dressagenaturally

I recently presented at an event in Italy called Compartiamo Masterclass.

It was me and 7 other professionals.

In my first session I did, well - Nothing.
(Pretty gutsy to do in front of a few hundred people and peers I respect)

One of the participants in my Nothing demonstration was a stallion who had a fair amount of tension and was quite excitable. His owner held tension, too.

By the end of the presentation he was standing with his head down, yawning, and his owner had her arm over his back and resting on one leg.

It was a result that would have been impressive if I 𝙝𝙖𝙙 done a `special-magical-fancy technique`.... Instead I could only take credit for creating the space of Nothing.

I wanted to demonstrate the power of offering calmness and spaciousness.

I also wanted to demonstrate the power of ego-less training.

Too many times I see horses be put through the ringer for the sake of a demonstration of the professional`s techniques.

Here`s the thing - The idea behind starting with Nothing is the recognition that we humans are causing a lot (if not all) of the problems horses are having.

We choose to put them in a situation.

We choose to ask them to do something.

We have an expectation.

The most powerful training technique is to acknowledge this, and find a new starting point.

Own your role in your horse`s problems.

Find the easiest way for your horse to feel at ease.

Start there.

That doesn`t mean you should feel bad about yourself and go hide, just acknowledge the reality of the moment and do your best to minimize the stress.

It`s not about avoidance.
it`s about finding the ease-iest way forward.

In the next session we did do 𝙎𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜 and had a really nice result, too 🤗

Thank you, @gessicanotaroreal , it was fun playing with you and your beautiful stallion, and Thank you, @ic.photography.00 for the photos.

𝗧𝗼 𝘀𝗲𝗲 𝗮 𝘃𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗼 𝗼𝗳 𝗮𝗻𝗼𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝗹𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗼𝗻 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗜 𝘂𝘀𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 `𝗡𝗼-𝗧𝗲𝗰𝗵𝗻𝗶𝗾𝘂𝗲" 𝗧𝗲𝗰𝗵𝗻𝗶𝗾𝘂𝗲 𝗴𝗼 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗩𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗼 𝗖𝗹𝗮𝘀𝘀𝗿𝗼𝗼𝗺 (𝗟𝗜𝗡𝗞 𝗜𝗡 𝗕𝗜𝗢) 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘀𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗵 𝗳𝗼𝗿 `𝗡𝗼 𝗧𝗲𝗰𝗵𝗻𝗶𝗾𝘂𝗲`