Compassionate Leadership and Communication

Horses have so much incredible wisdom to teach us.

I've spent countless hours, night and day exploring different theories with them in movement, emotion, mental capacity and relationship.

But so many equestrians get lost in the submission based power over dynamic and confused that they forget to learn from the horse and think all the wisdom comes from the trainer.

The best a trainer or coach can do is give the tools to communicate. It is up to you, the handler, to use them as communication. This is what separates us from bullying handlers and compassionate leaders.

I often watch students ride the mechanical actions forgetting that they are supposed to be talking to the horse.

"Remember when you use that inside leg and guiding rein you are asking you horse to move out your not just kicking and pulling"

I had a new student start with us and she could assume all the postures but she didn't know how to use them to talk to the horse. She had trained western and knew how to get her shoulders back and her seat deep, but she was still holding tension in her lower back - the tension that communicates “go fast”. It took me a bit to figure out what was happening. Rabbit was being uncharacteristically hard to stop and we had to go through the embodiment of what it is to cease action, not just assume the posture of the cue.

Another lesson, another student - this time struggling to keep the horse trotting. Knowing this horse I asked her what was going on in her body that was making her scared - I couldn't see the typical fear cues after a lifetime of masking, they're a lot easier to read in kids. But I knew that's why Hunter wasn't able to stay trotting.

She admitted how scared she was of the horses and we had to have a conversation about whether she even wanted to ride. Good news - we confirmed yes, but that she needed more say in when she moved into the next pace, instead of the horse reading my own liberty cues.

(To clarify, I work the beginners at liberty so the horses are taking cues off me until the riders are clear enough to communicate. This helps to keep the horses sensitive and not need excessive pressure for work.)

So we spent the lesson experimenting with more activity and less activity in her body. How she could use her body to speed up and slow down the horse. Her body relaxed, softened and followed the horse and started communicating more clearly. Hunter relaxed, softened and started taking cues better.

Compassionate leadership and communication is a discussion we are having in the arena regularly.

If the horses start looking to me for guidance, the student isn't giving enough direction for the horse to be clear and confident in what is expected of it. And Holistic Riders not just mechanically engaging in “pushing buttons” by applying a cue, we are developing language and relationships. Relationship to us, to learning, to movement, to themselves.

Compassionate leadership is necessary for understanding how to use communication tools with your horse, and to build your own confidence.

Compassionate Leadership is a skillset that is so important, we dedicate an entire module to it inside the Holistic Horse Handling Program - click the button below to join the waitlist!