My all time favorite movie.  I admired Scarlet’s drive and determination.  How she went about getting what she wanted, left a lot to be desired.  There is a lot out there against anything Confederate.  My feelings are that it is apart of history, even if it’s a bad part, and the South’s Heritage.  We can’t deny that, even if we don’t approve of it, but we should learn from our mistakes not hide them under a rug and say they never happened.

It’s windy here today.  As Indiana Jones hated snakes, I hate wind.  Oh a nice breeze on a hot summer day is wonderful, but a strong wind is something only people who have sail boats like.  Horse people, not so much.  People who have to deal with Tornadoes or Hurricanes are not fans either.  Golfers don’t like it because it takes the ball wherever it wants to.

Have you ever watched your horse on a windy day?  Their ears are up, eyes trying to focus, they are on full alert.  The Indians used to say they hear spirits on the wind.  Either they hear something we don’t, or they are trying to hear and can’t because of the wind.  I just get the feeling there are things going on all around me that I can’t see or control.  Strange, I know.

Things blow around in the wind, and horses don’t necessarily like that.  I don’t like that either.  Makes a mess.

Don’t under-estimate the power of the wind. (You may remember me telling about this before.)  We were out hunting on a Thanksgiving morning with 50 mile an hour gusts.  We shouldn’t have been but it was a tradition.  We just walked into a cover (clump of woods) and trees started snapping in half and falling.  One just missed the hounds.  We tried getting out of there.  It was the same distance if we went forward or back.  One snapped and got the horse and rider two horses in front of me.  It was the Masters daughter.  The wind was so strong no one even heard it crack, and everyone was looking around for a way out.  I called to the rider in front of me who was a doctor and took his horse and Bobs, who was behind me, and they got off to pull the tree off the girl.  The horse scooted out from under the tree as it was coming down.  She spoke to her father and said she couldn’t breath.  Those were her last words.  Her lungs were crushed.

I will not ride under trees or in the woods on windy days.  My horses won’t stand under trees on windy days.  Beyond the fact that your horse may spook, you may be killed.  Oh I know, “It won’t happen to me.”  Trees here in Florida snap and break on quiet days.  I will not relive that day ever again.  Wind gives me the creeps.

If your horse reacts bad in the wind, perhaps he knows something you don’t.  Be alert, we were, and it didn’t help us.

Everything I write in my posts are for your consideration.  They are ideas or explanations I throw out to my students.  I want you to toss them over in your mind, see if they make sense to you, and perhaps they are something you would like to think about or try yourself.

Always be thinking, and always be safe.  Know your horse and your surroundings.  If you do decide to trying some of this, have a helper, you will feel calmer, not tense up and send a nervous message to your horse.

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So many expressions refer to the eyes.  The eyes are a window to the soul.  Her smile never reached her eyes.  When Irish eyes are smiling.  Love light shining in your eyes.  The Eyes of Texas are upon you.  My mother always told me she could see exactly how I was feeling by my eyes.

So let’s look at the eyes with relationship to our riding.  I always tell my students that where their eyes are looking is where they’re body will be going.  If they are watching the ground I ask them if they are looking for a good place to land, because there’s a good chance they will hit the ground if that’s where they are looking.

When we are riding around a  turn, our eyes should be looking to where we are intending to go.  If we are jumping, our eyes will be searching for our next jump, or If we are barrel racing, we will be looking for our next barrel.

So let’s just think about how our eyes affect our body and shifting weight.  Sitting in the chair you are in, sit up straight and just look all the way around to the left.  Now notice how when you turn your head it turns your shoulders, you twist at your waist and your right hip comes and it puts more pressure to your left seat bone.  Your horse will feel this and move to stay under your weight.  This is a very simple way to let your horse in on the idea that you are going to go in that direction.

When you look down at the ground, since the horse’s neck is in the way, we usually look to the left or the right of his neck, what happens to your body this time?  Your head comes down, your shoulders twist to the side you are looking, and so does you waist.  Your whole weight has shifted to one side and down.  If your horse trips or stops dead, you’re going down.

Now look straight as if you were looking between your horses ears.  Your head is up, and your body is in a straight line over your center of balance.  With this your horse is directly underneath you, and you are over your horses center of balance.

When you are going over a jump, look for your next jump and your horse should land on his correct lead.  If you are looking down, you will be putting too much weight on the horses front end and you stand a chance of throwing your horse off-balance.

When I teach the beginner children I always tell them to look between the horses ears.  While it’s helping to keep them balanced on their horse I also tell them that they can read what their horses are thinking.  As their ears are moving around I explain what the horse is listening to at that particular moment.  Either they are listening to their rider, me or sounds around us.  I tell them to be aware of when the ears are pinned back, because then they are angry at a horse coming up on them and they may want to kick.  But if they are pinned forward they may be hearing or seeing something in the distance that may frighten them, and this gives us a warning.  The rider can also see exactly what’s in front of them and where they are going.  Yes it gets them to be a thinking, alert, aware rider, but more than that it keeps them balanced.

Our eyes take in so much that sometimes we lose sight of what the horse is doing with its body.  In a very controlled situation, such as in the round pen with me walking along side holding the rein, or on a longe line I will tell them to close their eyes and feel the horse moving underneath them.  Then I will ask them to tell me what leg is in motion in the front and then the back.  At first they are afraid to close their eyes, but after a very short time they love doing this.  I usually end up having to yell at them to keep their eyes open.  They become aware of the subtle changes in the horses speed, balance or movement.   I actually got this concept from teaching blind children to ride.  They were so much more aware of the horse than the sighted children.  Losing the sense of sight makes all their other senses more heightened.  It puts them in tune to the horses body and inner spirit.

So all this to say – the “Eyes” really do have it.