Does your horse feel safe and able to achieve what they are being asked?
Last week I asked you to think about breaking things down into smaller steps, thinking about how these steps can be made up to the whole picture and asking yourself what do we both need to be able to achieve this.
This week I'm going to talk to ask you to think about is what you're asking achievable in the form of your horses emotional wellbeing and confidence?
So often we can assume our horses are ok, they just get on with it so why wouldn't;t they be. But we miss the subtle signs that tell us otherwise, very quickly and without realising it horses can be pushed outside their window of tolerance, or at least asked to do something that they don't feel safe doing but with the assumption that they'll be fine.
Emotional awareness and safety are key to our horses being able to respond in the way that we wish, as soon as they feel unsafe their is an emotional brace and normally physical brace too, this will always been more pressure needs to be applied either through the leg or rein aids to override this brace. So you are already starting off from a place of more effort which from your own positional point of view means you will already be contorting and shaping your body to get the repose you wanted.
There is always a balance and cycle when it comes to rider biomechanics, a rider who sits poorly, who is unbalanced and using force will always negatively affect the horse they are riding, but a horse that is in brace and resistance will always cause a rider to tighten and contort if not handled and treated in the right way. A horse that is in emotional and physical brace never needs the answer to be more.
So if we step back and look at our horses can we honestly say we know our horses are 100% happy with where we're asking them to do something, with what we're asking them to do, and with how we're asking them to do it? If the answer is no to any of these we have the possibility of emotional brace and so we end up in the cycle above.
Taking time to slow down and go back to the basics of letting our horses build their confidence and understanding so they no longer hold emotional and physical brace is only going to be for the good of your training.
How do you know you may need to look at this? If you find you are just applying more and more pressure, or you have to repeatedly apply strong pressure to get your results this is a sign your horse is saying no to one or more of the above questions.
Have a think about this this weekend, look at all your horses surroundings, from the field, to the stable, the walkways and the arena and check your horse is happy in all of these. If they aren't if you suspect they aren't then joining my course Understanding Your Horse will be a good place to start this winter.
But until them start by taking the pressure off and playing, make these areas fun, help to build your horses confidence, and see if this helps your riding.
Happy Playing
Comments