Do you know what your lead feels like to your horse? Can he trust your hand? Or are you inadvertently poisoning the clicker training experience with too much force? Those are the types of questions we'll be exploring in this lesson.

 

The "t'ai chi" rope handling exercises that I'll be sharing will:

 

• improve your balance

• help you develop a more secure riding position

• give you a better understanding of the lead rope as a communication tool.

 

"Training is a mechanical skill. Don't let mechanics get in the way of good training." Bob Bailey

 

These days I prefer to use the phrase "handling skills" rather than "mechanical skills". But the intent is the same. You can understand all the theory in the world, but if you’re grabbing the lead with a tight fist instead of using it with finesse, your horse isn't going to enjoy his training sessions. 

 

The good news is you can do something about your handling skills. You can absolutely get better. You can develop a smoother, more horse friendly rhythm. You can find a functional balance that helps you communicate clear intent. You can develop fine motor control. To get you there this lesson covers a series of Awareness Explorations that will help you access your underlying core balance.

 

The original DVD Lesson covers the morning ground work that I include in my clinics. In these sessions we leave the horses in their stalls to take a nap while their owners work on their handling skills. In clinics we see over and over again how valuable these sessions are. We work out the details of how we are going to ask for something before we involve the horse.

 

This particular lesson looks at what I refer to as "t'ai chi" rope handling skills. We begin by experiencing what the lead feels like to your horse.

 

How much can you perceive when you are tense versus relaxed?

 

Are you balanced and how does that effect your horse?

 

Do you know how to use the alignment of your bones and bone rotations so you can be powerful and effective without being forceful or aggressive?

 

I use a series of standing in awareness explorations to help explain the rope handling skills that I incorporate into clicker training.

 

The lessons I’m sharing come in part from James Shaw. I’m incorporating elements of the Laing Gong exercises he draws on to help riders. The word exercise can put many people off. Don't think push ups or jumping jacks. The best way to describe them is to quote from James' book "Ride from Within."

 

"Laing Gong is a complete set of therapeutic exercises designed to unblock and create a strong flow of internal energy (chi) throughout the body. . . Beyond the general health benefits of these exercises are gains of particular interest to riders. Laing Gong enhances the range of motion in your joints while maintaining the structural balance essential in riding, and through Laing Gong, you develop highly sensitive control of your physical body as well as focus and concentration of the mind. These exercises . . . quickly and effectively increase your body's ability to ride." Ride from Within by James Shaw

 

In this lesson I am presenting my version of these Laing Gong exercises. I’ve chosen lessons that I have found to be the most useful in understanding and accessing the rope handling skills that I teach.

 

I had help on this DVD from Ilse de Wit of the Canadian Clicker Centre. First I teach the exercises to Ilse, then we explore how they relate to ground work and to riding. We look at how you can:

 

• develop better sensitivity and feel down a rope

• improve your balance and riding position

• use bone alignments to be powerful and effective without being forceful or aggressive.

 

The lesson explains why the rope mechanics work the way they do. And the exercises take you to the "t'ai chi walk” (see my Riding book: “The Click That Teaches: Riding with the Clicker”- Chapter 24.) Good rope handling skills are very dependent upon being able to "walk and chew gum." Can you slide down a lead rope and step up into a balanced structure? In other words, are you using your core when you use a lead? Do you know what that means?

 

 I also relate these exercises to riding. We look at what creates a stable, powerful riding position. We contrast this with what contributes to backwards traction and a rider who must hold onto the reins or she'll lose her balance. We look at what allows a rider to stabilize her hand effectively versus one who is easily pulled out of the saddle. What are the subtle changes that gives a rider a secure, grounded seat?

 

 This DVD Lesson was very much designed to accompany my book: “The Click That Teaches: Riding with the Clicker”. Later in the DVD series we'll look at the underlying handling skills related specifically to the single-rein riding. This lesson focuses on rope handling and body alignment.

 

This DVD was first produced in Jan. 2007