We Ride Sport and Trail Magazine February 2018 | Page 32

32 / Sport and Trail Magazine

Think Productively

By Lauren Woodard

Amanda McGentry and her horse Arizona during a Mounted Archery clinic

Photo by Aponi

For forty years I’ve been teaching my version of AA: ANALYZE AND ADJUST

“I want to hit the target” is probably high on your list of what you’re thinking when you go out to practice your mounted archery. And it’s the LEAST likely thought to get that result.

Instincts make for very interesting study. And every day with my students, I’m amazed at what instincts make our body parts do.

Recently a student was annoyed at something his horse was doing and watching him, I explained that what he was doing with his arm was causing the horse to do it. And it was the exact opposite of what he wanted the horse to do yet he was telling the horse to do it and not even giving that a consideration.

Awareness of what’s happening is the first puzzle piece and as we’ve gone over quite a bit in past articles, it’s a biggy. Because so many people just go on with what they think they want, the horse isn’t set up to do it and when it doesn’t happen, they keep going on with the next thing. It is not effective for the person, but works pretty well for the horse as she’s not required to actually learn what to do. It bodes ill for the person though in the future as, yes, the horse doesn’t actually know what to do.

I think it’s important to keep in mind for both yourself and your horse that judgment isn’t part of that equation. But, an observation is not a judgment. Judgment is a decision about wrong or right. Observation is just that.

with the right tone that indicates feeling for them in a situation such as we’re talking about here, where the horse hasn’t done what you wanted. HUH! Did she understand? Does she know? Did I do the opposite movement with some part of my body that confused or changed the signal? What can I do that will be better or more clear to my horse? What did my horse just tell me about what she thinks about me or the request (not demand).  With a request, ‘no’ is an option and you’re okay with that as long as you can figure out how to influence a change.

When you’re going down your track on your horse pulling out arrows and shooting them WHAT are you thinking?

And WHAT are you going to do about it?

As I said at the top, “I want to hit the target” is probably high on your list and is the LEAST likely thought to get that result.

Can you get to the line quietly?

Do you need help? Someone to hold your horse or drag him over there?

Is spinning or traveling sideways part of the experience?

Do you feel you need a tie-down/martingale so you don’t get your face broken?

Many people pay me to stand still with their horse and/or pay me to make them do it. Why? Because they don’t want to and won’t. but if you get on and get going, and believe me, much of the time, it’s get on while going, how will the horse ever learn to stand quietly?

This concept and what to do about it is in my book “Curbside Service: Change the Way You and Your Horse Think About Each Other.” So, to get a much better grasp of it, pop over to my website, exceptionalhorsemanship.com, where you can click on the book which will take you straight to Amazon and it will be in your mailbox post hast.

Now don’t think you can just tie your horse up to do this. Tying a horse up to learn to stand quietly teaches him to stand quietly while tied. It doesn’t teach him to stand quietly while mounted and with you getting excited for your next go at the targets.

Therefore – yes – you must practice helping your horse develop a quiet mind and quiet hooves when your horse would rather be anxious and skittering about.

If your horse is comfortable standing somewhere else – that isn’t practicing. You must set up the situation where the horse DOESN’T want to stand still in order to practice!

Until next time:

DO GOOD WORK!

These are some of the first questions you’ll then ask yourself and after them, we can move on to more precision in your abilities to analyze and adjust for better results and better questions.

As in:

1)What is my position relative to the horse when I’m shooting my arrows?

2)When, at what point, do I adopt that position?

3)Have I analyzed the response of the horse to this position?

4)What part does balance play or am I pinching with my knees and counting on my stirrups and saddle to keep myself in position?

5)Am I blindly following advice I haven’t challenged?

I’m going to give you some concepts and situations for your consideration relative to these initial questions so that you can apply it to your answers for you and your horse.

Many people are taught to lean into the bow while shooting and of course there are reasons to approach it with these words, but we must, must, must (not a typo) place a high value on the degree to which we lean. Check yourself. How far would you lean if you were standing on the ground? And a lean can be anything from a slight shift of weight in the upper body while dropped into your balanced core, to looking like you’re tilted up on your front foot and… completely out of balance. Would you think it would be a good idea to be out of balance on your horse? And if you didn’t have stirrups, a saddle and pinchy knees, would you be able to maintain that position? If not, could it be correct?

