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Zen Clicker Horsemanship |
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No.8 / March 2006 Subscribe |
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"Most people don't really need advice. They just need support and discipline in doing what they already know works."-Marianne Williamson Last Chance to register for the May 2006 Tag Teach Workshop - http://www.tagteach.com/ Register today! _______________________________________________________________________________________ - What's New - Master Coaches Marilyn Bonnett and Dolores Arste have teamed up to create SUCCESS INSURANCE FOR THE EQUINE ENTHUSIAST Horse people insure horses, trucks, trailer, health, etc. We all insure everything... Why not insure success. We have an insurance policy for SUCCESS! _______________________________________________________________________________________ Talking Horses - Dolores Arste It's a simple matter of communications. Can we imagine that horses are really just like mute children. Mute, because even though they can think and reason and communicate and still they cannot speak; children because at full maturity, they may have the emotional equivalent of a child's emotional development. So, they communicate in a sort of sign language by using their bodies and expression, and in order to understand them, to speak to them, we must too! It's very important to realize that horses are also a little like aliens. Or at least they can seem like aliens to us. We really can't assess their true intelligence or their intellectual capabilities because it is alien to us. Alien, because their entire culture, development and living requirements are extremely different from humans. They are not only communicating in sign language, they understand only an alien language and culture. Thus, to understand them, to speak to them, we must learn their language or somehow teach them ours. By far the majority of those of us who have learned a foreign language, have learned it from someone who knew both our birth language and the foreign language, providing us with a blueprint of the foreign language to learn; however, there are very few who go to a foreign country without any concept of the foreign language and learn that language from a mute alien child that weighs 1200 pounds! The horse's problem is even worse, trying to communicate with us! Can you imagine being a 1200 pound mute child completely dependent upon puny, frail aliens? What's even more confusing still is that, just as there are many human languages, there are also many different horse languages, depending upon breed , their early life experiences and how much control they have over their emotions. So it is reasonably difficult for a human to learn a horse's language from a horse -- one doesn't just pick it up, easily -- it takes dedicated time and effort to learn that way. Helping that horse understand humans is even more challenging. On the other hand, it's fairly easy for someone who has lived and depended on horses all their lives to communicate effectively with a horse, understanding their language. These old horseman like the Old Man in Mark Rashid's books or Tom and Bill Dorrance lived whole lifetimes with the language and lifestyle of the aliens. To them, it may have seemed simple. Its all they ever knew. Have you ever played the game, Charade? Well communicating with your horse is sort of like playing Charade with a 1200 pound mute alien child. And if you think that's difficult -- just imagine how confused your 1200 pound mute alien child is trying to communicate with you in a game of Charades! Think about that for a moment. If you were trying to talk to someone who spoke back to you in a foreign language you didn't understand; how would you get your point across? Now realize that from a horse's point of view, most people are deaf and dumb to their language. So, they gesture to us! Therein lies the difficulty of most horse owners, handlers, riders, and caretakers -- they don't understand, and they don't speak the same language. So, when they tell their horse what to do or not do, the horse is confused; and when the horse speaks, they don't notice or recognize the language. Imagine what would happen if you could speak to your horse and understand what your horse is saying to you as easily as talking to another person! By simply teaching your horse a safe effective way to speak yes and no you can! However, you don't have to live among horses, struggling to reinvent the wheel. Simply learn to speak in yes and no and you too can both understand and speak fluently to the horse. And you enable your horse so that he can teach you how to handle and ride your horse better. Teach him today and allow the possibility of all he has to teach you by learning the language of the clicker yourself! What are you waiting for Get Started Now! Getting Started Clicker Training for Horses Kit ___________________________________________________________________________________ Horses of Gettysburg Humans have relied on horses since the dawn of time, but there is no stronger bond than between a man and his horse on the battlefield. ____________________________________________________________________________________ Sugarcoating experiment - Neil Ousterhout In my clicker training I'm a "blender," where I use the some of the more traditional training aids to start a behavior and use the clicker and my shaping skills to fine-tune the behavior. Training that focuses on corrections is not something I have done since I have developed skills with clicker training that let me get the results I wanted a different way. It is not that I don't use corrections or unpleasant consequences in my training, but I try not to put my horse in situations that may require it. What the Firewalkers Teach Us About Fear - Dolores Arste Fire walking in Africa, especially among the !Kung tribe of the Kalahari Desert, has been used in powerful healing ceremonies since their tribal beginnings. The !Kung are master firewalkers, and their ceremonies include rolling on the fire. One of the first lessons we learn as children: fire burns. For many of us this lesson goes in very deeply, and not only includes the sting of a burn, but translates into a fear of the fire of our own passion, desire, and dreams. Up until 1492, most people believed the world was flat and that if you sailed too far you would fall off of the edge. Christopher Columbus, through his own direct experience, discovered that the world was not flat. Once he returned from his voyages, that belief was changed forever. Perhaps you've had an accident with a horse. You've imbedded that experience into the very core of your existence. This lesson to runs very deeply. And, even if you have not directly experienced an accident, it is likely that you know or have hear of someone who has. Who cannot be affected by the tragedy of Christopher Reeves. Our beliefs are our pre-conceived filters for our everyday life. We allow our beliefs to form our reality so that what we believe becomes what we experience. This is what Fire walking is about; it is a metaphor for all of the challenges we normally shrink from. When you learn to walk on fire, you learn that you control your beliefs and therefore your everyday experiences. In learning how to walk unharmed across a bed of red-hot coals, people are really learning how to overcome fear. The fire is meant to stimulate fear. We learn that fear is a belief - in this case an obstacle that is between you and where you want to go. As we step onto the fire, we pass through a membrane of fear, and in doing so, learn to make fear our servant instead of our master. The point is not to deny the fear, but to look at it closely and to see it as something that blocks you from attaining a goal. This close attention enables us to gain the insight that will set us free of our fears. Step up to the fear and release the emotions that makes your heart pound, your palms sweat and your mind go blank. Visit http://www.zenguidance.com/ to find the support you need today. _________________________________________________________________________ And, Don't forget to contact us for all of your saddle fitting needs - Saddle Fitting by Dave _________________________________________________________________________ " And that's the way it is ...unless it isn't." - Dr. Mary Lynch email dolores@... | |
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