Rituals….

So often, life has a ritual, something that we are not even aware of…  It can be an everyday thing, like the way you add just the right amount of coffee grounds to the cafetiere and know how long to leave it to the perfect strength point…  Other times, it’s how packing needs to happen – having the right amount of packing cubes and knowing what goes in each one… 

Sometimes, if you watch athletes, they have a pre-performance routine.  My jumping coach, when I was competing, always used to come into the arena, pull up his belt on the right side, on the left side, push his hat down harder on his head, pat the horse and pick up canter…  You knew it would happen, and after the bell rang you could follow the steps, 1, 2, 3, 4, go.  There’s a choreography to so many of their movements, and often if you ask them about it, they are totally unaware. 

And then there are rituals that are ancient, rehearsed and deep in meaning – the Chinese tea ceremony; the greeting of opponents in martial arts; the tradition before Japanese archery…

“...the preparations for working put him simultaneously in the right frame of mind for creating... that collectedness and presence of mind...the right frame of mind for the artist is only reached when the preparing and the creating, the technical and the artistic, the material and the spiritual, the project and the object, flow together without a break.”
― Eugen Herrigel, Zen in the Art of Archery

The performing of the ceremony clears and focuses the mind – going into almost a meditation type state, slowing the breathing and heart rate, clearing thoughts, allowing the person to get totally into the zone.

A couple of things have brought this to my mind…  One, was a video popping up of the All Blacks (New Zealand rugby team) performing the Haka.  Even for non-rugby watchers, this is so worth a few minutes of your time…  Before every match, the entire team step into formation and put on the show, to intimidate the opponents and get their game brains going.  If you watch them, you can see just how the routine is embedded in their skin, how it truly does give them that winning edge.

The other reason – well, last week’s blog was about my trip to Spain to ride on the Big Black Spanish Friesian boys.  And something about the week really made me think….  In many places that I go to, the riders are what I call “valet riders”.  They get out of their cars, walk into the yard, step up to the mounting block and their ready prepared horse is led from the stable by their groom.  The groom tightens the girth, pulls down the stirrups, parks the horse for the rider to climb on board, just like the valet parking attendant brings your car to the front of the restaurant.  The rider simply climbs up and rides off with about as much feel as riding away on a bike.  And these riders miss out on so much of what it is to know, ride, and truly connect to a horse. 

In Spain, we were handed a headcollar (halter) and told where to find our steeds.  We got to greet them in their stables (see how sleepy my boy was in the mornings, he really didn’t like to get out of bed...)  Bring them out, groom them, find the itchy scratchy bits that made them wriggle their top lips…  Saddle up, make everything smooth and comfortable.  Spending time getting to know each other, focusing on breath and feel – running your hand over their muscles, feeling for tension or tightness, making friends.  And that time – that ritual of grooming, saddling, prepping, it’s not about not having staff to do things, or not having time, or “paying” for a service.  It’s about taking the time to get into the right headspace and to leave the worries of work, family, personal life, whatever, at the gate and actually getting to be present.  All the riders in Spain appreciated being given this time.

Horses demand that we are living in the present moment – we need to be fully engaged in what we are doing.  Spending time ahead of your ride pays off ten-fold.  The mental rehearsal – the planning of the steps, the spending time greeting, grooming and prepping your horse…  The ritual that ties in with every aspect…  And, just as importantly, it gives your horse time to get his head in the game too…  There he was snoozing in his stable or playing with his buddies in the paddock – he also needs time and space to see who it is who has come along to see him, find his groove and prep for work…  Time spent building your ritual and settling into your zone is never wasted…

How do you get into your right head space?  What is a vital part of your pre-ride ritual?  Let me know!

Happy riding!