Books with Spirit – Joyfulness between horses and people

This isn’t a trick question and there is no right or wrong answer – although the answer, even just asking the question, could be incredibly important to your relationship with your horse.    We will all answer the question differently, firstly because we are individuals and then because of the different circumstances that we are feeding our horses in.  

So what was my personal answer to this question? 

• I need the whole herd to focus on me at feed time.
• I need the whole herd to be gentle with each other while I am amongst them.
• I need them to go into their individual yards, quietly and wait for me to bring their feeds.
• I need each horse to stand back politely while I put the feed in their buckets.
• I need them to move over when I ask politely with my stick or the piece of rope in my pocket.
• I need them to remember that I am there in the yard whenever I am in the yard. 

click here for the rest of the article.

What is it that is so special about the horse-human partnership/s that you most admire?  What is it that you Just Say YES! to?

This connection and communication course will give you and your horse a whopping boost in the things that count most for you and your horse in your own horse-human partnership. 

You already know how to read your horse, you already have a connection and you already communicate together. 

For most of you reading this though, the communication and the connection are in your sub-conscious mind where you only use it sometimes.  We help you bring the communication and connection to your conscious mind – where you can use it all the time.  

When you learn how to use that connection and communication consciously and deliberately, you can get to wherever it is that you want to be with your horse – oh so much more easily. 

In this short course, we cover the physical ways that your horse communicates – the body language that you can see with your eyes.  Then we cover the mental and emotional ways that your horse communicates with you that is such an eye opener.   

It doesn’t matter what you do with a horse or how you ride, to find this connection and communication useful.   You might just want to be a confident rider with a confident horse.  You might ride English, western or natural or pony club.  You might be an advanced rider or an absolute beginner.  

This communication and connection happens before you even put a halter on.  Bring your horse or use one of ours.  The first day is here at Tanjil South, Saturday 27^th March.  Cost $130.   Each person bring something for the group to share for a convivial lunch together.

Ring me on 03 5160 1481 or email jenny@bookswithspirit. com (take out the space when you email me!) for bookings or more information.

I Just Say YES! to this footage of Carolyn Resnick playing with the young stallion Panadero.  This is not the normal footage of Panadero that you see making the rounds. 

It fits my image of what I Just Say YES! to, because of the obviously beautiful relationship between Carolyn and the horse, because of the way Panadero goes from being playful and expressive, to instantly listening and doing what she asks, because his stride is soft and rhythmic most of the time, his back is elevated most of the time and he is carrying himself beautifully most of the time.  I can just see how this relationship on the ground is going to translate to stunningly beautiful saddle work. Sheer poetry…

Click here for the youtube link

Two months ago I purchased a TB gelding that has all the makings of a stunning perfermance horse.  He is 13 years old,and we know very little about him. I bought him, knowing I was buying a severely shut down, depressed horse. He is the horse I mentioned in the pin worm article. 

I have read through Zen Connection, but haven’t listened to the audio track yet, so I am going from my first impressions.

Gulliver was so shut down, he looked like he had left the building.  His eyes were glazed over and he stared into space.  In the moments when he emerged from his cocoon and he feels safe, it is easy to see he has been trained and knows his stuff.  More often, particularly since his has started to feel better, being out of the cocoon has made him feel vunerable and he verges on the edge of “not so sure”  and  “oh shit’ zones.

He looks like he is always on guard. He has a weird energy about him.  This is a very sad way for him to be.  I also feel he is a kind and generous horse.   I think this horse has given a lot of himself. 

Today I played with some of your ideas from Zen Connection with Horses.  I thought I would look for any relaxation,  him looking at me, and see how we could work with this in the spooky spots in the arena.  Most of all I waited for The Chew.  There were also other signs a blink, a sigh, yawn, chew.

Black, blank staring eyes turned to soft amber enquiring eyes.  He then went from being on guard, to wanting to come to me. He connected. 

