Anna Blake's Blog, page 45

Photo & Poem: Explain the Sky

 

Restless eyes behind closed lids, the

early hours lay flat, dull to these

scurrying thoughts. Rise to use

the bathroom and the dogs do not

stir. Pull on a barn coat and muck

boots to go out and walk the farm.

Keep to open ground, small steps

feel for uneven earth, head dropped

back to the view. Try to explain

the night sky, white clouds not quite

transparent arcing over mountains

in silhouette. The blue-black air cools

my feet, dense as water, lifting up

to the closest stars, those revealing the

stars behind them, and those stars,

the ones behind them. Hooves on

sand, gray horses move from the

shadows, ghostly outlines come clear

on a windless prairie. Stand close,

we are in free-fall, stilled by wonder.

…

Anna Blake at Infinity Farm

Join us at The Barn, our online training group at annablake.com

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Calming Signals and Boundaries

A request to write about boundaries, in which the Loudmouth Party-Pooper returns.

Am I allowed a pet peeve? I’ve began seriously disliking the “Incredible Bond” photos, the ones where someone is lying on the ground next to their horse, the one where someone is sitting on a naked horse without a helmet, or the photo with the human is looking meaningful and the horse’s calming signals telling a different story. The intention of the photos is probably meant to show off. They want us to know their special connection with a horse but to me, it’s like bragging about poor horsemanship.

They might be “before” photos. As a trainer, I hear all the horror stories. Riders who are working to recover from TBIs (Traumatic Brain Injuries) or awaiting a series of reconstructive surgeries for their face, or recuperating from a broken bone or destroyed confidence. It’s rude of me to agree that so many serious injuries come from foolish complacency. That’s what they say, yet hindsight is no balm for those who know it was their fault, when it’s too late to undo the damage to themselves and their horses. What about the horses sent to auction or worse because they hurt someone?

Do I sound like a cranky Pony Club instructor lecturing about safety as if you were a child? Have we forgotten that if we aren’t safe then our horses aren’t either?

Finally, for crying out loud, can you tell me how horses benefit from someone lying next to them on the ground? Are we trying to be more like a horse or make the horse more like us? Please tell me that it’s all about the human because it makes my head spin. Is it meant to be bravado, like putting our head in the mouth of a lion? That always seems to diminish the lion in a weird kind of domination that makes no sense. Is the intention to diminish horses, too?

Understand that I don’t mind some showing off at all. How about doing something that takes skill like a good old-fashioned ground tie or a relaxed canter depart? Or being a calm leader who instills confidence when their horse’s courage fails them in front of a vet or a judge or a trail monster. Definitely things to be proud of and I’ll stand to cheer.

What if we respect horses for the sensitive flight animals they are? Can we respect their intelligence, giving them the autonomy to stand apart? Can we communicate with them in a clear peaceful way as equal partners? Why don’t we see them as perfect as the sentient species they are rather than valuing them for how they reflect on us?

The thing we are doing is amazing already. Working with horses is like a building a relationship with an alien, it’s finding an uncharted language and starting a new culture. Why would we want horses to be more like humans when they give us the chance to do the extraordinary? We would do better to be more interested in their differences, rather than similarities to us.

I have a passionate love of horses, but I would no more let a horse mug/groom/maul me than let him eat an entire fifty-pound bag of grain. No more let a horse nibble my fingers or shove me with his nose than I would let him loose to graze next to a freeway.

Rant over. Let’s talk boundaries. Do you know your horse’s? Do you listen to his calming signals? Are you aware of your own boundaries? Do you engage in mutual mugging sometimes, and at other times, do you punish him for being fussy and not standing still? Can you even tell who’s in whose space or do you pretend it’s always your horse’s fault?

Most of us have been taught to plant our feet and demand the horse “respect us” and step back. We shake ropes or poke them with fingers, all the while being within a foot or two of the horse. Notice that deer-in-the-headlights look on your horse? He can’t tell if you’re going to whack him or kiss his snout. He has anxiety because you’re in his space giving contradictory cues. “Who is she today? Am I in trouble?”