Also for your consideration, if you’re leaning way forward over the horse’s neck when shooting, just where are you going? There’s a good chance that you’re making the horse feel like you’re ahead of her and that she needs to speed up to get up under you. Do you want your horse to speed up? If she thinks this and you don’t say otherwise, you are indeed causing your horse to run faster. If you’re close to flossing your teeth on your horse’s mane, I’d say you’d better straighten up. Don’t get ahead of the horse’s driveline.

If you lean forward and toward the targets i.e. your weight is heavy in that stirrup and your seat bones are also up, out of the saddle and shifted into the lean… shouldn’t your horse, who you’ve hopefully trained to give to pressure, shift or track toward the outside? Might that cause your foot to catch in the track barrier rope or your horse to go off course just doing what your body is telling him to do?

Hmmmmmmm… Aren’t these pretty darned important questions?

And because every great hmmmmmm… deserves a great how (my line) I’ll just start you off with some action steps to get your baseline. To help you challenge assumptions and get yourself straightened out, start on the ground with a shooting stance and see what you tend to do.

1)Are your hips centered over your stance? Are you dropped into your core?

2)Is your stance balanced? Or do you have more weight on the front foot?

3)How much are you leaning in from the hips? Shoulders? Neck and head?

If you’ve seen the recent Bridgestone Tire commercials with the Olympic archery shooters – there isn’t even a hint of leaning. I’ve included this for your consideration.

Now, THINK about sitting on your horse – preferably bareback. But, if you must use a saddle at least drop your stirrups. After all we’re just in your mind here.

1) What CAN you do differently to challenge where you currently are in your position?

Please keep in mind that these are discovery experiments. Don’t get stuck on how you think you were taught or how you’ve “always done it”. Our job is to get you better from here. And what got you here isn’t going to get you to the next level. You need to up your skills, preparation and MINDSET.

Try #1 > something DIFFERENT > get an unexpected reality > get more curious.

Try #2 > something DIFFERENT > get a NEW unexpected reality > get more curious.

Lather, rinse, repeat.

These might be way big different things or it could be as small as a tad less leaning into your bow or cocking your head just bit down the arrow.

Now, go get on your horse and apply what you challenged yourself with while mounted. Don’t get all chompie to shoot and let yourself get off track. Ha! Little mounted archery joke there, particularly if you’re pushing your horse off with that weight imbalance and a heavy leg pushing into his side while your heel kind of digs in as you attempt to keep yourself upright.

Have you come this far to only come this far? I think NOT!

There is nothing to lose. You’re experimenting. You’re on an adventure. Lets go for Exceptional!

Lauren has been teaching and training for over 40 years and is the author of two books that are pure magic for horsemanship – “Curbside Service” and “Balky, Balky, I Ain’t Goin’”. Find out how to be strategic in your best next steps to Exceptional Horsemanship for Mounted Archery by grabbing her “Wouldn’t It Be Great If ____?” Quiz to check your perspective and propel your horsemanship on her exceptionalhorsemanship.com site.

Productive thoughts that will help you are more like:

What was my line of sight down the arrow?

Was my horse going too fast?

Was my horse tracking straight?

Was I worried about anything in particular happening that would cause trouble?

Did I move my bow in a good follow-thru?

Did I have my arrows appropriately situated for the best pull from my quiver or hand?

Were the feathers aligned properly?

Was I leaning too far forward or to the side? Big one! You’re out of balance if that’s so. What would happen if your horse took a bad step or tripped?

These are some of the first questions you’ll then ask yourself and after them, we can move on to more precision in your abilities to analyze and adjust for better results and better questions.

As in:

1)What is my position relative to the horse when I’m shooting my arrows?

2)When, at what point, do I adopt that position?

3)Have I analyzed the response of the horse to this position?

4)What part does balance play or am I pinching with my knees and counting on my stirrups and saddle to keep myself in position?

5)Am I blindly following advice I haven’t challenged?

I’m going to give you some concepts and situations for your consideration relative to these initial questions so that you can apply it to your answers for you and your horse.

