"Power of Observation" and "State of Awareness"

The past couple of weeks, I have had the privilege of teaching a 4-H group of young horsemen and several other youth seeking more savvy with their horses.  These lessons have not only been exciting, but also rewarding.  It seems most youth are already very natural around horses.  They have the physical abilities to ride with ease and, for the most part, are not hindered by the fears we adults bring to the arena.  They are not as concerned about the why of everything; instead they just do what I instruct them to do without question.

As I taught these kids recently, I kept thinking about what Ray Hunt said, “observe, remember and compare.”  I remembered Jack Brainard saying "your most powerful tool is your power of observation.” These are men that I respect and have had the honor of riding with.

While I was observing the kids during lessons, I realized they didn't need me to instruct them how to be more natural with horses, like many of the adults I help.  Instead, they needed to improve their skills of observation.  That sounds simple enough, but it proves to be a very elusive target.  However, each person does have the creative potential to perceive things freshly.  These are skills we already have which are simply waiting to be released.

When I was a public school teacher, I used to teach a course called “Drawing On the Right Side of the Brain.”  The ability to draw depends on the ability to see the way an artist sees.  Most people can learn to draw if we can show them how to “change their way of looking at things.”  Drawing is not really very difficult. Seeing is the problem, or shifting to a particular way of seeing.  The reason most people never learn to draw well is they never learn to see well enough.  I believe this may be the same reason some people never get to the level of horsemanship they desire.

I have found teaching horsemanship is not much different from teaching someone how to draw.  You may feel that you are seeing things just fine and that it's the horse that is being difficult.  But, in fact, the opposite may be true.  Many natural horsemanship exercises are a perfect venue to experience a slightly altered mode of awareness and to see things in a different way which will enable us to be better observers and therefore better horsemen.

One complication of “seeing” is that what we see is changed or interpreted in ways that depend on a person's training, mindset, and past experiences.  We tend to see what we expect to see or what we decide we have seen.  This expectation is not a conscious process.  Learning to use our power of observation takes conscious effort that allows a different more direct kind of seeing.

As some of you know, I love to draw but haven't been making the time to do it lately.  When I do, it puts me into a somewhat altered state of awareness.  Awareness of the passage of time fades away.  I feel alert and aware yet relaxed and free of anxiety, experiencing a pleasurable activation of my mind.

I have spent the last 14 days riding at least two to four horses per day, and I have experienced the same state of awareness.  I think it is because during riding I deal with lots of visual images and tactual feelings just as I do when drawing.  I have to keep track of relational, and spatial information, while sensing components of the overall performance between myself and the horse.  I find when I am riding I can do a lot of creative thinking, I completely loose track of time, and experience a sense of freedom from stress.

Since I have consciously tried to develop my power of observation into a global skill, life seems so much richer now.  I didn't realize how much there was to see and how much I may have been missing before.  As I watch horses and people I am slowly developing the ability to perceive things freshly in their totality, to see patterns, shifts, discrepancies, possibilities for new combinations and creative solutions to problems.  I may not always understand the whys, but that doesn't seem to matter, seeing clear is the important thing.  When we start to see in this way, ordinary things become extraordinary.  It's more than just looking with the eye; it is being fully aware and alive, interacting with each moment.

True horsemanship through feel is an artistic endeavor.  “When the artist is alive in any person, whatever his kind of work may be, he becomes an inventive, searching, daring, self-expressive creature.  He becomes interesting to other people.  He disturbs, upsets, enlightens, and opens ways for a better understanding.  Where those who are not artists are trying to close the book, he opens it and shows there are still more pages possible, “Rober Henri (The Art Spirit).

“A moment's insight is sometimes worth a lifetime's experience”, Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.

Happy Trails,

Sherry Jarvis
Heart in Your Hand Horsemanship

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