A horse does get a moment to sniff, but we should step back. People joke that their horse has no concept of personal space. He’s a prey animal, that’s ridiculous. It’s you that he’s confused about.

The reason that our consistency is important is not so we can become feared dominators, it’s because consistency is a kindness, just like respecting his space. If your horse shows you signs of anxiety, and stoic horses do that quietly, then work to alleviate that anxiety.

If the two of you are in each other’s space, give him a quiet cue to step back, but you take a step back as well. Let him feel the release of you moving from his space and see how much easier it is for him to think when he literally has room. Reward him and then stop putting him in this spot. It’s why some horses are better in the saddle than on the ground, oddly, we’re more out of their space sitting spine to spine.

You say your horse starts it by wanting to be close? Often the things we think of as cute or funny are calming signals showing conflicted stress that we exacerbate by cooing and mistaking for affection. Just because he seems to ask for it, must we oblige? Are we second-class citizens without a vote in our partnership? In the same way that we wouldn’t give a child candy when he cries, or spank him when he cries, could we instead put our love into action toward a more positive leadership that builds confidence and autonomy?

Please, stay on your feet, not just for safety but because we communicate with horses body to body, not face to face. Horses read our whole bodies, so we need movement without restriction. Fully inhabit your body by standing square and breathing deep, using situational awareness, projecting the behavior you want to inspire Trust them to read your confidence as easily as they read fear.

What do I do if the horse is coming apart? That instant when dangerous things can happen? First, I take a breath, it’s hard but I do it so slow things down. Rather than attacking my horse who’s already afraid, I make myself even larger. If he’s in a total panic, I might get his attention by making a loud sound as I get out of his space. I’m a professional, I can make myself very large. Breathing, not braced but moving my feet to hold a position of space, I exhale until he settles. Then I think of all the calming signals I missed because there were signs before it became a huge panic. Being a prey animal means everything is life or death. Did I focus on my horse or daydreaming about something foolish? Apologize for dozing off, go back to the basics, and try to do better.

Trust your horse to mimic you. Put energy into your movements; be dynamically present in your body because it’s your primary mode of communication. Be the confidence you want to see in your horse and then show off: Take pride that your horse can stand in autonomy, on his own feet, in a position of confidence and peace.

…

Anna Blake at Infinity Farm

This blog describes what we do in the Calming Signals for People clinic.

Email me at ambfarm@gmail.com for clinic hosting details or to be added to the email list.

Join us at The Barn, our online training group at annablake.com with audio, video, and weekly LiveChats.

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Photo & Poem: Let Down

 

So convinced of her isolation, she had become

its primary cause. So exhausted to chance, she

had retreated to a fine-tuned invisibility. So work-

hardened by test, she had proven she could carry

the pain. Better to be alone than a fool. Held apart

so cold lack seemed a choice instead of a failure.

Make do with less rather than feel denied of

nourishment, starved of the earth’s kinship. As

if her disease was penance for the offense of taking

up space, she surrendered her airless voice. What

would it be to let down? To choose to rescue her

own self with courage found in the merciful shade

of another, gingerly giving over her most trusted

fear without guise? What would it be to belong?

…

Anna Blake at Infinity Farm

Join us at The Barn, our online training group at annablake.com

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Does Your Horse “Respect” You?

I’m just the sort of old-fashioned cowgirl/dressage queen/dork that loves the concept of respect. Philosophically and in real life, I care more about respect than love in most situations. Love can be fickle and misguided, but respect is a sacred trust. Sadly, as a trainer and writer, I avoid using the word.

The word “respect” has been kidnapped and held against its will. It’s been bullied into being a code word for all kinds of behaviors that I, well, do not respect. Respect is a lofty ideal that has been sullied to mean domination and control, based in fear, so insecure humans can bolster their egos, making themselves right by making others wrong. It’s seeing fear in an animal and being proud that you put it there. There’s a sales pitch for this kind of training and it sounds reasonable, especially if you don’t read horses well or think they are “dumb” animals. Domination training has been around for centuries.

