HORSE MANAGEMENT NEWSLETTER AND MORE!!!
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Topics in this issue:
1) Feature: Filming with Mark Rashid
2) Recommended products and services: Worcester noseband
3) Questions and answers: Horse in college?
4) Recommended books, videos, and CD-ROMs: Robert Vavra's new DVD
5) Horsey Humor:
6) Free item exchange

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Feature: Filming with Mark Rashid
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by Stormy May

Our filming for the Path of the Horse documentary kicked off inauspiciously
on the first day of summer under the gently rising sun in Campion, Colorado.
Barn chores were starting as the students attending Mark Rashid's clinic
mindfully raked paddocks, filled waters, and tossed hay to the expectant
herd of black angus cattle. Each person seemed to be fully absorbed in
their activity, no chatter or small talk was to be heard. A quad pulling a
utility trailer drove up, flanked by dogs anxiously awaiting to be assigned
a job. Mark stepped off the quad and grabbed a rake as his students
gathered around the newly formed manure pile and everyone began tossing
manure into the trailer. This was the last day of a week-long clinic and
everyone seemed to have formed a team despite being from areas as diverse as
Arizona, Colorado, California, and England.

As the day progressed, things seemed to flow easily from cleaning, to
planning the day, to lessons, lunch, and then more lessons. Each person had
their own tasks and Mark would move from one to the next offering
suggestions, usually in the form of parables or observations aimed at
getting the person to see what was going on from a new perspective; the
horse's perspective.

If someone had just dropped in, they probably wouldn't have realized that
what was going on was important enough for people from all over the world to
want to come and be a part of. It was all very subtle, very understated,
and ultimately very enriching. There was no showing off, no daredevil acts,
just quiet, content horses and riders.

Afterwards, we had some time to sit down and interview Mark. Following is
some of what he said.

³I think it used to be at one time about what I can do with the horse, but
itıs not that way for me anymore. For me, thereıs a certain way Iım trying
to go through my life and over the years, thereıs been a shift for me in
that it isnıt about me and the horse, itıs about what the horse is bringing
to to the table that can help me get to where I need to go.

"What do I still need to learn? Everything. I want to do better, not just
with the horses, I want to do better in my life. I donıt really consider
this horse work, I consider this your lifeıs work. I feel like the horses
help me get to where I want to go, not the other way around. Theyıre
already there. I canıt show them anything that would help them get farther
down the road that theyıre already on. I want part of that. I donıt feel
itıs about me so much as what theyıre bringing and Iım trying to get a piece
of that.²

For more information about the Path of the Horse documentary go to:
www.stormymay.com . Next month: Filming with Carolyn Resnick

For those people interested in being part of a discussion group about the
Path of the Horse documentary and putting these principles into action in
your own life, send a blank email to:

pathofthehorse-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

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Recommended products and services: Worcester noseband
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Finally, a truly innovative piece of tack! I generally have an aversion to
nosebands, especially ones designed to clamp a horse's mouth closed, but
this is one that can actually do some good if you're still riding with a
bit.

The Worcester noseband looks like a crank cavesson with a flash, but instead
of a flash strap going below the bit, the straps from the front of the
cavesson fasten to the top of the bit rings. This way, when a rider pulls
on the reins, there is some bit pressure but most of the force is
transferred to the horse's nose. It's a better design than some of the
"combination bits" that are sold as a bit/hackamore combination because most
of those work with a lot of mechanical leverage and make both the bit and
nose actions more severe.

Take a look here:

http://www.stallions-uk.co.uk/products/detail460.htm

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Questions and answers
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Dear Stormy,

My college-aged daughter is thinking of taking a friend's horse with her to
school. The horse just sits around in a paddock all day, nearing 10 years
old, waiting for someone to ride him. (Tho no one has really asked him, I
suppose!) He has issues with being herd bound and he needs lots of
experience with various situations but hey, your take on this might change
our minds! He moves very well and is a smaller sized horse that seems heıd
do well in both English and gymkhana events.

From, A pondering parent...

