I have just finished an unbelievably great 3-day seminar combining horsemanship with the principles of aikido in order to be more effective at both. My 6 take-away insights and reminders (particularly for anyone who learns aikido) are all about being connected and making your martial arts techniques as effective as possible:
1) Match the pace of your attacker
2) Use the principles of contraction and expansion during aikido techniques (and horse riding)
3) Be aware of your breath and what causes you to hold it
4) To reduce the tension - take off a little of the slack
5) Feel the ‘weight below’
6) Be aware of maai (the distance between us as we engage) and use maai to your advantage
I unpack these principles and what they mean for us in aikido, in workplaces and with horses at my YouTube channel click here youtube.com/@thetravellingdojo if you like it please subscribe!
The seminar was led my Mark Rashid sensei, 3rd dan aikido, also a practitioner of other martial arts e.g. karate, jiu jitsu and a world-renown horse trainer who has published a bunch of fabulous books. He was assisted by two black belts who are also established horse trainers and great fun to be around, Crissi McDonald and Gray Kyle-Graves.
We gathered at Happy Dog Ranch, Colorado. What a beautiful place, superb people and wonderful facilities! Mark, Crissi and Gray's love for the horse and what the marital art of aikido (which is Japanese for 'the way of harmony') can do to help us all be happier, healthier and safer with our horse… and have more FUN is inspiring!
Bernadette Spillane and team were incredibly generous, they had thought of everything when it came to hosting us for the weekend. Food was great, beds were comfy. They are running a visionary not-for-profit at Happy Dog Rancg and need everyone's $$$ to help keep their horse rehab and training centre going strong. Please consider supporting HDR!
I can’t wait to come back… it is a long way from Australia but well worth it! Thank you so much to Mark and team.
Finally, thank you to all of my training buddies in the dojo and Champ the horse, he's all heart!
