28 / Sport and Trail Magazine
Your Exceptional Path
By Lauren Woodard
It’s hard to write sometimes. I love writing yet I’m cleaning toilets instead. Why does it work like that? Why is that what I’m doing? And why do we do that with most everything. Exercising, and of course you know what I’m getting to… our horsemanship. It’s easier to keep doing something we’re comfortable with and familiar with, even if we don’t like it, because it’s harder to change it. Isn’t that just the horrible truth?
The fact is you’ll probably suck at first. There’s no such thing as a muscle bound baby. When you see a body builder do you think – Oh, he was born that way? No. It takes a lot of effort. Same thing with all the stuff we AREN’T ALREADY DOING. Yet, we’re all capable of huge leaps if we’re willing to go to work now to learn how.
So if I give you this great big helper tip, the thing that will propel your horsemanship and your mounted archery ten times faster and you’ll be probably fifty times better.
It’s likely you’ll experience some resistance to working on it. True or true? Resistance is created thru a lack of clarity. You may not YET know what is the best first action step, but we’re going to get to it for you.
A lot of horsemanship is a holdover from long ago of an erroneous collection of unenlightened education systems. And it’s one of our greatest limitations and a potent handicap.
Aaron Rogers (who I love) and Tom Brady (who I don’t) are the top 2 quarterbacks in the league and have been for years. And every day, they’re studying and changing and re-figuring what changes they can make, big or miniscule, to get better. If they’re the cream of the crop, why would they spend so much time working harder to be smarter? Because the desire to be EXCEPTIONAL does that to us! If you really want to be mediocre, that’s fine. If you want to be comfortable where you are, just relax and stay there, but if you don’t want to stay there, lets take your status quo and BOLDLY change it!
If exceptional mounted archery is your puzzle, you’ve got to get all the pieces turned over (takes some time, true?). Then you’ve got to find a piece that you can figure out where it goes and start finding other pieces that fit on to that.
Most of the time we can put a piece or two together and then we have to pick up some other pieces and put them together and then a few more that go in a different area. There is no such thing as starting with one piece and continuously adding to that piece to the completion of the puzzle. Yet you still need all the pieces, they’ll just come to you at different times and the whole thing is a learning experience and it WILL come together, just not all at once. And sometimes you’ll get that one piece that OMG there’s that bugger that you know starts you on your way big time.
And that’s the piece I’m fixin’ to give you.
Why haven’t I given it to you yet? Because you’ll probably throw your head back, roll your eyeballs and call me some sort of name and then NOT even consider doing it.
There are 14 magic words for Exceptional Horsemanship. I’m working on that book, too (one of 5 partially written). Those fourteen words are grouped into three chunks. One chunk has seven words, one has four and obviously the third chunk has 3 words. And I’m using one of those chunks on you now to get you ready to learn what to do. I teach this all the time and it’s a bit of a struggle for people because they think if they find someone to tell them what to do, they’ll just do it and it will work. But that isn’t the way it works because the only things people will do are things they already agree with and/or are comfortable with. Not new stuff! New stuff takes some dwell time. Time to ponder and decide where your will for being the best lies. What are you willing to try and strive for and experiment with?
Gloria Steinem said, “The first problem for all of us is not to learn – but to unlearn.” Because you know we all get caught up in what we know, resistance to the new rears it’s ugly head and we think we know better so we don’t want to do something we already know won’t help. Or so we think.
We’ve all heard change is hard. And it is. But, think about it – it’s the change that bothers us – not the actual thing. So, please keep that in mind when your resistance threatens to derail you.
If you decide not to even give this a shot, then what? The slow train?
This is something that isn’t taught, but I’m going to show you a few things about it right now. I hope you’ll indulge in my suggestion. Successful people run a different time line. There’s no drama, no stories. Your stories take time and rob you of progress. Do you get frustrated when you don’t know something or have to work on it or work it out or do you consider it accomplishment as you go? That’s important. Your Exceptional path requires a searching mind where obstacles spur you to creative new angles, techniques, ideas and skills in the learning process. Obstacles are there for you to learn whether the obstacles are in your mind or with your horse skills.
