Amy’s got quite a talent with her camera. Here is another recent shot of Khemancho.
You can see her photo journal at Unlimited Magic Photography
Bareback Rider
Khemancho was being so good, I grabbed a bridle — the closest thing I had was this side pull S-hackamore that I trail ride with Dawn — and hopped on.
Out & About in the Yard
Amy Coulter of Unlimited Magic Photography took some great shots of Khemancho and Bob fooling around in the yard this weekend — it was a fantastic spring day, and I was very happy that the stallion, Kheman
Some Stills
I was rummaging through photos this morning, and found these stills taken out of a video. The resolution is terrible — but today I think the portraits of me and ChoCho are fun. Enjoy.
A Song for Alderlore
Amy Lafond participated in a workshop at Alderlore. Her experience resulted in a spontaneous composition of all the various energies of the Horses at Alderlore — each of the parts of this lyrical overture, represent each of the horses. Thank you Amy… enjoy
Leading with Yin
Level 2 & 3 Energy & Spirit workshops at Alderlore teach leading with Yin and following with Yang. The following is a video of Gypsie Wings who is the most powerful leader I have ever met. The circumstances here is that she is giving a workshop on dance steps, and had a lot of energy accumulated in her, so I wanted to let her “blow off ” all that psychic energy, and watched for the moment when she engaged in my yin invitation. The entire process took much longer than what you see here — she ran and ran and ran, to her heart’s content, before she decided to connect. Yes, that’s right, she decided. Enjoy.
Hempfling Dances
Here is a brand new video released by Klaus Hempfling “dancing” with his stallion at liberty in nature. You can see the same principles of body language in action by the master.
Practicing with the Long Rope
Here is a video of Gypsie & I practicing dance steps on the long rope. The long rope is a great way to begin transitioning from the codero to work at liberty. You can use the neck ring part of the long rope as a codero is you begin to loose the horse’s attention; and then you can gradually move further out.
Dawn’s Dance Lesson (continued)
In these three videos we try to work at a faster, less “hanging on to me” pace — I am asking Dawn to stretch her range into the larger part of the ring, while trying to keep her focussed on cues that will bring her back to me.
Dawn’s Dance Lesson
The following is a series of videos of the very first dance lessons with my young Morgan filly, Dawn. I hope it will illustrate not only some of the technical aspects of teaching a horse to respond to you body language, and to work away from you, offline, and still be connected and focussed on responding to dance step cues, but also how the work can help build relationship, shape character, and help you explore different ways of leadership.
In this series, you might note that Dawn is particularly focussed on “doing the right thing” — she seems to be a nervous perfectionist about everything. So I want her to know that she can play around, and offer up some ideas of her own. She also needs a tremendous amount of positive feedback. If there is too much pressure on correcting her, she would not engage off line. Yet she is also willful, so there has to be clear motivation to “do the right thing.” Oftentimes a horse like this can be motivated with feeding treats. But Dawn “Her Excellence” refuses treats — she considers them a bribe. In fact, I have to be careful with Dawn, because if i treat her to do something, she begins to associate the treat — which is supposed to be a positive reinforcement with the employment. No, Dawn wants to be courted as all high priestesses of Morgans require. That’s what it all looks like on the surface. In the depths there is a warrior-friend who would go to any lengths to do the right thing… once it was agreed upon, and the relationship was signed in blood, bone and body. Here then is a 7 part series of our dance — not so much a physical one at this point, but of a inner dance between two energy bodies, two spirits. Enjoy!
In this video you will see Dawn saying “no” to my cues several times — if you miss it on the first viewing, play it again and watch for when she tosses her head. This is where she has recognized my cue, but says “no, I’d rather not!” … and after she serves up the final “no” — I just leave. Dawn is left to sort that out by herself. She stayed there in the middle of the ring, thinking through it all, wondering if she liked being alone after all. Then in the 4th video you can see how much more willing and engaged she was — by allowing her to say “no” she came back with a slightly bigger “yes”.
(parts 4-7 forthcoming)
The Horses at Alderlore Present 