitiveness, let your horse help write the scene in a way that embraces both of you. It’ll add words, but those words make all the difference.  ~ EXCERPT from "It's for the Horses: An advocate's musings about their needs, spirit, gifts and care." Find it here, www.itsforthehorses.com

Gitty Up, Dutch Henry

"They Taught Me Patience"

Howdy Folks,

"They taught me patience." That's what about thirty percent of the respondents answered to this month's TrailBlazer magazine's Facebook question, "How have horses changed your life and made you a better person?"

Kessy and me sharing a quiet moment

While there were many diverse and touching answers folks shared to that question, a few brought tears to my eyes, "They taught me patience," was the overwhelming number one response. If we add to that number the folks who said things like, their horses taught them to look inside themselves, take time to enjoy the day, and slow down to understand, that number would rise considerably.

It is interesting to note so many could learn that simple and very important life lesson from their horses. But it tells us more. It tells us what high quality of teachers horses truly are. By their nature horses are patient, ever willing to endure our impatience until we learn to slow down and hear them. Then they are there for us, ready to guide us into the realm of simple understanding.

Patience and horses – to some those two can't go together. Especially today in our every busy, impatient world. To those folks I'd like to suggest, give it a try. Expect nothing except that you allow your horse to move into your spirit, touch your heart and guide you to a place where you can truly see the world's magnificence, and the beauty and wisdom of your teacher. When we find true patience, harmony, things are accomplished in less time. And to a higher refinement.

Gitty Up ~ Dutch Henry

"Get Out Of The Way And Let Your Horse Learn"

Howdy Friends,

 

We've all been guilty of over-correcting our horses. We've all been guilty of demanding too much, too soon, too … enthusiastically. Thank God, and the Spirit Of The Horse, our horses have the patience to deal with us, our miscues, over stimulation, impatience and if I may risk saying it, our ignorance.

I understand training, trainers, lessons, competing, and all the human things about horse and people relationships. And yes I understand the benefits and need for clear and consistent messaging, demeanor and posture. What I worry about is all the training, schooling and drilling tends to make us sometimes, and for some folks a lot of the time, overcorrect. My mentor Diane Sept makes a valid point often, "If we are not consistent we are not being fair to the horse." I get that, too. But … 

We've all seen people standing with their horse on lead, and when the horse dances and fidgets, the lead gets yanked and the person yells for the horse to, "Stand Still!" The horse reacts, jerking its head high, stands still for a second – then dances again – then gets corrected in the same fashion again, and the correction follows again, and on and on it goes. And most likely this is the case every time that team goes away and stands together.

I submit yelling for the horse to "stand still" while tugging on the lead is what I call, "overcorrecting." It short circuits the learning curve, does not allow the horse to learn. And I'll wager it is not as Diane says, "consistent" with how that person normally carries themselves. Oh yes, it most likely IS consistent with how that person acts in that same situation, every time, and so the obliging horse is taught to dance, every time it is expected to "stand still."

Kessy and me

So how do you fix that? Easy. Get out of the way, and let your horse learn to stand quietly with you, all day if that's what you want. Just do it. Simply stand still, don't over correct, in fact, don't correct at all. Choose to encourage instead. Sure some horses are nervous, even scared sometimes, and are going to be high headed and fidgety by their nature. But how does barking at them, or jerking the lead rope help reassure them? It can't. If we want them to feel safe and confident standing by us, we must exude safety and confidence, so they can mirror it.

It may take a number of weeks to accomplish this, especially if there are old habits to break, but simply standing with your horse, calmly and politely, on gravel or anywhere they won't be tempted by grass, hold the lead with your hand close to the halter at first, and just stand with her. Encourage her to be confident, self aware. Allow them to look around, if she moves, politely put her back where you want her. Don't correct, or say, no. I like to use the word "stand." Not whoa. We are in fact standing, not whoaing. Just do it with smiles, happy and support, and after a while it'll be second nature for both of you.

