Four days of learning how to use your mind, body and breath
to influence the horse on the ground or when riding to
enhance your equine relationship. This transformative course is suitable for
people with no previous experience with horses, right through to
competitive horsemen who wish to increase their winning edge. It involves
3 hours of serious yoga practice every day, and for this reason may not be
suitable for people with no prior yoga experience, unless they have
practiced other paths, such as martial arts or meditation, and in any
case, a good level of physical fitness is necessary to take part in this
course.
What
is the path of horsemanship?
Horses, being prey animals, live entirely in the present. For them, being
fully aware of their surroundings is a matter of life and death. To match
their incredible sensitivity and communicate effectively with them in a
way that they naturally understand, we have to develop an awareness that
matches theirs. We have to train our bodies,
developing feel, timing and balance,
so that we can move as precisely
and gracefully as they do. We have to train our breath, so we can breathe
with them, gaining their respect and trust. We have to train our minds to
be able to deal with them with calmness, fairness and equanimity. This is the
path of horsemanship.
This path led one of America's top clinicians and horsemanship writers, Mark
Rashid, to take up Aikido, and now, having gained an Aikido black belt, he
runs Aikido for Horsemen workshops. Another follower of this path, Chris
Irwin, writes in his "Dancing with Your Dark Horse" book on the subject of
martial arts and horsemanship: “Both offer mental and spiritual
discipline. Both offer a way to unite body and mind. And both offer a
spiritual path as well." Indeed, combining horsemanship with some form
of body centred self development technique is an increasingly popular
idea amongst Natural horsemanship circles.
At Macalla farm, we have been running yoga courses for many years, and two
years ago, started combining yoga and Positive horsemanship in a course
aimed at horse people who want to improve their connection with horses.
Yoga complements the work we do with horses in many ways.
First, through the practice of Surya Namaskar (sun salutation) and asanas
(postures), we learn how to relax and become more aware of our bodies, and
how we move them. Because horses are master at reading body language,
being more attuned with our own bodies is essential to improve our
communication with them, whether we are on the ground or in the saddle,
and some point, training our bodies becomes essential to improve our
horsemanship. Klaus Ferdinan Hempfling, a master in the art of
communicating with horses using body language puts it in these terms in
his "Dancing with horses" DVD: "This means that you, of course, need an
at least partially schooled, trained, soft, elastic body which can very
precisely convey the body signals coming from within to the horse."
Regular yoga practice also helps to build and maintain fitness for riding,
and some yoga postures are very beneficial to improve your seat.
On another, more subtle level, through the practice of pranayama (yogic
breathing), we learn how to relax and become more aware of our breathing,
and the horses certainly notice! Horses are very aware of their handlers
or riders breathing, and we have found that using yogic breathing
techniques when handling horses helps them to relax and trust us. Yogic
breathing also increases concentration, and with better focus, communication
with the horses becomes clearer and easier.
Frederic Pignon, a founder of the famous Cavalia equine show, and one of
France' leading horse trainers, writes on the subject of breathing and
concentration in his book "Galloping to freedom":
"... I often use breathing to relax both the horse and myself and to
develop concentration. I breathe out in a way the horse can understand
and copy... All my horses learn to do this...." .
Finally, through the practice of meditation, we learn to devellop a non
reactive mind. Horses are acutely aware of the emotional state of their
handler. More than two thousand years ago, Xenophon advised horsemen to
“Never deal with a horse when you are in a fit of passion. A fit of
passion is a thing that has no foresight in it, and so we often have to
rue the the day when we gave way to it”. Because horses are flight
animals, their main emotion is fear, which is extreme case can completely
overwhelm them to the point where they become blind and oblivious to
physical pain. The antidote to fear is trust, but how can a worried horse
trust a handler who is in an heightened emotional state of anger or fear?
Being in control of our emotions is essential to build trust with horses,
and particularly when training them or otherwise putting them through new
situations. In these situations, our own confidence, calm and emotional
balance makes all the difference. This is perhaps the most difficult part
of the path, as controlling our mind is even more difficult than
controlling our bodies and breath, but this is without a doubt the most
important step.
The path of horsemanship is a path of transformation. Transforming our
relationship with horses takes courage and practice. The reward, of
course, is true partnership.
The course
The
course
starts in the evening of the first day and finishes at 4.30 pm on the
last day, in time for you to leave the island with the evening boat (5
pm).
It
is possible to bring your own horse (no stallion or horses under 3)
but please contact us in advance to arrange this. Cost of bringing your
own horse is 100 euros including the cost of transport to and from the
island from Roonagh Quay. Participants not bringing a horse can work with one of the horses on the farm.
The day starts at 8.00 am with a two hours yoga class focusing mostly on asanas
(postures).
After breakfast, we go out to be with the horses until lunch, under
Vanessa's expert guidance.
The afternoon sessions will be a mix of theory, discussion and
practical work with the horses. All participants will have an
opportunity to work one to one with Vanessa.
There's another one hour yoga session in the evening before
dinner, focusing on pranayama (yogic breathing) and meditation techniques.
The cost of the course is 480 euros and include full board
accommodation (organic vegetarian food) and tuition in horsemanship and
yoga.
If you are interested in this
course, we recommend you
book early, as number is limited to 8 participants.
Vanessa Bee
Vanessa Bee has been around horses for most of her life working in racing stables throughout her teens then driving competitively into her early twenties when she was given an 'unridable' racehorse as a wedding present. Very soon Vanessa realised that there had to be a better way than the 'bigger stick, bigger bit' method. It was in 1997 that the journey truly began to develop a style of teaching and riding that Vanessa has called Positive Horsemanship. Vanessa began to read, study and work with some of the greatest horseman of the age. Monty Roberts, Kelly Marks, Jayne Lavender, Ken Faulkner, Pat Parelli, and has used as her guides and mentors Henry Blake, Maurice Wright, Buck Brannaman, the Dorrances, Ray Hunt and Mark Rashid. She soon discovered that there as many ways of teaching horsemanship as there are horse/handlers in the world. A programme simply couldn't work all the time for everyone. With a degree in Education, and a qualified teacher, Vanessa has used her skills to develop a series of courses that teach people of all abilities and experience to achieve a positive relationship with their horses. Vanessa also holds a Monty Roberts Preliminary Certificate and is a developing Progressive Counsellor and constantly trains and studies to improve her method of guidance and teaching.
For more information, see Vanessa's website
Christophe Mouze and Ciara Cullen
Christophe and Ciara run the Clare Island retret centre, and between them have over 25 years of experience of teaching yoga retreats in Ireland and abroad. Their practice and teaching have been influenced by a number of yoga styles, particularly ashtanga (which they have studied with John Scott, Graeme Northfield, Patthabi Jois, Nancy Gilgoff and others), and the atma vikasa style of Venkatesh (from Mysore). Ciara has also studied Vanda Scaravelli's teachings under the guidance of Rossella Baroncini. Christophe originally trained as a Iyengar teacher in the 90s and has also studied pranayama. Both Christophe and Ciara practice Vipassana meditation.
Both of them also have ridden, owned, bred and trained horses for many years, and are currently exploring the connections between yoga and horsemanship.
