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Training for Soundness

Equine Performance Development

Balance Through Movement Method (TM)

Pressure

It’s a bit of a dirty word. And a little hard to define.

Seems the horse world is divided into two camps- one believing in no pressure ever, and the other believing pressure is always necessary.

I don’t pretend to know everything. In fact I think it’s important to preface by saying that the longer I do this, the more I struggle to be sure of anything.

But I do work with horses of all types - overly desensitized ones, and hyper aware ones, and I think it’s important to understand that pressure means something different to each horse, and that pressure is always there.

For some, just you walking out the front door and existing in their lives is pressure. For others, it might be quite a bit more before they respond.

Pressure can be my body near the horse, or my physical touch. Pressure can be anywhere from a light pet to a kick in the ribs - and how do you define soft? What I thought of as soft a few years ago is too much pressure to me now. So these are ill defined terms.

I have some very talented students who require the pressure of being expected to show up on time and pay something for them to take their progress seriously. I know for a fact some folks would not put effort into riding if they were not held to some accountability or had some skin in the game. Are they lazy? No. But they require a little pressure to grow. I probably couldn’t bribe them out to the barn with chocolate cake- at least not for very long.

For sure, they DONT need me to scream and yell at them- and they need to be told when they’re on the right path.

For me, I have a ton of inner pressure, so exterior pressure from other folks has the reverse effect. It’s what makes me terrible at being an employee and great at being self employed.

I think a good horse person can read the situation and gauge just what pressure is to that horse, how much to apply and in what way. For my sensitive mare I just got in, me standing next to her and waiting is pressure. For another horse, it might be the raise of a flag or a situation where they are really required to think.

Pressure can be easily overdone, but I believe too that it can be under done.

I do know for a fact that when a horse learns to sort through this, they can become more confident and relaxed in their body.

Embrace the pause

At first they’ll be afraid. Don’t make it more than they can handle, and take it slow. Give them time to think and sort through what you’re asking them to deal with, as opposed to just reacting. Don’t avoid the things that scare them, but give them tools to cope. If you can set the situation up to pique their curiosity, you can create a confident horse and one who can trust in you to always get them through. See it through their eyes - it’s never “just a plastic bag” or some insignificant item. A horse is designed to panic and run, not logically think through a situation. If they were logical, they wouldn’t have survived all these years. Have empathy for a horse’s fear and realize what you’re asking them to do is unnatural and requires plenty of trust and time.

Leadership for Passive People

I believe strongly in the importance to a horse for leadership. Some of us are wired differently though, and don’t naturally take charge. Some of us are quiet, don’t like to get our energy up, and may struggle with feeling natural about moving a horse.

I think it’s important to preface with two things: a horse noticeably feels calmer when they have some clear direction; and leadership is not the same as dictatorship. There is a give and take, an artful dance between listening and directing.

For the folks who are sensitive in nature, I describe leadership in terms of guiding the body a bit more. Posture and behavior are very closely connected- so a horse pushing on a person will in fact be on the forehand. But the difference between telling a person “get him out of your space,” and “straighten his shoulders” is huge in terms of approach.

For me, everything I do is postural and behavioral. I want a horse to feel his best in body and mind. Shoulders that move can be supple, and can feel good to the horse. So, it’s in his best interest to help him move them, which means they can’t be pushing on me.

I think in terms of alignment. Human and horse are parallel to each other. Human and horse dance together. If I move, he moves, and we flow together. It isn’t me chasing him out of my space, it’s me having a conversation with straightness as the underlying foundation to everything.

Telling passive folks to think in terms of straightness helps them gain confidence with their horses, take a little more directive and consequently, helps their horses feel calm and confident too.

Reward the try

Movement should never be a punishment, and balance is for the good times AND the bad

Sometimes people think about balance as something you work on only when the horse is calm and quiet. But balance is even more important when the horse is upset!

