The story behind the story of “War Horse” is how author Michael Morpurgo came to write from the horse’s perspective. First, in 1975 he had a conversation with a veteran of WWI in a pub. The veteran told him about his experience with horses during the war, how he would feed the horses and spend time talking to the horses because he felt he had no one else with whom he could talk. That conversation started Morpurgo’s research into the history of horses during WWI.

The second piece of the puzzle came as Michael and his wife opened a center for children to come from the city to their farm outside of London to experience life on a farm for a week. One time a young boy came to spend a week with them but the teachers let them know this one boy would not speak and not to push him or he would become hysterical. Toward the end of the week Michael found him in the stables talking to a horse telling her of his days activities and hopes and dreams. It was then that he knew the perspective of his story must be told through the war horse’s eyes, listening to the hopes and fears of all those who took care of him. He saw the magical connection between man and animal and understood the power of transformation this connection can make.

Michael wrote this book over 30 years ago and has only sold a few thousand copies a year but it seems that now is the time for this story to be told. I don’t know about you but I will be in line somewhere when this movie comes out.

If you go see this movie this Christmas season Please come back and leave a comment.

In this video I discuss the role of these obstacles in our lives and how we can overcome them. I put this video together as we were leaving Colorado this fall and I include a view from one of my favorite spots in Pagosa! Enjoy and please share below how one of these obstacles has affected your journey.

Jerry

For some of you that do not know I had a major head trauma in May and have not been able to keep the same pace as before. So, this blog has taken a back seat for awhile. Sometime I might share some of the struggles I have had to deal with but for now just know that I am slowly making my way back to my life.

Jerry

This video was sent to me by Ale G, a very accomplished dressage rider herself. It’s of Edward Gal and Moorlands Totilas’ and their performance at the World Dressage Masters series in Hickstead, 2009. As we were watching this together later she commented ” If they perform like that at the Olympics they will take GOLD”.

Here is the winning event that broke the world record with a score of 89.40%.

Enjoy!

Click Here for Video

I am not an expert by any means but this is an inspiring performance and it’s definitely World Class.

Please return here and leave a comment.

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“Don’t saddle the the young horses in the barn because someone saddled Presence in here and she started bucking and about jumped through the plate glass window into the office” was one of the first comments I heard about Presence even before I knew her name. Little did I know that she would end up being mine.

The second time I heard her mentioned was when Pat asked if there were any problems with the horses that he needed to know about. One of the externs spoke up and said that Presence bucked every time you saddled her. The reason I remembered her name this time was because just minutes earlier I had looked on the board and realized she had been assigned to me for the week.

After the meeting I went out to do my assigned chores and when I came back to start my horsemanship time an extern told me she had groomed Presence for me but she bucked like a fiend when she saddled her. I thought to myself “What have I got myself into here” and then told the extern, “Don’t saddle her, just groom her and let me saddle her so that I can help her through this.” I knew I needed to take it slow and see what was going on inside the mind of this little horse.

My first play session with her I took it slow but at the same time I pushed her a little to see how she would react. On the ground she did great and she seemed to have gotten past the bucks.

When I went to get on her all the comments came flooding in. “She’s really sensitive”, “she bucks when you saddle her”, “has she bucked yet” all just comments but enough to make you think twice about putting your leg over her. Needless to say, I took a little extra time with my pre-ride check before getting on. She seemed good and it was now or never and I got on.

The first thing I noticed was she didn’t argue with me. If I asked her to go right she went right, no muss, no fuss. I brought the life down in my body she slowed with no hesitation. No pushing or pulling and she seemed to want to obey, what a pleasure.  From that first ride I was hooked. I never had a problem from that point on or had a second thought about riding her.

Anyway Presence is now mine. She was part of the Parelli Dream Horse Program and now she is in my Dream Horse Program.

I’ll share more about her in later posts so keep tuned in…

A story I like to tell about Kahn is how he showed me that horses never lie…

It was sometime back when we were in level 2 and I was really focused on liberty. So everyday I would get him out and ‘play’ at liberty. I thought it was great fun. After a couple of weeks of me drilling him on liberty he started to limp. Each time I sent him out on a circle he would hobble around like he was crippled for life and got slower and slower.

That first day I thought maybe his arthritis might be acting up so I turned him out. As I let him loose in the pasture I noticed that he walked off just fine.

Hmmmm…

The second day I got him out and led him to the round pen to “play”. As soon as I took off the halter in the round pen he started to limp again. So I haltered him and led him out to the pasture. This time no sooner had I released him into the field, than he ran off kicking up and bucking, no sign of lameness.

That got me thinking. Was he smart enough to trick me? What about that saying “Horses never lie” was he lying to me to get out of doing things with me?

On the third day the same thing happened again but this time I didn’t fall for it. I insisted that he trot out with a little more energy and the limp magically disappeared. I had learned my lesson the night before. So as soon as he trotted out without a limp I brought him in, haltered him and turned him out to graze and play in the pasture.

