Ah, the old adage, “Less Is More.” It somehow manages to bring about reminiscent feelings of bliss in me. How is it that we so often fall off the wagon and work so hard for so little reward?
What did we get into riding for to begin with? Was it for the glory of winning a blue ribbon against all odds and the endless commitment of tireless riding lessons and agonizing chafing? Believe it or not, I am not against showing horses, although perhaps it might come across that way at times in my blog. What I am opposed to is winning for the sake of winning. Remember, those blue ribbons only cost a few dollars… how much is the happiness of yourself and your horse worth? Can it be bought with some shiny satin?
As I’m sitting in the saddle with my horse, remembering that saying, “Less Is More,” all I can do is take a deep breath, put a smile back on my face, and locate relaxation that resounds throughout my being. I find that taking this mindset, remembering these words, puts me back in a place where it takes only the conscious acknowledgement of my thoughts to convey to the horse my desires, and he willingly proceeds to give them to me.
A stop is no longer created through an action, but is pronounced by a gentle sigh on my account that seems to filter it’s way down to my horse who completes the thought, stops his feet, and expresses the exhale of breath through his nostrils. A canter departure no longer requires pressure from my legs, but simply a shift in thought and soon my horse is carrying me on wings and the wind is lapping through my hair.
Magical? Mystical? Perhaps, but honest as well. When we do too much we get bogged down in thoughts and often find ourselves in that mode of insanity – doing the same thing over and over again and hoping for different results. The horse becomes frustrated, anxious, perhaps he checks out mentally. I think Natural Horsemanship has often tried to make their methods to be somewhere along the lines of ‘less is more’ but it has to be more than just the physical understanding, but also the mental.
Why is it that a horse can greet one person calmly and inquisitively, and another person they are terrified of, without either making a single action? It is because we interact on a plane that is outside of merely the physical realm. We exchange energy, and that energy can be created, divided, converged, directed… beginning with thought.
So go out, have some fun, and keep it simple! Less Is More…