Dear Pondering parent,

I have no doubt that many horses take their jobs seriously, whether itıs
teaching kids to ride, running cross country courses, or pulling carriages
in the city. Itıs probably similar to how people tend to take their jobs
seriously whether itıs building houses, driving trucks, or fixing computers.
There are a lot of similarities between how we treat our horses and how we
treat ourselves. Now, what if we treated ourselves like we were entrusted
with carrying out the most important task imaginable? How do you think
Gandhi or Mother Teresa looked at themselves, the people and animals around
them, and their place on this earth? How would our lives be different if we
could be attentive to this larger calling? Would we still spend our time
building houses, driving trucks, fixing computers, or is there a larger task
we could be carrying out?

What if we could start by giving the horse the best life possible, one that
they might choose for themselves if they had that right in this world. I
honestly donıt think that many horses would choose to live in the wild, just
like most humans donıt choose to live as cave people anymore. There are
benefits to civilization, we are more or less protected, we know where our
meals are coming from, we have dependable companions and a variety of
entertainments to choose from. Most people have given up something very
valuable for this civilization though, they have given up their greatest
dreams and joys. They have traded their time doing jobs that give them a
paycheck but donıt fulfill their souls. Horses have followed us along this
same path. They have gained a certain security in exchange for giving up
the right to make their own choices and to decide what they want to do at
any particular time, but unlike us, they didnıt get to choose for
themselves.

In this society we treat horses as we feel that we are treated. This is a
recent revelation I have had. We feel that we must fit into society and
earn a living even though it steals precious moments of our lives to do so.
We make the horse earn his living too. We must know on some level that all
the pushing and restricting that takes place during traditional training and
competition isnıt in the horseıs best interest. They do what they need to
do to get along, but itıs not a great joy for them to fit into our idea of
what a horse needs to do in order to earn their keep. We do what we feel we
have to do to get along and somewhere along this path our dreams fall by the
wayside. What if we learned how to listen so closely to the horses that we
could hear their dreams? What if our goals with them became to enable them
to live their dreams, just as we might want to enable the dreams of our
children? What if in enabling the dreams of others, we give ourselves
permission to live our own dreams?

What if we could turn this paradigm on its ear? What if we didnıt settle
for exchanging our time on earth for a paycheck, for survival? What if we
lived our dreams first and figured out the details later? If we canıt do
this for ourselves yet, what about doing it with our horses? What if we
could give them permission to choose what they want to do (or not do) and
started to listen to them so closely that the best part of their day was
when we came out and played with them? What if by giving our horses this
life, we could begin to give permission for us to choose it also for
ourselves?

Iıve been a bit secluded in my new ways of being with horses, trying to
minimize my exposure to ³traditional² methods so that I can really learn to
listen to the horses for myself. I had an interesting experience today when
the vet came out to float my horsesı teeth. I had the vetıs assistant hold
my pony Sofi for a few minutes while I was searching for an extension cord.
Now, Sofi admittedly has some tendencies towards aggression. This was a big
issue that made me realize I had to change the way I was doing things about
a year ago. Normally, when a pony lays her ears back and starts lunging at
you with her teeth bared, a trainer will quickly lash back and either hit
the pony with the leadrope, a whip, a belly kick, or whatever is handy.
This will temporarily show your ³dominance² and curb the behavior but it
does nothing to get to the root of the cause, which in Sofiıs case is a
feeling of insecurity and mistrust. The assistant was snapping the leadrope
and telling Sofi what a bad, opinionated pony she was. I could see myself
just a year ago in this same position. It was amazing to see it through new
eyes now. I actually felt sorry for the assistant that thatıs the only
thing she could see and respond with when faced with Sofiıs scowls. It was
not patience or compassion that came out, it was harshness and fight.

This progression was something I started as a grand experiment and was a big
reason that I wanted to work with Sofi on a permanent basis, not just as a
clientıs horse that I was hired to train and sell. Her flashes of anger and
aggression were somewhat stronger than Iıd had to deal with in other horses,
but in a 13.2 hand package they didnıt worry me enough to be intimidating.
Once I joined Alexander Nevzorovıs school I made the promise never to punish
or abuse the horse. In the case of an aggressive horse, most trainers
wouldnıt consider hitting her punishment or abuse, they would call it
³correction² or ³shaping her behavior². ³After all,² they justify, ³thatıs
what horses do to each other in the wild.² Now I donıt know about other
peoplesı experiences but Iıve never seen one horse leading another horse
into a place that made them uncomfortable and then beating them up while
holding them on the end of a leadrope when they protested.

