Many times when I'm teaching a student, if a tense moment arises, I will instruct them to pat their horse.
Many times when I'm teaching a student, if a tense moment arises, I will instruct them to pat their horse.
This
is not for the sake of being "touchy-feely," rather for the release
that happens within the rider when they touch their horse.
Without realizing it, they will exhale the breath they'd been unintentionally holding.
The
rider will inevitably smile; this creates an emotional relaxation,
which causes them to drain the tension they had been defensively
carrying between their hands, forearm, shoulder blades, neck, lower
spine, hamstrings, calves, and all the way through how they are
leveraging on their stirrups. This mental shift influences their
unintentional continuous gripping/bracing or containment of the horse,
with a physical release of their aids.
The
softening of the rigidity in the human's muscles is usually immediately
mimicked in the horse's behavior and can be seen in his sighing,
chewing, dropping his head, rapid blinking, passing manure, and overall
deflation in his posture.
The
pat, smile, and tension release in the human, allows for them to
regroup and decrease the potentially overwhelming moment they experienced with the horse.
This
affects the clarity and specificity in which the student can
effectively communicate and can support the horse, building his
confidence in their guidance.
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