February 2012 Newsletter from Dressage Naturally by Dressage Naturally

February 2012

“Creating stronger partnerships and healthy biomechanics by combining the principles of natural horsemanship with the art of dressage.”

Karen Rohlf

Upcoming Clinics: March 23-25 Georgetown, KY Sweet Spot taught by: Shelby Hume robertelliott1@bellsouth.net

June 2-4 Gilroy, CA Sweet Spot taught by: Shelby Hume

Welcome to the February 2012 Newsletter! 1 Spot open in 6 Day clinic

In this issue: in the Temenos April 1-6 • News 1 Spot open in 4 Day clinic • Open Focus in the Temenos April 26-29 • How to Ask Questions • Video Tip for blending D,N with foundation Clinics held at Karenʼs Temenos • Q & A Game of Contact in halter?

Dressagenaturally.net

shelleycandelario@yahoo.com

What is a ‘Temenos’?

June 2-12 UK 2 clinics taught by: Karen Rohlf

Temenos is an ancient Greek word. It refers to a sacred space that has no limits, where special rules apply and extra-ordinary events are free to occur.

stefgaunt@yahoo.com

June 15-18 Poland taught by Karen Rohlf beat@400.pl 1

Fields, in the Ocala, FL area karenrohlf@dressagenaturally.net

Quote of the Month: “Anything worth doing, is worth doing effortlessly” Anonymous

News D,N is coming to Ontario!

Video Tip

There are 2 opportunities in Embro, Ontario.

for combining D,N exercises with your foundation exercises.

April 6-8: Finding the Sweet Spot of Healthy Biomechanics. Taught by Breanne Peters. This is one of the most important clinics for D,N and it is a lot of fun. Set yourself up for success by learning the principles that will last you a lifetime!

July 20-22: The Upward Spiral of Success. Taught by Karen Rohlf Due to high demand, Karen will be giving priority to students who have either taken a clinic with her before or have taken the April clinic with Breanne. Karen will be giving a 20% discount off the July clinic to students who participate in both the April clinics with Bre and the July clinic with Karen!

The Classroom is going strong! There has been so much great feedback, it is so satisfying for me to hear all the results you are getting from this!

If you are a member of The Classroom you have seen the full length version of this already, but it was something that I thought so many people could benefit from I made a shorter version to share. My Basic Alignment and Finding the Sweet Spot online exercises getting blurred with Parelliʼs Circle Game. In the worst case students get stuck in my exercises and while doing so they ruin their Circle Game! you can find it HERE. Feel free to share it! And of course, if you would like to see the full length version, sign into The DN Video Classroom!

HURRY! Only 2 spots left in the March 23-25 Sweet Spot Clinic with Shelby Hume in KY! Donʼt miss this opportunity; Shelby is quickly becoming in high demand around the USA. When I come to this area to do the Upward Spiral, priority will be given to students who have taken this clinic with Shelby. Contact Janie at: robertelliott1@bellsouth.net (In the last newsletter there was a typo in the email, so if you tried to email and didnʼt get a response, that was my fault... please try again!)

Join the Classroom! Ride-A Test Day Feb 19th with USDF ʻLʼ judge Sharon Jerdeman (who also happens to be my neighbor and friend.) There will be half hour time slots to ride a dressage test, be scored, then use the rest of the half hour to get a mini lesson, or re-ride parts of the test! 9 am will be a demo ride and Sharon & I will explain some rules, and tips for riding tests. You can also sit close to her to hear the scoring ʻliveʼ as well as observe all the sessions. A great way to be scored by a judge without it being a competition! The riders spots are full, but if you would like to audit and be able to hear all the commentary please contact me at karenrohlf@dressagenaturally.net

Did you know D,N followers get discounts at

Proryders.com simply by mentioning my name? Itʼs true! If you like the Sonnenreiters riding pants that Karen wears and you donʼt live in Europe, (They are a German company), then Proryders is the place to get them. Just mention my name by leaving a message during check out, (you will be refunded in a separate transaction), or place your order by phone!

Open Focus:

The Power of the Periphery I am a dreamer and a scientist... so I love when I find things that turn on both those parts of my brain at the same time! I want to share a book I read recently called: The Open Focus Brain, Harnessing the Power of Attention to Heal Mind and Body. by Les Fehmi, PhD and Jim Robbins. It is not only about healing and reducing stress; it is also about optimizing mental and physical performance. Keeping an ʻOpen Focusʼ is the most effective way to have your brain operate in what is called ʻsynchronous alphaʼ where you are ʻin the zoneʼ and best able to perform. It not only added tools for me on my endless quest for how to be the most wonderful me I can be in this world, but even better it helped explain some things about horsemanship! ;-) I will give you a little synopsis here and if you want to check it out you can find it on my More Resources page on my website. It comes with a DVD of guided exercises.