I didnıt know if it would actually work to accept her aggression and meet it
only with understanding, patience, and love but I thought it was worth a
try, it certainly hadnıt been getting any better with punishment. I
honestly had to go back and start at the point where I could only stroke her
with a whip from the other side of the gate. She would walk by and kick out
at me with the nastiest expression on her face. It took probably a good
month before I could even feel safe in the same arena with her without a
halter or bridle on her head. Her aggression now is only a shadow of what
it once was although it does sometimes come up such as in the situation with
the vetıs assistant. I can absolutely say that the patience and
understanding paid off and it will be the only way I meet such things in the
future. When interviewing Mark Rashid for the documentary he said, ³The way
I see it, whether itıs with people or with horses, that the way to develop
trust is through consistency. If youıre consistent with a horse, youıll
become dependable, if youıre dependable youıll become trustworthy, if youıre
trustworthy the horse will be at peace with you and if theyıre at peace with
you they can become soft.² I want Sofi to trust that there will be no more
pain from me, for her to eventually become at peace and soft with me
although I have some time that I need to spend proving to her that I can be
trusted.

How can we know a horse wants to be ridden? Will he stand there to be
mounted with nothing on his head? Will he work for you without a whip or
spurs to goad him on? Without a bit to tell him which way you want to turn?
This sort of choice must only be made once your relationship with your horse
is beyond question, when the horse and human have become dance partners who
flow together first on the ground before the one starts lifting the other.

So, bringing this back to your situation, what will the horse get out of the
interaction? Will he be supported and nurtured and encouraged to express
his joy? Will he be listened to and guided in a way that helps him know his
own power and pride? Will your daughter learn how to listen to and make her
own goals secondary to the horse's dreams? Will your daughter learn that in
being of service she is in fact giving herself permission to live a
fulfilled life?

Horses have so much to show us. The first step is to let go of our own
agenda with them and listen to their wisdom. We need to learn how to play
and support each other in the way that the other would like to be supported.
This is the gift that horses have been waiting to give us. Are we ready to
accept it?

Keep pondering,
Stormy

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Recommended books, videos, and CD-ROMs! Such is the real nature of horses
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Famed equine photographer Robert Vavra has recently released a beautiful DVD
called "Such is the real nature of horses". It focuses on observing the
natural behavior of wild horses in the Camargue region of France. This
video shows everything from grazing and sleeping behaviors to breeding,
foaling, and dominance squabbles. It is a valuable reference for those of
us who are striving to bring out the horse's innate wisdom and talents.

http://www.equivision.net/nature/nature.htm

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Horsey humor: Funny horse pics
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Here's some funny horse pics, be sure to click through and see all the
pages.

http://www.funnysnaps.com/horsefunny4.html

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Free item exchange
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**FREE**FREE**FREE**

<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>

Submit your free horse-related items or services here. If you or your club
has items they are willing to pass along to a new family, this is a great
place to list them. Listings can come from any part of the country, or even
overseas!

Free items may include but are not limited to:

riding clothes
rally equipment
horse-related games and toys
tack and training equipment
blankets, wraps, halters
books or magazines
horse-related artwork
and of course...horses and ponies!

The recipient may be expected to handle any shipping costs.

Please provide a phone and/or email contact with each listing. Items will
be listed in the next HM Newsletter and will not be renewed unless an
additional email is sent asking for the listing to be continued.

So...clean out your tackroom and make room for more stuff!

To submit your items, simply reply to this email or write to:
stormy@... .

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Call for submissions
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Help make this newsletter the best it can be. Do you have any issues you'd
like to see addressed here? How about ideas for recommended products, books,
or videos? Want to submit your own article, or a question for the questions
and answers section? Send them to: stormy@... and I'll keep a log
of topics and articles for upcoming issues.