What had I learned the night before? That night as I pondered on his behavior I was deeply puzzled. Was he lying to me? But on further reflection I realized that he was actually telling me the truth. He was telling me that he was sick and tired of liberty and maybe our relationship was not as great as I thought either. That revelation hit me like a ton of bricks and I changed right then and there. I chalked it up as another lesson learned.

I’ve learned a lot from that old horse and some of those lessons are just now beginning to make sense to me.
Jerry

This is a tribute to Kahn that my wife created in honor of him. If it had not been for him I would not be where I am today. He carried me to my first star as a Parelli Instructor. We had 13 good years with him and I still think of him often.

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*Note* For those of you that have seen the article. There is a picture on page 86 of Kahn and I jingling the horses in on a cold Colorado morning. Some of my favorite memories of him are of those times. If you look closely in that picture, on his right front leg there is the scar that reminds me of the injury that started our relationship. It’s interesting that I have seen that picture dozens of times before but I never noticed that scar until it was published in the “Savvy Times”.

Please leave a comment about either the post or the article.

Pat talks about “the little things that make a big difference”. It’s the same idea. Sometimes if we make a small adjustment it makes a big change in the person and the horse. Maybe your position is off by a few inches or your timing is off by just a hair, but to your horse it makes a big difference.

My encouragement to you is to realize that in some cases you might be 99% there but it’s that last 1% that makes the difference. It may be that extra ounce of effort or that extra second that makes all the difference in the world to your horse or for anything in your life for that matter.

I found this video on you tube the other day and thought it would be appropriate. It talks about the same idea just in a slightly different way. It’s called 212 Degrees.

Please leave a comment and let me know what you think.

Jerry

Toward the end of the course when we started learning about finesse my instructor showed us a dressage round from the 2002 World Equestrian Games in Jerez Spain. The horse and rider that captured my imagination was Rafael Soto and his Andalusian horse Invasor. That performance so inspired me that I asked if I could watch it again.

From that point on I probably watched that clip at least twice a day until the end of my course. I burned it into my mind. What it did for me was that it changed the picture in my mind and gave me something to aspire to. I can honestly say that I am no where close to that picture and may never be but at least I have a picture in my mind of where I would like to go. That was the time my fascination with the Spanish horse began.

Here’s what I want you to take away from this…

Find something that inspires you and burn that picture into your mind. Who knows, you might find yourself becoming more and more like your picture.

Here is a video I found on youtube of Rafael and Invasor. This is not the same as the one I watched but it is still great. Enjoy!

Rafael and Invasor

Please leave a comment below. Just click on the word that says comments and you will be able to see all the comments and make one of your own.

Jerry

So I devised a plan to work on the mental aspect of my riding. What I did was bring my saddle home, bought a saddle stand and set it up in front of the TV in the family room. On those cold days I would sit on my saddle and watch my Parelli Level 3 videos and ride with Pat. I would try to copy what I saw what I saw Pat doing in my body. That time that I spent “riding with Pat” probably helped me with my lead changes more than if I was on a horse.

That whole learning experience caused me to think a lot about the process of learning a new skill. I also recall my youngest son and how he would watch basketball on TV with a ball in his hand. He would watch for a great move and mimic it over and over and as soon as a timeout came he was out the door to try his new move outside. He was doing things in the third grade that I never dreamed of even in high school but he saw his hero do it on TV so he copied it and in a short time he could do it too.

What I want you to take away from these illustrations is to create a clear mental picture of what you want to accomplish then repeat the actions until it’s clear in your body. Is there some part of your riding or playing with your horse that you could practice mentally, so that you get it down solidly in your mind and body before you try it with your horse?

Please leave a comment about your experiences.

Jerry

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Vermont Student Comments

Jerry is amazing in his way of getting the point across. A great sense of humor, easy going way of teaching . Jerry, as I have told others, can give you your needed critique (The proverbial 2×4) but its covered with cotton. Never is anyone left feeling unaccomplished. He inspires me to do better. -Leslie, Vt.-

I grew up being told teachers have eyes in the back of their heads, he proves the good ones do. He dosen’t miss a thing. -Pat, Vt.-

I am starting to gear up for the season here in Florida but my time is limited because I have so many irons in the fire. I have some exciting new ideas about group lessons for those students close enough to travel and some great things for everyone that might be too far to travel but would like some input from an instructor on a regular basis. I am starting to finalize these ideas now and will let you be the first to know.

I was thinking the other day about what I could do for all of you as a Thank You and I remembered a book I downloaded almost a year ago called On Horsemanship by Xenophon. I found this book in the public domain, so I reformated it and added a short introduction and thought it might be of interest to you. My plan is to add footnotes for Parelli students to this classic book, but for now the info is still relevant. So here it is with my introduction. Hope you enjoy!

On Horsemanship If you are on my email list you received the password in your email.

Stay tuned for my next emails. I will have more details about the upcoming events and programs that I have designed to help you along your horsemanship journey.

Jerry S. Williams

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