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So, what the heck is going on, why do you feel so horrible?
How we feel and act from moment to moment depends on the
pictures we are making in our imagination. For instance, when I
ask you, what colour is your horse? What does his/her stable
door look like? In order to answer these questions your
imagination brought up memories and began to make pictures. It's
similar with sounds and voices- your mind reconstructs them so
you can "hear" them again.
Trying to stop your thoughts through positive thinking forces
them into your subconscious. Now your physical body is starting
to respond to the subconscious by creating physical symptoms,
such as: feeling sick, increased blood pressure, and an
increased respiration rate. No wonder you feel sick, numb,
jittery and you can't breath- you are dealing with the physical
ramifications of your positive thinking and in no fit state to
impart confidence to your horse in ANY situations! Even if you
don’t suffer from nerves, most horses have the ability to wind
their rider around their little front hoof, making them see
red, feel guilty or want to give up.
HOW TO STOP THIS CYCLE OF JITTERS AND FAILURE AND SPEND QUALITY
TIME WITH YOUR HORSE.
Many years ago I was having a lesson with a well-known trainer
renowned for his impatience and yelling. Knowing this I set
myself up mentally by being very precise and controlled. As the
lesson progressed panic started to seize me because my horse
wasn’t responding to his instruction. Eventually I was so
hampered with nerves my mind just went numb! Suddenly the
trainer bellowed, "THAT'S IT!" I experienced first relief and
then frustration. What had I done and how was I going to
reproduce it?
After many days of reflection it dawned on me that the "That's
it!" moment only arrived because I had fried my brains to such
an extent with positive thinking and trying too hard it had lost
it’s strength and hold over me. In that momentary lapse of
thinking the sensitivity of my feelings were free to respond to
my horse. More importantly I discovered that if I switched off,
“channel me,” and focused on how my horse was moving, my mind
went quiet leaving me to enjoy the “That’s it” moments more and
more. - I had "come to my senses" stopped straining MENTALLY
and pleased a very demanding trainer.
You try it now. Think of a challenging ride, and allow yourself
to relive all of those horrible feelings of stress. Now tune
into the background sound around you. Can you hear the humming
of a refrigerator, distant traffic noise or birds singing? Rub
your fingers along your shirt, or your jodhpurs, or a chair and
feel all the textures. Look at the colours under your
fingertips. Can you hear the sound of your fingers moving over
the cloth? Hmmm... What happened to your stressful thoughts?
NOW TRY IT WHILE RIDING IT WILL NOT ONLY CALM YOUR THOUGHTS IT
WILL ALSO IMPROVE YOUR FEEL AND STRAIGHTNESS.
Because your horse is continually responding to your body
language, your tone of voice and the emotional signals you are
transmitting to him, changes in your posture, breathing, muscle
tension and even facial expression affect him. You are
constantly letting your horse know how to react to you by the
way you feel on his back. By mentally tensing up and exerting
more control you loose 80% of your communication and feel.
Caught up in your head- replaying old memories- you miss out on
quality time and enjoyment you could be spending with your
horse.
Are you sitting centrally over your horse’s back
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INCREASING YOUR SENSE OF FEEL |
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1.Before you set off on a ride,
or work in the arena, with the help of your friend, place
tape on your back, your horse’s dorsal line and your saddle
as we have in the photo. Then ask your friend to ride behind
you, or film you from the corner of the arena, so they can
give you feed back on where your spine is sitting in
relation to your horse’s spine and the saddle. Do this
exercise in walk, trot and canter. Notice if the tape on the
horse’s dorsal line goes out of alignment with the tape on
the back of the saddle and the tape on the rider’s spine.
It’s good to make notes. Do the same for your friend, and
compare your findings. You may be surprised? |
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2. Begin to sense your seat-bones. Imagine
them as little seat feet supporting your upper body. Where
are they in relation to your horse’s
spine?
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One either side of his spine?
To the left of centre?
To the right of centre?
Correctly placed one on either side. |
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3. Sense if you have more weight on one
seat-bone than the other?
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Left
Right
Weight is equal |
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Choose something in your surroundings to look at as
if for the first time.
What shape is it?
What texture is it?
What Colour is it?
How many different varieties of trees can you see?
1
2
3
More than 3
How do the colour and shape of their leaves?
Describe the horizon line
How far away would you say it was
Do you normally look closely at all the above when you ride?
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Tune into the background sounds all around you.
Can you hear any birds singing? How many different birds- songs
can you hear?
1
2
3
More than 3
Can you hear your horse’s hooves beating the ground?
Can you hear distant traffic noise?
Yes
No
Now and again
Never
Can you hear the wind rustling the leaves on the trees?
Yes
No
Now and again
Never
Can you hear the distant hum of traffic noise?
Yes
No
Now and again
Never
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STEP TWO:
I would like to introduce to you a way of tapping away negative
thoughts and emotions that WILL clear stubborn thoughts that
refuse to go away when you try and come to your senses. This
technique is known as TFT (thought field therapy) and was
discovered by Roger Callahan. PhD. In my opinion it is the best
and quickest cure for phobias, anxiety, anger and trying too
hard. Anyone can learn this technique and apply it instantly.
Millions of people worldwide use TFT to relieve emotional
distress in just a few minutes.
Using the exercise below you will experience the power of TFT,
as your negative emotion vanishes without a trace. Suppressed
negative emotions disrupt the body’s internal energy flow,
causing psychological upheaval that sabotages your emotional
well- being. I have worked with literally thousands of riders
using TFT and this, coupled with STEP TWO below, will release
your negative thoughts and give you what most endurance riders
want - quality time in nature with their horse.
Here are
the major TFT tapping centres:
Start by thinking about something that is worrying you. Hold
that thought in your mind and rate it on a scale of 1 to 10. 10
being the worst scenario - then write it down.
Hold that thought in your mind while you follow the sequence
below:
Use two fingers of one hand to tap the spot at the beginning of
the eyebrow. Tap 5 times firmly and gently, not nearly hard
enough to make it hurt or bruise, but solidly enough to
stimulate the energy flow in your system.
Tap five times under the eye, again tap firmly, but not hard
enough to cause pain
Tap solidly several times under the arm 4 inches directly below
the arm pit with ridged fingers.
Tap the collar bone points 5 times
Tap the little finger spot 5 times
Tap the index finger spot 5 times
Write down where you are now on a scale of 1 to 10 if you are
more than 1
Tap the gamut spot here on the back of your hand continually all
the way through the next 9 steps
1. Open your eyes
Close them
Open them and point them down to the left
Point the eyes down to the right Whirl the eyes in a circle in one direction
Whirl the eyes in a circle in the opposite direction. Rest the
eyes.
Hum a few bars of any tune aloud
Count aloud 1-5
Hum the tune again
If your score is still not down to 2 repeat again.
To ensure the improvements you have made are complete, perform
the floor-to-ceiling eye roll (when your score is 2 or lower):
Hold your head level and move your eyes down. Then begin tapping
the gamut spot as you slowly roll your eyes upwards.
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