Next revelation!  I had taught Gulliver headlowering  to help him relax and he picked it up well, it did help.  Headlowering worked by suppressing the tension, but the tension was still there.  So I waited for the chew like you described.  Yes he was now genuinely in his comfort zone.  So a turning point. 

I will keep you posted on our progress.    Cheers Anne.

Jenny’s comments:

I don’t know about you guys, but I had tears in my eyes reading that bit about his eyes going from blank “to soft amber enquiring eyes”.  One of the saddest things that I see is not the “stuff” that that happens to a horse, but those dead eyes that tell you that this horse is broken.  It is sooo… cool to have a way to come back from that.

Zen Connection with Horses and her own innate talent is what she has used to make this breakthrough.  You have innate talent too, no matter who you are - everyone does.  Zen Connection with Horses, with it’s 8 audio lessons that you download to your MP3 player and take out to your horse, helps you to understand and develop that talent. 

Have you ever wished that you could just magically have a really good “feel” for your horse.  

You can.  Well… not magically, but it seems a bit like that sometimes. 

I had this fabulous instructor who used to yell at me across the arena “stop pulling on that horse.”  And I would swear that I wasn’t pulling at all.  You can fix that one with “feel” too. 

Zen Connection with Horses is not a method of “training” your horse.  The inverted commas are around the word “training”, because if you are a serious rider I expect that you will pretty soon question who is training whom – if you aren’t questioning that already. 

I was going to write an article about “feel”, but very soon realised that it was too big for a short blog – too big for even a long blog. 

“Zen Connection with Horses”, the book with 8 simple audio lessons on an attached CD in MP3 format, is a step by step way of developing “feel” for your horse – exploring and developing how you experience connection with your horse, thus developing how you experience “feel”.  

Then you get to apply that connection – that feel, to whatever it is that you do with your horse.

Click here to rush off to the shop right now, with my personal “love this book or get your money back” guarantee. Or if you need more inspiration, browse around through “readers letters” and “people’s stories” - the buttons are on the right hand side of this page.

It is with heartfelt gratitude to the over 41,000 people out there who, under the pressure of just a few weeks, identified what they don’t want to see in dressage, that we dedicate and announce Just Say YES! – which we guarantee will excite and inspire you.

Just Say YES!  is designed to make all of us think about what is most beautiful between a horse and a person. It is about identifying what is most beautiful to each of us personally and why that is so.  It is about inspiring ourselves and each other to greater heights of excellence in whatever we do with our horses.  

I am proud to collaborate with the magazine, Horses For Life, and with the new Just Say YES!  forum.

We are focussing on visual images for that inspiration – video and photographs that demonstrate to you, that speak to you about all the wonderful and beautiful things that dressage and other areas of horsemanship can be – images that inspire you whenever you look at them – and that you think will inspire others. Images that make you shout “YES!” with excitement, “YES! That’s what I want to see!”    

An essential part of that inspiration is your comments about the images that you send in – your comments about what there is about this image that Just Says YES! to you about the beauty and the poetry that a horse and human can be together. 

41,000 people signed the petition against Rollkur that went to the FEI last week.  41,000 people decided what they DIDN’T want to see. Imagine the power for change when 41,000 plus people focus on what they DO want to see. 

Wow, what a thought… 

Thus, Just Say YES! Is born here today. 

We are looking forward with excitement to this campaign rolling across the world, emphasising all that is positive out there in the horse world and bringing about even more of the excitement and beauty that being with horses can inspire.        

For example I, Jenny Pearce say “YES!” to real collection, “YES!” to strong, rhythmic, powerful, dancing movement and an elevated back through all the paces.  I say “YES!” to an obvious harmonious relationship, “YES!” to a happy horse and ”YES!” to a happy rider.  I say “YES!” to a conscious, joyful connection between horse and person that is reflected in the beauty of what I see. 

