|
|
Post by horseguy on Apr 2, 2016 18:26:14 GMT
Today's culture has produced a new kind of distracted human being, the "multi-tasker who texts while they drive a car, and otherwise tries to do more things at a time than is reasonably possible. They call you on the phone and you cannot understand them because they have you on speaker and they are a room away from their phone. When you mention their incoherent method of communicating, they blow you off with some superficial excuse. Got the picture?
These multi-taskers are in the horse industry. Some claim to be able to train a horse. I can't imagine. The primary thing I have learned about horse training is that since horses cannot speak to us as humans do, we must learn to "listen" to them through other means like through careful observation. We must learn to read patterns of behavior as if we are listening to a sentence. If a person cannot accomplish an effective phone call, how would they ever be able to listen to a horse in this most necessary way?
I have posted many times before that most horse trainers today are really horse sorters. This realization of a new cultural form of ADD, multi-tasking, gave me some hints on why we now have this new sorting standard instead of real training. The compulsive multi-taskers, it appears, sort for which horses can somehow understand them. If a trainer cannot "listen" to a horse, he/she cannot train the horse. It is that simple. Like the situation described in the article Jimmy posted about why there are so few good instructors today, there is a similar lack of truly effective trainers today. I am wondering how much this cultural multi-tasking has driven this decline.
|
|
|
|
Post by Jlynn on Apr 3, 2016 12:41:56 GMT
We don't listen to each other - how do expect us to listen to a horse! Even when it appears we are, most of us are busy formulating a reply. We want to be heard. Facebook, Instagram, Twitter all feed into that. We want people to listen to us - even when we really have very little of importance to say.
I recently read a book by Alan Alda where he talks about listening while acting. He felt he became an actor when he stopped waiting to say his line and started listening to the lines of the other actors and responding to the emotion they brought to their characters.
|
|
|
|
Post by horseguy on Apr 3, 2016 13:04:32 GMT
We don't listen to each other - how do expect us to listen to a horse! Even when it appears we are, most of us are busy formulating a reply. We want to be heard. Facebook, Instagram, Twitter all feed into that. We want people to listen to us - even when we really have very little of importance to say. I recently read a book by Alan Alda where he talks about listening while acting. He felt he became an actor when he stopped waiting to say his line and started listening to the lines of the other actors and responding to the emotion they brought to their characters.
Exactly. There is a TV ad running now where a guy introduces his new girlfriend to his two buddies in a restaurant. The buddies are texting at a table when the couple comes to it and the guy introduces is girlfriend Denise. The two buddies say, "Hi Dennis" without looking up or in any way abandoning their smartphones for a second. It's funny because it is so true.
In cities like Tokyo and Seoul a riding student must first take "riding lessons" on robot horses before they even meet a horse.
I actually like the idea of using this motion machine with no reins. Look at the three very different foot positions. Using hand weights is an interesting element. It looks like it would not be difficult to get students to sit correctly using these machines. They move like a horse. A TB was scanned on a treadmill with those scan dots to capture actual horse movement. But while these high tech machines might help a student find a more initial centered and effectively balanced position, if they lead a rider down the technology path of non-interactive unconsciousness, they would be one more problem.
About 50 years ago Alvin Toffler wrote a book called Future Shock. In it he predicted the rise of technology and its impact on human existence. He pretty much got it right. Human present tense awareness and focus has diminished to the point of the Denise/Dennis TV ad. Almost every day I encounter a pedestrian stepping off a curb into the street while texting, and I sense an urge not to hit the brakes out of a feeling that if a few got run over, maybe human consciousness with rise a little. Toffler predicted that as "High Tech" took over day-to-day human life, humans would respond with a powerful urge for what he called "High Touch". High Touch is expressed in craft beers, Artisan breads, hand made soap, farm to table, and many other rising trends to maintain some sense of connection with authentic foods, and experiences.
Horses are of course very High Touch. Always have been, but I do not see much interest in them in this more authentic way. Instead people seem to want to turn them into pets. They are not pets. They are an extremely unique and powerful experience like no other, but who will show these new riders and horse owners? |
|
|
|
Post by rideanotherday on Apr 4, 2016 11:04:55 GMT
I read something the other day - "We no longer listen to understand, we listen to reply".
Being an "active" listener and trying to listen without filtering what is being said and not adding our own spin to what is being said is a difficult practice. It's something I've been working on and it's changed some things for me. I do wonder what, if anything is changing for others. I will watch and see.
I'd like to work with a young horse to see if that "active listener" program changes anything in how I relate to horses. Something to think about for sure.
|
|
|
|
Post by rideanotherday on Apr 4, 2016 11:09:39 GMT
We don't listen to each other - how do expect us to listen to a horse! Even when it appears we are, most of us are busy formulating a reply. We want to be heard. Facebook, Instagram, Twitter all feed into that. We want people to listen to us - even when we really have very little of importance to say. I recently read a book by Alan Alda where he talks about listening while acting. He felt he became an actor when he stopped waiting to say his line and started listening to the lines of the other actors and responding to the emotion they brought to their characters.
