It’s been a while since I wrote my last blog as life happens and distractions arise. Recently due to the pandemic, I have rediscovered one of my favorite pastimes next to running which is horseback riding. Prior to the pandemic, I was always doing other things and just couldn’t seem to keep a regular schedule to work with my horses. But I believe there is always something good that comes after bad.  For me, it was falling back in love with working with my horses

I was gifted a paint horse who has proven to me to be a horse of a different mindset (not only color) than any other horse I have ever trained or owned. Trusted and tried techniques that I used with other horses just didn’t quite get the buy-in from her. I really had to slow down my approach and energy when working with her.  If I cued her with a command, it would take at least what seemed like three seconds for her to respond compared to other horses that would immediately respond. I didn’t really feel like she trusted me to look out for her. I knew there was something lacking in my approach because it’s never the horse’s fault and it’s usually the rider is not communicating clearly what they want.

I went to the books to try and research the possibility of what I was missing. I found a trainer that authored several books and while reading several of them I stumbled on the piece I was missing. He compared his working with horses and his aikido practice in that they were similar in their touch and energy exchange. He relayed how an aikido master was able to manipulate him without much physical effort (soft touch) and how he began to realize that perhaps he was using too much energy when working with horses. He began experimenting with how little energy he needed in expressing his communication with his horses. He related it to being mindful and softly using the minimal amount of contact to get the desired response from the horse. The basic fundamentals he discussed were very familiar to me from my practices of ChiRunning and my Tai Chi. As I gradually implemented what he was advocating with my paint horse, she began to respond and actually warmed up to me.

The softness as the author describes is a continual journey just as ChiRunning is a lifelong practice. I have several times mulled over in my head how I have a tendency to waste energy by holding tension and really have to work at letting go of it when I run and ride.  Recently while on one of my runs I began to notice that I was still using way too much effort and I thought about the softness the trainer had described.  Could I work to soften my energy used even more than I had been using on my runs? I thought through several focuses and found several that helped me soften even more as I continued. Some of the focuses I found to be the most helpful were as follows: Relax everything below your knees, Back relax (arms), Run across the ground, not into it, Feel and allow the oncoming road help move you, and feel your Dantien falling slightly in front of your ankles.

So, when you out on your next run see if you can soften the amount of energy you engage to accomplish your desired effect of energy efficiency.

If you’re interested in the book I was reading it’s “A Journey to Softness” by Mark Rashid