Time is the horse's.... not the rider's

I have just started to “try” Pilates and yoga stretches with at home video. The first day, all I could do was laugh. Although it was a workout for beginners, I could not do anything the woman was doing in the video. The next day, I felt so stiff and sore. The more consistent I stay with these suppling exercises, the more comfortable I feel and look forward to the daily stretches. 

Of course, I was thinking about horses while I was attempting the “beginner “workout. What was considered a lower level of stretching was really hard, somewhat painful and uncomfortable for someone like me.

I compared it to Dressage riders that demand the horse to be in a “frame” rushing the horse forward to create a bigger movement. Then there’s the rider who wants to rush the horse through the levels of the Dressage tests. If you are expecting to train at a higher level before you have acquired suppleness, balance, and strength. Dressage movements were meant to be a therapeutic, gymnasticize, form of training. 

Rushing through the levels without acquiring the suggestions of the training scale ruins horses physically and emotionally. The look of a shut down, submissive horse to the rider’s demands, is the result of the rider’s ego, not the horse's understanding.   

Understanding functional movement will give you the skills and harmony to increase your horse's performance.  

Going back to my comical workout, what if someone was forcing me to get my nose to my knees, or whatever else the instructor did so easily in the video. That type of muscle strain before I was ready would make me never ever want to do that again. Horses learn in the same way, Comfort vs. Pain. Sometimes we need to help the horse through their protective muscle compensations, but this needs to be a slow process of reeducating muscle memory with suppling exercises. Ignoring the signs of communication from the horse ruins the relationship. The horse suddenly does not want to be caught, or acts out under saddle with anxious behavior, or submits until there’s physical signs of stress, including lameness. 

These are usually the type of horses that come to me to be “fixed.” My horses that I work with are a testament of my training…not ribbons and awards. I am educated in true biomechanics of the horse's physiology. Using the horse's physique as a map to what could be creating discomfort. This always comes after a full medical evaluation from a veterinarian. 

Just like the title of Mark Rashid’s book, horses never lie.

Are you using a self-gaining timeline or training with strategies that preserve the horses physical and emotional wellbeing?

Before ...

After... how did muscle changes help this horse's behavior? Guide the horse to comfort, suppleness and balance.

Happy, relaxed horse and rider.

" When knowledge ceases, force commences."

• Charles De Kunffy