06/21/2025
"Practice your scales" ❤️
Good intentions don’t counter sloppy tool handling
As the horse world shifts into intention, relationship and the more emotional side of work, we are losing one very important thing: good technique
If you want to be a musician, you have to practice your scales. This can be boring but necessary.
Once the technique is accurate, you can create art, express emotion, even break the rules and create something totally unique as many artists have.
But if you don’t learn to handle your line with care, to make sure the feel inside you is being conveyed to the horse through your body through the line, your intentions often won’t get to where you wanted them to go.
Many people relying on inner feeling are neglecting the technique, and the feeling being transmitted to the horse is poor, sloppy, confusing, even scary.
I’ve spent many hours with my teachers refining the way I hold the lead line, the flag, the lunge line, the way I pick up my reins - over and over again until it’s the right feel for what I’m trying to say. Inside me was always a good intention, but the horse can’t hear it if our technique is jarring.
Practice your scales. Be willing to take critique on the most basic things you do and take it seriously. That’s what makes riders and horse people truly great with horses - good intentions and listening to podcasts about emotionalism and spiritualism can set the tone, but then you have to get the skill to communicate that with the horse, and that requires elbow grease
