Yes, it is that time again. Reflections after another amazing clinic with Pippa Callanan. Learning with her is like making a really good soup. It takes time, patience, quality ingredients, and the artistry and experience to add just enough of each.

One of the exciting parts for me is that my lovely mare, Nubble, and I were both sound enough to dance together. When you don’t take something for granted, you savor it in a way that brings a vibrance to the experience, and you start to notice the most interesting and subtle things.

Several moments from the clinic stand out as powerfully important, but one has flowed into every one of my rides this week. It seems small as I write about it, yet its impact has been profound.

During my ride on Nubble, Pippa had us demonstrate a working walk, collected walk, counted walk, and piaffe in sequence, carefully transitioning between them. I had performed each of these hundreds of times, but never in sequence. Never where I had to create and feel the subtle differences as I moved from one to the next: the changes in Nubble’s cadence, her energy, and the bounce in her step. 

This is just one part of Pippa’s brilliance. The exercise marshaled my attention in a way that let me both appreciate the experience and remember it. On top of that, I connected to our capability, Nubble’s and mine. That sometimes ephemeral sense of “I can do this!”

More than the learning and awareness, I have been filled with the desire to recreate those moments, to craft that soup again and again. What exactly were the ingredients? Was it the quality of the contact and Nubble’s relaxed jaw? Was it my posture and balance? Was it the position and action of my leg? Which ones were essential? How much of each? How did their balance need to change in creating each variation?

The thought I keep coming back to is that identifying the exact formula is impossible. Once again I am reminded that the result I want does not come from a linear process. It emerges from a constellation of ingredients, carefully collected under the watchful guidance of a caring and skilled mentor and through hundreds of hours of thoughtful, diligent practice.

I had a session this week with one of my youngest riders. We were reviewing her progress, and I asked her to reflect on what she had accomplished so far. Then I asked how she had gotten there. How did she make her soup? She said the most insightful thing. She started with, “All the tools.” Then she added, “We talked and worked on it and then all the sudden, poof, I did it.”

I could not have described it better. You gather the ingredients. You start putting them together, tasting as you go. You make the soup again and again, playing with the balance of ingredients and conditions, and one day, poof, it’s soup.

What soup are you making?

~ Paul