Blessed are the Flexible

“Blessed are the Flexible, for they will not get Bent out of Shape.”

Tis the season and when family gatherings begin, you can nearly guarantee that someone will get a wee bit bent out of shape.  Whether the traditional Thanksgiving dish got assigned to the wrong person, schedules conflict, or personalities clash, the holidays always present their own unique challenges.  So do horses.

Last weekend, I had the privilege of attending a Dressage Clinic with Cynthia Spalding.  She’s a unique lady with a wealth of knowledge and a passion for teaching.  Anyone who listens to her clinic for just ten minutes is bound to pick up a fresh perspective or two!

My lesson with Nutmeg focused on flexion.  After our less than stellar performance in the Dressage ring at Heritage, I was hoping to gain some insights on our new found bunny hop presentation.  But I’m getting ahead of myself.  It’s a chronic problem.  Before we could canter, we needed to trot and the trot presented lesson number one.  I have a habit of pushing the beat.  Basically I am always thinking a hair in front of where I am and this causes me to rush.  It’s a problem when I try to dance as well, and play the piano, and walk up stairs, and through doorways and, well, you get the point.  Cynthia’s solution: Sing!

Once we had our tempo more correct, we could turn our focus to flexion.  We discovered that the resistance I’ve been getting is likely related to Nutmeg being out in her pole and jaw.  It’s time for another visit to the chiropractor.  Merry Christmas to her!  The great thing is, even working with that limitation, we were able to get her flexing better with slow calm work. 

The change came when we got my leg moving and in turn her moving off my leg.   Move my hand, move my leg.  Movement promotes movement.  Stiffness leads to stiffness. The second she got it right – release the pressure.  The release is the reward.

 It works great with horses.  Now if I could just apply it to family conflicts around the holidays.  Try as I might, I can’t master the skill, so I’m giving it a Fresh Perspective.  No amount of leg and rein aids will make the people around me flexible.  I can encourage them, but I’m fighting generations of habits.  I think I’ll just stick to making myself flexible.  Maybe that way I won’t be the one getting bent out of shape.