Flowers for confidence

White Chestnut-not only beautiful but good for calming the mind.

Tomorrow is one of my workshops for building confidence between horse and rider for trail riding and obstacles. I look forward to helping participants build trust, communication and safety with their horses. We will be covering safety, FUN!damentals, Obstacle negotiation and Fun! The first part of the day will be in the arena and the second part will be taking what we learned out to the trail. If you are interested in hosting this type of clinic at your farm or organizing any other custom clinics, Contact me at http://www.fdhorsemanship.com/#!contact

I wanted to give some tips on how Flower Essences can help with fearful and unconfident feelings in people. Many riders are battling fear and confidence and I have found several flower essences that can help calm destructive, negative thinking, and fears as well as boost confident feelings.

Here is a list of some very helpful Flower Essences that I recommend to many people:

• White Chestnut-is a very good essence for when you constantly worry about things. What is my horse going to do? What if he spooks?, What if I fall off? etc. These are what I call projections and they take us out of the "Present" and put all kinds of "wishes" we don't want out there. It helps quiet and calm the mind.
• Rock Rose-is for when you feel panicked or terrified by things. If you need this, you find yourself getting beyond fear to a panic level when confronted with certain activities with your horse.
• Mimulus-is good for fear in general if you are aware of the things you are afraid of and can name them like I am afraid to go out of the arena, I am afraid of jumping, I am afraid of falling off.
• Larch-is good for when you lack confidence in your skills and feel like you will not do well. You may feel you are not good enough to do certain things and don't have the confidence to even try. 
• Rescue remedy is always a good all around essence blend when you are unsure of what you need. It helps with stress and nerves and is good after an accident. A good first aid kit remedy. 

Here is a short list of Essential oils that can help with fear and confidence as well. I suggest you "self select" the essential oil which is most beneficial by inhaling it. You will either feel like you want to keep inhaling it or you may want put it on your person (you may need to dilute stronger oils). Scents you find not so attractive are probably not the right ones at that moment. They can change though!

• Lavender
• Valerian
• Chamomile
• Tangerine
• Lemon Balm
• Vetiver
• Geranium
• Bergamot

Here is a link to shop for flower essences if you would like http://www.fdhorsemanship.com/#!services/vstc3=flower-essences/vstc1=other-services If you are attending the clinic tomorrow, See you there! I look forward to the upcoming down unda trip and seeing how people are doing and meeting some new faces!
www.fdhorsemanship.com

Sign up for FDH virtual clinic here:
http://fdhorsemanship.com/virtualclinic/
Upcoming Clinics:
Oct 27: FDH Building confidence for trail riding workshop Granby, CT
Nov 10: FDH Building confidence for trail riding workshop
Middlefield, CT
Nov 22-24: FDH Clinic in Australia Strath Creek, Victoria, Australia
Nov 30-Dec 2: FDH clinic in New Zealand: at Taralee stables, Carterton, NZ
Click here to go to my Events http://www.fdhorsemanship.com/#!calendar

Confident Horseman exercise part 3...Change your mind, Change your horse

Riding Mercury Bridless requires me to be completely focused on what I want to have happen and not what bad and dangerous things could happen...

I will be offering for those who want to participate, a Flower Essence mix suggestion for a new approach to dealing with fear in the horse and person. It will complement the next exercise which has 3 steps to it, is the hardest but also the most powerful.

The next part of the exercise is:

Step 1: Learn how to identify fear coming up in yourself as it starts. Then recognize the fearful or negative thoughts that follow.
Example: "Oh my horse is scared of dogs, and hear comes one" the next thought may be "oh he's going to spook and I'm going to fall off!"
So this is how the fearful mind starts to gain power or the situation.

Step 2: Recognize the the thoughts coming up and make a choice to change them to a positive thought.
Example: "I am now changing my mind about this" We are walking calmly past the dog, and nothing is going to happen" You'll note I said "we" not the horse is going to. "We" is a team, a partnership. You can add calm deep breathing to release your own fear and tension and mirror to your horse. Two other very powerful exercises is to visualize you and your horse doing exactly what you'd like. So I'd see me and my horse walking calmly past the dog together. I'd see that picture in my mind and hold it and breath. Some of you may find it nearly inpossible to not visualize a bad experience so instead, I want you to visualize something calming and soothing that may have nothing to do with that moment. Examples would be a sunset, A beach, doing yoga, a hot bath, even a glass of wine! Hold that though until you can own it and the moment has passed. This takes practice but it does become a new thought pattern with time.

Step 3: I consider an advanced exercise and a goal to set for yourselves. It involves getting to the point where you don't even get to a place of fear anymore when a possible situation arises. This is when you have mastered the power of the mind.
Example: You are riding toward the dog and you immediately send a picture of the two of you walking calmly passed the dog. In this scenario you exhibit what I call Calm Leadership. You recognize the horses concern and using positive visualization. you "Lead" your horses mind to a calm place with yours. You maintain clear focus and your horse has confidence in your Leadership and guidance. We don't want our horse to feel like he has to take over every time he is afraid because we get just as frightened as him.