I say ”YES!” to a rider who works with their horse at home and in public, with kindness and consideration.  I say “YES!” to a horse whose mental, emotional and physical well-being is important to their human and whose work reflects that and enhances that.  I say “YES!” to all these things on the ground and in the saddle, bareback, bridle-less, bitted, un-bitted, however and wherever I see them. 

You will no doubt want to say “YES!” to something differently to me and differently to the other publishers and horse people who are collaborating on this campaign – in fact I’ll be surprised if you don’t.  Just Say YES! is designed to celebrate those differences. 

But most of all, Just Say YES! is about you – so what do YOU want to say “YES!” to? 

Already there are two places that you can send in your video footage or photos of those things that demonstrate what you want to say “YES!” to. 

Horses For Life has set up a section on their facebook page for you to put up the images that Just Say YES! to you.  Click here for that facebook page. 

Click here for the Just Say YES! forum that has been set up.  It has different categories of horsemanship and is a wonderful opportunity to post and discuss what you think is positive, and beautiful between horse and person.  

Whichever way that you join in, the images will be either a photo or video footage of a horse and person doing some beautiful piece of horse work that you admire.  It could be at the elite level of horsemanship.  It could be a little kid doing something beautiful with their pony.  It may be of yourself and your own horse.  Please don’t forget to say who it is (horse and person) and keep the contact details for them if you have that information, because we may want to ask permission to use these images for an exciting new project that is on the drawing board. 

And most importantly, don’t forget to write what it is about this image that inspires you – and WHY you think this is a truly beautiful piece of work. 

Horses For Life is going to run a competition for the image that best fits what they Say YES! to, with regular prizes of a years subscription to Horses For Life, amongst other things.  

Here on this website, I too am excited to run discussion and competitions and focus on the images that best speak to me about what I want to Just Say YES! to – more about that later! 

It is our wish and desire, that Just Say YES! rolls out all over the world, with joyful positivity – emphasising the vast amount of what is already wonderful and beautiful and positive out there in the horse world and escalating it to engage even more people to new heights of beautiful horsemanship. 

So be encouraged to take this Just Say YES! idea and run with it yourself.  Set up your own websites, your own discussion groups, your own blogs, your own facebook pages – talk about it, laugh about it, be inspired about it, inspire others about it. 

Keep it positive.  Keep it beautiful.  Keep it inspiring.  

And do all that … for the horse and for you.

by Jenny Pearce,  published in Horses For Life

Did you know that 80 % of those who buy a horse have either sold it or are thinking of selling it within the first year?  

Why is this so?

I believe that it is because of a lack of happiness with their horse. 

So what is the cause of this “lack of happiness” with our horse?  And more importantly, what can you do to change it? 

Lack of happiness comes from not dealing with, or not knowing how to deal with, the feelings that come up when we are around our horse – feelings of nervousness, anxiety or plain old fear – or anger or frustration or sadness or whatever.   And not understanding how we can change those feelings. 

“What?” you say, “Do you mean other people feel like that around horses too?”  

You betcha!  (That’s an Aussie expression for a very big YES!)  To varying degrees, all those emotions are a very common experience – mixed up with some of the most amazingly wonderful moments that you could ever imagine. (There has to be some reason that we are not breeding budgies!) 

But mostly our lack of happiness comes from not being safe and not feeling safe.  That is what is causing those emotions in us that seem to be getting in the road of our happiness with our horse. 

Happiness with your horse comes from both horse and person feeling safe, both of you feeling safe, so that you can both enjoy the relationship.     

Now I don’t know if you realise it yet, but I have just given you THE key to really enjoying your horse – the absolutely fundamental key to happiness with your horse and the key also to good horsemanship.  

The people who realise this are enjoying their horses in ways that the rest of the horse world just don’t get yet. 

Well here’s some even better news.  You don’t have to be a great horse man or woman to be able to help you and your horse to be safe and to feel safe.  You don’t have to be a great horse man or woman to have happiness with your horse.  

