| Part 1 | | | | think through the learning. |
| Pulling on the Reins - Why We Resist Learning New | | | | Have you ever watched a good skier coming down a |
| Methods | | | | mogul hill? It's poetry, and their bodies just intuitively |
| We've all done it at some point; our horse doesn't stop | | | | understand the reaction to obtaining the fluidity needed. |
| at exactly the time and place we want, so we resort | | | | Or the show jumper, whose rider flows with him, jump |
| to the 'classic' two-hand 'yard' on his face. | | | | after jump, never hindering the horse. |
| Although it felt like the appropriate thing to do at the | | | | This is the response to practicing training methods that |
| time, there is a better way. | | | | work. It is simply NOT about practicing. It's about |
| Why is it that we instinctively use both hands to stop a | | | | practicing the correct way, every time. So for us |
| horse? It's a gut reaction for everyone who has not | | | | mortals, it's important to understand not just the lesson, |
| had the training otherwise. It is the first thing a new | | | | but HOW we take in a lesson. Knowing and |
| rider will do when they sit on a horse for the first time. | | | | understanding the mechanics behind learning often |
| Good horse training methods require us to drop our | | | | comfort us when we are first faced with the challenge |
| instinctive reactions in trade for a purposeful, thoughtful | | | | of accepting new information as a truth. It's not about |
| proactive response. I believe this is one of the biggest | | | | us being too stupid to learn new things, but allowing the |
| barriers for riders learning new training skills. At first, it | | | | time necessary for our brains to shift gears and learn |
| feels like you are losing control, as it doesn't always | | | | how to learn. |
| make sense, especially in the process of learning how | | | | In order to work with horses, it takes a reversal or shift |
| to stop a horse. A runaway horse is one of the | | | | in thinking. For older beginners, this can be a bigger |
| biggest dangers riders face, and it's on the top of | | | | challenge. There are reasons why learning when you |
| every new riders mind as they mount for the first few | | | | are young pays off (so get the kids off the couch |
| times. | | | | NOW). It's not just about the single subject, but also the |
| What eventually happens, (if you continue the theories | | | | ability to 'learn how to learn' that you carry with you |
| of trainers who have made a name for themselves by | | | | through life. |
| teaching and delivering results), is a pattern consistent | | | | It's teaching your brain to absorb things that don't make |
| in all learning. The brain takes in new information | | | | sense at first. It's the ability to accept the introduction |
| logically first. As the new pattern of learning is | | | | of new methods. And it's the time necessary for the |
| introduced, the brain absorbs, and after a while, moves | | | | body to intrinsically respond. |
| into the creative part of your brain. This is where all | | | | Mind, soul and body - working together. |
| learning and mechanics (movements) become 'intrinsic', | | | | This is how we grow. |
| or where the human no longer needs to ponder or | | | | |