Some of us relate to horses when the misuse of the concept of “respect” comes up in training. We have experiences with being told to “respect” things that did not deserve respect; adults who were cruel, rules that were demeaning, philosophies that made us second class citizens. The word respect has been bruised and misused, but for compassion and equality to exist, that old-fashioned respect must be rescued. And I mean the word rescue in the abused horse sense; see it standing knee-deep in manure, malnourished with dead eyes.

Most of us carry some guilt if we were taught this approach when we started working with horses. It never felt right, but we did it, horrified by our own actions, and cowed by those who demanded we do it because, as they explained, we’d spoil the horse otherwise.

Then some of us rebelled but went too far the other way. We coo and coddle, pockets full of sweets, we encourage horses to shut down and act like stuffed toys. We collect them in different colors and smother them with a version of human love that ends up being as desperate as teen angst, living some horse-crazy fantasy that horses find demeaning and boring. We kill them with kindness thinking we are doing better but is it better “respect” if we write it in pink ink with hearts and flowers next to the word?

Most of us are works in progress, in neither extreme but trying to find our own balance and a truth that works for both us and our horses. When we know better, we can do better.

Do you notice something missing in this word debate? Horses. When we talk, it’s all about us. What we want, how horses reflect on us. Like we’re better if horses are shut down with fear in our presence. Like we are better if horses mug us like a stall toy. Half the time we’re more concerned with how our peers see us than how our horses do.

Dictionary result for respect/noun: a feeling of deep admiration for someone or something elicited by their abilities, qualities, or achievements.

Surprised? Have we had the meaning backward? Is this why some say respect can’t be demanded but must be earned? But isn’t that still all about us?

Because I respect admire horses, I make the choice to put the horse first. To lay down my selfish behaviors and really get out of my own normal insecure human ego stuff. Instead, I try to live up to horses.

Start here: Foremost, it’s my job to buy hay. It isn’t a joke, it’s a profound responsibility. In order to buy hay, I must prioritize my personal safety. I cannot let myself get hurt by my own complacency or ego. I must care for myself so I can care for my horses. Whether I’m showing off chasing my horse in a round pen, or laying on his back without a helmet, I’m disrespecting my horse if I do party tricks to impress people. Just to stir it up, one more:

Dictionary result for self-respect/noun: pride and confidence in oneself; a feeling that one is behaving with honor and dignity.

Does it make you want to straighten your shoulders and take a breath? Maybe go less with the jokes that demean the two of you? A horse understands the sarcastic tone if not the words. It’s time to bring the best of ourselves to our horses, to up our conversation to inspire them rather than share a co-dependent dysfunctional relationship. We can show our respect for horses by asking some hard questions of ourselves.

Do we respect a horse’s language by learning it or by name-calling him in our language?

Do we respect a horse’s way of life by managing his care as close to natural as we can or by not inconveniencing ourselves?

Do we respect a horse’s intelligence by giving him autonomy or by dumbing him down to our lowest caricature?

It is just like man’s vanity and impertinence to call an animal dumb because it is dumb to his dull perceptions.  ~Mark Twain. 

Do horses respect us? No, they answer us honestly. And the old cowboy standard: Does your horse respect your space? I think a better question is do you respect his?

I won’t make a joke out of our relationships with horses because I respect admire them too much. The real question is can we humans behave with honor and dignity?

…

Anna Blake at Infinity Farm

Join us at The Barn, our online training group at annablake.com

Email ambfarm@gmail.com for clinic hosting details or to be added to the email list.

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Photo & Poem: Finding Voice

 

“Curiosity is a sign of courage,” she

said, hushing my correction. Bright

praise for my colt chasing her dog

along a fence line. That colt grew

old and died, funeral respect gladly

paid to a fine mentor, and now that

mortality hangs around my ankles,

I’ve grown stubborn, looking both

ways before ranting, not from false

deference to thin youth or the fits of

temper from old men. Just a pause

to find the ground solid under worn

hooves, long ears lean back to rest

as the whiskery muzzle lifts level

to let loose a bray joining generations

of wisdom in the sage woman’s voice.

…

Anna Blake at Infinity Farm

Join us at annablake.com and on Facebook.

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Calming Signals and Ambivalent Horses.

