A note from the Editor:
Here at Cayuse Communications, we’ve been thinking about our community. How best to come together and share during this time? We’ve reached out to friends to see how they are making lemonade from lemons and coping with the strains of the pandemic.
The Cayuse Corona Community is a recurring feature. Up to now, we’ve focused our postings on reports within the United States. This week, we hear from folks in England and Central America. Please join us by leaving your comments below.
View all Cayuse Corona Community content here.
Concurrent with these Cayuse Corona Community pages, we will be offering weekly giveaways, including goods from Jec Ballou, Redmond Equine, Kershaw knives, Pharm Aloe Equine, Hitching Post Supply, and the Cayuse Communications library of books. Read more about that here.
This week, we’re thrilled to hear from Jacky Davies, a Best Horse Practices Summit attendee and Cayuse Communications reader. Last year, Jacky moved from Alberta, Canada, to Norfolk, England.
In England, there have been approximately 37,000 deaths and over a quarter million confirmed cases of Covid19.
Jacky writes:
Okay, right up front let’s be honest about this:
I am lucky – SO lucky – to have not just a house with a garden, but also paddocks, an arena, and my horses at home. Most of the world’s not as fortunate as me and I get that. So having checked and acknowledged my privilege, I’ll go on to say that I think this helped me discover something that hopefully will benefit all us equestrians right into the future.
When I moved to Norfolk, I looked for a local Ride With Your Mind (RWYM) instructor to work with, and so found Amy Craske. We had two lessons together and then BAM – Lockdown!
Visit Amy’s site here or find her on Facebook.
I spoke with Amy and asked her if she’d be up for doing a virtual lesson; great minds think alike as Amy was already putting together a package for just that. I shared 10 minutes of video with Amy and sat back to wait for her reply.
Oh. My. Goodness. Amy’s eyes are good – really good – at seeing asymmetry, muscle tension, and what the heck I am doing with my body. She’s also pretty darn good at explaining human-to-human what she sees and what I could do to improve.
I sat on my sofa, talking with Amy, messaging back and forth, and taking in and absorbing everything she said. I had time to listen, question, clarify and generally UNDERSTAND what Amy was teaching me. I had time and mental space to do this because I wasn’t on a horse. I could learn better off than on.
The learning I was able to do, I then applied the next time I rode. And the next and the next. Little by little, I practiced and experimented with the things we were talking about. I could do that over a much longer and more relaxed total time than if we had been in a lesson. Sure, I’ll go back to having face-to-face lessons in the future, but a big lesson for me is that it isn’t always the most effective way to work.
Like so many professionals in this industry, Amy has had to juggle childcare, running a home and her business. Schools are out and none of us know when the ‘old normal’ will ever come back. I really hope that the next 12 months is going to see all our other equine professionals finding new, different, and maybe better ways of working to help themselves and to help us.