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Old 11-09-2012, 12:27 PM   #18
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Re: The Fear of Power

Quote:
Cherie Cornmesser wrote: View Post
lol anyone who thinks they can MAKE a horse do anything it does not want to do is fooling themselves. My work with horses is not a power struggle and there is no wanting to win.
You "make" a horse do something every time you work on its hoof. Ever see a horse stand on three legs with its fourth one lifted and bent? Do they do that naturally? So, when you make the horse lift it's foot, you are, in essence, exerting a power over the horse to behave in a manner that is not natural to its being. It only takes that position because you make it do so. That is power. You accomplished the task (no matter how you did it) of getting that horse in a position it naturally does not use. (Yes, the natural function of the leg is such that it can be put into that posture, but the horse does not naturally stand on three legs with one bent back, upwards.) That is winning.

Quote:
Cherie Cornmesser wrote: View Post
Sometimes I want to do what I want to do and sometimes I let the horse tell me what it wants to do. Sometimes we compromise. Most ornery horses are just trying to protect themselves from a perceived threat or are responding to people based on humans having tried to use force to get what they want. Interestingly the thing I am learning the most and applying to horses that I am learning in aikido is that the less I try to make them do what I want and the less strength and power I use the more successful the outcomes.
So, you are successful in your outcomes. Why is that? Did the horse stand on four legs and not let you do anything to it? You were successful in the outcome that you desired. That's the definition of winning. And you got the horse to do something which it does not naturally do (hold one leg bent with hoof upwards). That's power. Your successful outcome over the natural nature of the horse.

Now, *how* you accomplish that, as you stated, can make a world of difference.
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