Riding your horse doesn't have to be the crux of your training

Some of you might know that recently we had to retire Custard from riding. It’s the downside of loving an older horse - eventually it’s not suitable, viable or sensible to continue to ride.

So Custard is a happy gentleman of leisure, doted on with plenty of love and treats.

This did leave me without a horse of my own to ride. Luckily, I was able to start working with another of my friends boys - Stormy.

Stormy is an 17 year old OTT Thoroughbred with poor conformation - sway back, club foot, and pigeon toed. He had been out of work for a while, loves to run and really thrives on that one-on-one interaction.

Due to that conformation, he has some issues with discomfort around the shoulders, and is also anxious about being touched and groomed around the withers, or even being tacked up. While he isn’t nasty, he did have a tendency to hold his breath until he couldn’t cope.

He was literally saying

“I ‘m a good boy. This is scary but I’m a good boy. BAAAHHHH I can’t do this it’s too much!!!”,

albiet in body language, not words.

So the last 2 months has been spent:

• Gaining consent to work (hey buddy, you have the chance to tell me when you aren’t coping)

• Professional body work

• Focusing on relaxing and giving him new tools to de-escalate his panic

• In-hand work - even advancing to working in-hand with flexion! (We developed this as a lesson plan for our Training Trainability students to work on through May, because Stormy was doing so well with it).

• Lunging to improve some strength and fitness

• Getting a yes to be bridled (we went back and forward on that, and I began to understand that when he was feeling a bit more pinched or cold in the back, he would give bigger no’s)

• Getting yes to being saddled

In just this short time, Stormy has gone from being frightened (in a good boy way) and unfit to developing softness and roundness to his back, confident with his requests (yes, no, give me a moment), and comes running from the back of the paddock to come play with us.

Last weekend we actually tacked up, mounted and had a tiny plod. Just to let him know it isn’t all bad.

The thing is, for 8 weeks we didn’t ride. Yet we still achieved so much and have a happier horse under saddle for the effort. I didn’t need to cave to the expectations of others by putting my horse second.

That is what we stand for.

Want to learn how to use these skills with your own horse? Training Trainability enrolments close on the 19th of June.

The Anxiety Spiral

Have you found yourself with your anxious horse getting caught in the anxiety spiral with them?

Even though you know that YOU are not actually anxious.

Even though YOU are normally able to manage your emotions and anxiety well.

It’s potentially a vicious cycle – when our horse becomes anxious, we can feed off their  anxiety state, which then confirms to the horse that there is something to be worried about and so their anxiety becomes more heightened, making them harder to control and in turn us more anxious, and before long the situation escalates out of control.

Unintentionally your heart starts to race, your breathing hastens and your body becomes stiff and tense.

Your horse picks up on all these signals without you realising your even giving them!

It is in their best interest to be able to pick up and react to subtle signals quickly because it’s what keeps them safe in their herd in the wild. To overcome this anxiety, you not only have to have proven yourself as a strong leader that your horse trusts and follows, but also to be able to control your own response to anxiety.

This is where we talk about the vagus nerve.

The vagus nerve is essentially in control of our rest and digest state. The rest and digest state and the fight or flight state act in opposition to each other. When we are in fight or flight mode, all the functions in our body that aren’t necessary for escaping danger are “turned off” to focus our efforts on immediate survival. Once we have escaped this threat we can relax and focus on digestion and eliminatory functions and the like.

We can control our state of anxiety and the corresponding effects on our body by stimulating the vagus nerve and keeping our body in a state of rest and digest. There are a few little tricks we can do for this:

• Deep breathing

• Meditation

• Singing

• Humming

• Chanting

• Gargling

• Laughter

Some additional practices that will help you gain awareness and control of your relaxation to “switch it on” as needed.

• Restorative yoga postures

• Practicing emotions of love, compassion and empathy

• Exercise

• Massage

• Acupuncture/acupressure

While I practice a lot of these things in my spare time, when I’m working with horses I most commonly hum to get control over my breathing and then practice deep breathing to settle the horses. This may be why my students have noticed me humming when I’m riding!! If I can feel my horses’ anxiety coiling up underneath me, it’s a great way to diffuse that energy.

After a period of time your horse will start to associate these as cues for relaxation, so will start to relax when you hum or will take a deep breath when you take a deep breath.

Give it a try and comment below with the results!