Page 71 - The Art of Learning by Josh Waitzkin_Neat plip book

around on the ponies. I could never bel ieve the way she communi cated with
the animals. If there was a probl ematic horse, peopl e called my little mom,

who would walk up to an angry 1,700- po und stallion, speak in a soothi ng
voice, an d soon enough the horse woul d be i n the p alm of her han d.
Mom has a unique ability to communi cate with all ani mals. I’ve seen he r
hand-line five-hundred-pound blue marlin to the side of the boat, with ba rely

any strength. Angry, barking dogs qui et and lick her legs. Birds fl ck to he r.
She is a whisperer. She loves the animals and she speaks thei r na tur al bo dy
language.
Bonnie explains that there are two bas ic ways of taming a wild ho rse. One is

to tie it up and freak it out. Shake paper bags, rattle cans , drive it crazy unt il it
submits to any noise. Make it endur e the hum iliation of bei ng cont rolled by a
rope and pole. Once it is partially submi ssive, you tack the ho rse, ge t on top,
spur it, show it who’s boss—the horse fi s, buck s, twists, tur ns , runs , but

there is no escape. Finally the beast drops to its knees and submi ts to be ing
domesticated. The horse goes thr ough pai n, rage, frus tration, exha us tion, to
near death . . . then it finally yields . Thi s is the metho d some like to call shock
and awe.

Then there is the way of the horse whi sper ers. My mother explains, “When
the horse is very young, a foal, we gen tle it. The horse is always ha ndl ed. You
pet it, feed it, groom it, stroke it, it gets used to you, likes you. You ge t on it
and there is no fight, nothing to fight .” So you gui de the ho rse toward do ing

what you want to do because he wants to do it. You synch roni ze de sires, spe ak
the same language. You don’t break the horse’s spi rit. My mom go es on: “If you
walk straight toward a horse, it will look at you and probab ly run away. You
don’t have to oppose the horse in that way. Appr oach indi rectly, witho ut

confrontation. Even an adult horse can be gentled. Handl e him ni cely, make
your intention the horse’s intention.
“Then, when riding, both you and the horse want to maintain the ha rmony
you have established. If you want to move to the right , you move to the right

and so the horse naturally moves right to bal ance your weight .” Ride r and
animal feel like one. They have established a bond that nei the r want s to
disrupt. And most critically, in this relations hi p between man and be ast, the
horse has not been whitewashed. When trained, he will br ing hi s uni que

character to the table. The gorgeous , vibr ant spi rit is still flowing in an ani mal
that used to run the plains.