05/09/2025
This morning, I woke up compelled to write about the importance of Leveling Up.
Each and every day. We do our routines. Sometimes, it can be very mindlessly done. So habitually that we just go through the motions. For those who might be interested in improving or progressing in said activities. They will mindfully look for ways to make things better and naturally Level Up.
If we apply this to our horsemanship. It's easy to see when someone is just trying to apply a method or technique at its Basic Level. Many times we see people stay at that same Basic Beginner Level. Never realizing there is so much nuance to be applied.
If we work with our Horses and just think, "Well they're doing what I asked." And that is enough. We may never see the many ways to Level Up.
Such as. Is there any resistance present. If so, how do we help them remove it. This one thing alone is the master key to unlock almost everything you will ever achieve with your Horse.
I often see people lunging their horses. It's a common exercise pretty much everyone does. It is an important skill for us and our Horse for so many reasons. Sadly enough, so many think that Lunging is just a speed and direction exercise. But there is so much more to it than that. This exercise can create balance, supleness, cadence, distance, Draw, focus and many more things that don't have just one word definitions.
Watch someone lung their horse and look for weather the horses nose is in, out, up, down extended or over contracted. Then look at the shape of the body and see if the feet track, if the neck is bent in, out, up or down. Then the shoulder. Is it upright or leaning in. Then the hip. Is it closer to you than the shoulder or further away. Then look at the circle the horse travels. Is the horse drifting out, leaking in closer, or maybe both where they try to get away from something on one side and closer to something on the other. Causing the handler in the middle to slowly move their position. Next thing you know the location of the exercise isn't anywhere near where they started.
The above description is just some of the more noticeable ways to Level Up in a Lunging exercise. But it applies to all we might do with a Horse.
If you know me at all. You know I'm not a believer in a definitive Right and Wrong. Right an Wrong exists in all thing and situations simultaneously. It is never all of one and none of the other.
Anything we do. We are doing it wrong to a certain Level and we are doing right to a certain Level.
Ideally we would be looking at benefits and consequences. Again, like Right and Wrong. They both exist simultaneously together. It's important to recognize both so we can manage them. That will look different for each Person, Horse and Situation. And quite possibly from day to day, moment to moment.
The point of all this is. We Level Up by fixing or managing the parts that have consequences. And bringing the beneficial parts to fullness.
If you have an eye and a feel for resistance. You will know where the improvements will be needed. Then you will be able advance or Level Up.
