2023-09-28 Managing energy levels, saddling & a bit around the mounting block
When we went to meet & greet the herd we had a chat mostly about managing energy levels. In order for Vie to understand what is required of her she needs a thinking level of 4 to 5 from the human. This is the learning thinking level.
Another way of looking at it is that in order to learn how to respond she needs to be directed with an energy that is specific in its intent. This doesn’t mean that she is not allowed to say No, just that she needs to know what she is saying Yes or No to. In addition Vie’s thinking level should be at 4-5 as well to enable her to learn and understand from a relaxed place.
If the human energy / thinking level is too low a feeling of relaxation and peace is shared and the horses relax with that feeling. In order to ask something of another being we have to have a level of intent which has shared focus. If the intent is to be peaceful and relaxed then we bring our thinking or energy levels down. If the intent is to obtain a response then we need to bring ours and the animals thinking / energy levels up. But then we have to regard the horse so we understand the response.
At about 11 minutes there is a point where Vie raises her energy and moves towards the other horses to move them. You then raise your energy and block her, then you immediately go into the Present Moment, creating a feeling of shared presence and peace which Vie responds to. This is perfect. This tells Vie that she can be peaceful when you, the human, block her from her natural response to the horses herd dynamics, because this is what needs to happen when you, the human, is engaged with the herd.
We forget sometimes, that when we engage with the herd we need to be clear about what that means for them. How should they respond to the human. The relationship the herd has together is their everyday normal communications and responses. The dynamic changes when we enter the field. Now there is another being to communicate and respond to and we have to learn how to do that together.
I always like to use a human analogy. You and your husband are sitting quietly chatting on the terrace and then I arrive. The conversation changes, the way you interact with each other changes, and most importantly, the way you interact with me depends on how I interact with you. In the same way when we enter a field we change the dynamics of the herd relationship.
At about 14 minutes we offer the halter to Vie first this time and it all goes perfectly. And then we are all off down the track.
There is a break in the video as I turned it off to walk down the track to save battery and then forgot to turn it on again so we missed the section of saddling Fina, but we start at offering the saddle pad again to Vie, and putting it on and taking it off. Very little reaction from Vie to this today which means she has processed a lot, most of which we saw yesterday with her yawns.
Between 31.30 and 35.25 is a great section where you put the saddle on and Vie reacted, but by allowing her reaction and staying with her, regarding her and showing her it was okay to react, we had a lot of releases again. Vie’s reactions to things are easier to read than Fina’s because she is learning that she is allowed to react and she knows it will not result in a ‘No’ or a ‘Don’t do that’. It always results in a ‘That’s Okay’. Then wait until she comes down a bit in her thinking levels, just regarding her, and then go present to help her release what she needs to release.
You can do this with Fina as well but you are watching for the ‘holding’ reaction with her – the scrunching up feeling. The process is the same. Allow the hold and wait while regarding her and saying ‘It’s Okay’. When she breathes out go present and she will release.
At 31.45 we go into girthing, regarding Vie as we go. There wasn’t any reactions here.
At 35.54 there is a nice session where we work with helping Vie release through her hips, where she does seem to hold some tension. It is not huge but if we can help her now it is less likely to create physical problems in later life.
At 41.30 you are going into moving Vie with her saddle on. Vie is very relaxed in her movements. She enjoys to move and there are lots of releases.
At 52.44 we can see where Vie struggles to relax with a human – when she is not being directed, asked to be still and quiet. I suspect for Vie that she has a level of expectation around doing with a human. She is relaxed in her ‘doing’ so this is not something that needs to be made peaceful. She enjoys having a purpose, and feels comfortable with that.
The place where we can focus our help is with her ability to be peaceful around a human doing nothing. This we see more when we start to work with the mounting block at about 1hour 6 minutes into the session. Asking her to be peaceful just being with the mounting block she struggles with, and there are many reactions. If we describe these reactions in human terms they could include boredom and frustration. It is a good section to watch as Vie shows us many reactions which we just allowed to come up today.
At 1hour 21 We have a little discussion about ‘Good Girl’ and ‘Thank you’ and the different energy levels these words bring to the conversation. Using words that can bring the thinking level down is better than using words that bring the levels up.
At 1hour 32 minutes you are taking the saddle off Vie and today there is no reaction to sliding the pad off.