Many people are taught to lean into the bow while shooting and of course there are reasons to approach it with these words, but we must, must, must (not a typo) place a high value on the degree to which we lean. Check yourself. How far would you lean if you were standing on the ground? And a lean can be anything from a slight shift of weight in the upper body while dropped into your balanced core, to looking like you’re tilted up on your front foot and… completely out of balance. Would you think it would be a good idea to be out of balance on your horse? And if you didn’t have stirrups, a saddle and pinchy knees, would you be able to maintain that position? If not, could it be correct?

Also for your consideration, if you’re leaning way forward over the horse’s neck when shooting, just where are you going? There’s a good chance that you’re making the horse feel like you’re ahead of her and that she needs to speed up to get up under you. Do you want your horse to speed up? If she thinks this and you don’t say otherwise, you are indeed causing your horse to run faster. If you’re close to flossing your teeth on your horse’s mane, I’d say you’d better straighten up. Don’t get ahead of the horse’s driveline.

If you lean forward and toward the targets i.e. your weight is heavy in that stirrup and your seat bones are also up, out of the saddle and shifted into the lean… shouldn’t your horse, who you’ve hopefully trained to give to pressure, shift or track toward the outside? Might that cause your foot to catch in the track barrier rope or your horse to go off course just doing what your body is telling him to do?

Hmmmmmmm… Aren’t these pretty darned important questions?

And because every great hmmmmmm… deserves a great how (my line) I’ll just start you off with some action steps to get your baseline. To help you challenge assumptions and get yourself straightened out, start on the ground with a shooting stance and see what you tend to do.

1)Are your hips centered over your stance? Are you dropped into your core?

2)Is your stance balanced? Or do you have more weight on the front foot?

3)How much are you leaning in from the hips? Shoulders? Neck and head?

If you’ve seen the recent Bridgestone Tire commercials with the Olympic archery shooters – there isn’t even a hint of leaning. I’ve included this for your consideration.

Now, THINK about sitting on your horse – preferably bareback. But, if you must use a saddle at least drop your stirrups. After all we’re just in your mind here.

1) What CAN you do differently to challenge where you currently are in your position?

Please keep in mind that these are discovery experiments. Don’t get stuck on how you think you were taught or how you’ve “always done it”. Our job is to get you better from here. And what got you here isn’t going to get you to the next level. You need to up your skills, preparation and MINDSET.

Try #1 > something DIFFERENT > get an unexpected reality > get more curious.

Try #2 > something DIFFERENT > get a NEW unexpected reality > get more curious.

Lather, rinse, repeat.

These might be way big different things or it could be as small as a tad less leaning into your bow or cocking your head just bit down the arrow.

Now, go get on your horse and apply what you challenged yourself with while mounted. Don’t get all chompie to shoot and let yourself get off track. Ha! Little mounted archery joke there, particularly if you’re pushing your horse off with that weight imbalance and a heavy leg pushing into his side while your heel kind of digs in as you attempt to keep yourself upright.

Have you come this far to only come this far? I think NOT!

There is nothing to lose. You’re experimenting. You’re on an adventure. Lets go for Exceptional!

Lauren has been teaching and training for over 40 years and is the author of two books that are pure magic for horsemanship – “Curbside Service” and “Balky, Balky, I Ain’t Goin’”. Find out how to be strategic in your best next steps to Exceptional Horsemanship for Mounted Archery by grabbing her “Wouldn’t It Be Great If ____?” Quiz to check your perspective and propel your horsemanship on her exceptionalhorsemanship.com site.

It is not effective for the person, but works pretty well for the horse as she’s not required to actually learn what to do. It bodes ill for the person though in the future as, yes, the horse doesn’t actually know what to do.

I think it’s important to keep in mind for both yourself and your horse that judgment isn’t part of the ANALYZE AND ADJUST equation. An observation is not a judgment. Judgment is a decision about wrong or right. Observation is just that.

More of a HUH!

I find it helpful for my students to have a line they can say with the right tone that indicates feeling for them in a situation such as we’re talking about here, where the horse hasn’t done what you wanted. HUH! Did she understand? Does she know? Did I do the opposite movement with some part of my body that confused or changed the signal? What can I do that will be better or more clear to my horse? What did my horse just tell me about what she thinks about me or the request (not demand).  With a request, ‘no’ is an option and you’re okay with that as long as you can figure out how to influence a change.

When you’re going down your track on your horse pulling out arrows and shooting them, WHAT are you thinking?

And WHAT are you going to do about it?

