Best Horseback Riding Lessons in Peterborough, ON

We study all the sales ads, pictures and videos we see online. There are clues in all the horses we see being handled around us, every day. We don’t talk about these horses but we begin to mindfully observe. nnAll these ads, videos and pictures are free for the learning. They help us hone our eye!nnClarity is found in taking ‘before’ pictures of our own horses, snapshots that will become reference tools as we go along in our quiet, ordinary work.nnI have come to believe in the power of watching and learning from our horses as we work with them on the lunge. This, especially after hosting fifty women and their horses to the ranch over the course of the past summer. Each week, I’d fresh chances to observe and see what these horses said when nobody was on them, when we quietly allowed them to move and to reach for something new.nnI could see who was dreading moving forward. I could see who was desperately, resolutely trying to flee. I could see who was feeling good in the relationship, who was reveling in his, or her, own body. I could see who was blossoming under the human eye and hand…nnMore than ever, I now believe that when we ride or drive our horses, whether in the arenas or out in nature, we are either slowly building them up… or piece by piece, we are tearing them down. nnAn uncomfortable truth, perhaps, I have learned there is no other way.nnLasting change can be a slow process but don’t lose heart because the first changes can happen very quickly. A horse rediscovering his body can find instant relief. nnHere is a before and after of Harry, showing new postural changes after just one week. nnThe horse was seventeen when he came into my hands. In the bottom picture, I am lungeing Harry without a saddle pad so that the sweat patterns will help tell me if this saddle might be a suitable choice for him. As you can imagine, for a long time, he was a tricky fit. nnHarry went on to have his real life turn into an honest-to-goodness fairy tale, the day he met his little girl, Georgia. He’s still going strong in his newfound body and mindset.