The Art of Collection: Horses, Thoughts, and Navigating Life

Transcript

Introduction and Dedication to Uncle Mel

Speaker 1 0:06

Hello everyone . You're listening to the Horse Fix , where you can get that horse fix , perhaps fix your horse and maybe even help yourself along the way . I'm Dr Sandra Holt and I'm coming to you from my studio here in Longview Texas . Sandra Holt and I'm coming to you from my studio here in Longview Texas . It has been a minute since the last podcast and , oh , my apologies everyone . I have been really busy and I've been procrastinating . I can't believe it's been since January since the last one , so please forgive me . Know that I've made a promise to myself to do more because I really love doing them and I'm hoping that you love listening to them as well . I do want to say thank you to all of you who , no matter when I do a podcast , you're in there listening . I love the fact that there are still people all around the world that can get my podcast and do , in fact , listen and ask questions and respond , so thank you for that .

Speaker 1 1:11

I'm going to dedicate this podcast to my Uncle Mel . Uncle Mel passed away earlier this week . He was a terrific man . He laughed at his own jokes . A terrific man . He laughed at his own jokes . He listened to . You had no question in your mind whether he was tuned into you when you were talking to him . He was brilliant . He was a provider , a good husband , a good father and a great uncle . I would want more people to be like Uncle Mel in this world kind and gentle , generous and loving . At any rate , uncle Mel , I already miss you If you're listening to this . Thank you for what you've given me through my life .

The Three Types of Collection

Speaker 1 2:10

So today's podcast is going to be about collection Collection of things , collection of thoughts , collection of the horse and what all of those mean to us individually . So let's get started . As you know , it is September . Weather-wise , it's still quite warm here in Texas . I grew up in Michigan and it was even warm in Michigan . Usually in the beginning of September We'd start school and , of course , we insisted on wearing our new school clothes that were made of wool . So we'd go to school and be very hot that day , but we had our new clothes on , so it was all good . At any rate , the weather's starting to get to be awesome riding weather Just perfect to ride your horse or to play golf or to garden . I love the outdoors in the fall .

Speaker 1 3:16

Today's episode is going to be about collection , and I think I mentioned that and I think I mentioned that . We're going to talk about how it affects us and what we can do in the way of collecting our thoughts or editing out a collection that we might have gone overboard on things-wise , and the collection of the horse , of course , let me start with a little story . Of course , let me start with a little

The Feather Story: Working Smart

Speaker 1 3:46

story . Have you ever tried to sweep feathers ? Now , I'm talking about those little down fluffy feathers that come in pillows and things like that . Well , it's not easy to collect them , to gather them all together with a broom . I know this because it happened to me the other day . I decided I was going to take the cover off of my pillows on my sofa and replace them with some newer covers . Well , I unzipped the cover and I didn't realize that I was also unzipping the pillow itself and suddenly there was an explosion ofed feathers that came into the air , into my face , my hair , the floor , the sofa , all over the place . See , I had the fan on the overhead fan and so they were just , and I had it on high because it was warm and they just went everywhere . So I turned the fan off , of course , and they started to settle down . I thought you know , I've got a mess here to clean up . So I grabbed the broom and I start sweeping . You can imagine the harder I swept , the more they stirred up and the worse it got and the harder it got to collect them all together and to clean up the mess . So you know , life's kind of like that sometimes , isn't it ? We just feel like our life one day might just end up being all kinds of down feathers flying in the air and annoying us , causing problems , and we can't seem to get a hold of them . That's the other thing . If you try and catch feathers , especially those little fluffy down ones , it's impossible . Yes , I do know that too . So I learned from that little scenario that the cliche work smart instead of hard applied to that . The harder I worked with these feathers , the harder I swept , the worse they got . So I had to come up with a different plan in order to make things settle down a little bit . So then , not only did I need to collect all the feathers together , gather them together , I had to begin a collection of thoughts and put in order in my thinking how I was going to take care

Collections in Life: The Good and Bad

Speaker 1 6:05

of all these feathers . Collecting our thoughts can be pretty daunting at times , depending on the circumstance , of course , and depending on what we're thinking about , for instance , when we're riding our horses and we're trying to have some communication with them so that they can begin to have some thoughtfulness . And then , of course , there's the collection of the horse . The collection of the horse is the entire podcast and we are going to touch on that a little bit , but not 100% . For you non-horse people out there , collecting a horse is gathering up his body parts , so to speak , having him lift his back and withers and soften his pole and soften his ribcage and reach underneath himself and lighten up his front end . That's what collection is all about . It's a balance , so to speak . So that's a completely different type of collection , and you know the collection of things Well .

