Every day, we explore our boundaries: the limits we experience, which are set or exceeded.
Our borders should not limit us, but protect our inner being.
They form a “play space” in which creativity and freedom of action can grow. For this, it is necessary to adequately represent one’s own borders. Nowhere else can our dealing with internal and external borders be carefully examined and reflected as in working with horses.
As long as the “game rules” are clear in dealing with horses, they are still “wild animals” by man. If it is possible to establish the order of borders, these great animals will adapt themselves and then even work together with man.
In the mental training, riders can walk their own limits deliberately. You will learn to perform safely and skillfully, strengthen your assertiveness and your persuasive power. Due to its holistic nature, there are many opportunities and opportunities in Reitsport.
Observing and riding (imitation) represent the second level of learning. It is linked to existing knowledge and already established values, and the learned is more integrated into one’s own personality.
The third phase of learning is the recognition and implementation of the principle of what is learned. The integration of what is learned into one’s own personality takes place directly.
I do not understand this approach as “riding aids”, hippotherapy, curative pedagogy, vaulting, disabled riding, rehabilitation, physiotherapy, or therapeutic riding, but as sports training / sportscoaching!
Horses have been a companion for humans for thousands of years. They allowed him to travel long distances, transport possibilities and have always been a static symbol. It is historically, next to the dog, the most intimate relationship with man. Special characteristics make it the ideal partner to find with this to deep satisfaction – in a constantly advanced learning process and in a school in which the learners teach and the teachers learn.
Riding is in my eyes a challenge, relaxation and pure natural pleasure as it is observed in children.
If a rider wants to tie up a band to the horse, he has to admit to the communication with the horse, to direct and unambiguous signals. In the communication between horse and rider, complexities, unspoken reproaches, dislocation or ridicule have no place – an exhilarating experience.
In communication, it is necessary to find a common basis of communication; Desires can not necessarily be enforced with force against the will of the horse; Against aggressive behavior of the human being a horse can successfully defend itself. With the help of a quiet but definite and clear communication, however, a participation of the horse can be achieved.
Body contact and body language lead into deeper levels of communication than words can.
Sports training and coaching is made up of a variety of activities, namely work with, on and on the horse. The respective learning experiences and theoretical learning contents from the practice are supported by the immediately following experiences on the horse and in the ideal case strengthened. Through “learning by doing” the theoretical knowledge is integrated much more quickly into one’s own horizons of experience.
During sports training and coaching the focus is not on the sporting aspect, but on the individual promotion of the rider’s contact with the horse, the favorable influence on the well-being of the horse and rider and the behavior of the riders on the horse.
The nature of the horse has many advantages.
Horses take people as they are. Horses do not mind if someone is “ugly”, handicapped, confused, beautiful, white, black, famous, rich, promoted, ….
In the eyes of the horse, each person is a very special person, regardless of career, merit, school notes, appearance, fitness, … etc.
The horse is free of moral values and independent of human social conventions and prejudices. It encounters all people with the same open appreciation, and makes e.g. Also social outsiders can be experienced with great unambiguousness, and does not interfere with unusual patterns of behavior and movement.
Man is accepted as a whole person. Kubelka-Chimani: “The horse does not care what someone looks like or what disorder he has. It is equally friendly to everyone. “
A horse listens to the same stories for the umpteenth time, while other human listeners have long since turned their eyes unnerved. They give out patient listeners, leaving physical contact and inner conditions like grief, without demanding that the person who is mourning maintain a façade or get together.
It allows and enjoys body contact almost unrestrictedly.
For many, the horse is the first living creature from which they feel unconditionally accepted and completely free of prejudice. The horse has no idea what is normal.
The horse does not encounter people with reservations, as other people do.
The horse has a highly motive effect. The horse can support a relationship between people.
Punishment etc. – all of this is not to be feared by the horse. It does not wear out and everyone has a new chance to make it “right”. The horse is ruthless, but also consistent in his behavior and clearly in his body language. It reacts unadulterated, honestly and directly to its counterpart – without dislocation, lies or hinds. The horse’s reaction is momentary, without a retarded revenge or punishment. The horse shows reactions to friendly or aggressive behavior. Whilst the friendly horse does not allow everything to fall and set limits. Interestingly, it is easier for people to accept these when dealing with the horse / animal. The messages of the horse are clear, as there is no contradiction between linguistic content and pitch or gestures or between conscious statement and unconscious motivation (no “double bind”). The direct, honest reaction of the horse is appropriate to build new trust and to consider one’s own action in the light of the immediate feedback.
The trained horse is subordinate to the human being. This experience strengthens man’s self-confidence and self-esteem.
Gabriela Leimer, University Clinic of Vienna: “The horse invites on the one hand, because of its size, his body warmth, his soft coat and his friendly nature, to cuddle with him, to stroke him, to let him be carried by him on the other hand. Although the horse does not offer much, it does not demand anything and accepts the client unconditionally. “This means communication without stress.
When dealing with the horse, while riding or on the horse-sitting, all the senses and many different muscle parts are addressed. Man is permanently in an actual interaction and dialogue with the horse.
Active sitting on the bare horseback without a saddle trains the balance, the sense of the balance of the human being. When riding, the riders themselves are responsible for their balance, the horse does not relieve them of this work. And the internal equilibrium can often be trained on the external equilibrium. And deficits in equilibrium can lead to problems in all areas of sensor technology. Through the movement of the horse, the rider learns to coordinate his body better.
The perception of the rider encouraged especially when riding the horse. The warmth of the horse is felt by people as pleasant. The body heat of the horse is about one degree higher than that of humans. The sensation of warmth awakens people’s spirits. Experiencing another living creature so closely that one directly senses its body warmth is an emotional relationship par excellence.
Through the horse body, man can experience his own body boundaries. In order to strengthen the kinaesthetic perception of the horse, I also ride with my eyes closed.
The olfactory nerve (O) is addressed in the surroundings of the horse in many ways, whereby pleasant and unpleasant stimuli are present.