EQUUS

Riding with compassion

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I was very pleased to see the book excerpt “A Compassion­ate Approach to Training and Showing” (EQUUS 456). I have been riding since I was a boy. One of the first things I learned from my riding master in Switzerlan­d was to ride with feeling and to attain a sympatheti­c, caring relationsh­ip with whatever horse you’re on.

I find that working with a horse is highly relaxing and has a calming effect. One of my favorite experience­s is when the horse and I are alone in the arena on a Saturday, just practicing, and we come together as one. Something special happens, and the horse responds to the gentlest of aids. I have been told that it looks like I am doing nothing in the saddle, but the horse always responds. It seems like we always do our best work on Saturdays, or perhaps spoiling the horse with carrots afterward is the real reason.

On one recent weekend, I saw evidence of my horse’s compassion toward me. He always stands quietly for the five minutes or so I need to mount because of my weak left leg. When my leg collapsed in the stirrup and I fell backward onto the mounting block, I mounted anyway, and my horse actually turned his neck backward to see if I was settled in the saddle. That Saturday it was difficult to get him to even trot. He wasn’t convinced that all was well with his rider. I cut our ride short because my leg started to hurt (I had sprained it). When I dismounted, my leg collapsed at the knee again and I grabbed onto my horse’s neck to avoid falling. He turned his neck and gently nuzzled me as if to say, “You’re hurt. It’s OK.”

Some people say that horses have no emotions and no feelings. They are wrong. John Maieron Blue Bell, Pennsylvan­ia

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