One other scenario I want to talk about is "Real" fear, necessary, sensible, self preservation fear. This is the voice that says "We are in real danger and we need to get safe. That is the time to listen to your instincts and stay as clear as possible. Try to learn the difference between your gut telling you the truth and your mind taking over control of clear thinking.

As for the Flower Essence part of this. There are Essences that can help release the grip of fear and "Stuck Thinking Patterns" I am offering to help anyone who may feel they need additional help of Flower  Essences to help release a really stuck pattern in themselves and or their horse. Respond in the comments section. Let me know how your confidence is improving!
http://fdhorsetraining.com/
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From Fearful to Confident Horsemanship...

Mercury has been a very good teacher to me about Calm leadership , focus and clear thinking...

Carrying on the theme for the last post of using positive thought patterns and breaking stuck thinking patterns, I want to continue with more ideas for working through and past fear. We cannot be seen in a leadership position if we are mirroring fear to our horses all the time.

People often want a trainer to make the horse fearless so they can be less afraid. But at the same time we need to work on our fears because a horse will mirror back whatever you are feeling. An example is a horse being calm when I work with him because I am exhibiting Calm Leadership. This same horse can be given back to his person who is afraid and the horse begins to mirror the person he is with. Horses are in the moment with whoever they are with. Some horses are generous and confident of nature and not as bothered by a person being fearful around them. Others are too un-confident themselves to have a person be the same.

If you find yourself in this situation, It is good to start breaking down the issues into little achievable goals. The first thing to do is to get an idea of what your fears really are.

There are three fears I see when working with people. 1. I am afraid of certain things but my horse is actually quite confident. In this scenario, you are working on your own fears and your horse may actually build confidence. 2. You are afraid of your horses behavior because you have had an accident or you think you could have one with him. So you are actually afraid of your horse. 3. You are afraid and your horse is afraid as well. You both need to work together to become more confident as a team. It also ok to find another partner if it seems like a better situation for both horse and person. Sometimes this is the best option.

So if you thought about those 3 categories and thought you might fit in one, you are on your way to becoming a more Confident horseman.

The exercise is to write down a list of what exactly you are afraid of and also what you are not afraid of. Be as detailed as possible. Also write down what you would like to be able to do as a goals that you are afraid to do now. If you would like to share these lists in the comments section, please do so as we can all learn from each others experience. I will post the next step in the next post.
http://fdhorsetraining.com/

Visualization and Intention Setting

Visualization and Intention Setting are two powerful and under utilized tools in our relationship and training of our horses. How many of you have uttered the phrase " I just thought it and he did it" while working with a horse? I bet some of you have.
It is in our mind but we cast it off as a unique incident or that the horse is really trained or super sensitive. Now those factors of course can be in play but what if we worked from this place all the time.
First let's break down Visualization and the different uses for it. I use Visualization in Riding, Training, and other times with my horses. The reason I put the two together is that when you Visualize you are starting to set your Intention. Visualization is when I clearly picture something in my head. It could be a particular movement as small as moving the horses body or leg a certain way, it could be a larger movement of leg yielding, it could be seeing the horse take the canter on the left lead etc. It could also be a calming visualization for me or the horse. I may see the horses posture in a more relaxed shape with the head lower and may mirror breathing calmly to the horse. I may see myself as softening and relaxing my body by visualizing something the triggers that in me. It is only your imagination that is the limit.
When it comes to Intention Setting. This can be a long and short term idea. I may say I want to do a Liberty Piaffe with my horse or I want jump four feet. So I have set my intention. By doing that, if we stay fluid and opened to the path to that goal it will most certainly happen. As soon as I set my intention, if I get out of the way, everything starts to move in that direction. Even training problems seem to fix themselves. Another good place for Intention setting is for a fearful rider. You may say "I want to walk out on the trails with my horse in 3 months and feel safe and calm" This helps you start on a positive path as opposed to this mind set of "I'm afraid to do this, I can't do this". Setting small achievable goals and knowing exactly when to push past yours or your horses comfort zone are keys to moving forward. Even so called backward steps are just reminders of readjusting your intentions or slowing down. If you listen to these little guides you will stay more fluid with yourself and your horse. Mistakes are only road signs to pay attention to. Read them and follow what they say and you'll get back on the path. The next time you go to your horse, try setting your Intention and then Visualizing what it is you want the horse to do. Let me know how it goes in the comments! Also write your Intentions down so you can start working toward them. Below you will see and example of my own Intention setting and Visualization. A long time ago, I never dreamed of riding without a bridle and doing dressage or jumping and then I saw people do it and I said "I can do that" and I saw myself doing it and I did it on a horse that was very difficult to ride it was a testament to what you can accomplish when you use these tools. See my first free ride in an open field I did last week and my first jumping video on only my second attempt at bridless riding in the videos below...
FDT