When you talk to your horse (and I expect that you do), do you think that your horse knows what you say?  Do you think that it’s simply the tone of your voice that matters?  Or do you think that your horse understands the words you use and their meaning?

Winter Landscape by George Morland, 1790, Yale Center for British Art

For what it’s worth, I think my horses have quite large vocabularies.  And I’ve noticed that when I say something out loud, I seem to get through much more effectively than when I think something and expect my horse to read my mind.  (I’ve noticed the same thing with people, especially men).

Often, when I say something out loud, I think I’m talking to myself, but when my horse overhears, it’s clear that he knows whom I’m really talking to.  For example, some time ago, I kept wishing that one of my horses would relieve himself in the straw on the edges of his stall rather than in the middle of his stall, where he walked all over it and made a mess.

Night after night (because I pick stalls at night check), I would think to myself, “I wish…”  One night, for no reason in particular, I said it out loud.  I really thought I was talking to the air, but I did say, in a normal tone of voice, “I wish you would…”  The next morning, done!  All I had to do was say something.  Nicely, of course.

All this comes as no surprise, I’m sure, to Masaru Emoto.

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Let it never be said that I don’t read Practical Horseman from cover to cover. That is, from front to back, just the opposite of the way we’re supposed to ride.

There it is, in tiny print, on the bottom left corner of the back cover of PH’s December 2012 issue.

Heritage Gloves is the Official Riding Glove of The United States Equestrian Federation.

Say what?  

I’m sorry, you can’t say “gloves is glove.”  Official or otherwise.  Heritage or otherwise.  USEF or otherwise.

Why not say, “Heritage Gloves are the Official Riding Gloves of The United States Equestrian Federation?”

Or “Heritage is the Official Riding Glove of the United States Equestrian Federation?”

You just can’t say “Heritage Gloves is the Official Riding Glove of the United States Equestrian Federation.”  You can’t.  Unless you want to sound illiterate. And that are my final word on the subject.

Almost.  Because I want to give a thumbs up to Heritage for making the best winter work glove I’ve found.  It’s their Extreme Winter Glove, with a Thinsulate lining and advertised as waterproof.  They are (note: not “they is”) truly waterproof.

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The problem with living in the present is that it’s easy to forget what we promised to do in the past.  On October 16, 2011, for example.  That’s the date on which I told you in this post that I thought it was important for people and horses to let things soak, and that I’d expand on the topic later.

Seven months certainly qualifies as later…and I want to apologize for having taken so long.  If you’re one of my faithful readers, you know that I’ve had other things on my mind…

This week, the new horse and a hose reminded me to revisit the concept of “soaking.” Lest you misunderstand, the water involved has nothing at all to do with the concept of soaking.  That’s just a coincidence.

I first came across the word “soak” in Roger and Joanna Day’s book The Fearless Horse, and when I did, I stopped saying things like, “Let it sink in” or “Give her a minute or two.”  It was interesting to hear Buck Brannaman use the same word and employ the same concept.

Rather than speak of it in the abstract, let me share with you how soaking helped me bathe the new horse.  As I’ve mentioned before, he’s one of the bravest horses I’ve ever met, but he’s afraid of being sprayed with water. My guess is that at some point in the past, the water was too cold, he was scolded or punished in the process, or he didn’t have time to figure out what was happening and became overwhelmed.

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Remember Goldilocks and the three bears?

Porridge wasn’t the only issue.  There was also the chairs.  And the beds.  It was hard to get it right.  Too hot, too cold.  Too big, too small.  Too hard, too soft.  Burn your mouth or bruise your behind or strain your back until you find the one that’s just right.

Kind of like tempo.

Tempo is tricky.  It’s not that it’s a particularly complicated concept to understand, but it’s a word that’s often misused.  Transport it over the ocean, and the waters get even more muddied.

The USDF defines tempo as the “rate of repetition of the rhythm, the strides or of the emphasized beats — beats per minute, as may be measured by a metronome.”   Okay, that sounds relatively simple now, doesn’t it?  However…

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