Category Archives: Creativity

Living in-relation with horses: feedback

‘It has to be a togetherness’ (Tom Dorrance, True Unity, 1987, P 11)dorrance_1

Tom Dorrance insisted that togetherness, ‘this thing between the horse and the person’ could not be learnt through instruction – ‘do this and you get that’. Rather, it was a matter of ‘feel’, something that could only be acquired through full-bodied experience. Speaking of his own experience, he said ‘I try to feel what the horse is feeling and operate from where the horse is’. To feel ‘the whole horse’, he said, involves feeling ‘inside the horse, right in his innards’. And, most importantly, we feel ‘the inside of the horse… from inside of ourselves’. In short, feel is an experience of entwined being (Pp 12-14). To develop an understanding of this experience, in this post I want to introduce the ecological idea of feedback. Continue reading Living in-relation with horses: feedback

Living in-relation with horses: imagination

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In an excellent article about the significance of connection, Jo Spiller says

So how do you create this partnership? You don’t do anything to create it, because it’s not a matter of doing. It is much more a matter of who you are being. You see, we have language for doing things: we can say ‘Put your heels down’, ‘Sit up straight’… but nobody can tell you how to do ‘being’.

After years of teaching riders and training horses, Spiller says that she suddenly saw what had been there in plain sight. She’d been too busy doing things to see that the basis of good horsemanship was the capacity to develop a connection with horses. And, ‘in order to achieve that connection’, she realized, we ‘must undergo a transformation’, a change in form of being.

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Living in-relation with horses: softness

In previous posts I’ve made references to softness – to soft ways of looking, to the softness in states of being calm, present and focussed, to the softness in a connection between human-and-horse. For example, with reference to the kangaroo experience, I said that Corey softly picked up a feel on the rein, and looked softly at the kangaroo to help Pia soften, relax and become curious. In this post, I want to think more about what is involved in a soft way of being and why this is so important to being-in-relation with horses.20200406_102359-1_resized

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Living in-relation with horses: being present

Any activity performed with skill requires good timing. This is true of catching a wave, for example, or hitting a ball or playing a musical instrument or dancing …. Good timing is also essential to skilful horsemanship, both on the ground and in the saddle. Whatever the specific skill might be, acquiring the capacity for good timing takes never-ending practice, and it depends on a particular temporal way of being – being present.20200710_110249_resized

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Living in-relation with horses: support

In this post, I want to introduce one of the most basic issues for living in-relation with horses, that of support. From the relational perspective of inter-being, giving support is our key responsibility in this relation.

Working with Corey Ryan, I am continually learning the significance of support in a horse-human relation, and how this is analogous to that called for in a student-teacher relation. When I am with Corey, I find that I am able to let go of any worries or fearful anticipations and remain present to what is at hand, open to possibilities and confident in trying things out. Quite simply, I feel supported in this learning experience. I am also very aware that, in Corey’s presence, horses remain or become calm and relaxed, and, in that state, curious about their environment and capable of learning new things. Clearly, then, we are sharing this experience of support and calmness.  And, so, I make the rather obvious connection: Corey is giving me the sort of support that I need to give horses, and through his support I am developing the capacity to support them. Continue reading Living in-relation with horses: support

Belonging in Anghiari – Fabio Cecconi

For the past couple of years, I have been conducting interviews with people who live in Anghiari. Some are conducted in Italian, some in English, and they are all published in both languages on this blog. While in Anghiari in spring this year, I continued this project.

Appartenenza ad Anghiari – Fabio Cecconi

Fabio ha 38 anni ed è sempre vissuto ad Anghiari dove lavora nella segreteria della Libera Università dell’Autobiografia, la LUA, fondata nel 1998 da Saverio Tutino e Duccio Demetrio. Ho intervistato Fabio nel suo ufficio che si trova in piazza del Popolo nella parte medievale della città. L’intervista si è svolta in italiano ed è poi stata trascritta e tradotta in inglese da Mirella Alessio. Questa è una versione editata.

