The Art of Natural Dressage

Hi, my name is Enzo. I live in a town on the Adriatic sea, Pescara, in the middle of the "boot". I am a very aged horseman (58 years old) but my enthusiasm for horses and equitation is ever green.
If i'm right i'm the only one from Italy, is it correct? Very glad to be the first to have discovered you AND your philosophy.
My equestrian life is very long and full of peripetias. After several experiences i arrived at Parelli method and i was satisfied up today.
But recently i began reading your forum and i was asthonished learning that a more natural method in horse training doas exist.
I don't know if this method is an original idea from you three but anyway you are great, becouse you published.
Unfortunately it's not so easy forget the old habit about using pressure.
Consequently results are not so fast for me while i read continusly that most people obtain great achivements,without big difficulties, seemingly.
However patience is my bigest dowry.
I will inform you about my progress. By and many thanks again!!!!!!!

Hi Enzo, welcome!!

We have at least one more active member from Italy here, Alex, but there might be some more Italians who just don´t post.

So great that you have joined us and yes, please do share your stories about your horses with us!

Warm Regards,
Romy

Welcome Enzo!

Most of us will have problems with pressure...being human, it is a very difficult thing to leave behind. I am constantly struggling with it and I will probably always struggle with it.

Welcome again!

_________________
"Ride reverently, as if each step is the axis on which the earth revolves"

Ciao, Enzo, and welcome!

You wrote:


Beautiful! With it, all things are possible, I think. And it is the most important thing I am learning with my horses!

Am delighted that you have joined us, and am looking forward to hearing more about you and your horses.

I think you are our first member from Italy! Where are you in the country?

All the best,
Leigh

_________________
"Ours is the portal of hope. Come as you are." -- Rumi
www.imaginalinstitute.com

Good day Enzo,

Nice to see someone from Italy joining us.

So, you too were surprised to find horse owners (I prefer to think of them as horse companions) have come to find themselves doing things without the use of pressure?

I had over 20 years of being a fulltime professional horseman. Left it mostly out of disappointment that what I learned in my last couple of years of work with horses was not out there being used by others. At least I thought not. Though I expect some other than I had found a new way to be with horses.

I knew that there was no more professional life for me, at least not full time, as I could no longer support the abuses I saw. Abuses that were not only accepted but believed to be the correct way to deal with horses.

Last year, about September a series of events brought me back. Not as a professional, though I've done a bit of paid training, and instruction, but more as an explorer.

What most convinced me was AND.

I can assure you that my own struggle with the use of force and pressure and moving away from it has been helped by AND and the wonderful people I find here.

Such an inspiration. Such support for a new way of being with horses that I thought would never ever come.

As you might guess from the picture below, I'm a bit older than you. 73 this year. So if I can do it ...

Donald Redux


If you are curious, you can see both my current and my historic photo and video albums at - (guest password is 'haumea')

http://photobucket.com/guestlogin?albumUrl=http://s236.photobucket.com/albums/ff51/donald_redux/