I’ve heard folks say, make the wrong thing hard and the right thing easy. While this saying in and of itself is not harmful, folks can often take it in a direction that makes movement a punishment, such as making a horse work harder at the gate if they’re inclined to drift that way.

Today a young filly I have in training was distracted by her buddy during a lunging session, and drifting toward the gate. She is going to be a dressage horse, so movement especially shouldn’t be a punishment- but this pertains to all horses. Why would I want to make work an aversive, when it is going to be her entire career? And, movement is what creates balance, and balance is supposed to make her feel good. Work should never be a punishment.

Instead of making her work hard at the gate and rest somewhere else, I focused on getting her rhythm the same around the entire circle. As I was watching, her front legs started to pull toward the gate as we rounded the corner. By keeping the rhythm consistent before she was even able to veer, she was soon lined up. In a few circles, she began stretching over her back, and in a few more circles, she forgot all about her buddy and was happily stretching down.

It’s all about what happens before things go wrong, and fixing the root problem. Using movement as a punishment creates a boundary between horse and rider that will have to be bridged later, if you ever want movement to be pleasant for the horse.

Instead of making the wrong thing hard, why not make the right thing OBVIOUS?

On the forehand? There is a reason!!

If you want to make my eye twitch, throw out vague terms like “pushing from behind,” “more round,” or “collect him up.” If your horse is on the forehand, there’s a good reason, and trying to engage what is blocked leads to more issues than it solved.

The ladder to collection is a lengthy and systematic one. It isn’t as simple as pushing the butt under the body, or bringing the head down and in. If your horse is on the forehand (which he was designed to be), it’s because something is blocked that should be open, something is weak that should be strong, and something is strong and tight that should be loose. This keeps the horse trapped in the cycle of being forehand dependent. In my opinion, it isn’t fair to try to take the forehand away from this horse because they do actually NEED it for balance. Not without fixing the root cause first.

I think of a horse like a hose. First, it’s essential to unkink the hose so the water can flow. If you have a kinked horse, it’s easy to think you might have to “drive the hind legs under” via a tight leg and restraining hand, but the simple truth is this is the wrong thing to ask for at the wrong time. You’d be merely turning the spigot up with a kink in the hose, instead of letting that water flow on its own.

So first, open the body. Open the shoulders, let the back move the way it’s supposed to. Then teach the hind legs to carry. Don’t worry about fiddling with the head. Pushing a hind end into a scrunched up front end might give the appearance of “roundness” but in actuality, the middle will stay blocked.

There is a direct correlation between horsemanship, training and bodywork.

These should be symbiotic in my opinion. However that is not always the case.

The physiological response of the horse’s body is direct feedback of how they are worked, ridden and trained. When the horse retains recurring tensional patterns, injuries, triggers, anxieties - this is an internal mirror of external stimuli.

When you have horses being contorted into training aids, not focusing on building the right muscle groups, ridden too long or too often, poor tack, harsh bits, behind the vertical disengaged, being pushed too far too fast, an inadequate feeding regiment, improper hoof care etc. etc. these horses need more maintenance than just a bodywork session, a chiro or some injections. They need a fundamental change. A restructuring of their entire regiment. Unfortunately a lot of people aren’t willing to make those changes bc it may cost them a win or time out of the saddle. Their horse is going so well right now they don’t want to change anything, or medal finals is right around the corner.

Do these riders love their horses? I’m sure that they do. But that doesn’t change the fact that ultimately they are not making the most humane decision for them. I encourage you to take a step back and assess what your program looks like for your horse. Not just in the sense of, are you getting bodywork/maintenance done for them but also: Are they getting adequate rest? Does their tack fit? Are they being ridden in a humane way? Have you figured out why they are spooking or bucking? Are you actually addressing structural problems, or just covering them up? Are you putting the horse first or are you putting your agenda first?

These are the questions that we need to be asking ourselves. Until then it’s not about the horse.. not really, it’s about the human.