Humans are impatient worriers. On the high side, it means we care but we want to know everything immediately. Perhaps a predator way of thinking; we’re always on the hunt, stalking the perceptions that elude us. The more we chase, the more understanding hides. We crave control and we’re better at fighting than waiting.

Gaining a depth of understanding takes vulnerable self-examination and as much time as it takes. We lose some balance, running the no man’s land between trying to not demand an outcome and giving up needing one. Because we think too much, we have no solid footing but in affirmative training, there we are, always trying to get horses to do what we want, worried that we are not important to them. Sometimes we think so hard that we can’t breathe.

We’re listening for calming signals, the body language of horses. The term is deceptive. With our predatory desire to control things, we hope it means there is a signal, maybe a hand sign or a verbal cue, that calms a horse like holding a chicken upside down. Can you imagine how rich I would be if I could teach that? There are trainers who lay claim to that technique, but to great damage to the will of the horse.

Listening is what we do when we choose to question our predatory nature.

We owe so much to dogs and their people. All of our insights into calming signals started in the dog world with Turid Rugaas’ book, On Talking Terms with Dogs: Calming Signals, and they are ahead of us still. To our credit, horses do require a bit more from us than a dog. Our feet must let loose of the ground. Riding is an equine trapeze act: We fly in the air between strides, trusting horses to catch us.

A defensive rider will kill the horse’s crucial rhythm, so we surrender to the gait and try to find the power in letting go and listening. Affirmative training is counterintuitive, we show strength by the actions we don’t take.

We’re mental. Horses are experiential. When they greet us by sniffing our hands, we’re certain they’re seeking some magical bond, but what if they’re just curious about a smell on our gloves?

Listening is the dynamic action of taking ourselves out of our over-controlling mind and into the realm of our senses.

Horses communicate their anxiety, their Calming Signals, in a couple of ways. Appeasement behavior is directed at another; One seeks to pacify the aggression of another by taking an inferior or submissive stance, such as foals champing around adult horses. “I’m not hurting you, please don’t hurt me.” When we are fast or loud, we might get this sort of answer.

Displacement behavior is self-directed or away from the other; Such as nose rubbing, lick-and-chew, or yawning, displayed when there’s a mental conflict about how to proceed. “I feel anxiety, I’m uncomfortable.” This type is harder to read.

He’s curious about what’s ahead but nervous to leave the group. He wants to please but is cautious about the bridge. He’s weighing the sides, he needs time to think and make a choice. Horses are ambivalent.

Ambivalence is a confusing word. I thought it was a kind of apathy, but it’s actually a call to action. That changes everything. Ambivalence is defined as having mixed feelings or contradictory ideas about something or someone.

Synonyms include: uncertain, unsure, doubtful, indecisive, irresolute, in two minds, undecided, unresolved, in a dilemma, on the horns of a dilemma, in a quandary, on the fence,  contradictory, clashing; confused, muddled, vague, hazy, unclear, blowing hot and cold.

Horses might give a calming signal because they need a minute to consider their options, and when the definition of ambivalence is right there, it’s easier to understand their situation, isn’t it? A horse needs time to take a cue because this is the cusp of confidence. They’re on the brink of mental overwhelm and it can go either way. If we take a breath here, it cues the same for him. A horse that reasons his options and thinks is a partner; a horse who’s careful gets fewer injuries and becomes trustworthy.

But it’s natural for predators like us to push. We want to control the outcome, but did you have an emotional reaction to the list of ambivalence synonyms? Was it easy to relate to the awkwardness? Of course, because the learning process makes humans ambivalent, too. In our attempt to understand, we worry that we ask too much or too little or just the wrong way. We worry the horse is distracted or confused and then we become distracted and confused. It’s the ambivalent leading the ambivalent.

Perhaps understanding what’s at stake for the horse will give our predatory thinking something more to chew on, as we pause to acknowledge our own uncomfortable ambivalence.

Breathing through it is the miracle cure. It calms our own anxiety while giving the horse time to earn the confidence of choice. We must find a way to let those moments of uncertainty and decision making run their course without correction. When we hurry a horse to a cue, we’re telling him to not reason it out, but instead, surrender as a prey animal to our superior predator intellect. Will that encourage him to confidently volunteer his best effort?

