March Newsletter 2016

Hello to you all,

I am very happy to report that we have had some rain since the last newsletter – 24 mls with  more forecast in the next day or so – so we at “Alchemy Place” are very thankful for that.

We have had more great courses at Bathurst and Wilton and we’ve just finished another exceptionally great course at “Alchemy Place”. It was advertised as an Introductory course but we covered some pretty advanced concepts of feel and postural development for horses and people because all the horses and people participating were ready to learn at that level. We had some very big transformations in horses and people both on the ground and riding. It is unfortunate that we didn’t have a camera person there to capture the changes.

It is always great to spend time with the wonderful people that I have the pleasure of teaching and becoming friends with. One of the many things I love about my job is the continuing connection I get to have with the large number of students who keep coming back to learn more. I get to watch them grow and evolve in themselves and their horsemanship and it is beautiful to see. This path of conscious horsemanship certainly attracts great people and helps them develop  into more conscious, aware, considerate, compassionate  and empowered human beings. When we want to get better with our horses we need to get better in ourselves and these are some of the qualities that the horses are needing us to develop. It is a great community and network of people we get to connect with at these clinics.

Some of the highlights of recent courses has been:-

• CONNECTING TO THE HORSES HEARTS – Having students sit quietly and connect with their horse’s hearts to “feel” their horse or receive communication or just be connected energetically is something that we have been doing more of in the clinics and there has been great feedback after doing this. Some students felt completely overwhelmed by the feelings of love and peace they felt from their horses in these sessions. Going walking with the horses, walking side by side like two best friends in conversation together, is another great way to connect your mind and heart with your horse’s mind and heart. Having an awareness of how we lead horses anytime we are doing the simple act of leading, is important – Are we connecting to them? or another way of saying that is – Are we “feeling into them” ? – What is going on for them ? How are they feeling? It is about being open, sometimes asking a question, but mainly it is about listening to them in an energetic feeling way. How do we do that ? We have our mind still and then be present and feel into our own body and observe what thoughts, emotions or physical sensations that we notice. If our intention was to feel the horse and we were relaxed, centered, still and calm, then we can know that what we observed in our thoughts and sensed in our bodies was from the horse. If we were aware and present in our own body first, before connecting to the horse, then it will be even clearer to us what was from the horse and what was ours, in terms of the thoughts, feelings and physical sensations we observed. With practice we get better and better at this. The biggest key to connecting like this is relaxing and allowing yourself to feel rather than think. Allow it to happen and don’t try too hard. Going trail walking in this connected state is also a great way to connect and build your horse’s confidence in you and in different environments and surroundings. Horses are so amazing and when we truly connect with them we can experience them in a whole new way and they love it when we do so.
•  HELPING A VERY ANGRY AND UNHAPPY HORSE  SOFTEN AND START TO CONSIDER THE POSSIBILITY THAT INTERACTING WITH HUMANS MIGHT BE AN ENJOYABLE EXPERIENCE. Working with broken horses – broken in body, mind or spirit or all three combined as many horses are – is one of the things that I love to be able to do.  I love to be able to help them and see them change and become calm, confident, self-expressive, exuberant, and more physically beautiful as they build self esteem and develop their physical bodies. This is always happening in clinics but often at a subtle level. However in one of the recent clinics we started to elicit such a change in a more obvious way  with a horse that was  very unhappy and angry to the point of being aggressive. The change in the horse came about because we used Love, Understanding, Compassion and Feel first and foremost,  supported by Marker Training and Positive Reinforcement, to accentuate the horse feeling “right” and appreciated, when he offered softness and tried in the smallest way. It was great to see the beginning of this new direction of possibility for this horse and human together and I will look forward to seeing how they progress with each other.
• SO THIS IS WHAT CANTERING IS MEANT TO FEEL LIKE !!!!!!!  As always, seeing
  

  Here I am riding in a slightly rounded and soft forward seat to encourage Matriarch to lift her back. I think a forward seat is one of the best ways to start helping a horse to lift their back and teach a rider to go with the horse.

  horses and riders begin to develop confidence, balance, and find harmony together is always very pleasing, especially when you see both the horse and rider start to smile. “So this is what cantering is meant to feel like” is what one lady said, feeling very excited about her new found seat. When riding feels good to us it feels good to the horse. Many people have not yet experienced what a really, good walk, trot, canter feel like. They don’t know what  is possible in how much better it can feel, but this is exactly what you can learn at these courses and once you have felt how good it can be you will always be looking for that great feeling or better. It can just keep getting better and better and perpetually better when we connect and get in sychronicity with horses.

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER ACCELERATED LEARNING MODULES – DISCOUNTED PRICING The cut off date for the Early Bird 1 discounted pricing for the September/October “Realize your Dreams with Horses” accelerated learning modules at Alchemy Place  is just a few days away. It ends at the end of this month so you will need to get in quickly to take advantage of the big savings.

SANDRA WALLIN, CONSCIOUS HORSEMANSHIP & PSYCH K – Also the end of  this month is the cut off date for Sandra Wallin’s Conscious Horsemanship courses including the Psych K – How to reprogram your limiting subconscious beliefs. An amazing course which is life changing for all aspects of your lives not just your horsemanship. This is a very empowering course. You can see more details for these courses on the website or as you scroll down the newsletter below.

I wish you all the best until the next time.

Warm regards,
Mel