Remember what I said in the last issue? This: Our job is to get you better from here. And what got you here isn’t going to get you to the next level. You need to up your skills, preparation and MINDSET. I’m going to ask you to be really cognizant of your first reaction to “THE THING” when you read it and then ponder if you WILL TRY.
BAREBACK
Bruce Lee is gonna back me up with this quote: It’s not a high end technique that takes you to the top, but rather a profound mastery of the basics.
Now this is important – being on bareback doesn’t make you a good rider. Being a good rider makes you a good rider and riding bareback is probably the best way to get really good. Because… you don’t have anything in your way that causes you to miss opportunities for improvement. Bad posture and clinching your legs while bareback is not the deal. Bareback is about balance, softness and comfort for both you and the horse.
Now I’m not saying that you have to or need to go full tilt and of course you don’t want to at first, but what being bareback to do some of your shooting will help you identify where you might want to make some changes to improve what you’re doing with a saddle on. And that’s what we’ll be discussing in the next issue. That’ll give you your dwell time.
Lauren has been teaching and training for over 40 years and is the author of two books that are pure magic for horsemanship – “Curbside Service” and “Balky, Balky, I Ain’t Goin’”. Find out how to be strategic in your best next steps to Exceptional Horsemanship for Mounted Archery by grabbing her “Wouldn’t It Be Great If ____?” Quiz to check your perspective and propel your horsemanship on her exceptionalhorsemanship.com site.
These are some of the first questions you’ll then ask yourself and after them, we can move on to more precision in your abilities to analyze and adjust for better results and better questions.
As in:
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
I’m going to give you some concepts and situations for your consideration relative to these initial questions so that you can apply it to your answers for you and your horse.
Many people are taught to lean into the bow while shooting and of course there are reasons to approach it with these words, but we must, must, must (not a typo) place a high value on the degree to which we lean. Check yourself. How far would you lean if you were standing on the ground? And a lean can be anything from a slight shift of weight in the upper body while dropped into your balanced core, to looking like you’re tilted up on your front foot and… completely out of balance. Would you think it would be a good idea to be out of balance on your horse? And if you didn’t have stirrups, a saddle and pinchy knees, would you be able to maintain that position? If not, could it be correct?
Also for your consideration, if you’re leaning way forward over the horse’s neck when shooting, just where are you going? There’s a good chance that you’re making the horse feel like you’re ahead of her and that she needs to speed up to get up under you. Do you want your horse to speed up? If she thinks this and you don’t say otherwise, you are indeed causing your horse to run faster. If you’re close to flossing your teeth on your horse’s mane, I’d say you’d better straighten up. Don’t get ahead of the horse’s driveline.
If you lean forward and toward the targets i.e. your weight is heavy in that stirrup and your seat bones are also up, out of the saddle and shifted into the lean… shouldn’t your horse, who you’ve hopefully trained to give to pressure, shift or track toward the outside? Might that cause your foot to catch in the track barrier rope or your horse to go off course just doing what your body is telling him to do?
Hmmmmmmm… Aren’t these pretty darned important questions?
And because every great hmmmmmm… deserves a great how (my line) I’ll just start you off with some action steps to get your baseline. To help you challenge assumptions and get yourself straightened out, start on the ground with a shooting stance and see what you tend to do.
1)
2)
3)
If you’ve seen the recent Bridgestone Tire commercials with the Olympic archery shooters – there isn’t even a hint of leaning. I’ve included this for your consideration.
Now, THINK about sitting on your horse – preferably bareback. But, if you must use a saddle at least drop your stirrups. After all we’re just in your mind here.
1) What CAN you do differently to challenge where you currently are in your position?
Please keep in mind that these are discovery experiments. Don’t get stuck on how you think you were taught or how you’ve “always done it”. Our job is to get you better from here. And what got you here isn’t going to get you to the next level. You need to up your skills, preparation and MINDSET.
Try #1 > something DIFFERENT > get an unexpected reality > get more curious.
Try #2 > something DIFFERENT > get a NEW unexpected reality > get more curious.
Lather, rinse, repeat.
These might be way big different things or it could be as small as a tad less leaning into your bow or cocking your head just bit down the arrow.
