ABAREFOOT JOURNEY ���������������������������������������������������������������� �������������������������������������������������������������� ������������������ Riding Aria de los Cielos, barefoot, on the Slate Mountain Range in the 2017 Death Valley Encounter 30 miles LD AERC ride (American Endurance Ride Conference) was a very important part of a life long, experiment I have been conducting, regarding horsemanship and the care of the equine hoof. In working with horses, I continuously evaluate how important is the spontaneous interaction versus training in horsemanship. Spontaneous interaction allows the horse to express My experience spans across racing, jumping, dressage, himself, and his personality in the relationship with human trail and endurance, but my focus is always on horsemanship beings. This is something that naturally happens anyway, as a performance tool, through the constant evaluation and being able to manage it, is always a good strategy. and management of human and equine behavior. The Traditional training just uses the horse’s ability to execute a relationship between human and horse is where the learned action by a command that we give him, in order to communication that supports the performance happens. In interact with us. The gateways to an individual are its sense horsemanship, we should give no time to misunderstanding, organs, and the equine hoof is what horses stand on, and punishment and conflict, whether we are in a perfectly what they touch the ground with, however in modern times manicured arena or on a treacherous terrain that looks many horses are partially or completely isolated from the like the moon. The dialogue between human and horse is ground. I think they have learned to compensate with other important, and both parts need to be open to communicating, senses and I want to see the difference it makes when we listening and responding to each other behavior. One allow them to feel the ground, versus when we take that experience that was determinant for me in formulating the away from them, in an effort to protect them from what criteria for Human Horse Sensing was getting lost on the the equestrian activities would do to them. This noble trails, around sunset, while I was training an Arabian stallion quest was the original reason for shoeing, also called the named Eli for endurance. I was sure “necessary evil”. There is nothing wrong with horseshoes, that the stallion knew the way home, but there is nothing wrong with barefoot horses, as long as given that he had lived in the area for they are comfortable with their status. many years. It is a known fact that horses can move in the dark better than we can. Aria de Los Cielos is a four-year-old Mangalarga Given that sunset was about to happen, Marchador mare, born on may 1st 2012 at Rancho de Los I chose to let the stallion be in charge of Cielos in Riverside CA. We won the ride at the Death Valley the direction, but kept control of the speed Encounter and previously placed fifth in her first LD ride, and made sure that, wherever he went, while also showing in schooling dressage shows and earning there was enough space for me in the over 63% of the points in her first four events. Aria has saddle. I knew that the horse was not been with me since birth, under saddle only for ten months, going to be able to take care of these two and I have managed every aspect of her upbringing, elements, because he did not even have training and competition. Doing so gives me the chance them as a concept, but they were vital to to know as much as possible about this horse, which was me. He took us home safely, but the path not the case with other horses that I worked with before. was not a conventional trail, and surprisingly Riding and training the same horse, barefoot, in different not a straight line either; he disciplines gave me the chance to appreciate the different manifested a behavior that summed up his situations with Aria as one known, constant element. experience in being ridden in that area. 52 www.EliteEquestrian.us Eli took a path I would have never chosen, went through the chaparral, over crevices, boulders and natural obstacles that I would have avoided, but never stumbled, or lost his footing. He tried to go under things low enough that I would have not been able to stay on, but listened when I asked him to go around. The horse never went through the puddles left on the ground from a recent rain. Eli did not know what the footing covered by the water was like, and was not interested in drinking, or getting his feet wet; he was just going home. During that time I carefully observed where he was taking us, and felt many different emotions about the experience. I was very aware, and amazed by watching the ground we were covering. Eli’s ability to master some very difficult passages was very surprising to me. The horse was shod, but still avoided rocks, because he ��������������������������������������������������������
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