I have often on NR described the ways in which Mark Rashid's teaching in his UK clinics helped teach me to ride. Occasionally I have been able to refer to one of his books but on the whole I have had to absorb and apply what I saw him teach in a clinic to an individual rider on a particular horse.
Rashid's books too instruct us via stories of particular horses and particular owners. but there is another ongoing story, that of his own ignorance or misunderstandings and his own learning process with horses. It would therefore be impossible to say that one is a submissive follower of Rashid. Even if I were the sort of person to be an unquestioning student of anyone, Rashid himself is constantly questioning and looking for better ways to understand and improve the human horse relationship.
When Rashid took up the Japanese martial art of aikido, he began to transfer some of its ideas about physical contact between humans, to physical contact between people and their horses and to lead aikido workshops for riders. His book Nature in horsemanship with a foreword by Crissi McDonald, Mark Rashid's second wife, was published in 2011 and I confess that I have only just got round to reading it because it is subtitled "discovering harmony through principles of aikido ".
Like his other books this is again an account of a learning process in which Mark constantly corrected and adjusted his own idea of what aikido entailed, and the lessons it held for him as a horseman.
But it also, as it happens, provides what I have long wanted: Mark Rashid's own account of some of the things which I learned from him over the years, which solved problems for me as a new rider and which when other new riders asked for help, I tried to pass on on NR. I learned to back up and teach RS horses how I like to back up from a chapter Finding the Try in Rashid's book, Horses Never Lie; The Heart of Passive Leadership. But until now much of what I learned has been only in my clinic notes.
In this book Rashid himself discusses some of the most important lessons I learned from him all those years ago. And although they are presented here mainly in the context of aikido (and not as I watched them applied directly to one horse and rider pair) I will list the topics covered and recommend the book as a primary source.
1. Breathing. How to breath and how to breath when sitting on a moving horse - relating your breathing to
2. The beat of the gait. The 4 gaits as numerical values - a pulse recognised by horses.
3. Transfering cues to change gait by re-thinking the pulse. What I have termed "thought transitions" and which are often ascribed to miniscule changes in the seat and position of the rider. In this book Mark extends the possibility to communication that can occur across a space.
4. Which leads to the importance of space in handling horses - something regularly referred to on the ground (keeping the horse out of one's personal space and controlling the space in which the horse moves ) but here applied to ridden work also
5. and extended to include the importance of maintaining a communicable distance when riding - through rein contact of which Mark has an increasingly positive view.
6. Rashid has never considered riding a natural behaviour nor classified himself as NH, tho by agreement on NR we have always discussed him on the section of NR for the simple reason that he does apply a good deal of animal and human psychology to riding, and the interaction between mind and body in both horses and humans. In this book Mark does discuss what is meant by Natural Horsemanship and explains briefly why he is unhappy about the ultimate effect of some NH methods on the horse.
Mark Rashid is not the only trainer who has explained at a clinic how some aspects of Parelli training may affect a horse but since I dont do Parelli or Clicker training, I havent always taken careful note and am glad to have it set out. This is not to criticise people on NR who use these methods but to remind myself that some of the Parelli influenced things I have adopted from UK trainers over the years may have unanticipated results if used to excess.
7. Just as I have progressed in my riding over the last 9 years when I first watched Mark Rashid teach, so his progress to more challenging opponents/partners in aikido has prompted fresh consideration to the amount of pressure it may be legitimate to apply to horses, especially difficult horses, and indeed why some problems with some horses may not be solvable.
Since so much of his teaching in clinics is immediately effective when applied to the easy horses most of us we ride,, it is useful to be reminded that neither horses nor riders are perfectable nor are relations with a horse necessarily harmonious.
8. Much of my early education - both from my RI and from Mark Rashid was on "allowing" the horse - allowing it to move under one, allowing it to think and learn. Discussion in this book moderates freedom with the need for control - For reasons of safety, prevention is better than cure. We need to forestall the problems with horses which may arise through an owner's lack of control.
Mark writes " I believe that sometimes the mark of a true horseman isn’t just about what a person can do with a horse; it’s also what they don’t do with them. That, too, can be a very delicate balance, the kind we are surrounded with in nature, and the type of thing we don’t really see much anymore in horse/human relationships."
This for me reflects the reality of my own learning to ride - Nothing I learned from Mark was ever to be applied by all riders of all horses as a rule or test or total formula. It was something that might be useful - to be applied in moderation, judiciously, perceptively, a question of degree and of the rider's heightened awareness of the horse.
As in all his books, the learning process Mark describes in this book involves the presence of a teacher. But the relationship between an adult Mark and his aikido teachers is different from that he had with "the old man" who taught him horsemanship when he was a boy. Because I am an older student myself, I find it interesting to read how Mark discusses the way he is taught as an adult, how misunderstandings can arise, and the way he himself teaches adults at clinics to ride their own horses.
What a pleasure it is too to have Rashid admit frankly the un-noticed onset of middle age, his mistaken assumption that, as a celebrated rider, he would remain physically fit and to describe his decision to lose weight and try to regain fitness in order to ride and do aikido at his best.
Nine years ago as a new rider, I first heard Mark Rashid teach and he spoke directly to my needs at that time. Indeed my own unexpected success in doing things which he had saved for his most advanced students (e.g. thought transitions) seems to have played a part. Is it that simple? someone asks and his answer is, Yes. Anyone can do this.
But, as an incurably argumentative student, I also know that methods cannot be dictated. In the end it is what knowledge we garner from our teachers, what makes us curious about it, how we choose to apply it. And that is the subject of this book.