Listening with patience is a hard skill to embrace, especially for a human who wants to resolve their own anxiety, but recognizing that feeling in ourselves can give us a chance to show some grace, to the horse as well as ourselves.

Indeed, calming signals are more complex and important than any hand signal or voice cue. It’s the actual stuff that trust and reliability are made of. Is it necessary to understand each calming signal a horse gives or is it enough to not increase their anxiety by adding our own? What if it was okay for now if both of you are confused but willing to try?

About now you might remember to breathe, but it’s hard to do. Mindful breathing means we let the discomfort hang in the air, that we allow someone else the option of resolving the question. If we let go of our predator control, can a horse release some of his prey anxiety? Could mutual calming signals be a conversational path to trust?

…

Anna Blake at Infinity Farm

Join us at annablake.com and on Facebook.

Email ambfarm@gmail.com for clinic hosting details or to be added to the email list.

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Photo & Poem: Her Return

 

Lawn chairs got tossed, doors banged and

windows rattled. She came back late,

maybe even drunk. When I ventured out

just before sun up, the ground was damp,

small twigs and branches littered the picnic

table. A surprising barrage of bird chatter;

it’s been so quiet without them the last months

but they were back, a hundred to a tree.

Dirty snow drifts oozed muck through messy

pens. Crack! A bolt of wind slapped the side

of the barn, hay scattered from feeders, and

eyes wild, the horses galloped manure into

mud. Spooked and not ready to drop back

to eating, they spun ‘round toward an unseen

predator behind them, seconds of stillness,

in the next instant bolting frantic again,

even the oldest gelding lifted to a ragged trot.

Spring returned to our farm, loud and rude, in

a rickety pickup wash-boarding down our dirt

road, insistent on having her brazen way with us.

…

Anna Blake at Infinity Farm

Join us at Relaxed & Forward Tribe, Intl., with Anna Blake Our 2019 clinic schedule is filling. Email ambfarm@gmail.com for hosting details or to be added to the email list.

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Change: A Virtual* Barn Raising!

No, I’m not building a real barn. That would be easy. I’m handy with tools and I’ve been known to use my truck in some unusually creative ways. This new barn is different. It’s a “website with an online membership group” but I think it’ll be more comfortable if I just call it The Barn. Most of us are a little spooked by technology but we’re always looking for more time with the horses. We’ve been running off to the barn for as long as we remember.

Online programs are not a revolutionary idea; I have trainer-friends who use them beautifully. And I’ve also seen some that have ended up confusing people and damaging horses. Most intimidating where the programs with years of content, like a huge library a reader could get lost in. It would take a good while to build that kind of backlog, is it too late to even take on such a task?

But over time, enough of you have asked me for videos, or emailed me questions that I’ve stayed up late answering, or asked me how to go forward with my Relaxed & Forward training approach after attending clinics, that I think it’s time. One thing I know about horses is that no matter how much we’ve accomplished, there’s always more challenge up ahead. Horses are the perfect antidote to a complacent mind or any possible retirement.

My plan to build the perfect program didn’t start well. I bought a microphone with a wind cover that looked too much like a dead squirrel and scared the horses. I trashed a few tripods that apparently hadn’t been tested in prairie wind and got even more sand in my camera than usual. On an up-note, I almost succeeded in learning to use editing software without becoming a daytime drinker. For those of you who have been reading along for years, now you’ll hear my actual voice. I’m told I sound just like myself.

Weirdest of all, I asked for help. Aren’t most of us better at offering a hand than asking for one?

So, after gathering ideas I’d been pondering, I asked friends and clients for their thoughts and inspiration for The Barn. That’s when it really caught fire; I’m so grateful to all of you for the input. Finally, I hired help to cobble all the ideas together.

“Do we really need one more online horse training program?” In a word, no. Horses are perfect.