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Love is Trust, trust is All
~~~~~~~~~
So say Don, Altea, and Bonnie the Wonder Filly.

No it wasn't. It was our horse's idea
And therefore it is not really a method, but more a philosofy in which everyone can find one's own method, or better, one's horse methode

Welcome!

Warm regards,

Josepha

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www.equusuniversalis.com

Many thanks for encourage me. It's wonderfull to see that so many years will be available for me to improve may relationship with horses. As soon as possible i will look at your album.
In the meantime if you or the other friends of the forum they want to see something of mine, you can look at these 2 brief tapes
Sorry for the scarce image quality.
http://it.youtube.com/watch?v=avKMs_4JttE
http://it.youtube.com/watch?v=CKlBcVw8rf8

As you can see my english is not so well. I apologize for that and i gently ask everybody to write in the way simplest possible. I know that you cannot know what it means "simple english" for an Italian, but I think that to make some brief sentences can already help the understanding of the text.




Thank you for welcome everybody. Pescara is in Abruzzo country. You can see it in Google map that's impossible to copy and past here.



Thanks Josepha, becomes me account that deals with a philosophy, and of a completely different philosophy from that to which we had accustomed. And this is the great novelty. The idea to make a horse aware of his abilities and proud of his elegant movements, it is fascinating and upsetting at the same time. I don't hide you that the idea to have to do with horses that can freely express their joy to exist, puts me a little bit of fear. Thin to now I have worked always for making horses the calmest possible, in way to make the relationship with them the surest possible, and now all of my convictions are upset. But I wonder me and I ask you: a horse so made, it doesn't become ingestibile from another rider that is not the trainer that created him ?
Thanks still for the warm reception in AND club. Talk to you soon

Freeing the horse in his choices does not neccessarly mean that the horse is going to go on 'crazy stallion mode' all the time
Most horse's actually just like to be calm. It is the wild games that proove the most chalenging actually
It is in the horse's nature actually, to preserve his body and reserves in case of flight.


In no way would you have to let go of your safety. We would advise that you maintain your safety first.
But I have to say, since I have been on to path of AND, I never ever had a dangereous encounter yet. To me it is the safest way of being with horses, as you do not actually want or need anything from your horse other than his free imput - should he choose so, thus there is nothing for the horse to fight against or run away from.
As we try to agree with biomechanics and instinct, it is logical to the horse and in no way treathening to his intinctual behaviour & body.



Do you mean to ask, once you trained a horse in AND can other trainers/people still work with the horse?
That is totally up to the horse! If the next person follow AND philosophy, probably no problem, as again the horse decides when and where and how long. If the other trainers wants to do traditional or NH sort if things, it depends on the horse if he wants to oblige or not.

Having said that, I believe most people here (just as I) came to this philosophy because our horses did not oblige with the traditional or NH ways anyway. Let's just say 'human dominance' has proven not to be of much benefit for them over the years, so they decided not to walk that way anymore.

Warm regards,

Josepha

_________________
www.equusuniversalis.com

Hi Enzo,
welcome here! Nice to see AND even spread to Italy



Wel, here I can only tell you my own experiences.
I took care of a horse for three years now and this sunday was the last day so he is back to his old trainer now. I though a lot about how he would cope with that. I mean... I even rewarded him for being stubborn in the beginning, I wanted him to express himself, to communicate. I did not want him to become angry or dangeroes, but I wanted him to know that as long as he tried to explain something to me without hurting me or anything like that I would listen. I wanted him to know his opinion counted.

And yes, because of that I sometimes had to let things go. When he did not want to walk I could not force him so we had to go back home.

But... at the moment he realized he was not forced he found out that there was actually no reason for him to don't want something. He seemed quite surprised when he found out that the things I did were actually fun. So from that time on things were only going upward.

But, like I said, he is going back. And I though, what would that do to him? But then I realized... Amiro is such a smart horse, he will not let people get to him. Before he was with me he would rear when he was totally fed up with something. In the end he swished his tail when he was not completely comfortable anymore.

He has learned that sometimes you get more when whispering and talking and did he did not have to scream always. He also learned that it is good to show your boundaries and tell the people around you to stop before you completely freak out. So... wherever he is, those lessons are handy for him.

I hope this makes sense to you. I think a horse like Amiro can always benefit from an AND training. Of course it can be different with other horses, but this are my experiences with Amiro. Whom I really miss at the moment...

Nice that you've joined us.

I also think that horses are smart enough to know the difference. My Titum for example often does not want to miss a single opportunity to train with me. When I arrive and walk over the paddock for the first time in the morning, he is already doing canter jumps next to me, when I am watering the hay he is rearing and doing stretching exercises, or doing other things that might get him a reward. I needn´t do anything and he starts behaving like that.

For a long time I wondered if this might become a problem for other people if they had to interact with him, but when my sister visited me two weeks ago, I realized that all my worries were pointless. He just didn´t offer any exercises to her. Maybe he had tried it once or twice, but before I could notice it at all, he had noticed that she was not interested in training (or not comfortable with all the wildness), so he just stopped and behaved like a totally normal horse.

When I told her that, she didn´t believe that it was her expression (or mine). She said I had asked him for those exercises in some way. To prove that, she asked me to walk over the pasture without doing anything, just ignoring him, and she predicted that he would be totally calm as well. I did that and as soon as I entered through the fence, I had that cantering and jumping horse next to me again.

So yes, I think that horses are pretty good at realizing with which human partner they can do what, just as people are very fast at accomodating to their partner in a dialogue. And horses are so much more sensitive in so many ways, so I would find it very surprizing if they were not capable of noticing those differences between people.

Wonderful, Enzo. I so enjoyed your videos. I hope no one here misses these special scenes of you and your horse working.

Riding without a bridle or headgear was especially delightful.

I hope you'll put more videos on AND.

Donald

_________________
Love is Trust, trust is All
~~~~~~~~~
So say Don, Altea, and Bonnie the Wonder Filly.

Hello again, Enzo!

I, too, loved your videos.

Leda's lateral movement at liberty with you is just beautiful. I'd love to hear how you worked with her to learn that!

And, Abruzzo! I have taken the train through Abruzzo, very beautiful, on my way to a music festival in Molise (based in a tiny little town called Bonefro).

I'm so glad you have joined us!

All the best,
Leigh

_________________
"Ours is the portal of hope. Come as you are." -- Rumi
www.imaginalinstitute.com

I am really pleased that Leda and me liked you.
I saw your album but I could not see the video.
All your horses are beautifull. Certainly you should have a lot of stories to tell in your long career.
I hope to soon make videos of my new adventure with AND philosophy.



Hi Leigh, I am truly touched by your demonstrations of affection towards me. I am glad that you are familiar with the Abruzzo. Do you have any Italian origin or you came just for the music festival? I too have come a time in California but only for work, because my first job is the doctor. I am specialist in Urology and i went to L.A. for a course with Prof. Skinner, five years ago. A great exeperience.
Training horses is my second job but it is clear that it is a passion of a real job. All the exercises that you see in the video are on Parelli style. With patience you can get a good result and even much more than me. But as we all know the Parelli method involves the use of pressure although in such a way as to reduce these pressures almost to zero. With this method we must first desensitize the horse and turn it into a sheep and then resensitize him to become lightely to the aids. The true nature of the horse is repressed and then he's reprogrammed for the work which is intended. The method works very well and it has the great advantage of being easily understandable and easily applicable. The only important thing is to have feeling and timing and the results arrive.
On the contrary, if I have to tell the truth, AND philosophy is not so easy to digest but I must confess that I have not yet read the full explanation of the Forum because the area is very large and because my poor English I can not go too fast.
By and thanks again.

What a beautiful story. What you say I am very comforted although I doubt that ever succeed to get to your level. How long are you "ANDworking" ?

Hello Enzo! I think your English is wonderful -- I can understand you perfectly.

I am so glad that you are here! I did Parelli for quite some time also and still use many of his methods. Many of his ideas, games, and so on meld beautifully with AND philosophy once the phases/pressure is taken out.

I would love to see pictures of your horses! How many do you have?

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"Do you give the horse his strength?"
~Job 39:19a

www.cambriahorsemanship.com