I only used the "standing still with me" as an example, but there are many other times where we might be tempted to over correct or interfere with our horse's movement or expression. Ultimately, yes we have goals we want achieve, things we want to do with our horses and we need to direct them, teach them, but try not always correcting. Try going with a mistake, see where it takes you. Follow your horse's spirit and not your blueprint. You can, and must, come back to your blueprint, but go with the flow, too. You will most certainly be given a gift.

Let me leave with another example of not correcting and receiving a gift. I was in a spell when my back and legs were not good; those spells come and go, and in fact goof up my riding. Kessy and I were on the trail, had been a while and even though we did our pre-ride exercises, she was a bit frisky and gaiting down the trail with glee, and some speed. She kept asking for the canter, finally I said, "Okay," and she went for it. I sit the canter, and feeling as I did that day, I couldn't keep my balance and in her attempt to stay under me she kept bouncing in and out of canter. I was laughing, and did give a slight tap on the rein to help her, but didn't correct her, I was just going to go with it and wait for her to come back to her running walk. What she did was discover, to the surprise of both of us, she has a smooth and delicious ground covering rack! Before that moment neither of us knew it!

I wonder, had I corrected her, forced the canter, or the running walk, would we have discovered her awesome rack?

Of course there are times when correcting is necessary, and in fact the proper thing to do, but giving things a chance to work out, perhaps blossom in ways we aren't even aware of, is important too.

Gitty Up ~ Dutch

Horses Have A Pause Button

Howdy Folks,

Horses do have a pause button, and they'll push it themselves. Sure sometimes we push it for them, but however it gets pushed, it works. And they pause. Sometimes they pause a little, sometimes they pause a lot. Pausing is an important part of being a horse. Perhaps some people should get their own pause buttons, but that's a story for another day … Why are pause buttons good for horses? And how can we understand them?

So much is said about the "flight mode" of horses, frankly I think that's overstated, overworked, but that's just me. You bet that fight mode is imperative to the safety of horses' survival, but don't we all kind of get that? When confused, scared, or just unsure, in kicks the fight mode and off they go, or at least they try to, if we don't stop them. Pretty self explanatory.

But the pause button. Now there's an interesting, and far too often, misunderstood intricate part of the horse's make up. Often mistaken for stubbornness, refusal, laziness, uncooperativeness, attitude and a whole pile of equally negative and unkind thoughts and projections, the pause button is exactly the opposite. It is total cooperation, willingness and eagerness. How could I say that? You ask. – They are totally eager and willing to cooperate in helping us to understand communication.

A horse will push the pause button when they don't understand, need to make sense of a cue, a request or situation. That pause is their request for more time to process the situation. It is not a request for more and stronger cues. In fact, more and stronger cues at this time will most often turn the polite pause into something negative such as refusal, or misunderstanding. It is important to allow the pause button all the time it needs to do its job.

"But you must keep the pressure on," Some say. In my mind those who say that are very wrong. Remember the flight mode? Too much pressure invites the fight mode, even if they can't flee. That's a hair's breadth from "shut out" mode. I believe it is wrong to pressure a horse beyond its comfort zone. Rather we should keep the horse well within its comfort zone, a safe distance back from their limits, and grow from there. When your horse pushes her pause button, back off, give her time to process – then when she's ready, gently cue again.

Kessy's smiling eye

The remarkable thing about the pause button is, the more keenly tuned into it we become, the shorter the pauses become. And the fewer times your horse will push it. Go ahead, give it a try, allow you horse to teach you to honor the pause, you'll be amazed at the softness you'll both enjoy.

Gitty Up ~ Dutch Henry

"Kessy Helps Me Find Her Fifth Gait!"

Howdy Folks,

The 17th of this month, Kessy and I will celebrate three years of being a team. Over these 36 months we've traveled many little journeys, enjoyed plenty of excitement, endured a few disappointments, and had lots of fun and learning together. Yes, Kessy is a great student, and like all horses a great teacher, too. While I try to help her to learn, she patiently, and sometimes not so patiently, teaches me too. We've enjoyed Coffee Clutch together nearly every morning. We've hit the trail 258 times for a total of 321 hours and if you figure 4 miles an hour that's 1,288 miles. All those miles are barefoot miles. We've spent hours together in her bedroom writing stories. On May 31, Kessy will be 10 years old. Kessy is half Saddlebred half Tennessee Walker.

