#81 Forward vs Downward Transitions- New Realizations

Charley Snell has returned to the beautiful Boehme Ranch in Eatonville, Wa!! 

Barb and Dale Boehme are the reason I met Charley and I'll be forever grateful. It's a wonderful place to learn from this special man. He'll be here until July 30, 2023- so if you're in the area- contact Barb at [email protected] for more info.

I've spent the past 5 days observing a variety of horses and people and the care and respect Charley offers each one- it's a sign of someone who truly loves what they do. 

There are 2 things I want to share with you today... so many nuggets are coming out of the days I'm spending, but 2 are resonating with me this morning. 

One is the idea that whatever we're expecting or wanting from our horses- we need to first offer in ourselves. Are we focused, present, relaxed, willing, etc? 

I find this super challenging when I'm learning something new- I don't have a clear picture yet of what to offer. It can be super fumbly and lots of bumbly and easy to get frustrated. So what do we offer when we don't know exactly what it feels like yet? For me, this is when I do a LOT of observing and visualizing and trying it out away from my horse- can I get a clearer feeling of what I'm trying to offer.

And the other thing is to cut a LOT of slack for myself and my horse and remind myself of all the muddy moments in the past when I couldn't see a particular thing or feel it and then after lots of the fumbles and bumbles the picture started to get clearer, until I could finally see it or feel it clearly. Kinda like the polaroid photos of my youth that magically came out of the camera completely foggy and we'd all gather around and watch the image become clearer and clearer- do you remember those? 

So... that's one thought to share- making sure to offer in ourselves what we're asking for from our horses.

The second thing is a HUGE realization I had during a lesson I had with Charley 2 days ago. My downward transitions have been an area that needs improvement for a while now. As I was explaining to Charley what happens in my downward transitions- the lightbulb switched ON!! 

I have always thought of downward transitions as a decrease in energy- a slowing down... which they are but bare with me (or bear- I can never remember which one and I don't want to pause to find out 😆) 

When I've asked for a downward transition in the past my energy has come down to the point where my horses almost come to a stop and then I have to bring my energy back up to get to the speed I was looking for. There's a time in your horse's education where if they slow down with you- game over and time to celebrate in a big way so I'm not saying the above is wrong by any stretch but it wasn't what I was wanting- but it was exactly what I was offering. 

I want to be able to go seamlessly from a trot to a walk or from a canter to a walk with no stutters. The lightbulb moment was that I needed to ride forward into the transition instead of downward. That from the trot I needed to offer a walk that was forward- not a slowing down energy. 

If I was running along it would be similar to changing gates to a walk but not changing speed and then slowly changing to a slower walk if I chose. Instead of going from a run to losing all momentum and then picking up a walk again. 

This might be something you've already discovered but if it isn't, I hope this makes some sense and is something you can play with. 

That's all for now- I've got chores to get done so I can head back over and learn more!!

Btw- for those of you who have taken the Letting Go of Trouble virtual clinic with Charley, we're cooking up part 2- Letting Go of Trouble from the Saddle- it will be coming your way in September (details on how to sign up coming soon). This will be open to anyone who has taken the first clinic. If you haven't had a chance to take the first one yet- we'll be offering it again in the spring of 2024 so stay tuned. 

Thank you for reading! I hope you have a wonderful rest of your day! 💕