What Are You Waiting For?

Photo courtesy of Sara Fogan

Me and Geeves

     Do you live in the moment? Can you do it? This is a challenge for a lot of people, myself included. But I'm working on it.

     When I was a teen-ager, I decided that Thursday night is my favorite day of the week because the weekend is just about to start. I still have Friday and Saturday to look forward to! But by Friday afternoon I would start to feel sad, because in my mind the weekend was almost over! Don't even ask how I felt about Sundays! And then, many years ago a colleague recited a quote she had heard: "It's always better to travel hopefully than to arrive." That really resonated with me, because I had long been someone who prefers to plan and look forward to something than to get down and experience it. Since then, I have recited that quote many (read, hundreds) of times over the years.

     In his book, Don't Sweat the Small Stuff (and it's all small stuff), author Richard Carlson, Ph.D., addresses the importance of living in the moment. He points out that people spend so much time worrying about what will happen tomorrow and fretting about what happened in the past that they miss opportunities for joy right now. When I read this, my jaw hit the floor. What have I been missing? I need to pay attention! Having a horse helps me to do this.

     Several years ago, I went up to the barn to see my horse. I was preoccupied out about a project I was working on, and I thought riding Geeves would help to relax me. It did--but not until I stressed my horse out, first! I was so caught up in my anxiety that it wasn't until I felt my 16.2- hand Thoroughbred's muscles tense and he started to jig beneath me that I realized how toxic my thoughts had become. Geeves had picked up all of my negative energy and started to reflect it right right back to me. I knew that if I didn't pay attention to what is going on right now, Geeves was likely to bolt and I could get hurt. I apologized to my horse, took a few deep breaths and cleared my mind of everything except what was going on between the two of us.

     My new horse, Galahad, also lets me know when I am not focused on what is going on right now. A few times I have become so distracted that he has had to bring me out of my past/future reverie with a well-placed tap on my foot. It wasn't his fault; I wasn't watching where I was standing and I was in his blind spot. I got the hint. I could certainly explain or rationalize the incident by telling myself that I became so overwhelmed by my thoughts (message units) that I put myself into a light trance (like missing my exit on the freeway). My horse stepped on me because I was standing in the same spot where Galahad wanted to put his hoof when he shifted his weight. The metaphor was painfully obvious to me, though: I expect my horse to pay attention to me and do what I ask him to do. It is only fair--and respectful to my equine partner--that I devote full attention to him when I am working with him.

     When I was a teen-ager, I only wanted to get on a horse and ride. I didn't want to waste precious minutes of riding time on "just grooming." These days, I am happy to brush, curry, pick hooves, give him a Reiki treatment or massage because that is precious time I get to spend in Galahad's company. Grooming becomes a moving meditation in which I can express my love for and appreciation of him as one of my life's great blessings.

      Having the opportunity to ride him is the great joy of today...every day.

 

 

     Sara R. Fogan, C.Ht. is a certified hypnotherapist based in Southern California. She graduated with honors from the Hypnosis Motivation Institute in 2005. For more information about Calminsense Hypnotherapy®, please visit http://www.calminsensehypnotherapy.com/.

Learning From the Masters: Monty Roberts, Part 2

    


Photo courtesy of Sara Fogan

Me with Monty Roberts at the Pomona Equine Affaire in 2008

 

 

     When Monty Roberts works with horses, he refers to and thinks of them as his equine "students." The concept made sense; but, I admit, I never thought about working with horses in this way until I attended one of his clinics for the first time.

     In one of his demonstrations, Mr. Roberts worked with a spooky horse to negotiate obstacles on trail rides. After joining up with the horse, he and an assistant gradually unfurled a blue tarp on the ground. Mr. Roberts encouraged the horse to sniff, jump over, step on and finally walk across the material. He spent about 40 minutes working with the horse this way, gradually desensitizing the animal to the crunching sound that the tarp made and what must have been a very different sensation of walking on it, compared to the feeling of the dirt in the arena.     The whole time he worked with the horse, Mr. Roberts told the audience how and why he was introducing the obstacle this way. He never raised his voice or a hand to the horse. He never sounded or acted frustrated by the speed or slowness at which the horse was understanding what the human wanted him to do.

     Mr. Roberts explained how the horse was an equine student in this lesson, learning something new and different. Every time the horse initiated a movement toward the obstacle, the horseman lavished him with praise to build his confidence and encourage the animal to take another step forward. By the end of the session, the horse was following his teacher all over the arena, including a slow walk over the tarp.

     I considered the similarities between how I help people overcome fears and phobias, and what I had just watched Mr. Roberts do with this horse. Like him, I must spend time building trust and respect (rapport) with my hypnotherapy clients before I can desensitize them to the scary object. Just as he had done with that horse, my ultimate goal is to help increase the person's confidence so that he or she can overcome the fear or phobia, etc., and continue to achieve their goals. And, just as Mr. Roberts demonstrated, behavior change occurs on its own time and at its own speed.

     Later that morning, I had an opportunity to meet Mr. Roberts and thank him for the work he has done (and continues to do) with horses. I remember telling him that he was a genius working with horses. He was very modest when I said this to him; I'm sure that I sounded like the starstruck fan that I was. But there were really no words to express how his work had affected me, and continues to do so.

         

 

 

Sara R. Fogan, C.Ht. is a certified hypnotherapist who specializes in helping equestrians to achieve their competition and riding goals. For more information about Calminsense Hypnotherapy®, please visit http://www.calminsensehypnotherapy.com/.

