08/27/2023
Feel, in essence.
A Sacred Gift
“Wisdom is not a product of schooling but of the lifelong attempt to acquire it.” (Albert Einstein)
Intuition is a sacred gift but intuition is not infallible. We need knowledge. Sometimes knowledge confirms intuitive thoughts. Often knowledge rewrites intuition adding discoveries that correct our initial idea. At times, knowledge contradicts our intuition. Riding has been written in formulas and since the beginning of time, talented riders have felt a world that is not printed in the books. It is almost painful to be a critical thinker as opening the mind often means closing the book. The ones who can read between the lines try to explain that the horse’s physique does not function as written in the book. Once widely accepted, a false conclusion is not easy to dislodge; and the less it is understood, the more tenaciously it is held. This trait of human nature needs to be countered by critical thinkers. At first, a critical thinker wants to know more hoping to help others. Then, when a critical thinker realizes that others tenaciously hold to their misconceptions, the one who likes to think seeks knowledge to clarify and further intuition. The formula leads to the intelligent application of science.
I was trained the classical way, reins effects, leg actions, and shifts of my body weight. I got results but felt that the horses and I were having a conversation in a language foreign to both of us. Through words that we recognized, we constructed at times a full sentence but most of the time it was vague communication. First, I applied the gestures as I was trained to do. Then I reduced the nuisances minimizing the gestures. Then I observed that horses responded to the muscles adjustment creating the gesture. Then the dialogue with the horse was about subtle nuances in muscle tone. Then I learned the importance of frequency, synchrony and integrity. Even if applied with the correct intensity, a nuance in muscle tone will trigger protective reflex contraction if applied faster than the horse’ frequency.
Interestingly, the observations guiding my evolution occurred during intense athletic performances such as the approach of an advanced three-day event cross country jump. The jump on the picture demanded a long trajectory and therefore momentum. The jump was placed seven strides from a fence. We arrived parallel to the jump. We had to make a 90˚turn and had six strides until the jump. The inclination of the three poles composing the jump made me decide to go for the momentum; If the take-off stride was a little too close the angle of the poles would give Quolibet the time to lift the knees. Quolibet knew about his limited power and I was confident that he would not try a long take off. Four strides before the jump, I realized that we were not at the right place either we had to make three long or four short strides. Simultaneously, I felt that Quolibet was aware of the problem and had already decided on the adjustment. Quolibet bounced the third stride upward. I helped his initiative lifting my body over the stirrups in a neutral balance. The adjustment went so well that Quolibet did not have to shorten the last two strides, and the jump was easy and efficient. Proprioception is too slow for this type of communication. We had a dialogue without deciding. Quolibet and I reacted as if the reactions were already printed in our systems. The phenomenon is known today as “efference copy.” What amazed me was that we were both comfortable interacting at this level. I observed these interactions numerous times during cross-country courses. I wondered if these fast interactions could occur during dressage work.
Not only do these fast interactions occur but they are the interactions that the horse is comfortable with. Before Scott Grafton explained that our physique develops muscle synergies, and refines closed kinematics chain allowing us to function at a faster speed than usual decision making, I believed that if we concentrate intensively and our mind is set on the body coordination instead of the superficial movement, we can feel contractions or errors before the shoulders or other part of the horse’s physique move and our reaction can be very soft and effective. I now think that if our mind is on the athletic demand of the performance our physique refines its perception to a point that conventional equitation rarely reaches. Advanced understanding of the horse’s body function allows us to have a conversation with the horse that only a few had the genius to reach in previous generations.
Look at really good riders such as Nuno Oliveria or François Baucher, or Colonel Durand in jumping, and look at the myriad of riders who try to imitate them. They don’t reach the masters’ class and results because they focus on the person instead of understanding the interaction of forces between the rider and the horse that these geniuses intuitively had. We don’t arrive at this level right away. It takes a lifelong attempt to acquire it. This is what I am talking about when I say that our evolution never ends. Each level makes our life with the horse more challenging, intelligent, and enjoyable Learning is the essence of evolution. At each level, we interpret the horse reaction differently as research explains the body function deeper or through a different perspective.
In the seventies, a talented rider told me that he asked for the flying change at two/third of the second beat of the canter. Of course, I could not feel that. I was skeptical as our feedback is too slow for this type of perception. However, the man was a good rider and not overly arrogant. I worked with him on the flying changes and he told me that my timing was accurate. I did not feel two/third of the diagonal sequence but I felt the motion of the horse’s back. I talked with him about that and he said, “Yes, you feel the back, not the legs. I just concluded in my mind that the back motion occurred at about two/third of the diagonal sequence.“
The most amazing part is that each new level of refinement appeared perfectly natural for the horses. They reacted as if I reached their awareness level. I wondered how I have been able to win world-class competitions considering the primitivism of my equitation at this time. I already knew that the horses won the gold medals but I took conscience that the horses won despite the disturbances that my incompetence created. I lost respect for the artificial glory of the competitive world.
The closer I come to the horses’ refinement, the more the concept of integrity imposes itself. Classical schools talk about coordinating the horse’s physique for the effort but they try to create integrity from body parts. Horses suggested on the contrary that excellence in the details of body function depends on the integrity of the whole physique.
Thomas Myer (Anatomy Trains) and extensive research on fascial tissues confirmed what the horse tried to teach me all along. Not only a muscle never works alone but the whole physique orchestrates complex interaction of forces. We still isolate the use of our hands and legs because we are wired this way but much greater efficiency through much less effort can be achieved by thinking integrity of our whole physique and subtle tensegrity nuances.
Jean Luc