Speaker 1 7:16

At the moment I'm helping a good friend of mine . Actually , it's my husband's ex-wife , so it's my stepdaughter's mother . Well , we have become good friends and we call each other wife-in-law , so I'm over at wife-in-law's house helping her with a move . She moved from Henderson to Longview . It's been quite the project and she helped me pack and move from Aubrey to Longview . So I promised her that I would help her , and so my part of the job is to unpack her . Her daughter helped her pack and now I'm helping her unpack and put things away . Well , let me tell you and I know she'll be listening to this podcast Sorry , carolyn , but here it goes she has a huge collection of everything .

Speaker 1 8:16

I mean everything . She has a huge collection of china , not just one set , but a collection of several sets . She has a huge collection of crystal , not just some crystal , but a lot of crystal , different types of crystal , waterford , etc . She has a huge collection of paper towels . She has a huge collection of safety pins . She has a huge collection of family portraits . She has a huge collection of beanie babies . I'm telling you you name it and she has a huge collection of it . And her house isn't exactly huge . It's a nice decent size , but her collections definitely overpower her house . So it's been quite the project for me to help her get things organized and get them where they belong . Collections are good to a point , Carolyn . So let's , in the days and weeks to come , I think

Success, Failure, and Moving Forward

Speaker 1 9:31

we'll be editing a little bit of her collections , as much as she can bear . Anyway , she's sentimental and she loves her collections and many of us do , so we've got a little challenge on our hands .

Speaker 1 9:46

It turns out , as I'm beginning to find out , that many East Texas women have collections , collections of all kinds of things , including ex -husbands . I love these East Texas women and I'm hoping to do some more podcasts about them and with them , particularly with Carolyn . We'll see , so I digress , but it was worth saying , all kidding aside . What collection is ? I've mentioned it before it's a gathering of things . Even the collection of a horse that's kind of where the term came from it's gathering of his body and pulling it all together , organizing it . And the reason we want our horses collected is for their own balance and their longevity . The more you can collect your horse and have it underneath himself , the better off he'll be long-term with soundness of his legs and the easier it'll be to ride . If you're performing in the show , it's much easier for the horse and for the rider if he's collected to do the certain maneuvers that you have to do .

Speaker 1 11:16

But what about the bad collections ? And what I'm talking about there mostly is the collection of bad habits or the collection of bad thoughts . You know they say that you can't control your very first thought that enters your mind for that day or that moment . But you can control the thoughts after that . So , for example , if I wake up in the morning and my first thought is , oh , it's going to be a horrible day , well , the thoughts that I collect after that are up to me , and so I'm going to change that thought . Of course I'm going to say no , it's not , it's going to be a great day . And here's why , first of all , I woke up . Secondly , I'm surrounded by love . I am surrounded by the things and the people and the precious memories that I have . So , you know , you change your thought process and you change that collection of thoughts so that they end up being something that will carry you through the day and you'll have a pleasant day instead of your original thought of having a bad one .

Speaker 1 12:31

There's also the collection of bad habits . One bad habit will lead into another bad habit and , before you know it , your collection of bad habits has kind of turned your life into a negative circumstance . I can think of a young man who is working toward launching out of his house and becoming his own person . The collection of bad habits that he might have , like sleeping in , not getting to the job on time , staying up all night , playing video games , etc . You know , the collection of bad habits there will not lead him to success In those types of collections . We need to definitely change them and start collecting good habits . So you basically replace the bad habits with good habits and there's the collection of success and the collection of failure . When we have success , it gives us the momentum and the drive to go further and to have more successes .

Speaker 1 13:41

You don't have to lean on the huge successes to carry yourself forward . Start hunting the small successes , for instance , my doing this podcast today . You know I've been procrastinating and I've been allowing myself to have excuses for not doing this , even though I love it . Well , today I'm successful because I have done this . It's a small thing in the scheme of life , but I'm doing a podcast and so I'm going to count that success today , even if I have no others , but I will . Throughout the day . I'm going to count this one is up to your thinking and up to your interpretation of what success is , but what I'm saying is collect those successes , stack them up and use them to get yourself going the next day .

