How To Feel Your Horse

Truly discover how to feel your horse, and feel with your horse so you can be the best horse rider that you want to be...

Have you ever had an instructor say to you in words, or tell you, what to feel with your body?

...or how to feel something?

...or tell you where to place body parts - put your legs here, put your arms here?

Well, you're not the only one, because for all my love of horses and riding, I too have struggled with this and struggled a lot with the aids causing overwhelm. 

And somehow I always struggled to find the inspiration that the aids is something that I really needed to focus on.

It was really difficult for me to be inspired about the idea that if your horse doesn't respond, you've got to get a lot louder. They're just not being obedient. They're not doing what you want them to do.

I want to share with you where I first really discovered how to feel my horse.

I recently pulled out my notes from a clinic with Ray Hunt in 1996 and this is a quote from him, directly from his mouth, onto my piece of paper...

"If we feel of her and we feel for her, we both dance together."     - Ray Hunt

This hit a chord with me, I wanted to learn a lot more from Ray. And so I did study with Ray for quite a few years. I took notes, rode with him, but still this quote was elusive, even though he was the first horse person who confirmed with me that riding was more than just the aids and obedience to the aids.

When I read my notes from 1996, I realized that's where I really started to look deeper into how to feel and how a rider feels their horse.

Chris and her horse Merlin

I'm going to break this down for you so it's clear to you and to your horse...even if riding has been portrayed as a great big mystery to you.

And I know you may be thinking at this point in time, 

"I'm not gonna be able to get there", or "I don't have the time to do this", or "I don't have the money. I don't have the ability, the space, I don't have the discipline"...

...whatever it is, fill in the blank of what you don't have that's holding you back.

This is what most rider do, sadly.

And this is precisely why I developed my Harmony For the Horse Program.  Because all that is lacking for many riders is the right kind of support, so, I wanted a system for riders where they could learn for themselves, how to feel thier horse.

CLICK HERE to discover more about our Program, so you can finally ride with confidence, flow, harmony and ease.

Three Reasons Why I Created This Program To Make It Simple For Riders:

1.  So that riders could relate to the horse in the horse's own language.  For example, when your horse looks at you does your horse read you, watch you, feel you, and then go back and say, "I know exactly what she's asking of me. I'm confident I'm clear, I'm able."

2.  So that riders could have a way to educate themselves and have an epiphany away from the horse way before they get on the horse or working with the horse in-hand.  This is a place where you can start to feel and you can really deeply start to feel your horse. And you know what, there's an added benefit to this... it creates an immense trust between the two of you.

It builds trust faster than anything else, because you are connecting through the truth of the horse, his/her movement. When you connect with the horse through movement, and through your intuition, and through your feelings, you've connected with the horse on their truth.

3.  So that riders have a way to describe their movement process that is unique to you and your horse. (You can't get this anywhere else except from our program, or from me, or in my private group).

It's not an instructor, telling you what to do; where to place your legs, where to place your hands, etc.

Instead, you're using the physics of your body, and the physics of your horse's body, uniting the two of them in a perfect and very effective, efficient movement way.

Another benefit is that it spills over into your everyday life.  Our students notice that it's not just about riding, it's about everyday life,

"How do I do the dishes?" or "How do I sit in the car?" or "How do I walk?"

SO HOW DO WE DO THIS?

I has to be relatable to the horse.

We guide you to talk to your horse through the truth of the horse, using your intuition, your feelings, what you feel in your heart, and what you feel in your movement.

How that comes across to the horse is all very important.

... with Liberty, it can be In-Hand, lunging, or it can be riding your horse.

Focus #1. Your Body

Once we get in tune with our bodies, and we can see how our bodies are really functioning from our spine, from our whole body connecting and uniting we realize how we move from our body first.

We do use our hands, we do use our arms when we work with our horses, but they're an addition.They're just a very effective addition to our bodies.That's where it all starts. And when we start with our students we use an amazing, fabulous tool, to help our riders to actually hone in on what their movement patterns are.

