Horse Help- Improving your Equine Communication- Eliminating the Brace

 Horse Help- Improving your Equine Communication- Eliminating the Brace

Have you ever felt any of the following when you work with a horse:

Heavy on the lead rope as if you were pulling/dragging or “pleading” for the horse follow or comply?

Loading or unloading a horse from the trailer/lorry and experiencing an inability to slow, stop, or adjust his behavior from what he was offering?

Unable to move the horse out of your personal space when working from the ground?

The horse was resistant to transitions, whether being worked from the ground or in the saddle.

The horse is leaning, heavy, or dragging on the reins?

When you try to turn in one direction and the horse slowly “leaks” or drifts the opposite way?

When you tried to ride a straight line, and the horse pushes or “locks up” his shoulder or hip the opposite way from which you are asking him to move?

Picking up the reins and feeling a general “lethargic” or unnaturally slow responses from the horse?

All of the above-mentioned “issues” are a result of your horse’s resistance, which I will refer to as a brace that reflects the mental defensiveness toward human communication and direction. If the horse is mentally unavailable, fearful, or unclear about your communication with him.

There are different “levels” of resistance/brace a horse can display. For most riders, “good enough” is accepted, without considering if, in trying to be “nice,” one is actually teaching the horse to maintain a heaviness. Most people ride their horses being “polite” because they interpret their willingness to accept any behavior as being “nice” or “kind” to their horse, thinking it will decrease potential conflict or uncomfortable scenarios for the person.

When a horse carries any level of brace in him, mentally, emotionally, and physically, “being kind” and leaving him in that state is not a “nice” act. The longer the horse is left in turmoil during human interaction, the more he learns to anticipate, which affects the severity of the tension he carries. Horses do not have the mental processing to say, “I don’t feel good when I think/act like this, so let me change what I’m doing.” Without fair and clear guidelines (think herd communication) presented, the horse is left struggling.

The problem is humans typically live in the “gray” area as far as decision making, clear communication, intentions, level of awareness, etc., whereas horses live in the “black and white.” They search for what behaviors are acceptable and those that are not.

We’ve all seen such clarity and “boundaries” displayed within a balanced herd; the lead horse swishes its tail, gives warning with a turn of its ears back towards a horse crossing a boundary. If the warning is ignored, the “setting the boundary” behavior escalates until the “wrongdoer” moves off the designated boundary. If he does not, as a disciplinary action, he is sent out of the herd, until the response changes, he is not allowed back into the herd.

But most people don’t realize that they aren’t aware, assessing, or are misinterpreting what their horse is asking of them; therefore, they cannot offer their horse clear “boundaries” of what behaviors are acceptable and those that are not. The “gray area”- or lacking/delayed feedback leads to insecurity because he is unclear about what is expected of him; he becomes mentally defensive and anticipates, creating a “taking over” response to protect himself. The mental and emotional defensiveness is mirrored by the physical resistance or BRACE.

There are different levels of the brace, from the glaringly obvious, such as the horse that plants his feet and will not move forward, to the horse that may offer some of the following scenarios… The brace may appear as him trying what you asked “once,” and then him resisting if you ask for a different response from him. If he is “going along fine,” but always adds an extra step or two, such as in a transition or when asked to halt. It could be the horse offering a lateral movement, but if you ask him to decrease his energy, speed, or change his balance, you feel him expand his ribcage against the pressure of your lower leg aid.

To avoid the communication pendulum swinging either “too nice” or “too aggressive,” a.) Where, when, and what is the root cause of the brace?, and b.) What “tools” are used to communicate? Is he fearful of them, and are they effectively helping him become clear?

People tend to get distracted by the unwanted behavior their horse is offering, which is the symptom, rather than getting to the “root” issue; the brace is a symptom. Re-sensitizing the human to not “expect” a heaviness in the horse can help improve one’s timing in their aids, to help the horse “let go” of the unwanted behavior.