Speaker 1 14:50

Now , then , we can't talk about success without talking about failure . What about collecting those failures ? You may think I'm going to say to dismiss them , to forget about your failures , but I'm not . I'm going to tell you to collect those failures , review them , analyze them , set them out on the table and look at them and say what did I learn from those failures ? For me personally , the failures that I have had , the biggest ones , have been my biggest turning point . So I'm saying it's necessary to have failures and it's necessary to collect them through life , because without failures there would be no self-development , no self-growth . So then , that is my collection of collections , and I hope that by listening to this , it may help you to discover what your own collections are and how valuable they are to you and how , wife-in-law , you might want to edit them a little bit . At any rate , enough said Okay . Now I'm going to go on to the question-answer part of the podcast .

Q&A: True Collection in Western Pleasure

Speaker 1 16:20

Go on to the question answer part of the podcast .

Speaker 1 16:21

I picked a letter that has to do with collecting horses , since that would be suiting for this podcast . This lady that wrote in via email said she was a bit confused about her horse and collection . So she writes this Dear Dr Holt . Dear Dr Holt , I am a 60-year-old woman that just started back showing in Western Pleasure . I used to show as a pre-team in open shows and 4-H . Now I am having a lot of fun , but I never seem to place .

Speaker 1 16:58

At the last show I went to the judge and asked how I could improve . He said that my horse is not collected . I am very confused by this , because my horse keeps its head down through the whole class . He's very steady and consistent , no matter what gate we are in . I don't see how the judge would think we were not collected . Can you shed some light on this and tell me what I can do to fix it ? Sincerely , carrie Whitefield , chicago , illinois . Hi , carrie , thanks for your letter . You're from Chicago and that's my old stomping grounds , so to speak , and it's fun to hear from a fellow Midwesterner .

Speaker 1 17:41

First of all , let me say that you're not alone in your confusion about collection and I'm glad that you wrote this letter because I think it will help a lot of other people as well . So you mentioned that you're 60 , and back when you learned how to ride and to show , your definition of collection was keeping the horse's head down . Well , back in the day there was much to do and a lot of focus on keeping the horse's head down and steady , and that was interpreted as a horse being collected , but it really wasn't true . The horse was not collected . The horse simply had vertical flexion , which you do need for collection . But that's only a small part of a horse being collected . I think that collection is one of the most misunderstood aspects of the training program of horses . I believe that we're really talking about a horse being balanced and having self-carriage .

Speaker 1 18:53

In the past people thought that cranking on the horse's face would translate into changing the horse's body into a collected state . But really just yanking on the horse's face is pretty meaningless . You need to teach your horse that when you apply vertical flexion and you put pressure on their face flexion and you put pressure on their face , they need to gather up their position with their legs , their feet , their hindquarters , their ribcage , their withers . How do we do that ? I'm going to give you some exercises here in a second . But basically you need to create softness and you need to get your horse to lift its back under your seat . You want them to put a change to their body . You don't want them to just put their chin into their chest and not just give you their face , but you want them to change their stride . You want them to engage their hindquarters and you want them to be soft under your seat . Always remember that when you're applying rein pressure , you also must apply leg pressure . This will get your horse to lift its body and lower its head and then release when he does that and then do it again when he falls apart . It's important to always use your legs when you use your rein . Having said that , when I'm talking about these exercises coming up , remember that it is leg and rein . It's not just rein . His leg in rain , it's not just rain .

Speaker 1 20:42

So , carrie , next time you ride your horse , I want you to really concentrate on feeling what he's doing and how he's moving under your seat . Try to stay off of the reins . In other words , don't hang onto the reins , Don't try and hold them in any position , but get him to drive his back end , his hindquarters , up into your hands . Think of it like that . Think of it like he's actually riding uphill . That'll keep him from dumping over and being strung out . But I want you to feel it like I said . I want you to , if you're safe , contain yourself in a smaller arena and , every so often , close your eyes for a couple of seconds , see if you can feel the horse's movement . Is he lifting up into your seat or is he hollowing out , strung out and pulling himself along rather than driving himself forward ? You may discover that he is pulling himself and driving himself forward , and he can do that with his head down , which may be what he is doing in the show pen .

Speaker 1 22:05

So let's fix that . This is called the horse fix , after all . So what I want you to do is do a couple of drills . What I want you to do is do a couple of drills , and one of them is to walk and trot around cones . Now I want you to set cones out randomly in the arena and go from one to the other , but circle one several times before you go to the next one . And at the trot , I want you to circle 10 meters , far enough away from the cone , but

Collection Exercises for Better Balance

Speaker 1 22:43

keep it equal , and then slowly spiral in so that you're real close to that cone .

