The Leading John Lyons Certified Natural Horsemanship Trainer In San Diego
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By Beth Collins
Ok, so I faked it, haven’t we all faked it at some point in our lives? There he was
in the middle of the ring looking so expectant, and hopeful. “There!” he
announced cheerfully. “Did you feel that?” “It is harmony! You are as one with
the horse.” I tried my sweaty best to look pleased, and sure of myself, yet here I
was feeling for all the world like an out of time base drum. So far from “oneness”
with my horse that I was sure in just two more strides I would be caught in my lie
and dragged from the back of the wonderful dressage horse I was torturing,
marched to the end of the driveway and unceremoniously pitched into the middle
of the street. My fellow riders would shake their heads in solemn silence
whispering amongst themselves “Its such a simple concept….” Or “ Can you
imagine such a farce?”
Ah well, this may seem a bit dramatic but when faced with such pressures in our
riding lessons/clinics, we feel the need to keep up, assimilate, don’t rock the
boat. After all we are reasonable adults, it’s sure to sink in later. But when it
doesn’t, what then? We have invested our money, our time, our emotions and
our physical effort. Usually enough to succeed at anything else. But no, not
riding. Maybe it’s the language, “into the outside rein “ or “between the aids” or
“through the bridle” and my personal favorite ”the horse must fill your seat”.
That's not to say there aren’t moments, and inklings. The definitions for most of
the terms are so simple: Collection: to bring together, flexion: the art of bending,
suppleness: pliant or flexible, control: to regulate, yielding: to comply or
accommodate. We can find all of these in the dictionary. It’s the “how to get there”
that is the mystery.
This is where the seeking starts. Finding that one explanation that makes the
light bulbs flare. For me my personal nemesis “the filling of the seat and the
rounding of the back” was achieved on my very green mares back while being
used as a demo by John Lyons during my certification program. He was actually
explaining a technique on how he wanted us to perform something called
“collected flying time”. I was astride, and he was “driving” (directing the horse
with the rein from the ground) . As he picked up the rein for another go at the
trot, my mare suddenly grew and widened in preparation for the next request from
John. Well that light bulb flared and that feeling of “OH!…DUH!” came over me.
I'm sure John still wonders about that goofy grin that was on my face for the rest
of the demonstration.
The next bulb to flash was the ease of canter transitions, which then led to lead
changes. Let me preface this next statement by saying, I have heard many ways
of accomplishing these elusive changes, some worked and some didn’t however
the one that sticks in my mind was so dismal that I chose to use it as an example
here. I was told to “ride the horse into my outside rein, feather (huh?) my inside
rein, push my outside hip forward and to the inside close my outside leg behind
the girth and my inside leg at the girth pushing simultaniously with my seat”…..
and viola a canter would ensue. Honestly! I couldn’t keep track of half of that
while bouncing along on a horse in a dusty indoor ring. After failing miserably for
an hour compounded by my instructor climbing on and cantering around to
“show” me how easy it was, I was quite convinced trotting was a noble
achievement. Then came the icing on the cake, which was, the “why” of it all.
What did these cues mean after all? The answer? “ That’s just how you do it, it
helps the horse canter.” Sigh. Imagine my elation when it was finally explained
to me that the horses outside hind foot was actually the first step into the canter
and for the correct lead this is the leg you would need to have control over.
That's when I began to have a bit more success at the canter. But there were all
those pesky body positions to memorize. I was assured it had to do more with
timing than all the technique I had painstakingly memorized yet still I felt I was
fighting my horses.
The moment of clarity came while at a walk practicing moving my horses’ hip to
the inside with my one draped rein ,on a 10 meter circle. It dawned on me that at
the end of this exercise I would be able to ask my horse to leave her hips to the
inside therefore allowing me to apply my go forward cue to ask for more foot
speed thus facilitating a correct lead canter depart! Control of the hip. In Lyons
terms, riding one piece of the horse at a time. It was the key to my canter, with no
body positions to distract me. It opened other doors as well like that pesky
haunches in, turn on the forehand and half pass. All things that the terms “more
leg!” and “more seat” where used repeatedly, to my consternation. Yet here
during a simple and relaxing exercise at the walk, I was able to see the big picture.
Boy was I excited! It was like that perfect golf shot, that nothing but net throw. It
was a home run on horseback. For some people, this is an everyday happening.
Maybe they have “the" instructor, "the” horse or simply ”the“ talent. For the rest
of us, there is only “the“ hope that one day we will not have to fake it any more.
Copyright 2003 Beth Collins
