Wedges of Wisdom: Something Borrowed

Happy New Year! You won't find me planning any New Year's Resolutions, but I do enjoy taking the opportunity to reflect on this last trip around the sun and reflect on what I've learned.

I don't love social media for a myriad of reasons, but there are some pearls to be found. I borrowed this from the Facebook page WhiteSage Equine, which can be viewed here.

"For over 400 years, four major world schools have preserved the Art of Classical Dressage;

* The Spanish Riding School in Vienna, Austria

* The Cadre Noir in Saumur, France

* The Royal Andalusian School of Equestrian Art in Jerez, Spain

* The Portuguese School of Equestrian Art in Lisbon, Portugal

Each school is a guardian of the education, tradition, and artistic mastery of classical dressage.

Those who practice the ART of classical horsemanship understand it is a lifelong study. One where you are forever a student. Even at the highest of levels, or in the highest of schools, there is never an end. What is learned along the way is absorbed, recycled, and relearned again, at different levels of awareness and ability.

It is a study that requires constant reflection and internal transformation. For everything that externally challenges you, there is another humble reminder of reflection, requesting change from within.

If you have ever had the privilege to be in an arena where classical mastery is practiced, there is a distinct and almost sacred feeling. The training practiced in these arenas is done with incredible grace and a soft elegance. There is a palpable calm, tranquil, and energetic oneness. The quietness with which they work is almost as astonishing as the gymnastic movements themselves.

There is no yelling, whipping, or heavy exertion through adrenalin. There is power, but it lives in the seat of relaxation. It is truly a moving meditation between the horses and riders, on the ground or in the saddle.

“Build your indoor arena like a cathedral.” Nuno Oliveira said to Bettina Drummond... “his art was his song to god.” - (Eclectic Horseman)

When you truly practice the ART of the equestrian, you are in a meditative state. A state of presence, a state of awareness, a state of FEELING the present moment. Frustration, anger, determination, pushing for a goal, waiting for a result, is not the art.

The student studies the theory, continuously learns and absorbs the knowledge, but the practice itself is a state of presence and oneness, that the artist does without the thinking "monkey mind" or striving ego.

There is even a strong refrain in the classical world, by some masters, for competition. A lot for technical reasons, but also because competition in many ways is the antithesis of the art.

Competition adds comparison, validation, timelines and agendas. All of these cannot live inside the principles of the art. In some ways, it would be like competing to see who is better at meditating. It defeats the entire purpose.

Those who practice the ART are in it for the sole purpose of the craft itself, the connection to oneness, the beauty, the feeling, and teachings it offers.

Interesting how something borne from a place of purpose and war, is found to be a hidden treasure of beauty, connection with-in, and oneness with all.

“Equestrian art, perhaps more than any other, is closely related to the wisdom of life.”

– Alois Podhajsky: Chief of the Academy of Classical Horsemanship; Director of the Spanish Riding School from 1939-1965."