On the human side, there is always more to learn. We’re on the cusp of a new understanding of communicating with horses that’s incredibly exciting. Science is proving what affirmative trainers have believed for centuries; we’ve put too much importance on dominance training methods. Horses are intelligent and we’ve underrated the need for our own flexibility and spontaneity. Just like classical trainers have always said, it’s us that need to change.

Join the barn if

you believe training is a creative process.
you want inspiration from a group of like-minded horse people.
you eventually want to know everything about horses, especially if it takes a whole lifetime.

Wouldn’t it be ironic if, after industrialization put horses out of work, technology might circle around and improve their lives? Well, that’s my hope. Change happens when enough of us come together advocating best practices in the care and training of horses.

But change is that thing we desire and fear in equal parts. I’ve heard from so many of you worried that there will be a loss, that my blog will disappear, or that I’ll go off the deep end and start selling gimmicks. We’ve all seen people change as businesses grow, and what attracted us to them in the first place gets dumbed down to mass appeal mediocrity.

From a Reader: “I am so sad that you are succumbing to the way that everyone else is going (online training programs). I always thought of you as marching to the beat of a different drummer, not one of the masses. One of the very unique things about you is that you are (well, now were) different, old school in a good way, personal.”

Dear Reader, I love this comment and you know that I appreciate bluntness. Thank you for your honesty. And yes, I do march to a different beat. (Some call it having bad boundaries.) I take pride in that and I have no intention of changing. Why would I? I get such confidence from the horses I work with that I actually think I’m charting a new course rather than following others on a repetitive path. But keep an eye peeled and let me know how I do.

Most of you know me from reading my blog. Nothing there is changing, it will post twice a week ongoing. They will have to pry my keyboard from my cold, dead hands. I won’t stop and the blog will always continue to be free to all. I made that deal with a special horse, to pay a debt I owe. He’s the first thing you see on the new website but if you want a little more than the blog, make your way to The Barn page. Be warned; we expect you to pitch in and help.

annablake.com

…

Anna Blake at Infinity Farm

Horse Advocate, Author, Clinician, Equine Pro

Find us at annablake.com and  Relaxed & Forward Tribe, Intl., with Anna Blake

Our 2019 clinic schedule is filling. Email ambfarm@gmail.com for hosting details or to be added to the email list.

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Barn Raising this Friday!

We’re making some upgrades, remodeling the website, and adding on a new “Barn”. We’ll go dark for a few days and then be back on Friday, Feb.1st.

Until then, you can find me on Facebook at Anna Blake, Relaxed & Forward Training, and Relaxed & Forward Tribe, Intl., with Anna Blake.

Edgar Rice Burro, generally conservative in all things and not a fan of change, is marginally excited. I’m galloping in circles with my tail flagged. Yay.

…

Anna Blake at Infinity Farm
Horse Advocate, Author, Clinician, Equine ProBlog/FB/Email/Author/FB/Tweet/Amazon

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Forward: Give Him His Head

Give him his head. You know what it means in the horse racing world and what it means in the human world. I’m talking about a new, more literal, definition.

First, to catch up, you were concerned that your horse wasn’t forward. Because you know pain is almost always the reason, you had your vet out. If you’re certain your horse is sound, but you think he’s lazy, then it might be your own backside. Are you sure? That brings us to what your horse wanted me to say in the first place. It’s your elbows.

Will you be my demo horse? People always make the best demo horses because we aren’t as stoic as the real thing. I’m just going to stand next to you and hold onto your ear. Hands in your pockets, please, and trot out! Go! Cluck-cluck. Not really pushing from behind, are you? Cluck-cluck. Not much over-step, old girl. Pick up the pace. Cluck, cluck, kick. Can-ter! Can-ter! (It could be worse, you could be carrying me on your back and I could have my hand in your mouth.)

Does being my demo horse make you want to pull away. Counter-bend is very bad, so I’ll pull your ear a bit closer, like an inside rein. And now you toss your head? I’ll need to tighten my grip while pulling your ear then. With your shoulders locked in your pockets and your neck braced against me, why aren’t you forward? Enough anxiety to want to run away, why don’t you just relax? Because the more tense you get, the more I must hold tight. It’s human nature. You need to relax that poll. Maybe if I supple you with my inside rein.