Learning From the Masters: Monty Roberts, Part 1

     Photo courtesy of Sara Fogan

Me with Monty Roberts at the Pomona Equine Affaire in 2008

     I did not remember his name the first time I heard of Monty Roberts. But I always remembered what he taught.
     Let's go back about 20 years. At the time, I hadn't ridden or even spent any significant time around horses in about a decade. I was living in Southeast London, doing my post-graduate degree. But my fascination and infatuation with them was still strong enough to influence where I chose to live: My landlords--and now, friends--owned a horse; my landlady rides and competes in dressage.
     On this particular night, I was curled up in an armchair, watching a documentary about a gentleman from Solvang, California. The subject of this documentary was very personable and  soft-spoken. He provided background about his difficult (abusive) childhood and his subsequent work with, training and advocating for the welfare of horses. Then Mr. Roberts explained how his gentle, respectful philosophy of "Join-Up" was based on his observations of how horses naturally interact with herd members in the wild. 

    

     The program showed him do this at a riding stable--I think the event was a motivational seminar of some kind for business executives. No whips, no ropes, no harsh words. Just a man and a horse that had never been handled before. Mr. Roberts explained what he was doing the whole time, and in about 30 minutes the horse was following him around the arena. Afterward, several attendees gave emotional impressions of what they had witnessed. He admitted that people often became emotional at his seminars (some even faint); he went on to explain that witnessing or experiencing this kind of human-horse interaction was very cathartic when there was abuse or trauma in the person's past.

     Then, the documentary showed him using "Join-Up" techniques to gentle the wild Mustang, Shy Boy, in the middle of a Nevada desert.

     Several years ago, I had the honor of meeting Mr. Roberts and Shy Boy at Equine Affaire in Pomona, California. By then, a friend at my barn had re-introduced me to his work. I only had to read a few pages of The Man Who Listens to Horses to realize that this was the man featured in that documentary I still remembered watching when I lived in London. I still feel the hairs on my neck prickle when I think about how his interactions with horses bring people to tears, and a wild Mustang colt to trust him implicitly.

     And then I heard him introduce/describe each of the horses in his demonstration as   "equine students"...and I was blown away. 

     Sara R. Fogan, C.Ht. is a certified hypnotherapist based in Southern California. She graduated with honors from the Hypnosis Motivation Institute in 2005. For more information about Calminsense Hypnotherapy®, please visit http://www.calminsensehypnotherapy.com/.

Homage to War Horses

Photo courtesy of Sara Fogan

Avalon's Galahad

     

 

 

     My first real introduction to the concept of a War Horse was in the song, "Comanche (The Brave Horse)," by Johnny Horton and Francis Bandy. This 1959 tribute describes the deeds of an equine survivor of the Battle of Little Big Horn. According to the lyrics of this ballad, Comanche was the only survivor of this infamous battle. This was not true, but he was severely injured. After being rescued from the battlefield, the horse--who was owned by Captain Myles Keogh, not General Custer--recovered from his wounds and lived the rest of his life as a hero of the American cavalry. I get goosebumps whenever I listen to the song--which is often, as it is part of an iTunes play list I created for my new horse, Galahad.

    Galahad is an Arazzon: a "hybrid" in that he is one-half Arabian and one-half Lipizzaner. His Arabian side makes him a direct descendant of the original war horse, the Arabian. The Arabian dates back 2000 years. They are legendary campaign horses in the North African and Arabian deserts: Bedouin warriors would ride mares to battle, leaving the stallions to protect the women and children at the camps.

    Arabians are also the seminal breed used to create the elegant and rare Lipizzaner four hundred years ago. (The Arabian stallion Siglavy is a foundation sire of this breed.) Although the Lipizzaner elevated battle maneuvers to an art form in haute école, these horses were never used in actual combat. They were bred exclusively for the Hapsburg royalty to ride. Over the centuries, various wars have pushed the breed to the brink of extinction. During World War II, American General George S. Patton famously helped Colonel Alois Podhasky, the director of the Spanish Riding School, to smuggle the horses out of Austria. These days, Lipizzaners are renown for their haute école performances at the Spanish Riding School, where the levade, capriole and courbette thrill audiences.

    In December 2011, Steven Spielberg released the film adaptation of Michael Morpurgo's novel, War Horse. At first, I was very wary about going to see the movie. It wasn't that I didn't want to watch the movie. I really did. But I knew it would be a tearjerker.

     I ultimately did go to watch the movie. It was very well done. But, I won't say that I "enjoyed" watching it. The battle scenes were harrowing. Not just because war is so devastating. But because the humans who went to war knew (sort of) what they were getting into. However, the equine soldiers who were similarly drafted to charge into the machine-gun fire and swinging swords did not.

    When the movie let out, I drove to the barn to see my horse. I wanted to thank him for his gentle companionship and any sacrifices his forbears made for their human companions. On the cover of her book, Become Perfect Partners, Kelly Marks encourages everyone to strive to be "the owner that your horse would choose for himself."

    Galahad, that is what I will do for you.

     Sara R. Fogan, C.Ht. is a certified hypnotherapist based in Southern California. She graduated with honors from the Hypnosis Motivation Institute in 2005. For more information about Calminsense Hypnotherapy®, please visit http://www.calminsensehypnotherapy.com/.