FORMER Olympic dressage rider and coach Shea Walsh is now back in Ireland after spending years in America.

Shea, who is also a keen poet, is currently living in Dun Laoghaire, Co Dublin, which he loves, and is available for coaching work (telephone 087 152 1101).

This week, he kindly shared one of his poems which all horse riders and owners can surely appreciate.

The Goal

Let’s not speak of art

Training the horse

Years of study

Years of work

Years of mistakes

But learning from them

To discover what they display

Their fears their stresses

Their complex yet simple minds

Simple is not necessarily undemanding

It’s our intellect and empathy

That connects us

This animal is not our enemy

To be subjugated

He’s a friend to be won

There is no art

At the point of a gun

Rhythm in motion grace

The goal is to find

That place

That harmonious connection

Between rider and horse

Without force

Nurtured with consideration

Any correction

Has a reason

Outside our frustration

Consistently instilling confidence

And trust

Aiming to align two cores

Your own

And that of the horse

Directing and building

More efficiency

Taking into account

The amount of talent

That he’s got

What he will give

May be more than you thought

Muscles in motion

From head to tail

Stretching and flexing

Developing the suppleness

The power and strength

Straight and true

To perform with a

Natural grace

And natural pace

No room for mechanical

Robotic disconnection

No soul-less submission

Unfeeling exaggeration

When that is done

It’s the heart and soul that you

Are degenerating!