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HHT News: The WHOLE Works! New Holistic Options August 26, 2015 |
HHT California Clinic 2015
Piloting Our Holistic Services
Last month we traveled from our base in France to California to give a 5-day clinic at Distinction Ranch near San Diego. It was a great experience that allowed us to test out and develop further our concept of Holistic Evaluations.
This clinic was also the first time we have offered what we called Holistic Evaluations in addition to normal riding lessons. We are very grateful that so many of the participants took us up on this proposal, as well as our hosts, Len and Bethany, who were keen to have us assess many of their horses in this way.
A clinic that is restricted to riding lessons alone does not allow us to address the whole picture, and help people move forwards with their horse on all levels. This is our real passion, so we were excited to start developing this opportunity.
Our central philosophy at HHT is that achieving a mutually trusting relationship with a horse, with the potential for gymnastic excellence in training is about addressing the WHOLE picture of the horse's being. We have come to understand that this 'whole' is made up of several levels of influences on the horse, which we have illustrated with our holistic pyramid.
This is the very foundation of the horse's well-being, and is therefore not to be underestimated in its importance. Everything else we wish to create with a horse - a positive relationship, sound training and riding - is built on top of this, and the only way to make it a solid foundation is to address every building block of the horse's natural requirements for stimulation and health in mind, body and spirit. The first step of the holistic evaluation is therefore to look at each one of these building blocks that make up the foundation. In the format of the Holistic Evaluations in the US clinic, part of this information, concerning the horse's daily lifestyle, diet and care, was gathered by detailed questionnaires filled in by the owner.
One of the changes we decided to make in the new format, described below, is that instead of the owner filling out a form with this background information, we will have a what we call a Holistic Consultation with the owner. This will be a friendly one-to-one discussion with the owner/carer of the horse, where we get a feel for the horse's everyday life situation, and also an opportunity for the owner to discuss any issues they may have with their horse on any level. We will fill in the preliminary part of the form during this consultation to make sure we have all the information we need.
For this clinic, we were happy to find that the horses were mainly coming from a fairly natural lifestyle, where their owners were aware of their natural requirements to a reasonable degree. Although there was room for improvement to make their daily lives more stimulating, none of the horses were kept on their own or stabled. The vast majority were barefoot with the right conditions for healthy hoof function, helped by the dry California climate.
In terms of riding work, we were not in an especially dressage-orientated context, but all the riders were very open to working on the basics of their postural connection with the horses, and we had many wonderful moments where this connection stared to flourish and transform the horses' way of going.
Bethany achieving some lovely softening with Galileo Another big plus of Camille and I working together is that we were able to give some presentations where one of us rode and the other explained what was going on (we were fortunate to have been given access to an excellent sound-system to help us do this!).
More Than Just an Evaluation! We had originally used the term Holistic Evaluation to indicate a kind of all round assessment, but in reality we went much further than this in terms of actually working with the horse and rider, both energetically and gymnastically. For this reason, we have decided to change the name to 'The WHOLE Works!' because it sums up perfectly the synergistic philosophy of the whole being greater that the sum of its parts.
HHT OnTrack options do not include riding work, so are suitable for young horses not yet backed, rehab cases not yet ready for riding work, or for anyone who just wants to explore the first stages of the gymnastic process. HHT OnBoard options address the same foundations, but progressing to riding work in the form of both a schooling session where the horse is ridden by either Camille or myself, and a separate riding lesson for the client.
A schooling session with Lightning, who made an amazing transformation from extremely hollow to beautifully engaged Within each of these two choices, we have made two options: the Sphere option includes Craniosacral Therapy, a powerful healing tool in which Camille is very experienced. CST brings to light and helps shift layers of both physical and emotional restriction which are very often holding both horses and humans back from fulfilling their potential. The OnTrack Sphere option includes a CST session for the horse. The OnBoard Sphere option includes CST sessions for both horse are rider, since the rider's own physical 'pattern' comes into play once they are in the saddle, and it's important to address this too. The Circle options of both OnTrack and OnBoard do not include CST, giving clients the choice of whether this is something they want to explore or not.
Writing up the Holistic Evaluation sheets - there was a lot to put down on paper! We will put a page up on the HHT site shortly with further details of each element of The Whole Works options that we will be offering at future clinics. If you are interested in organizing a clinic with HHT in your location, don't hesitate to contact us by email: contact@happy-horse-training.com This week we are off to Sweden for a clinic hosted by Ann-Britt Bolinder at the Gustavsborg Stud. We look forwards to another great teaching and learning experience!
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Sharing the Holistic Message
If you enjoy the Happy Horse Training website, and you find the information on it useful, please help us to share it by clicking on the Facebook 'like' and 'share' buttons that are on each page (you can also share this newsletter by clicking on the symbol above). Any other way you can pass the site on to friends and colleagues, for example via discussion forums, is also greatly appreciated. You can also sign up to our RSS feed (blog) to be kept up to date with new ideas, pages and other information that we post there. Just click on the box that says 'subscribe to this site' at the left of each page. The equestrian world is one dominated by traditionalist ideas and conventions, but we would like to help inform the growing minority of horse-owners who want to make their horses happier with progressive and holistic methods.
Happy Horse Training now has over 100 pages exploring many different areas of holistic equitation. Do have a look through our site plan to find the subjects and categories that interest you.
Available from HHT:
New! The Gymnastic Rider eBook 
Available exclusively from HHT, a unique and comprehensive guide to practical rider biomechanics. This professionally produced eBook takes the rider through the process of developing their body in the specific way that brings the horse's movement into harmony and balance, without force and constraint.
The information in this book, including over 55 000 words, represents what we would normally pass on in a minimum of 12 specialist lunge lessons, focusing on each part of the position and its influence on the horse, with a value of at least €450. The Gymnastic Rider is available for only €29.99. Click here for full details, and to download the 15-page introduction to the book for free.
How to Train a Horse Without Force
eBook With your purchase you will receive a free bonus supplement on Horse Trauma - cutting edge insights on this subject that up until now have mostly been applied only to human trauma. This supplement shows how to recognise, avoid and deal with horse trauma, which is much more common that we realise. These two e-books - How to Train a Horse Without Force and Horse Trauma comprise more than 75 thousand words and are richly illustrated. They are available for only 19.99 Euros (around $26). Click here for more details.
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