A Zen student once asked his teacher Ikkyu, a 15th century Zen master, to sum up the highest wisdom. The master responded to this enormous question with a single word scratched in the sand: “Attention.”

Narrow, Diffuse, Immersed, and Objective are all different ways to ʻpay attentionʼ, and just like the words say: Sometimes there is a price to pay. Our society tends to condition us to use a narrow focus. Narrow focus is ʻemergency modeʼ; It allows us to perform specific tasks very well, but when sustained it is expensive to the mind and body. It creates tension and tension creates more narrow focus. Video games, TV, computer work, and a lioness chasing a specific zebra all require narrow focus. In nature it is meant to be of short duration. That lioness only uses it in the moment she has chosen the specific prey. All other times she must be in open focus. Even as she approaches and starts the hunt, she must be scanning to take in all the information from the herd. After the kill she goes back to scanning. Too much of the time, humans get stuck practicing only Narrow Focus from the first News broadcast in the morning, to the last post on FaceBook at night. Apparently this kind of narrow attention keeps us living with beta brain waves. So whatʼs wrong with that? The book describes that in beta our brains are not operating synchronously. They said this state was like your brain is an auditorium full of people and they are all talking at once. When we are in an Open Focus we experience Alpha waves... a frequency associated with a relaxed, alert state. In this state we can enjoy a synchronous brain! This would be like the auditorium filled with people singing together in one big choir.

So what does this have to do with horsemanship? On the next page I will tell you!

The student wasn’t satisfied and asked him to elaborate. Ikkyu wrote: “Attention. Attention. Attention.”

Open Focus:

The Power of the Periphery (continued) It turns out that one of the best ways to start to get your brain to be in synchronous alpha is to pay attention to your periphery. Ah ha! When in horsemanship do we use our peripheral senses? When we want to take pressure off the horse, when we want to connect with them and be less predatory. On ʻcircle gameʼ when allow them to travel behind us, in ʻcatching gameʼ when we drop our gaze as they approach or look at us, and so on. Being in synchronous alpha is being ʻin the zoneʼ. Not only do more areas of our brains ʻlight upʼ in alpha, but the actual brain waves will rise and fall in unison. In this state we have full, coordinated access to our brains without effort, without ʻthinkingʼ. You can naturally access the different types of attention: Narrow, Diffuse, Objective and Immersed as necessary, automatically. In this state pain can lesson, stress melts... It is the moment when things just flow (as opposed to the days where things seem to be fumbled and forced.) It is this state that meditation seeks. In the book, the author described attempting to create synchronous alpha by meditating, creating the perfect space, music, lighting, etc... with little success. In frustration he writes that he finally ʻgave upʼ (surrendered) and the EEG showed instant alpha waves. With further practice he realized that anyone could consistently create synchronous alpha state by first practicing paying attention to his peripheral field, until the background and foreground became ʻequalʼ in his attention. When I practiced this I could already feel a change. The next step is to practice ʻobjectless imageryʼ. Personally, I always had trouble attempting to meditate by thinking about ʻnothingʼ. The author helps by giving the idea to pay attention to the space between objects. I found this to be really effective and had a very different feeling than trying to think about ʻnothingʼ. While walking with Ovation, (who can frequently wear a grumpy face when I am on the ground) I practiced shifting my attention to spaces (between my eyes, between my fingers... The space my lungs take up, the space between the leaves on the trees...) and I observed a softer expression on him when I did this.

Imagine the space that the heart of your horse occupies

So once again we have evidence (as if we needed more) that the way we play with our horses can lead us to find our better selves... And a state that meditators have been searching for. I find it really interesting to think that how our horses need us to be for them will cause us to connect in deeper way to ourselves, to them, to everything. But we knew that already, didnʼt we? So the challenge, as always is to know how to use this. To figure out how to be specific, how to have goals, how to be disciplined and to stay open. Itʼs a paradox. (“Paradox alert!! whenever there is a paradox there is something important to learn!!) The paradox that it seems they are saying that the best way to access your ʻNarrow Focusʼ tool (as well as all your tools) is to be in Open Focus, synchronous alpha where you can access it automatically (dare I say: naturally?) as needed. And no, this is likely not different than what many meditation practices have said... But I found it to be an interesting and simple way to tap into a result that often takes years of meditation practice. Play with this, and please let me know what you find! And if you need a big space to pay attention to, just imagine the space that the heart of your horse occupies.