With this tool that we are using to help you, we're dealing with physics. You can't pretend? What connections you have with your body are what you've got. And its truth.

Focus #2. Seek Balance

The holy grail of riding for our horses, for us, is balance. We are continually seeking balance.

And I want to relate this to dance partners. I like to do that because I am a previous dancer. If you had a dance partner who was out of balance, and you were out of balance, how do you think that would end up? 

Do you think someone who is out of balance could then help a dance partner who is also out of balance.  Somebody has to be in balance in order to help the other being.

We teach you ultimately about balance, so you can help your horse.

It's going to be different for me than what it is for somebody else. It's not going to be the same.  I'm not going to tell you words on how you are supposed to feel yourself balancing. It's going to be unique to you.

Focus #3. Keep It Simple

This movement process for riders also needs to be very simple.

Because in order to maintain something, in order to sustain it, it needs to be simple. It can't be complicated.

And what are the aids and the application of the aids?... they're complicated, it's very complicated.

How can a human being possibly keep all of that in mind, and keep track of what their horse is doing underneath them?  And perhaps keep track of an instructor telling them words that they're supposed to take in, change their body, listen to their horse.  It's absolutely impossible. It's just not physically, it's not humanly possible, to be able to do that with our brains and our nervous systems and have the right timing with our horses!

Complicated is not going to work.  Our methodology is simple and gets immediate results.

With our Ride The Rebound™ system, you can't help but learn about yourself and how you move.  It's not something that you can choose to do differently. You can't help but learn.

But, as with anything worthwhile doing, it doesn't mean that it's easy, but it is very simple.

You're building good, pure movement for yourself.  It's soft and easy movement that doesn't cause fatigue.

And along the lines of being simple, it's very easy for you to keep the commitment to yourself with this process, which is also very important.  

We start small, just like with our horses.  It may be just one small step, but done correctly, that's an amazing win!  That's all you take, you don't ask for more.

So you get the commitment, you get the understanding, and you build from there.

It's like a promise. It's like a promise to yourself, that "I'm going to do this for myself, I'm going to learn this", "I'm going to do this for my horse" and it's a promise to your horse that then the horse promises back to you.  

Until you promise it to yourself, your horse can't possibly promise it back to you.

And the horses, once they know that you have this intent; you're using your intuition, you're connecting with their truth, you have a promise and a commitment, they will willingly promise back to you.

Otherwise, it's not sustainable. Doing the aids and the obedience to the aids is just not sustainable.

So now become a part of the magic... and it really does become magic...

CLICK HERE to discover how to finally FEEL YOUR HORSE without overwhelm and confusion.

Here's some of the 'magic' that our students are experiencing...

They get the feeling, and then they go to their horse, and it feels like magic, the expression on some of their faces is just unbelievable, where they're like,

"Oh, it's working, it's happening." 

"I'm not doing a lot, all I'm doing is focusing on the feeling and how I know my body moves".

So part of the magic is this deep process. We go deeper and deeper into this to help you to get very, very crystal clear on your own movement and communication. Then we go very deep into your horse's movement and help you to get very crisp, crystal clear on your horse's movement.

And yes, our students, watch videos.  But then the real magic happens is when we get to ask you questions that help you to explore yourself more, and help you to explore your own body more.

So it's not us telling you what to do, or it's not the application of the aids to you or to your horse. It gets into the point where it's a deep exploration. And how we do that is we ask you very pivotal questions. And this is where it makes all the difference.

Nobody can do this on their own. 

If you want support to find how you feel your horse so you can be confident, joyful and on top of the world with your horse... CLICK HERE to schedule a call with us!

MORE RESOURCES TO HELP YOU BUILD YOUR DREAM HORSE

*How To Connect With Your Horse’s Intelligence

*How To Communicate With Your Horse?