Kessy & me writing a story

 In our first months she could not understand that standing still to mount at the mounting block was both correct and polite, and also healthier for both of us. With patience and consistency she learned to not only stand still to mount and dismount, but recently when this leg and left side of mine developed its silly issue, she learned to stand perfectly for me at the new mounting platform. My mounts and dismounts are not a thing of beauty, but her patience is.

Kessy stands patiently at the mounting platform

 Before coming to me, Kessy had never been on the trail, and of course never on the trail alone, which is how we always went, until recently. At first she would not go 100 yards down the trail. Thankfully at that time, mounting and dismounting was not so hard for me, and I'd get off and lead her. For a while I did a lot of leading.

Being Tennessee Walker, Kessy is a gaited horse, but at first she did not have the stamina, muscles or condition to maintain her stunning "Running Walk" for more than a few yards. I had felt it the first time I rode her, but as I say, only for a few strides.

In my opinion, the most important thing you can do to do to help a horse learn, and develop, the Running Walk is miles, and miles, and miles of "just plain walking." And we did that. We also practiced the exercises my mentor Diane Sept taught me, which are so very important to develop correct body posture and carriage; softness, off the forehand, and never inverted. We also, with the help of Larry Wilson Saddles, made sure her saddle fit her "Perfectly."

Kessy loves her exercises. Here she demonstrates the "Belly Lift"

Today Kessy can amble along in her "variable speed" Running Walk for miles, with the reins laying on the saddle, her head held level and bobbing gently in time to the 4 beat gait.  Even with my "not always so balanced posture," Kessy maintains her balance and stride. Soft, smooth, powerful.

So we were thrilled in the knowledge that Kessy has 4 gaits, a Walk, a Running Walk, a Trot and a Canter. Her canter is as smooth as any I've ever sat, and she "was" able to transition from Running Walk to Canter without a hitch. Her smooth transition was possible, I believe, because she had become so balanced and self aware that she could simply maintain her posture and softly shift gears.

But then something happened. When my left side did whatever it did, I developed a problem sitting her canter. Her canter didn't change, Kessy didn't change, I did. My balance just goes away and Kessy has a hard time helping me find it in the canter. And yes, I do mean "helping me" … She'll try for her canter, I get all crooked, twisted, and Kessy will begin to Trot, change leads and even crowhop (very gently) trying to balance me. But I'm no help.

Then two weeks ago something really neat happened. I was trying to better my "canter seat" and Kessy was trying to "balance" me, in and out of canter and trot … 

All at once she balanced herself and me in a Rack! WOW!! Soft, Smooth and quick! Wow Kessy, where did that come from? …  A Rack is a 4 beat gait, like the Running Walk, but with shorter and quicker strides. It's delightful to sit and I was immediately balanced.

There is no doubt in my mind that all the miles of riding at a walk, developing her balance, and her Running Walk, the saddle fit and the exercises, made it possible for Kessy to find her Rack. But holy cow this is too wonderful! … In Kessy's attempt to carry me safely, at the speed I was asking for, she helped me discover her FIFTH GAIT … A stunning Rack!

Now just as in the beginning with her Running Walk, she can only stay in the Rack a short distance, but over the coming months, together we will learn this too. She needs to develop the muscles to maintain this new gait, and I need to "hear" what she is saying to help her. And Kessy, I am listening.

Saturday leading Kessy and me on another adventure

I share this story not only because Kessy and I think it's exciting, but to encourage everyone to allow their horse the freedom and the time it takes to discover new things together. Because of all the things we did together the past 3 years, Kessy was determined to find a way to carry me, at the speed I asked for, in a way she could balance us both. I believe it is as simple as that.

Gitty Up ~ Dutch Henry