When riding, the front is a mirror reflection of the hind. In life what is happening outside of you is a mirror reflection of what is happening inside of you.
When something is showing up in the front when riding, that you wish to change, you can’t change it through the reflection, you must go to what is creating the reflection.
The hind.

Riding from the back to the front. You are asking the horse, just as you are asking the rider, to work from his hind, through his body, to his shoulders and out through his neck and connect into your hands.

Living from the inside out asks you to connect with your life in the same way. It asks you to look at those situations that make you sad, angry, afraid or happy and ask why is this situation bringing out sadness, anger, fear or happiness from within me? Instead of feeling like the situation outside of you is making you feel a certain way, you find out why you have been thinking that way already on the inside that showed up on the outside. Everything begins within you and is brought forth outside of you.

Why is this so important?

Balance. The rider balances the horse, the horse does not balance the rider.

Once a rider has developed their own balance in riding they then, in turn, balance the horse the horse does not balance the rider.

My trainer Josef Freese would always say ‘when training always ask too much that way you can later bring that back to the right amount’. When you don’t ask enough you and the horse stay forever in limbo creating problems wherever you go.

Equilibrium, bringing a balance into the flow of life. It’s about going out there and asking too much so you can bring things back to just the right amount that you need. If you always ask too little, you will be forever waiting for something that is unable to come because you haven’t asked it to.
It’s like boiling water before cooking pasta. If you bring the water to boil first you can turn the heat down to whatever temperature you need and the water is always ready to return to boil as soon as you need.
If the heat is too low and the water is never able to come to a boil, you are not going to have nice pasta. You will be forever waiting for something to happen with that pasta that simply cannot begin. There is never enough heat to patiently bring about the change that you want and need in order to cook your pasta.

If there is turmoil or heat being turned up in your ride or your life, it is getting things ready for you to begin teaching, creating, riding and changing things within yourself, your horse and your life.

Most of us sit out the whole ride every day of our life with the heat on low, afraid of what will happen if we turn the heat up. One sits in a ‘safe’ zone afraid to make a mistake, afraid to change things too much, afraid to go into the unknown… But here is where we find balance with our horse, only here is where we can find harmony and flow with our life. ‘Ask and ye shall receive’. Take what the horse is giving you and use it together with him/her to create the ride your heart truly desires. You can then bring things back to just the right amount and discover the art of balance with understanding, awareness and the freewill of your own choice.

Balance is found in growth.
Growth is found in experience.
Experience is found in doing.
Doing is found through thought leading to action.

Balanced action comes from awareness of those thoughts.

How do I become balanced in what I am thinking and doing?

Through asking too much, making mistakes and bringing it all back to the perfect amount.

©Catherine Louise Birmingham