There are some great people, and programs out there to help you.  I talk about some of them here on this website.  The book and audio lesson set, Zen Connection with Horses, is one of them.  It’s been getting rave reviews from world class horsemen and women and even beginners are getting awesome results – having learned how to find happiness with their horses. 

All my books come with my personal “love this book or get your money back” guarantee.  Browse around the website to People’s Stories and Readers Stories for more inspiration or click here to go to the bookshop now.

Yesterday, in a meeting in Lausanne, the FEI announced their decision that Rollkur and all other forms of aggressive riding is absolutely unacceptable and will be sanctioned from now on.  They said specifically that Rollkur and hyperflexion IS aggressive riding and they said specifically that Rollkur is absolutely unacceptable. 

Like most of the horse world, I was cheering and excited.  So why was I only ecstatic for a short time?  First of all, a friend pointed out that we’ve been at this name change place before, where the FEI just changed the name from rollkur to hyperflexion, and defused the outrage but changed nothing at all for the horses. 

So we are yet to see whether using the words Low Deep and Round will change anything at all for the horses either – or whether it is just a politically astute way to defuse everyone’s outrage. 

Then I realised that something incredibly important was missing from that announcement and because of the missing element, I realised that the FEI has only swept the problem of systematic horse abuse in training under the rug and out of the public eye. 

The FEI did not say a word about changing the way that they judge a dressage test. 

They have the ability to change systematic abuse of horses in training for dressage and they didn’t do it. 

The outrage over the blue tongued horse video happened because what was considered normal in training at home, was filmed in public and posted in public all over the world.  

Now is that good enough for you?  Are you happy for the blue tongued horse to be blue tongued at home out of your sight?  Is out of sight, out of mind OK by you? 

“Goodness me, how can you change what happens out of the public eye?” you ask.  Well if that thought didn’t cross your mind, I’m going to tell you anyway… 

Right now, in dressage, the FEI controlled judges award high competition test scores to horses who move their legs extravagantly but who are not in collection and in fact, cannot even walk properly any more because of the systematic muscular–skeletal damage caused by the training methods that are used both at home and warming up for a competition. 

And the FEI didn’t change that.  They made absolutely no mention at all of changing the method of judging, bringing the judging back into line with their own rulebook.  

So the reality is, that while they reward crippled horses who can no longer walk, with high scores, and horses who have extravagant leg movement but are no longer physically able to hold real collection for longer than moments at a time, then the FEI are rewarding the systematic abuse of horses, even if most of the people using this technique don’t even realise how abusive it really is.  

The abuse just won’t happen so publicly any more. 

I don’t know about you, but at this reality I got all depressed.  So what can we do to change that systematic abuse of horses in dressage then? 

So here’s the big deal, folks -  the anti-rollkur campaign needs to die.  

Don’t have a fit, I am not suggesting that we give up.  Not in the slightest.   I believe that there are times when we have to get passionate about what we DON’T want, in order to change to what we DO want. 

The trouble is, the very nature of the anti-rollkur campaign makes the people who are using rollkur defensive.  And defensive people rarely change the way that you want them to change.

The “anti” nature of the rollkur horse abuse campaign has served its purpose in identifying very clearly for more than 41,000 people, in just a few weeks, what we DON’T want.  So now it’s time to identify what we DO want and work towards that in an exciting and much more powerful way.  

Being “anti” something is not a useful way to change things.  Just like in our work with our horses, when we fight something, whether we “win” or “lose”, we are creating a resistance somewhere else.  In our horse training, when we resist our horse, we simply create a new problem that pops up somewhere else.  

Everywhere in horses and in life generally, when we resist something, when we fight something, when we are “anti” something – then we simply create a new problem that pops up somewhere else.  

Well guess what, folks, in the midst of all that reality that we’ve just been exposed to, I have some seriously good news – good news that has completely lifted up my spirits and I hope it lifts up your spirits too. 

Just like we can do it differently with our horses, we can do it differently here and make it possible for a world-wide movement of beautiful dressage to blossom – beautiful dressage that we DO want to see.  

