Lyle Is Starting to Feel Back to Me!

Dear Reader,

To use Mr. Bill Dorrance's phrase, "Lyle is allowing me to let me feel of him" and he is "starting to feel of me." Mr. Dorrance clearly teaches that there is a right and a wrong way to handle and ride a horse. The right way is for the human to offer the horse a certain kind of human feel that the horse perceives as good. The human offers the horse this good feel until the horse starts to allow the human to feel what is in the horse's very heart and spirit. When the horse does this, when it allows the human to feel its very heart and spirit, then it drops its own sense of self preservation and literally gives that up to the human. This is what Mr. Dorrance means when he teaches that the horse is starting to feel back to the person.

Today, for the first time since I have been working with Lyle to heal his being, Lyle has just barely started to allow me to feel of him. It has been a very long 13 months. The last two months have been spent riding Lyle. We still have a long journey ahead of us. But the change has started.

The two pictures show Lyle starting to flex a little at the pole and he has started making open, sweeping turns. Because he is keeping his head vertical he is surrendering a small part of his survival instinct to me.

May God grant that I will always give Lyle that good feel that he needs to become a safe trail horse. May I prove myself worthy of receiving Lyle's gift of the surrender of his instinct of self preservation. It is this mutual surrender of self that moves a horse and rider beyond the level of domination and results in true horsemanship.

Sincerely,

Penny Johnson

Bonners Ferry, Idaho

Kootenai Curly Horses