Q &

Game of Contact:

Is it OK to do it in the halter? Hi Karen, My husband and I are excited about your philosophy and follow you since three years. We study your Book and DVDs and are member of the club. You are doing a great work. Today I have one little question about Linda Parelli and her Game of Contact. Do you know about this? I have a little problem with it. [Linda] says: "First it sits too high on the horse's face for him to stretch into properly, and secondly you don't want your horse pushing into the halter." What is your opinion on it? At the moment I do not understand the answer and will ask to Linda for more information. We are riding with the halter since we have begun the Parelli study in 2007. It is wonderful to ride the dressage part with the halter. We are always inspired by you are doing it. The GoC is great, but I don´t want to renounce the halter-riding thing. Can you tell me your thoughts about it? Best regards, A

Hi A, Thanks for your email and nice words! I think, of course the best person to explain the Game of Contact is Linda! The GOC is a technique looking for a specific result, so if she says the halter is not good for her technique, then it isn't! BUT... In my opinion, that doesn't mean that you can't ride a horse in good biomechanics and in good connection with reins in a halter! ;-) You may just need different techniques! Horses don't need us at all to have good biomechanics, when we sit on them we have a big responsibility to help them recover from needing to carry us, but for me, at least 90% of biomechanics is in their body/mind, and it is not created by techniques with the reins... For sure what we do with our reins could mess them up, but the job of our hands is mostly to be there to connect with, to allow it... And just like if we want to hold hands with another person, it is less about what we do with our hand and more what we do with the rest of our mind and body language!! ;-) As far as "not wanting to push into the halter"... I don't want my horse to push into anything (in a negative way)! If it is too strong for the halter, it is too strong for the sensitive mouth! And if it is positive connection for the mouth it is positive for the halter too. As far as "the halter being too high on the nose" or this technique creating a feel you donʼt want in the halter... remember, this is Linda's technique, so if she says this is true then it IS for the specific technique of GOC. The way I develop biomechanics and connection, I have not had problems in general with doing it in the halter... but there are soooo many different horses and riders in the world, it is good to know as many techniques (tools) as possible. Some of my horses go better in the halter for dressage (My Paint, Ovation for example) and some go better in the bit (Atomic) and some can go back and forth halter to bit and they feel wonderful either way (Monty, Jedi...). There are horses that tend to pull and horses that tend to hide, horses that are bold with energy and unmotivated horses... and then there are the individual different humans with all the differences in their bodies... As with anything, look at these exercises as tools... then look at the horse you have in front of you... what you want to create... and decide what tool works best in the moment! Keep a picture of the final result, then get curious! Cheers, Karen

A Big THANK YOU Karen

I just wanted to say Thank You so much. You have changed me and my horse.

I came to watch you back in August when you came to the UK. I watch the "Finding the sweet spot" and "Upward Spiral of Success" courses and was glued. You explained everything so well and in depth and by the end of the 6 days i couldn't wait to go home and practice.....but sleep got in the way! With the information i obtained at your courses and your monthly videos i have been doing little and often with my boy Star. He always used to "overbend" everytime you had any sort of contact with the bit - Not now thanks to you! And now we can start to enjoy more and more lateral work. Anyway, the proof came when my friend (Parelli L2) popped over last weekend. She last rode Star in July 2011 and whilst she was there i asked her to get on him and walk /trot him round the school. She did just that and was gobbed smacked. She asked what i had been doing in a shocked voice, i answered "Following Karen" with a BIG smile on my face. She said that Star's stride was no longer short and choppy but long and stretched, she said he was holding himself in such a lovely and natural outline and listening to her body so much clearer. Her words were "He's a different but happier horse". So THANK YOU so much Karen. You and your ways of teaching has been a life changer for me. All the problems i once had i don't have anymore.

How To Ask Horsemanship Questions via Email

(that will have the best chance of yielding an excellent answer!)

Questions are tools. Just as with any tool, the result is dependent on the quality of the application of it; the art of how the question is asked. People have many different styles of asking questions and in the spirit of communication, selfempowerment and clarity, I find it very interesting to study styles of asking questions. When people ask me a question I really want to be able to give the best answer. If I am speaking with someone in person, I can ask them questions in order to get to the heart of the question they are asking, or gather the necessary information and then give my best answer. But if someone has emailed me a question I only have so much information to go on. I recently wrote an article on How To Ask Questions Via Email in an effort to help students to formulate their questions more clearly. I also believe that by going through this process, the ʻaskerʼ may become closer to being able to find the answer themselves... And I will have an easier time giving the best answer for THEM!

You can find the article on my website by clicking here. Keep in mind when reading the article that it is not about me giving a lesson in writing, but it is in the spirit of horsemanship. We are required to ask ourselves and our horses questions all the time. Every day we have choices to make and we must ask ourselves if this is the best choice. Or we come up against an issue and need to be able to self-assess our plan. I hope this article will help you form questions so you may come up with better solutions. Please donʼt feel self-conscious to write me now... I always will do my best to answer any question no matter how it is expressed! Photo: Pawel Siwak

“A prudent question is one half of wisdom.” ~Francis Bacon

DRESSAGENATURALLY February 2012

The Art of Dressage, Naturally...

Bring the Sweet Spot with you with prints, tote bags and mugs! Artwork by Karen. Item on sale: SiMoN tool for learning lateral work $50 regularly $59

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