Now, go get on your horse and apply what you challenged yourself with while mounted. Don’t get all chompie to shoot and let yourself get off track. Ha! Little mounted archery joke there, particularly if you’re pushing your horse off with that weight imbalance and a heavy leg pushing into his side while your heel kind of digs in as you attempt to keep yourself upright.
Have you come this far to only come this far? I think NOT!
There is nothing to lose. You’re experimenting. You’re on an adventure. Lets go for Exceptional!
Lauren has been teaching and training for over 40 years and is the author of two books that are pure magic for horsemanship – “Curbside Service” and “Balky, Balky, I Ain’t Goin’”. Find out how to be strategic in your best next steps to Exceptional Horsemanship for Mounted Archery by grabbing her “Wouldn’t It Be Great If ____?” Quiz to check your perspective and propel your horsemanship on her exceptionalhorsemanship.com site.
you want to be comfortable where you are, just relax and stay there, but if you don’t want to stay there, lets take your status quo and BOLDLY change it!
If exceptional mounted archery is your puzzle, you’ve got to get all the pieces turned over (takes some time, true?). Then you’ve got to find a piece that you can figure out where it goes and start finding other pieces that fit on to that.
Most of the time we can put a piece or two together and then we have to pick up some other pieces and put them together and then a few more that go in a different area. There is no such thing as starting with one piece and continuously adding to that piece to the completion of the puzzle. Yet you still need all the pieces, they’ll just come to you at different times and the whole thing is a learning experience and it WILL come together, just not all at once. And sometimes you’ll get that one piece that OMG there’s that bugger that you know starts you on your way big time.
And that’s the piece I’m fixin’ to give you.
Why haven’t I given it to you yet? Because you’ll probably throw your head back, roll your eyeballs and call me some sort of name and then NOT even consider doing it.
There are 14 magic words for Exceptional Horsemanship. I’m working on that book, too (one of 5 partially written). Those fourteen words are grouped into three chunks. One chunk has seven words, one has four and obviously the third chunk has 3 words. And I’m using one of those chunks on you now to get you ready to learn what to do. I teach this all the time and it’s a bit of a struggle for people because they think if they find someone to tell them what to do, they’ll just do it and it will work. But that isn’t the way it works because the only things people will do are things they already agree with and/or are comfortable with. Not new stuff! New stuff takes some dwell time. Time to ponder and decide where your will for being the best lies. What are you willing to try and strive for and experiment with?
Gloria Steinem said, “The first problem for all of us is not to learn – but to unlearn.” Because you know we all get caught up in what we know, resistance to the new rears it’s ugly head and we think we know better so we don’t want to do something we already know won’t help. Or so we think.
We’ve all heard change is hard. And it is. But, think about it – it’s the change that bothers us – not the actual thing. So, please keep that in mind when your resistance threatens to derail you. If you decide not to even give this a shot, then what? The slow train?
This is something that isn’t taught, but I’m going to show you a few things about it right now. I hope you’ll indulge in my suggestion. Successful people run a different time line. There’s no drama, no stories. Your stories take time and rob you of progress. Do you get frustrated when you don’t know something or have to work on it or work it out or do you consider it accomplishment as you go? That’s important. Your Exceptional path requires a searching mind where obstacles spur you to creative new angles, techniques, ideas and skills in the learning process. Obstacles are there for you to learn whether the obstacles are in your mind or with your horse skills.
Remember what I said in the last issue? This: Our job is to get you better from here. And what got you here isn’t going to get you to the next level. You need to up your skills, preparation and MINDSET. I’m going to ask you to be really cognizant of your first reaction to “THE THING” when you read it and then ponder if you WILL TRY.
BAREBACK
Bruce Lee is gonna back me up with this quote: It’s not a high end technique that takes you to the top, but rather a profound mastery of the basics.
Now this is important – being on bareback doesn’t make you a good rider. Being a good rider makes you a good rider and riding bareback is probably the best way to get really good. Because… you don’t have anything in your way that causes you to miss opportunities for improvement. Bad posture and clinching your legs while bareback is not the deal. Bareback is about balance, softness and comfort for both you and the horse.