Rashid, Mark . Nature in Horsemanship: Discovering Harmony Through Principles of Aikido . Constable Robinson. (2011-09-30) Kindle Edition.
Rashid's books too instruct us via stories of particular horses and particular owners. but there is another ongoing story, that of his own ignorance or misunderstandings and his own learning process with horses. It would therefore be impossible to say that one is a submissive follower of Rashid. Even if I were the sort of person to be an unquestioning student of anyone, Rashid himself is constantly questioning and looking for better ways to understand and improve the human horse relationship.
When Rashid took up the Japanese martial art of aikido, he began to transfer some of its ideas about physical contact between humans, to physical contact between people and their horses and to lead aikido workshops for riders. His book Nature in horsemanship with a foreword by Crissi McDonald, Mark Rashid's second wife, was published in 2011 and I confess that I have only just got round to reading it because it is subtitled "discovering harmony through principles of aikido ".
Like his other books this is again an account of a learning process in which Mark constantly corrected and adjusted his own idea of what aikido entailed, and the lessons it held for him as a horseman.
But it also, as it happens, provides what I have long wanted: Mark Rashid's own account of some of the things which I learned from him over the years, which solved problems for me as a new rider and which when other new riders asked for help, I tried to pass on on NR. I learned to back up and teach RS horses how I like to back up from a chapter Finding the Try in Rashid's book, Horses Never Lie; The Heart of Passive Leadership. But until now much of what I learned has been only in my clinic notes.
In this book Rashid himself discusses some of the most important lessons I learned from him all those years ago. And although they are presented here mainly in the context of aikido (and not as I watched them applied directly to one horse and rider pair) I will list the topics covered and recommend the book as a primary source.
1. Breathing. How to breath and how to breath when sitting on a moving horse - relating your breathing to
2. The beat of the gait. The 4 gaits as numerical values - a pulse recognised by horses.
3. Transfering cues to change gait by re-thinking the pulse. What I have termed "thought transitions" and which are often ascribed to miniscule changes in the seat and position of the rider. In this book Mark extends the possibility to communication that can occur across a space.
4. Which leads to the importance of space in handling horses - something regularly referred to on the ground (keeping the horse out of one's personal space and controlling the space in which the horse moves ) but here applied to ridden work also
5. and extended to include the importance of maintaining a communicable distance when riding - through rein contact of which Mark has an increasingly positive view.
6. Rashid has never considered riding a natural behaviour nor classified himself as NH, tho by agreement on NR we have always discussed him on the section of NR for the simple reason that he does apply a good deal of animal and human psychology to riding, and the interaction between mind and body in both horses and humans. In this book Mark does discuss what is meant by Natural Horsemanship and explains briefly why he is unhappy about the ultimate effect of some NH methods on the horse.
Mark Rashid is not the only trainer who has explained at a clinic how some aspects of Parelli training may affect a horse but since I dont do Parelli or Clicker training, I havent always taken careful note and am glad to have it set out. This is not to criticise people on NR who use these methods but to remind myself that some of the Parelli influenced things I have adopted from UK trainers over the years may have unanticipated results if used to excess.
7. Just as I have progressed in my riding over the last 9 years when I first watched Mark Rashid teach, so his progress to more challenging opponents/partners in aikido has prompted fresh consideration to the amount of pressure it may be legitimate to apply to horses, especially difficult horses, and indeed why some problems with some horses may not be solvable.
Since so much of his teaching in clinics is immediately effective when applied to the easy horses most of us we ride,, it is useful to be reminded that neither horses nor riders are perfectable nor are relations with a horse necessarily harmonious.
8. Much of my early education - both from my RI and from Mark Rashid was on "allowing" the horse - allowing it to move under one, allowing it to think and learn. Discussion in this book moderates freedom with the need for control - For reasons of safety, prevention is better than cure. We need to forestall the problems with horses which may arise through an owner's lack of control.
Mark writes " I believe that sometimes the mark of a true horseman isn’t just about what a person can do with a horse; it’s also what they don’t do with them. That, too, can be a very delicate balance, the kind we are surrounded with in nature, and the type of thing we don’t really see much anymore in horse/human relationships."
This for me reflects the reality of my own learning to ride - Nothing I learned from Mark was ever to be applied by all riders of all horses as a rule or test or total formula. It was something that might be useful - to be applied in moderation, judiciously, perceptively, a question of degree and of the rider's heightened awareness of the horse.
As in all his books, the learning process Mark describes in this book involves the presence of a teacher. But the relationship between an adult Mark and his aikido teachers is different from that he had with "the old man" who taught him horsemanship when he was a boy. Because I am an older student myself, I find it interesting to read how Mark discusses the way he is taught as an adult, how misunderstandings can arise, and the way he himself teaches adults at clinics to ride their own horses.
What a pleasure it is too to have Rashid admit frankly the un-noticed onset of middle age, his mistaken assumption that, as a celebrated rider, he would remain physically fit and to describe his decision to lose weight and try to regain fitness in order to ride and do aikido at his best.
Nine years ago as a new rider, I first heard Mark Rashid teach and he spoke directly to my needs at that time. Indeed my own unexpected success in doing things which he had saved for his most advanced students (e.g. thought transitions) seems to have played a part. Is it that simple? someone asks and his answer is, Yes. Anyone can do this.
But, as an incurably argumentative student, I also know that methods cannot be dictated. In the end it is what knowledge we garner from our teachers, what makes us curious about it, how we choose to apply it. And that is the subject of this book.
Rashid, Mark . Nature in Horsemanship: Discovering Harmony Through Principles of Aikido . Constable Robinson. (2011-09-30) Kindle Edition.
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