Speaker 1 22:50

Now , as you get closer , the horse's tendency will probably be to dump over , will probably be to dump over , to dive in on that inside shoulder . So I want you to be very aware of that . And when he starts to do that , I want you to do two things . The first thing is to immediately turn your horse . Let's say you're starting to the left and you're going around and that left shoulder starts to dive in as you get closer to the cone in the smaller circle . Well , I want you to immediately go to your right and do a little circle there with no cone . Just do a nice small circle right there and then go back over to your left and do a circle over around that cone . Now , if he continues to dive in which he probably will in the beginning , I want you to lift that inside shoulder with your left hand and your left ring . Lift that shoulder , put more weight in your right stirrup and help him to balance around that cone . At the same time , help him to bend around your leg and around that comb . So now you've got a horse that has lifted his shoulder around the corner , around the comb , and is balanced and is now starting to drive underneath himself .

Speaker 1 24:14

Once you feel that the horse is nice and soft and he's not dumping into that cone and he's actually being balanced , go to the next cone , Change your direction , go now to the right and repeat the same process . Do this a lot and you'll find that your circles will start to get softer and will start to get more balanced . If he is not balanced , you'll feel the shift of his rear quarters . Basically , you'll lose his rear quarters to the outside . So rather than arcing around that cone to the outside , so rather than arcing around that cone , you'll find that you're kind of pivoting around that cone , with the front feet being the pivot point , and so the hindquarters is swinging out . And when you feel that you need to bend your horse around , now how you bend your horse around your horse around , Now how you bend your horse around Put your inside leg forward at the girth and put your outside leg back behind the girth . Now what you're doing is you're pushing the hind quarters in and you're holding the front quarters up and out , so that you're creating an arc that's going to help your horse balance , and balance is all about self-carriage .

Speaker 1 25:46

Now the next thing I want you to do is I want you to walk , trot and lope down the fence line and start at the walk . Walk down the fence line , ask for a stop , then turn your horse in toward the fence . So if you're loping , or if you're walking down the fence line with your shoulder at the fence , your right shoulder at the fence , so you're going left , you're going to stop , you're going to pivot to the right and then you're going to immediately continue that same speed , that same gait , down the fence line and stop and do it again . So you're going to do this at a walk , you're going to do this at a trot , and then you're going to do it at a lope . Do this at a walk , you're going to do this at a trot , and then you're going to do it at a lope . What that's going to do is help you to gather your horse up so that he drives forward with his back legs , moving underneath himself and rounding out his body and moving forward . Don't worry about the speed , don't worry about his head at this time or his neck at this time . You're focusing on the hindquarters at this point .

Speaker 1 27:04

So we're kind of taking different segments and elements of training and we're going to put them all together so that your horse begins to learn to do this by himself . So , in other words , carrie , rather than loping around asking for his face and ignoring the rest of his body , rather than doing that , you're tending to every piece of him and you're collecting all those pieces up into a nice package where he's rounded , soft and fluid and he's going to be more comfortable . And you're going to be more comfortable . You'll be able to do a lot more maneuvers , you'll be able to go around the arena with collection . You're going to feel the difference . Trust me on this . That's just a couple of exercises and I didn't want to overwhelm you by giving you any more . After you have worked on these two exercises and start feeling the difference in your horse , these two exercises , and start feeling the difference in your horse , contact me and we'll go on to the next level . I think you will find that next time you go on the show pen , you're going to get a different response from the judge .

Speaker 1 28:32

So , folks , that's collection in a nutshell . Folks , that's collection

Final Thoughts: Collecting Yourself

Speaker 1 28:44

in a nutshell . And you know , like working with the horse , gather up yourself , bring your collection of who you are into you and become soft , become fluid . And become soft , become fluid , become easy , because collection is all about ease when it comes to the horse . So become easy within yourself . I talked about my wife-in-law and she has developed a good model about not letting life take charge of her , but her taking charge of life and collecting herself into a good frame of mind . So I'm going to leave you with that that , at the end of the day , collect your thoughts , collect your self-worth , collect who you are , Pull it all together , gather it up , package yourself into what you want to be and go on with yourself . Or , as my wife-in-law , carolyn would say , just go about your bad self . Okay , that's it for me today . I'm going to see you soon , or at least you're going to hear me soon , and until next time , may all your blues be ribbons Bye-bye .