FACING THE GREEN GRASS DRAGON

In XXI Century we may have cars, mobiles and super fast Satellite Internet, but we still meet dragons that we have to face every single day. The real dragons are more or less extinct by now (or aren’t they? ;-) ) but still, we have thousands of little baby-dragons that continue to haunt us every single day.

These small dragons seem innocent and like something that you would never pay attention to, but they can cause same damage as the dragons from the fairy tales who destroyed whole villages and consumed virgins.

Because our nowadays “dragons” are small, at first sight one would say that they cause smaller impact on people. Unfortunately this is not true, in a long run their impact is a more destroying and tensing one, and surely the one that makes people question their abilities and connection with their horses.

These little dragons have different names:

• The One-That-Grabs-The-Treats Dragon,
• The One-That-Pushes-Ladies Dragon,
• The One-That-Doesn’t-Engage Dragon,
• The Nibbling Dragon,
• The Slowing-Down Dragon,
• The One-That-Leaves-At-Liberty Dragon

And the most powerful of all:

• The Green-Grass-Eater Dragon

Let’s have a deeper look into the last one today :-)

The Green Grass Dragon

The Dragons that you see outside of you, are always showing you the real dragon, that is eating you alive from the inside. Maybe today you think that you are facing the Green Grass Dragon in your relationship with your horse: whenever you go outside your horse is interested only in the grass, and there is nothing you can do about it. There is always PLENTY that you can do about it, and I am sure you have heard more or less all of these advices: you can avoid going with your horse to the grassy spots to avoid meeting the Green Grass Dragon, you can give your horse Don’t Do It Cue, and thank him for staying with you, or you can just ask your horse to come with you whenever you see the Green Grass Dragon and your horse looses his “focus” and becomes interested in the grass. All this techniques have their time and space to be used, and they are all good.

The time and space to use them may be: the arrival of the vet, when you have to quickly take your horse from the pasture to the stables; realising that you have to leave the stables for a very important meeting like a family scheduled dinner, etc.

But assuming that you have time… That you have space… And that you have the willingness, openness and bravery to experience something NEW, you can also allow yourself to see this situation differently, and instead of avoiding the Dragon, you can just face it.

Look into your Dragon's eyes

Meeting eye-to-eye with your Dragon, with your “problem” that tenses you most, and that is shown to you by your horse probably very often (so you can realise these tensions) is like looking into your own eyes.

If you are truly open and stay observant instead of letting yourself be lead by the inner dialogue of voices and thoughts, you will see in the eyes of your Dragon yourself. You will see, like on the palm of your hand your fears, your tensions, your expectations, your doubts, confusions and dreams. And you will see what is blocking these dreams from coming true.

If you decide to follow this path deeper, you will discover even more:

You will discover that the change is not based on creating a catalogue of tricks on how to make the horse do this or that in this or that situation.

Seeing Truth

You will discover that when you look into the eyes of your Dragon and you dare to see there yourself, you see the truth.

People think they want truth. People say that they want truth. People believe that they strive for truth, but at the same time they avoid it most. Why so? Because truth is unchangeable. Truth is not to be influenced from the outside. Truth is truth.

This is why people prefer to dream.

Dreams create this safety-cushion that promises that things can change, or that their essence is different to what is too painful to be seen now. These promises are based on believing that the change can come from the outside, and that I can stay the same, and my Life will become better. These illusions taste sweet, are light and keep you feeling “good”: I am OK, the world needs to change.

At the same time, truth will tell you honestly where you are at now, and that nothing will change if you don’t change. But truth has this power, that is held by it, that if you change, the truth about you will also change, it will change so much as much you will change but not a single millimetre more.

If you allow yourself, from time to time, just for FUN, to see this truth, allow it in your heart and then just change a little bit yourself, you can see how your change is changing your horse.

And this is one of the most powerful experiences one can have in Life.

If you see that by changing yourself you can influence your horse, this means that your two separate beings are in fact united, and that this unity, this oneness exists ALL THE TIME.

When you are with your horse please use this time to really change yourself. Otherwise, things would have to stay the same and your horse will have to act in a way, to show you how you can change and to find the voice that you will start to listen to.

Do not focus on My horse does this, I want him to do that, focus on My horse tells me this, and shows me that I can change in that area. Thank your horse for this feedback, follow it without fear. Follow it with open heart, and you will see the Reality.

And then you will see that in reality the Green Grass Dragon that you feared so much is just a Green Grass Hopper that can make you smile :-) And that you can look at it and smile together with your horse.

Please find a moment to watch this 3 minute session of my student Molly Young with her 2yo horse Jameson. It may turn to be the most important 3 minutes in your Life. Enjoy!

I am frequently asked about the “Grass Problem”, what to do, which technique to use to make the horse “FOCUS” more on them, and less on the grass. I use the quotes for a reason. What you see on the outside of you is never a problem to be solved, it’s a tip, a guidance on how you can change so the tensions that are visible outside of you, and that have roots in your body and mind can disappear. A tension can disappear only when it’s noticed. When you do not see that you have tensions, you cannot release them. This is why your own tensions have to be shown on the outside of you by your horse.

In OneHorseLife we believe that there is place for everything in Life: for leading and following, for learning and teaching, for having fun and learning about deep messages. On the other hand the more you want to follow and learn, the more you are able to discover new things, that can truly change you.

If you need to go someplace with your horse and you have the time pressure on you: just ask your horse kindly to follow and take him there. If, on the other hand, you have time and want to learn something new about YOU, I promise you that it’s possible: anytime, anywhere, from any horse. It’s the STUDENT THAT AWAKENS THE TEACHER!

Please read this short testimony and learn what my Student Emily Rogers discovered about herself and her tensions about grass during the B.A.S.E. Kick-Start Training Workshop:

When I first heard Anna Marciniak say that some of her students have difficulty getting their horse to eat grass when they are together, I really couldn’t believe it. I had an even harder time believe Estella would be one of those horses. If anyone knows us, they know how much we love our food ??? I thought I had tried everything to make our lives easier around grass, but no matter what “technique” I tried I still had to drag her through grass. It was stressful for both of us and made trail walks more difficult than fun.

As I went through the the B.A.S.E. I started to see changes I had never seen. It was taking less and less and less for her to continue to walk with me. I peeled back layer after layer of tension associated with the grass that I didn’t even realize was there. All this time I thought I needed to put in some effort or teach her not to eat when I wanted to walk, but really I needed to do less and let go.

I was videoing the deer beside us as we walked the other night and Estella chose to keep walking with me. It was really such a light and wonderful feeling; I am so thankful that Anna has opened my eyes to how “easy” anything with horses can be. You don’t have to “do” any special technique, you just have to change yourself. ☺️

Emily Rogers and Estella, USA

Learn more about Anna’s approach:

B.A.S.E. Kick-Start Training: Online Workshop designed to guide you step by step to the shift of awareness from the Personalities to the Real You. Last edition this year starts in September 2016.

JoinAnna: OneHorseLife Training Videos: Anna shows horses’ guidance that exists beyond the positive training methods. In the Articles that accompany videos Anna explains what and how horses want to teach us to expand our awareness, and how to change upon and profit from this guidance.

BodyMarc: Expand Your Awareness: A complete 11-Week Self Study Course with a Book and Video Set to connect with your body, and through the body with the Real Self. The best place to become a better rider, and a more aware person and to profit from the personal guidance from Anna and Pawel.