That flapping plastic bag on a stick thing

[meupatdoes]

Feel is a mysterious thing. It comes naturally to some and really really not to others.

Some people are effortlessly charming, put everyone they meet at ease, and can sell ice to an eskimo.

Some people can teach themselves things, like cooking, by making good guesses at what might go well together and paying attention to what happens at different heat levels.
Others need it spelled out and insist they can’t boil an egg.

Some people can pick up an unfamiliar phone, computer, or program, read what’s on the screen, and click around from there. They don’t need to be taught how to attach a PDF to an email or turn netflix on from the TV, they can figure it out by clicking around. Other people insist they are dinosaurs and make you pull it up on google maps so that you can read the directions to them.

Some people you can hand an unfamiliar camera, and instinctively they will take pictures or video where the horse is in the middle of the frame and appropriately zoomed. Other people take pictures of the horse’s ass leaving the frame and insist this is Very Hard and they Have No Idea How To Do It.

Feel is, in the end, an ability to observe, perceive, make educated guesses, and keep tinkering. It’s the ability to use observation, perception, and experimentation to figure things out for yourself.

I suppose the good news is that the people who lack feel never realize they lack it. They remain, as ever, blissfully oblivious.

[candyappy]

@Scribbler

I think you’re right. But how do you teach it? I could describe how I learned to improve my timing and feel, and some input that was helpful along the way. But it was mostly self-learned. When I try to help out people who are “missing a beat” in their timing, I’m not sure how to help. Probably if I watched good trainers working with beginners I’d get some idea.

Timing, feel, and just the way we interact and use our body language is not something you can teach (at least i don’t think it is). It is so individual to a person.

I never was taught how to ride or train a horse . It was just something I grew into as I started riding and then owning my own horses.

You either have it or you don’t. The way it is brought to the surface and fine tuned may vary but it is there to begin with from the start.

[Belowthesalt]

Yes, like Palm Beach says, the person who started my horse (lo these many years ago…) and the groundwork I did with him with the “bag on a stick” were only for purposes of desensitization.