Now I’m not saying that you have to or need to go full tilt and of course you don’t want to at first, but what being bareback to do some of your shooting will help you identify where you might want to make some changes to improve what you’re doing with a saddle on. And that’s what we’ll be discussing in the next issue. That’ll give you your dwell time.
Lauren has been teaching and training for over 40 years and is the author of two books that are pure magic for horsemanship – “Curbside Service” and “Balky, Balky, I Ain’t Goin’”. Find out how to be strategic in your best next steps to Exceptional Horsemanship for Mounted Archery by grabbing her “Wouldn’t It Be Great If ____?” Quiz to check your perspective and propel your horsemanship on her exceptionalhorsemanship.com site.
These are some of the first questions you’ll then ask yourself and after them, we can move on to more precision in your abilities to analyze and adjust for better results and better questions.
As in:
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
I’m going to give you some concepts and situations for your consideration relative to these initial questions so that you can apply it to your answers for you and your horse.
Many people are taught to lean into the bow while shooting and of course there are reasons to approach it with these words, but we must, must, must (not a typo) place a high value on the degree to which we lean. Check yourself. How far would you lean if you were standing on the ground? And a lean can be anything from a slight shift of weight in the upper body while dropped into your balanced core, to looking like you’re tilted up on your front foot and… completely out of balance. Would you think it would be a good idea to be out of balance on your horse? And if you didn’t have stirrups, a saddle and pinchy knees, would you be able to maintain that position? If not, could it be correct?
Also for your consideration, if you’re leaning way forward over the horse’s neck when shooting, just where are you going? There’s a good chance that you’re making the horse feel like you’re ahead of her and that she needs to speed up to get up under you. Do you want your horse to speed up? If she thinks this and you don’t say otherwise, you are indeed causing your horse to run faster. If you’re close to flossing your teeth on your horse’s mane, I’d say you’d better straighten up. Don’t get ahead of the horse’s driveline.
If you lean forward and toward the targets i.e. your weight is heavy in that stirrup and your seat bones are also up, out of the saddle and shifted into the lean… shouldn’t your horse, who you’ve hopefully trained to give to pressure, shift or track toward the outside? Might that cause your foot to catch in the track barrier rope or your horse to go off course just doing what your body is telling him to do?
Hmmmmmmm… Aren’t these pretty darned important questions?
And because every great hmmmmmm… deserves a great how (my line) I’ll just start you off with some action steps to get your baseline. To help you challenge assumptions and get yourself straightened out, start on the ground with a shooting stance and see what you tend to do.
1)
2)
3)
If you’ve seen the recent Bridgestone Tire commercials with the Olympic archery shooters – there isn’t even a hint of leaning. I’ve included this for your consideration.
Now, THINK about sitting on your horse – preferably bareback. But, if you must use a saddle at least drop your stirrups. After all we’re just in your mind here.
1) What CAN you do differently to challenge where you currently are in your position?
Please keep in mind that these are discovery experiments. Don’t get stuck on how you think you were taught or how you’ve “always done it”. Our job is to get you better from here. And what got you here isn’t going to get you to the next level. You need to up your skills, preparation and MINDSET.
Try #1 > something DIFFERENT > get an unexpected reality > get more curious.
Try #2 > something DIFFERENT > get a NEW unexpected reality > get more curious.
Lather, rinse, repeat.
These might be way big different things or it could be as small as a tad less leaning into your bow or cocking your head just bit down the arrow.
Now, go get on your horse and apply what you challenged yourself with while mounted. Don’t get all chompie to shoot and let yourself get off track. Ha! Little mounted archery joke there, particularly if you’re pushing your horse off with that weight imbalance and a heavy leg pushing into his side while your heel kind of digs in as you attempt to keep yourself upright.
Have you come this far to only come this far? I think NOT!
There is nothing to lose. You’re experimenting. You’re on an adventure. Lets go for Exceptional!
Lauren has been teaching and training for over 40 years and is the author of two books that are pure magic for horsemanship – “Curbside Service” and “Balky, Balky, I Ain’t Goin’”. Find out how to be strategic in your best next steps to Exceptional Horsemanship for Mounted Archery by grabbing her “Wouldn’t It Be Great If ____?” Quiz to check your perspective and propel your horsemanship on her exceptionalhorsemanship.com site.