I’m not sure what happened while those ladies went and got their horses, but on the drive home later, my student come co-pilot that day commented that no-one had made a deprecating remark about themselves or their horses for the rest of the day. Each commentary voiced was a simple observation, and their creativity had been alive and flowing. There had been a mutual energetic shift among them, and it had fueled itself – just as it had before. They had all ‘jumped the tracks’. The day had not started out with this promise. The burning desire in these ladies had been an inspirational catalyst for a good dose of wonder entering our day together.
It was one of those days that stayed with me. It sharpened the focus on another perspective I had been noodling on, in how I thought about of ‘feel’.
Bill Dorrance points out that genuine lightness is the kind the horse naturally has when he comes into the world. If we want a truly light ride, we need to leave that intact, connect with it and shape it. Well, here’s the thing: it is not just about leaving lightness intact or restoring it in the horse. The feel in us of right and wrong or pass and fail kills lightness on both sides, because it kills true feel – we are ‘in our heads’. To experience lightness from the horse, we need to offer lightness. To shape a horse through release, we need a feel of release *in us* to offer - only then can we receive the feel of the horse "through" us, and back into our hands to shape what small change fits next. True feel is not applied by us "to" the horse but "through" us from the horse.
And when true feel is flowing, there is just nothing quite like it. The channel opened offers a deep source of joy, and has a way of flowing right into every other aspect of life. Pretty worthwhile stuff.