A bunch of amazing people are working behind the scenes – right now, as I write this article – to bring you an exciting and incredibly positive project that will help us bring about the changes that we would like to see in dressage or in the horse world generally.  

Instead of focussing on what we “don’t want”, this project will be about focussing on what we DO want – focussing on what inspires us, focussing on our own personal ideas of the beauty that horses and people can be together. 

41,000 people, in just a few weeks of action, signed the petition that went to the FEI to change rollkur.   So in the midst of the reality of the decision made in Lausanne, use the power of what you DON’T want, to think about what it will be like to have more than 41,000  people working in a positive way to spread the beauty of what dressage can be.  

Wow, what a thought… 

So watch this space!!!! 

Article by Jenny Pearce and published in Horses For Life magazine Feb 2010.

This article has been re-written -  see the  following post.   I apologise for my energy being off!

Yeah, yeah, sorry everyone, I wasn’t around last time the FEI pulled this re-naming Rollkur stunt. 

Apparently, last time the FEI looked at Rollkur, a few years ago, they changed the name of what the riders were doing, called it “hyperflexion” and said that the most famous horse trained like this at the time was a ”happy athlete”.  Gee, I wonder what video of  crippled horses they were looking at to think that any Rollkured horse is a happy athlete?

If they think that re-naming Rollkur and hyperflexion AGAIN and calling it Low Deep and Round will satisfy 41,000  people who are outraged about Rollkur, I think the FEI might be in for a bit of a surprise.   Renaming it defused the outrage last time, but since nothing changed, I don’t think that tactic will work twice.  We might be naive (yeah well.. it’s really me… I might be naive… in fact sometimes I even enjoy being naive…) but we are not stupid.

The FEI are hoping to defuse 41,000 people’s outrage by eliminating the abuse that we see have been seeing in public in the warm up arenas.   By eliminating the PUBLICLY seen abuse, they are hoping to defuse this public relations nightmare. 

So how can the FEI be responsible for horse abuse that is not in public, abuse that goes on at home in training? Is it unreasonable for me to ask them to take that responsibility?

I believe that the FEI are responsible, when their judges systematically reward horses with high competition scores, who are showing signs of Rollkur abuse – the very thing that they have described as absolutely unacceptable.  And they have the ability to dramatically reduce that abuse by not rewarding the results of that abuse in the competition arena.   

I believe that the FEI have both the ability and the responsibility to change horse abuse wherever they see it.

But the big key that this is all just a public relations excercise to a public relations nightmare, is that there was absolutely no mention whatsoever of educating judges to look for the physically obvious signs of the horses being abused at home – the horses with extravagant leg movement who cannot walk or hold collection for more than a few moments at a time.  This is Grand Prix and so many of the top scoring horses are getting around with hollow backs and are not collected? 

Hollow backs are painful, physically damaging to the horse and shout out that we need to make our horse more comfortable and less fearful about what we are doing – not at all what I expect from world class competition.

It’s a little difficult to go from this let down to the new project that we think will make wonderful things possible in dressage and horses generally.  But I know that this let down makes this new project even more important.  It won’t be long now, so keep watching this space for details…

Today, in a meeting in Lausanne, the FEI announced their decision that Rollkur and all other forms of aggressive riding is absolutely unacceptable and will be sanctioned from now on.  They said specifically that Rollkur and hyperflexion IS aggressive riding and they said specifically that Rollkur is absolutely unacceptable.

The decision was unanimous. 

41,000 signatures were on Gerd Heuschman’s petition presented to Princess Haya – what a great effort! 

Well done everyone, Power to the People.  Power to the Horse. 

There may well be some wounds to heal from such a vigorous campaign with very strong opinions on both sides.

Watch this space for news about a lovely and very exciting collaborative project that will harness all that energy into something wonderful and positive.

Congratulations everyone!

Click here for the Youtube link to the FEI’s announcement.