As I said at the top, “I want to hit the target” is probably high on your list and is the LEAST likely thought to get that result.

WHY? Because it’s not a productive thought. There’s no analysis and no change and no adjustment involved it that thought.

These are some of the first questions you’ll then ask yourself and after them, we can move on to more precision in your abilities to analyze and adjust for better results and better questions.

As in:

1)What is my position relative to the horse when I’m shooting my arrows?

2)When, at what point, do I adopt that position?

3)Have I analyzed the response of the horse to this position?

4)What part does balance play or am I pinching with my knees and counting on my stirrups and saddle to keep myself in position?

5)Am I blindly following advice I haven’t challenged?

I’m going to give you some concepts and situations for your consideration relative to these initial questions so that you can apply it to your answers for you and your horse.

Many people are taught to lean into the bow while shooting and of course there are reasons to approach it with these words, but we must, must, must (not a typo) place a high value on the degree to which we lean. Check yourself. How far would you lean if you were standing on the ground? And a lean can be anything from a slight shift of weight in the upper body while dropped into your balanced core, to looking like you’re tilted up on your front foot and… completely out of balance. Would you think it would be a good idea to be out of balance on your horse? And if you didn’t have stirrups, a saddle and pinchy knees, would you be able to maintain that position? If not, could it be correct?

Also for your consideration, if you’re leaning way forward over the horse’s neck when shooting, just where are you going? There’s a good chance that you’re making the horse feel like you’re ahead of her and that she needs to speed up to get up under you. Do you want your horse to speed up? If she thinks this and you don’t say otherwise, you are indeed causing your horse to run faster. If you’re close to flossing your teeth on your horse’s mane, I’d say you’d better straighten up. Don’t get ahead of the horse’s driveline.

If you lean forward and toward the targets i.e. your weight is heavy in that stirrup and your seat bones are also up, out of the saddle and shifted into the lean… shouldn’t your horse, who you’ve hopefully trained to give to pressure, shift or track toward the outside? Might that cause your foot to catch in the track barrier rope or your horse to go off course just doing what your body is telling him to do?

Hmmmmmmm… Aren’t these pretty darned important questions?

And because every great hmmmmmm… deserves a great how (my line) I’ll just start you off with some action steps to get your baseline. To help you challenge assumptions and get yourself straightened out, start on the ground with a shooting stance and see what you tend to do.

1)Are your hips centered over your stance? Are you dropped into your core?

2)Is your stance balanced? Or do you have more weight on the front foot?

3)How much are you leaning in from the hips? Shoulders? Neck and head?

If you’ve seen the recent Bridgestone Tire commercials with the Olympic archery shooters – there isn’t even a hint of leaning. I’ve included this for your consideration.

Now, THINK about sitting on your horse – preferably bareback. But, if you must use a saddle at least drop your stirrups. After all we’re just in your mind here.

1) What CAN you do differently to challenge where you currently are in your position?

Please keep in mind that these are discovery experiments. Don’t get stuck on how you think you were taught or how you’ve “always done it”. Our job is to get you better from here. And what got you here isn’t going to get you to the next level. You need to up your skills, preparation and MINDSET.

Try #1 > something DIFFERENT > get an unexpected reality > get more curious.

Try #2 > something DIFFERENT > get a NEW unexpected reality > get more curious.

Lather, rinse, repeat.

These might be way big different things or it could be as small as a tad less leaning into your bow or cocking your head just bit down the arrow.

Now, go get on your horse and apply what you challenged yourself with while mounted. Don’t get all chompie to shoot and let yourself get off track. Ha! Little mounted archery joke there, particularly if you’re pushing your horse off with that weight imbalance and a heavy leg pushing into his side while your heel kind of digs in as you attempt to keep yourself upright.

Have you come this far to only come this far? I think NOT!

There is nothing to lose. You’re experimenting. You’re on an adventure. Lets go for Exceptional!

Lauren has been teaching and training for over 40 years and is the author of two books that are pure magic for horsemanship – “Curbside Service” and “Balky, Balky, I Ain’t Goin’”. Find out how to be strategic in your best next steps to Exceptional Horsemanship for Mounted Archery by grabbing her “Wouldn’t It Be Great If ____?” Quiz to check your perspective and propel your horsemanship on her exceptionalhorsemanship.com site.