Whole Heart, Whole Horse by Mark Rashid

Author:Mark Rashid
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Skyhorse Publishing, Inc.
Published: 2011-01-28T00:00:00+00:00

I struggled for years for ways to help folks understand the concept of an ounce of prevention instead of having to use a pound of cure. Perhaps it was the way I was presenting the information, or perhaps I just wasn’t being clear, but regardless, in many cases I just wasn’t able to get the point across that the earlier we give guidance, the easier everything gets for both us and the horse.

Then, as luck would have it, something happened outside my life with horses that opened the door for me. It was during an aikido seminar at our dojo. Earlier in the year I had the opportunity to train at a great little dojo in Flagstaff, Arizona. The instructors there were extremely experienced, knowledgeable, and helpful. After two hours of spirited training, I asked one of the instructors, Sensei Trent Boudreaux, if he would be interested in coming to our dojo in Estes Park to teach a seminar on some of the concepts I had seen and worked on with him. After a short discussion about possible dates and subject matter he would teach, he agreed to come.

A couple months later, we all were in our little dojo in Estes Park, with Sensei Trent conducting a spirited class of familiar aikido techniques, as well as some techniques that weren’t quite as familiar. At one point, he called me up in front of the class to help him demonstrate a certain technique. He needed me, as his uke, to throw a punch to his midsection, at which time he would perform the technique (in aikido, uke is the person who performs the attack, while tori (or nage) is the one performing the technique). At the proper time, I threw what I felt was a pretty reasonable punch to his stomach. Sensei Trent shifted his weight less than a fraction of an inch backward, and my punch never even made contact with his gi (the traditional martial arts “uniform”), much less his stomach.

For the past several months we had been working on breaking down the techniques we were doing in our classes. As a result, the vast majority of the punches we were throwing had very little life to them, which made it easier for some of the lower belts to move slowly through the techniques. As with anything, the more you practice something, the better you get at it . . . and apparently I had gotten pretty good at throwing punches with no life in them.

“What the heck was that?” Sensei said as I stood with my arm outstretched and my fist hanging harmlessly near his belly. He tapped me lightly on my forehead with the fingertips of his right hand and then sent me back to my original position to try again. “Punch as hard as you can,” he said, lightly touching the spot on his stomach where the strike should land.

I threw another punch, this time much harder, or so I thought. Again, Sensei shifted his weight, and I didn’t even make contact.

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