Hey Yo

Hey there internet world. Been a while since we last talked! How ya doing?  That's great.  I'm just itching to enjoy this wonderful day.  So I had the opportunity yesterday to further some horsemanship skills of mine.  I went and helped my friend break in a 2 year colt. That was really fun.  I am proud to say, that I was the very first human to touch this horse with bare hand.  It was awesome.  Working him, to teach him to stop when I ask, and trot when I ask. Asking him to square up with me when he stops, and never once using my voice.  It's in the body motions. The clear hand instructions. Pure intentions in the heart and the only motive of wanting to become a partner to a horse. And wow, even the fellow I was working with was I pressed on how quickly this horse and I connected. Within twenty minutes of working him around the ring and I had my fingers on his front legs.  Man it was cool.  You gotta push the horse to that limit of pressure, where he wants to move and then, you stop. Show him, that you are not a threat, and then get in closer, and eventually, you're petting the horse and he's not terrified of you. My friend really enforced the idea of the horse being prey animal, and everything we do, is to earn his trust, so, when the day comes, he will blindly trust his owner. So many awesome things happened yesterday with this horse, that, I don't even know happened. I know I missed a couple of moments of clarity, but, I was focused on the task at hand. I have to earn the horses trust, so, my friend can keep working this colt, for his owner. Boy, what a treat, that was.
 
In the Kung fu realm, boy, things are continuing at a good pace. I have been playing with weapons again, I feel very strong in Long form, and kempo continues to grow and eveolve with me.  There are a few points in kempo, that I have really lasered in on. The sweeps. I am really slowing that part down to ensure, proper hand foot movement, and to ensure the closing of one technique flows nicely into the next. Especially around the sweeps. I found I wasn't flowing into it, I was stepping/falling. Which, is good to begin with, but, I want to be beyond that point of the form, so, back to the basics and continue to train with more intent. Train like I mean it damn it!! Haha
 
Something else I would like to touch on here, is we have been sparring a fair bit. And for me to spar, I love it, but, I truly don't like to make contact or even touch the head. Anything more than a finger touch, kinda bothers me. Back in the day, I used to hurt people and since I changed my ways, hitting people is actually really hard to do. Like I physically do not want to do.  Don't get me wrong push too hard for too long and I'll remove teeth for you, but not in class, not with my fellow students.  Well, Sifu, has been pushing my to start making contact again. She says, if you want to make a real impact in the tournaments you have to make real contact. You have these beautiful techniques and combos, and you get in the right places at the right times, but you never make contact. So, all that work, to set me up to make them move, you get me where you want, and then you pull your punches. Stop doing that. That's not word for word, but, it's pretty bang on. So, okay, I said, I will work on that. And, you know, I was kinda stressed about it, but, I did push back on a fear of mine in my training. I do worry about hurting somebody, and that holds me back to a certain extent. But, it also brings to light another part of my training. A huge part of all training I think, is control.  Sure I can blast a heavy bag with hooks and uppercuts, but using that same technique with a training partner is a whole new level of control. Trying to use that same technique with the same outcome, on my end, but with respect to my partner, ya know. Sometimes, you miss calculate. I wasn't too fond of the outcome. Now, it's not like I hurt everyone, but, I did get a beaut of a punch in and it was a touch to hard. I was aiming for his shoulder, and he moved into me, I into him and  I didn't pull the punch as much as I should have. Oops. I mean, you know when you get in a clean shot, and it feels good, nobody really gets hurt, it's more of  a reminder to not lead with your teeth. But, there's still that thought in my mind of my control. Okay, gotta work on being able to adapt and speed up or slow down. The only way I can control my motions, is to continue to train. It's just goes onto the Kung Fu To Do List. It's like a mile long.....hold on here...I'm just double checking oh yeah.....it's it's already here, like ten times! Haha. Looks like I got some training to do eh;)

I'll leave you with this

"Hard work pays off
 Dreams come true
 Bad things don't last
 But bad guys do!"
               Razor Ramon

Well, that's all folks
Mr.Duncan