Pull, twist, cluck, resist.

Soul-killing to be my demo horse? Don’t stop riding; fix your hands. And by that, I mean your elbows. Not a problem for you because you ride western? If you have rope reins and slobber straps, the weight they add to the bit means continual contact, regardless of your hands. If you ride on a slack rein, but then grab or correct, that’s not more gentle to threaten. Do you ride in a rope halter? It’s no accident those knots in the noseband are positioned over nerve bundles on your horse’s face. Is your horse’s head still because of a leverage bit? That just makes your hands even louder. Really, it’s your hands.

Here is the crazy part; if you have a problem with your hands, it’s really your seat. When a horse is moving freely forward, gliding in a fluid forward gait, his poll is relaxed, his head in a naturally good position, and his balance restored. Horses were designed to move, and over-controlling hands restrict the natural movement. It alters his balance back to front, tail to nose. You feel that, once you think bigger than me pinching your ear, right? You can feel your feet uncertain on the ground.

Now, dear demo horse, I’ll let go of your ear. Pull your hands out of your pockets. Feel your spine gently compensate for each weight shift of a step. Feel yourself naturally breathe within the stride, as your ribs massage your lungs. Is your poll softer? Let the rhythm of the stride make you stronger, feel the glide of perpetual motion. Effortless, more ground covered with less energy. Swing your arms, body moving in balance. Autonomy, while dancing with another individual.

Give him his head. Being fussy doesn’t mean he’ll run off, he needs to get air into his lungs and blood to his brain, he needs to use his poll. Literally, let him hold his own head, give him the autonomy to find his own balance. You know it’s true because when he runs in the pasture, his head position is perfect. Trying to recreate that under saddle must be done by his free movement, too. Balance can’t be gimicked with tack or hand control. It’s all in his push from his hind, and the rider staying out of the way.

Do you ever feel like you have to think of a million things at once in the saddle? Your horse has a solution. “Just think of one thing at a time.” He says, “You’re welcome.”

Start here: Warm your horse up on a neck ring. If you ride on a long rein, it’s not enough, your horse will tell you. A rein uses leverage on a weak area and a neck ring ignores the face entirely and asks the shoulder to move. Walk on, his head totally free to balance himself, warming up muscles with just one directive. One thing at a time. Just forward. Too close to the rail? Forward. Stuck in a corner or at the mounting block? Forward. Spaced-out rider? Forward and breathe.

When time has passed and you are both warmed up from walking forward without restriction and reversing and arcing in both directions, pick up your reins to a length where the neck ring connects with his shoulder before the bit does in his mouth.

We aren’t correcting anything right now, just feeling. Ride for five minutes with your elbows pressed to your waist. Look at his poll as you actually feel the grip of your upper arms on your side. What happens to your body? How does it impact your horse?

Then use your hands to catch the slack in the reins but follow the movement of his neck. Would that mean your elbows moving back slightly? Just feel it for five minutes. No corrections; listen to your body. Watch your horse.

Check in with your hands. Are your wrists kinked in some weird way? Straighten them, thumbs up.

Now position your elbows slightly in front, just above the point of your pelvic bone. So, your hands would be in front of your saddle. This time watch your horse’s poll and allow your hands to float forward with his poll. Almost as if your hands could push his neck to be longer. Five minutes, please.

Check in with your hands. Do they feel ignored? Perfect.

Did you notice that the movement in his neck is a different rhythm than his footfalls? Were there moments in the stride when the reins slacked and tightened? That’s what your horse doesn’t like about your elbows. Were there moments when he reached farther with his stride because your elbows extended in a way that encouraged him forward?

Contact should feel like a long rein to the horse. Contact must follow the natural movement in his spine, encouraging him forward, requiring our contact to be elastic and giving. But hands are not elastic, your horse will be the first to tell you. Rather than raising your horse’s anxiety, use your own self-awareness to understand his needs. Light elastic contact starts in your elbows.

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Anna Blake at Infinity Farm
Horse Advocate, Author, Clinician, Equine ProBlog/FB/Email/Author/FB/Tweet/Amazon

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