Words of Wisdom

Posted on by bonnittaroy

Yesterday I sat in the paddock with ChoCho and read a book on an erudite subject called “Onto-Ethologies” by Brett Buchanan. It is a book on how different philosophers conceived of animal consciousness — and especially how one philosopher, Jacob von Uexkull, founded the field of onto-ethology, or the study of non-human (animal, plant, mineral…) subjectivity or interiority. Yesterday I came across this passage from Goethe

If the eye were not sun-like

It could never behold the sun.

If the sun were not eye-like

It could not shine in any sky.

Von Uexkull took this same vision into his work saying, ” if the flower were not bee-like, and the bee were not flower-like, the unison could never be successful.”

You can see where I am going here. If the horse were not me-like, and I was not horse-like, the magic between us would never arise. And what I mean by “magic” is not only those rare and exquisite moments, but the entire gamut of relationship that horse and humans have evolved together.

von Uexkull also uses the metaphor of melodies. He talks about the spider being “fly-like” and then goes on to say

In a manner of speaking, the spider anticipates the fly’s presence through the fly’s melody. The spider embodies the fly, is fly-like, not because of some instinctive response, but because it has “adopted certain themes from the fly’s melody. The spider finds a counterpoint in the fly’s melody, and strikes up a harmonious relation with the fly within its bodily structure and the spinning of the web.

Now, something extraordinary happened yesterday, that for me made these stunning passage ring absolutely true. I was inside my house – which is several hundred feet up from the paddock – and I had prepared a bottle for the tiny kittens that we rescued from a barn, but something “about” outside made me put the bottle down and go out onto the porch. The horses were spooked- but in a way that I could feel there was something going on, because for a moment, I felt their horse-likeness. And then I heard some splashing, and all of a sudden I could feel the panic of the ducks — although when I listened, the ducks were not quacking, nor was the water splashing… and then I saw a kind of shadow, of which I could not make out, but it was as if I could feel into the racoon’s nature, as he waddled away with one of my ducks. I started running– and on the way I must have picked up a large stick, and I ran under the thickets and through the brush, along the river, deep into the woods.  I could hear the racoon up ahead, could feel him laboring more than I to escape, I could feel the route he was taking. I was making these racoon-like attack noises as I raced through the underbrush. Then I thought I could see his shadow, and I threw the heavy stick….

I was three or four steps ahead of where Gimpy the Duck was, floating along in the stream, when I heard her let out two almost silent “qwack qwack” to let me know she was there. Otherwise, I would have missed her in continued pursuit of the racoon. I picked her up and held her close to my body, so she would not die of fright. She was very quiet. I put her into her cage, and herded the other three ducks inside with her. I believe she will be alright  — for now.

But I can feel the hunger and determination of that racoon. Sure to come back one day, when he can feel that I am not around to spoil his melody.

An Illustrative Journal of Carolyn Resnick’s Waterhole Rituals

Posted on by bonnittaroy

I am participating via internet in a series of telecalls and workshops presented by Carolyn Resnick. For a look at the extraordinary horsemanship and professional coaching she provides, please check out her blog at

http://www.carolynresnickblog.com/

Since I am still recuperating from surgery, I am only auditing the workshops- not actually doing them with my horses. I decided instead of just listening in, to journal by illustrating feeling-energy-archetypes that arise during each session.

I will post them in order according to the ritual underway.

Please note: the illustrations are NOT to be taken literally. In this first instance, for example, a person is portrayed on top of a horse, whereas the Waterhole Rituals take place only on ground at liberty.

Ritual One: Sharing Territory

Illustration One: Maidens

First Time_ed

A Fresian’s Journey on the Path Excerpts from Session III

Posted on by bonnittaroy

There is a lot of video footage that comes before the work taped in this session, which you can find




…
and I am still editing and uploading. If you take a peek at the above video, you can see it is complicated work for the horse, and it may seem like very little progress is happening. In the previous sessions, we worked on softening the four quarters of the horse through yielding exercises. The work in session two is asking the horse to use his body as one orchestrated whole… subtle pressure is put on the hind and forequarters at once, and the horse is being asked to move straight forward without bracing on any of the quarters. You can see that he tends to “waddle” side to side trying to get it right, before he realizes his head has to REACH forward to move forward softly.  Every so SLOWLY, and with subtle cues, the horse learns that this work has something to do with softening in the neck and poll – something to do with whole body movement THROUGH THE BACK AND UP AND DOWN THE NECK AND POLL… and ever so slowly, the walk becomes lengthened, the neck lowers, and the movement becomes soft. THIS IS VERY HARD WORK TO CUE AND VERY HARD WORK FOR THE BRACING HORSE!

Two weeks later, you can see marvelous results in this horse.

First he allows me to help relaz, release, and soften his neck — as he has learned HAPPILY that the work has something good to do for his neck and poll. Here is the warm-up work

We move right into soft circles through the “pentagon of bamboo poles” that I have laid out as visual cues. In subsequent video you will see how the “pentagon” helps the horse point his nose out and down into the circle, making his movement soft and whole through the whole body.

Today is my last session with this boy for a while. I have to have surgery, and am taking a break from life. I will be working on trying to get the video into some kind of format for educational use. But I wanted to get some recent video of him out for you all to enjoy.

Thanks for keeping posted.

A Freisian’s Journey on the Path I (5)

Posted on by bonnittaroy

To end this session, I am merely looking for simplicity and consistency and a sense of relationship. A short sequence gets us straight to the point. Look closely at the Freisian at the end. He stood there thinking/ processing all that occurred for a long long while…. When we put him in his paddock, he looked curiously over the gate, asking for more MORE! I could see we were well on our way to cultivating the joy inside him

A Freisian’s Journey on the Path I (4)

Posted on by bonnittaroy

This clip is in slow motion to give the viewer a sense of the close, intimate work that is being done. My goal at this point is to relieve some of the tension that the horse holds in his neck and through the poll. You can see how the way I ask him to yield his shoulder, requires/ allows him to lower his head and move from the hindquarter through the back and into the step. The Freisian can only relax to a certain point– too many years of bracing have created difficult muscle memory for him to overcome, but overall the movement is becoming more relaxed and grounded.

I aks for yielding of the hindquarter also, and then we walk on. He begins to walk with me with a sense of contentment as the head becomes increasingly lowered as he relaxes into his stride. The horse is becoming grounded and is developing a sense of self in relationship to me and the work we are sharing. This simple, grounded, and contented movement, points to a happier future for this Freisian.

Unfortunately, when he gets to the rail, his head rises up, and he lapses back into old habits. Since he is no longer sensitive to my subtle cues, I fuss with the rope — but he doesn’t wait for me to use it before he moves off the rail an onward.