Looking ahead
to the upcoming riding season, whether you ride for pleasure or are a
competitor, you can strive to offer a supportive partnership towards your
horse. I will touch on two concepts that you can start considering, without
even having to battle the outdoor winter conditions!
The first is
addressing your mental focus. Often we think of riding as an escape from the
everyday challenges and stresses of life.
The horse on the other hand can immediately recognize if the person is
not mentally present, if they are distracted, stressed, tired, etc.
I suggest
folks learn how to mentally “leave reality at the door” when they are heading
out to ride. My perspective is that the ride begins when someone thinks about going for the ride. Mentally
separating other aspects of life from the time spent with the horse allows a
rider to offer the same level of consideration, conversation and focus they are
asking from their horse.
When
mentally present, a person can communicate proactively
with their horse, rather than only offering input or critique after the horse has
made an undesired movement. When people are distracted, they tend to only
notice the big and dramatic moments, rather than the subtle ones when the horse
is initially asking for guidance or support. If the human suddenly tries to intervene during peak stress or fear in the horse,
it can cause defensiveness towards the rider’s aids.
Intentional
guidance from the rider (which should not be presented as a dictatorship to the
horse), what I call “riding in real time,” increases the clarity and timing towards
what the horse is about to offer.
This also decreases the critical, after-the-fact interaction that occurs
between many humans and horses.
A rider’s
constant critique is a leading contributor to creating defensive horses. By taking
the initiative and offering specific intention, the horse can be clear on what will be asked of him. This can build his
confidence and increases his willingness to try, because the rider will be offering
respectful and specific communication.
Addressing
your own mental presence leads to my next topic: riding goals, intentions and
the horse’s thought. As they say, “hindsight is 20/20.” Take a few minutes and
think about the last one or two riding seasons.
What were some challenges that arose between you and your horse and have
they been addressed?
For a lot of
folks the traditional “wet saddle blankets” approach is used as a way for horses
to learn and improve. I find that solely
focusing on the horse’s physical movement leads to a continuous “containment” from
the rider trying to keep the horse physically compliant. Instead, I prioritize getting
the horse’s thought with me first, which then influences his physical movement.
When you
think of past experiences with your horse, do you start with “I didn’t want him
to…” or “I wish he would not always...” or “I hope we can…”? Those three
sentence starters I frequently hear from riders who are having difficulty achieving
goals with their horse. Often people fixate on what they do not want their horse to do, rather than
how they can change their approach and help their horse arrive at a different
outcome.
Imagine
someone was a nervous, inexperienced driver and there were bad road
conditions. If before they drove their
car you told them “Don’t crash,” would that decrease their chance of getting
into an accident? Probably not. In fact it might even add stress while they were
driving and perhaps increase their anxiety.
What if the
next time they drive their car, you are a passenger and you say things like,
“Don’t go so fast… you slowed too much… stop sooner… why did you change lanes?”
Would your words relax, build confidence or reassure the already insecure
driver? Did you teach them anything? Have you helped improve their driving
ability? Has your presence made driving a better experience for them, inspiring
them to invite you along in the future? No, it has not. Instead, you have made
them feel worse due to your approach in how you interacted with them, even if
your intentions were good.
Unintentionally
many people create that same experience for their horse. The person wonders why
they are not achieving the results in their horse’s performance. If the rider
continues offering delayed, critical, task-fixated focus irrelevant of the
quality, they are not supporting their horse.
In terms of
goals with your own horse, before presenting the back country trail ride, the
jump, roping the steer or working on your 20 meter Dressage circle, mentally
think through what and how you will need to communicate the small pieces that
will contribute to achieving the overall goal. Often through specific,
incremental communication from the rider presenting “pieces” of the goal, the
horse can better understand the specificity of the movement and build
confidence. Below is an example.
Let us say you
ask your horse to change his energy at the walk, and he ignores you, leaks out
with his shoulder, clamps his jaw down on the bit, or stays stuck at one speed.
What will happen when you ask him to move faster? Whatever you are feeling at
the slower gait will magnify at the faster energy level.
If you
ignore his initial feedback of resistant and defensive behavior, and attempt to
be more specific, such as trying to improve your flying lead changes, roll
backs, or finding the ideal spot to the jump, is your horse currently mentally available
to hear you? Will his response be to softly address a physical change you ask
of him? No. Presenting the long term goal
when you are missing the foundation pieces is setting the horse up to fail
and be critiqued.
So take some
time on those cold, dark days and perhaps jot down your equine related goals,
and what incremental pieces you’ll need to address with your horse to help you
both achieve them with quality.
