sandratien schreef op donderdag 11 januari 2007, 17:08:


This one is all yours Sandra

Vicky Verreycken schreef op donderdag 11 januari 2007, 17:14:


Nikskeu

Horses are magnificent creatures who offer us a unique window into our souls
and an opportunity to develop them, but we can’t ever lose sight of the fact that, ultimately, they are
potentially very volatile and dangerous and they look to us for leadership. That means that while we may
ride them into collection and travel a long way with them on the journey, there’s one more step the human
has to take. If we want the type of leadership I’ve been talking about, there’s only one way to convince the
horse to give it to us. Restraints won’t do it, spurs and big, punishing bits won’t do it, bribing them with
carrots won’t do it and trying to communicate with them from the heart on some sort of psychic level won’t
do it. There’s only one pillar this kind of leadership can rest on: the rider’s own integrity.
Becoming a truly well-balanced rider in order to develop the kind of integrity a horse will respond to will
eventually require us to come to grips with our own deepest contradictions. There’s no other way. It’s like
the old joke about what you have to know to teach school: one thing more than the students. Just as we’ve
balanced out predator and prey, we now have to look within and discover how to find balance between our
outward selves and personalities with our inner self, our shadow side. To bring out the very best in our
horses we first need to step into our own inner-round pen and dance with the dark horse that hides deep
within us.