Micromanagen

[Liesbet]

Ik zag net in de mail van Karen Rolph haar mening over micromanaging staan, ik ga de mail hier gewoon helemaal plakken en dan duid ik aan wat ik belangrijk vind.

The topic of 'neutral' is always one that leads to many 'Ah-ha' moments. Students of natural horsemanship are deeply concerned with staying light, being gentle and most of all to never be accused of that four-letter word that begins with 'M': Micromanaging!

(Ok, I know that's more than 4 letters, but you know what I mean.)

When you start looking to make qualitative changes in the way your horse moves (working, collected, lengthened, etc) or even during different movements, you are going to have to ride differently than when you are just allowing the horse to pick his style of gait and following it.

Students often feel uncomfortable when I expect them to be more particular about sustaining a movement or quality of movement; thinking that they are now micromanaging. I look at it as just being an excellent dance partner... One who will lead me clearly and will scoop me up if I am heading in the wrong direction.

I have had the opportunity to dance with and take instruction from a professional ballroom dancer, and at the time I thought: 'this is just what I hope my horse feels like when I do dressage with him!' My dance teacher could make me feel like I was the best dancer in the world and he did it in a way that showed me the steps and helped me understand them better and with more confidence after being with him, even when I danced with less experienced dance partners.

Micromanaging to me is negative if it holds things together, or makes something look like it is working when it is not. Micromanaging will not improve the horse's skills or make him inspired to do more next time. Excellent, clear leadership that embodies the desired movement in a way that shows the horse the clear picture every step of the way is positive.

That is one way to describe Active Neutral: It is when you are in a mental and physical state that embodies, supports and allows what you have asked your horse to do, in a way that he clearly knows to continue doing it.

There are active neutrals for working trot, for shoulder-in, for collected canter, for piaffe..... And so on. Neutral should not mean 'no information', but it is a stillness of the aids. It is when you do not feel like you need hands or legs to support the idea, it is when you are thinking: 'yes, this is it.'
Every active neutral mustfeel different than the neutral we do when we are just dwelling with our horse. If we are not active in our neutral, then we will be fated to be constantly reminding and supporting with our aids. Every active neutral must feel different for every different movement we want to sustain.

When I am thinking neutral I am thinking that every part of me confirms to the horse: 'Yes, this is it, let'skeep going with this." If my neutral gives too little information, the horse may decrease what he is doing, then when I remind he will think: 'well, that's not fair... Why didn't you tell me we were still doing shoulder-in?!" Biomechanically, the better my neutral, the more I feel I am using my core to sustain it. Micromanaging usually feels like sustaining hand and leg aids, instead of just using them as supportive reminders (higher phases).

Of course that is the skill... To have the perfect neutral that confirms to the horse what we are doing, that allows him to do it... Without one drop too much support from us, without one drop of 'holding it together, and without one drop of getting in his way.

Game on!

May All Your Results Be in Harmony,
Karen

Misschien is dit nog een mooie toevoeging op de voorgaande reacties.

[Sarah]

Dit vind ik zeker een mooie toevoeging. Aan de ene kant begrijp ik wat ze bedoelt, aan de andere kant vind ik het ook heel moeilijk om het me voor te stellen Maar dat is een gebrek aan ervaring.

Zoals zij het schrijft stel ik het me zo voor: Je wil sbw rijden. Je gaat zelf in de houding zitten daarvoor, je paard doet dan sbw. Je hoeft niet per se bij te drijven, teugelhulp te geven, maar blijft actief in die houding rijden zolang je wil dat je paard sbw doet. Dit komt logisch op me over, want wanneer ik zelf niet meer de sbw houding heb, maar 'neutraal' niets doe, stopt mijn paard met sbw. Actief neutraal is in dit geval dan zelf de goede houding aannemen zolang ik wil dat mijn paard sbw doet.

Er komt ineens een zin van Parelli in me op: "trust to respond, be ready to correct". Zoiets?