Fabio1Io sono nato qua ad Anghiari, vivo qua da sempre, a parte i viaggi all’estero, però alla fine sono sempre tornato. Ho avuto un’infanzia felice, bellissimi amici, bellissimi ricordi, piena di attività vere, nascondino, rincorse, giocare a pallone, non avevamo il cellulare, FB, WhatsApp, eravamo felici, anzi forse più di adesso, perché senza questa tecnologica avevamo l’obbligo di vedersi, se volevi parlare con una persona dovevi vederla.

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Belonging in Anghiari – Marco Seri

For the past couple of years, I have been conducting interviews with people who live in Anghiari. Some are conducted in Italian, some in English, and they are all published in both languages on this blog. While in Anghiari in spring this year, I continued this project.

Appartenenza ad Anghiari – Marco Seri

 Marco è il figlio di Paola Foni che avevo intervistato nel 2018. È il più giovane dei tre figli di Paola e vive a casa dei genitori ad Anghiari mentre studia canto al Conservatorio “Luigi Cherubini” a Firenze. Quando non deve andare a Firenze, Marco incontra Paola alla fine del suo turno del mattino al caffè Garibaldi, qualche volta con qualcun altro della famiglia che adesso include un nipotino, Leonardo. L’intervista si è svolta in italiano, è stata trascritta e tradotta in inglese da Mirella Alessio. Questa ne è una versione editata.

 MarcoSono nato a Sansepolcro il 15 agosto del 1997. All’età di quattro o cinque anni sono andato all’asilo nido, vicino a casa mia, a San Leo, vicino a Anghiari. In seguito ho frequentato la scuola elementare qui ad Anghiari, per cinque anni, dopo sono andato alla scuola media “Leonardo da Vinci” per tre anni… si trova vicino a piazza del Popolo, vicino alla scuola di musica. In seguito, dopo aver finito le scuole medie, ho frequentato il liceo artistico “G. Giovagnoli” a Sansepolcro, con indirizzo architettura. C’è stata una piccola storia per quanto riguarda la classe: verso la fine della terza media sono arrivati i rappresentanti delle scuole superiori della zona, per indirizzarci al proseguo degli studi. Io inizialmente avevo deciso di iscrivermi sempre al liceo artistico, ad Anghiari (allora si chiamava istituto d’arte) in quanto avevano iniziato un corso che si chiamava Liuteria, che prevedeva l’apprendimento per la costruzione, manutenzione di strumenti ad arco, violini, viole, violoncelli. Purtroppo le classi non furono organizzate, quindi io sono stato spostato a Sansepolcro, con indirizzo architettura. Continue reading Belonging in Anghiari – Marco Seri

Belonging in Anghiari – Andrea Calli

For the past couple of years, I have been conducting interviews with people who live in Anghiari. Some are conducted in Italian, some in English, and they are all published in both languages on this blog. While in Anghiari in spring this year, I continued this project. Here is the first of these interviews.

Appartenenza ad Anghiari – Andrea Calli

 Andrea ha 47 anni ed è vissuto tutta la sua vita ad Anghiari. Insieme al fratello Giulio continua la tradizione di famiglia di restauro del mobile. L’ho intervistato nel loro negozio che si trova ai limiti del paese, nel quartiere La Croce, che ha preso il nome dalla croce che si dice san Francesco avesse piantato proprio là.  Dopo, Andrea mi ha fatto vedere la loro bottega che si trova in fondo alla strada per Tavernelle. L’intervista è stata effettuata in italiano, poi trascritta e tradotta in inglese da Mirella Alessio e la seguente ne è la versione editata.Andrea

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Meeting

 

During my stay here in Anghiari, I am learning anew the significance of Martin Buber’s claim that ‘all real living is meeting’. On reflection, what makes life here meaningful for me here is the quality of the encounters I have. It’s what I often write about in these posts. When an encounter has the quality of a meeting, I come away from it feeling quite simply happy and alive.20190511_114413_1558160478716_resized

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A Day of Sun

Everyone had something to say about it. The sun had appeared, it felt like spring today. This, after days of extremely cold weather, winds, rain. Anghiari has not had the extreme weather that has hit much of Italy, because it is sheltered by the surrounding foothills of the Apennines. However, people say they have never experienced weather like this before in May. And, they have been unable to do the spring planting in their kitchen gardens.20190516_120307_resized

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