Motorcycles & Horses

Over the years there have been some negative comments made about motorcycles, even by Pat & Linda, and I think it’s about time to redress the balance by pointing out the similarities.

Horses for courses
If you want to plod around on a hack (or trail ride) with no challenges and not trying to achieve any level of performance, then buy a nice quite LBI with more whoa than go and don’t ask it to do anything more than that. On the whole you’ll be fine, just like thousands of other people have, with the occasional potential for a crash. If you want to cruise around leisurely on a motorbike, then buy a bike designed for that and don’t try to race it. On the whole you’ll be fine, just like thousands of other people have, with the occasional potential for a crash. If you try to achieve performance on it without the appropriate level of skill, you will crash. It is when you ask things of the bike or horse that the problems start to surface. When you expect performance from your mount, you have to have expertise.

Survival Reactions
We are often told that our instinctive reactions as a predator will cause problems when dealing with horses. Well, guess what, the same is true of bikes.
Those hands that close quickly when you panic will cause the bike to buck you off (I’ll explain the physics to anyone that is interested).
If you tense up and brace the bike will become unresponsive & difficult to steer.
If you relax and flow with the bike it feels like harmony & unity; like telepathy.
You improve with practice, but only perfect practice. (see the Expertise post which will follow)
Bad habits lead to dangerous rides.
Where you look is where you go, so don’t look at where you don’t want to go (the natural power of focus).
It is so important for dirt riders to have an independent seat that they stand up most of the time to allow the bike to move beneath them. Likewise road racers sort of hover above the seat.

Feel, Balance & Timing
Even on the simplest level these are crucial in every aspect of riding a motorcycle regardless of the level of performance. The higher the performance asked, the more important it becomes. I could write so much on this that I would be in danger of writing a text book.

Spirituality/Living in the Moment
The level of concentration and focus required to ride a performance bike at its limit transcends the day-to-day experience and compresses it in to the absolute, cold, hard, centre of the moment. An extreme meditation. Watch the MotoGP the next time it’s on and see how many riders meditate before the start of the race. When was the last time you had to meditate before you approached your horse?

In summary, if you want to do anything at a performance level you need expertise and don’t get a superiority complex about your own area of expertise. Most bikers think horse riding is easy & boring. We should all respect other fields of endeavour and take whatever lessons we can from them to enhance our horsemanship.

After all - Riding a horse is the mere act of not falling off.