Exactly. There is a TV ad running now where a guy introduces his new girlfriend to his two buddies in a restaurant. The buddies are texting at a table when the couple comes to it and the guy introduces is girlfriend Denise. The two buddies say, "Hi Dennis" without looking up or in any way abandoning their smartphones for a second. It's funny because it is so true.
In cities like Tokyo and Seoul a riding student must first take "riding lessons" on robot horses before they even meet a horse.
I actually like the idea of using this motion machine with no reins. Look at the three very different foot positions. Using hand weights is an interesting element. It looks like it would not be difficult to get students to sit correctly using these machines. They move like a horse. A TB was scanned on a treadmill with those scan dots to capture actual horse movement. But while these high tech machines might help a student find a more initial centered and effectively balanced position, if they lead a rider down the technology path of non-interactive unconsciousness, they would be one more problem.
About 50 years ago Alvin Toffler wrote a book called Future Shock. In it he predicted the rise of technology and its impact on human existence. He pretty much got it right. Human present tense awareness and focus has diminished to the point of the Denise/Dennis TV ad. Almost every day I encounter a pedestrian stepping off a curb into the street while texting, and I sense an urge not to hit the brakes out of a feeling that if a few got run over, maybe human consciousness with rise a little. Toffler predicted that as "High Tech" took over day-to-day human life, humans would respond with a powerful urge for what he called "High Touch". High Touch is expressed in craft beers, Artisan breads, hand made soap, farm to table, and many other rising trends to maintain some sense of connection with authentic foods, and experiences.
Horses are of course very High Touch. Always have been, but I do not see much interest in them in this more authentic way. Instead people seem to want to turn them into pets. They are not pets. They are an extremely unique and powerful experience like no other, but who will show these new riders and horse owners? I don't care for the concept of riding a tech horse before or instead of riding a real horse. No matter how good the technology is, there is no "feel", there is no communication and that is what riding is. Perhaps they learn some of the mechanical aspects of riding. I feel that "begin as you mean to go on" should apply here. Riding should be organic and not wrapped in wires. I don't want to see horses and real time instructors turn into a computer lab. |
|
|
|
Post by jlynn on Apr 4, 2016 12:12:26 GMT
I am not sure you CAN create an accurate tech horse (although my brother is a computer program designer and he would argue). There are just too many variables - the horse steps in a hole, or stumbles, or bends one way better than the other - it would be like the comparison between a mechanical bull and the real thing.
That said, I could see the advantage to having young kids (or older adults, or rehab) practice their balance and tone their muscles using one. Kinda like training a cow horse to follow a flag - or riding over a solid jump as opposed to one that will knock down.
|
|
|
|
Post by jimmy on Apr 4, 2016 13:36:49 GMT
Somewhere in this group is a photo of the US Cavalry training cadets on wooden horses.
|
|
|
|
Post by horseguy on Apr 4, 2016 15:10:35 GMT
Somewhere in this group is a photo of the US Cavalry training cadets on wooden horses.  US Cavalry  British Cavalry |
|
|
|
Post by rideanotherday on Apr 4, 2016 15:24:41 GMT
I can see how some amount of time with a wooden horse or a technology horse could help at least in the initial stages...but I don't see how a wooden horse is going to throw a spook in there....just sayin'
|
|
|
|
Post by jimmy on Apr 4, 2016 18:52:03 GMT
I wonder if any of those machines are in a museum somewhere? I would love to see one.
|
|
|
|
Post by horseguy on Apr 5, 2016 14:08:25 GMT
I noticed that the British wooden cavalry horses has a swing mechanism while the US were fixed. Wooden horses are still used in teaching polo.  No matter where you go, these wooden horses seem to be named "Pedro". The point is that cavalry recruits, new polo players and riding students in general cannot "listen" to their horse, respect their mouth and their balance, while learning. When I combine the seemingly insurmountable distraction of learning with today's tech inspired self-focus in students, I often feel hopeless that we will ever return to a place where horses are treated with enough respect to be listened to. Teaching listening is generally not a big part of riding instruction. Where as telling the horse is very much a part of the training. These wooden horses and perhaps the new robot machines at least save the horse some pain and frustration. Graduation to a living horse should be a passage from unconsciousness to sensitive listening for a student, but they tend to get more "heels down" than "listen up". |
|
|
|
Post by jimmy on Apr 5, 2016 14:55:29 GMT
I think it takes a life time with horses to realize it takes a life time.
People new to horses come with many many pre-concieved romantic notions that stick with them, even when presented with evidence to the contrary. So in a way, they begin from a place of not listening.
I am still noticing things horses do, and get ready to do that I have never noticed before. You think you know everything between one and ten. Then you realize that there are just as many things between one and two.
One adult student asked me how do you keep your balance. I couldn't come up with a definitive answer for her. Other than that if you keep riding, your brain will train itself how to make the necessary adjustments, given enough time. My job is to make sure they don't try and hold themselves in some preconcieved position that id detrimental to that process.
|
|
