The Importance of Self-Awareness

How aware are you of your mood, emotions and your body language? The horse has an extensive range of vision, having his eyes well positioned on either side of his head. He is extremely sensitive to tension and will detect instantly any signs of stress from any living creature within his range. Horses quickly perceive our state of mind and they are very tuned into our positive or negative ‘energy.’ They respond immediately to our calmness or our stressed and ‘uptight’ body stance.

I have learnt much about the language of the herd from my stallions, particularly Delfin who has the sensitivity and intelligence of an equine professor! Our body language can give many mixed messages to the horse. If we walk into a stable hastily, marching towards the horse with an arrogant stance, he will immediately feel tense and threatened. If we are looking to work with a calm horse, who wishes to interact with us, then we need to be ‘body aware’ from the moment we enter the stable. When we walk steadily and calmly, breathing in a relaxed way, the horse will sense our mood and respond with a more confident attitude. When you relax your shoulders and lower the stance of your body with deep outward sigh, you will immediately send signals of tranquility to your horse. He will become your mirror.

We need to be consistent; when training horses as in this way he can more easily understand our feelings and trust our leadership. When the horse tries to barge into our personal space, this should not be allowed and we must use our body language and energy to reclaim our personal space. Our horse will want to please us, if we have gained his trust and in this way our connection can progress, giving firm, kind and consistent leadership.

Let us look at how we can use self-awareness to connect with our horse whilst working him from the ground. I use loose work to connect with my horses but it is not always possible to work at liberty as you will need a safe, enclosed arena. Training on a lunge line can be very effective and similar body language can be used, as in the loose work.

GOALS FOR LUNGEING

• An opportunity to introduce the young horse to the bridle, roller or saddle and side reins.

• To prepare the horse mentally and physically for ridden work

• To teach the horse to accept instruction and connect with our leadership, breathing and body language.

• To teach the horse to work on circles to assist his rhythm, cadence and balance (self-carriage)

• A method of warming-up for horses of all ages and levels of training.

• An opportunity to observe the horse for any signs of stiffness or lameness and also assess his mood for the day.

WORK ON THE LUNGE
I often lunge using only a head collar and a lunge line as I find the horse will tune into my body language with no further tack required. However, until you feel confident, you can use a cavesson, placed over a snaffle bridle. The side reins can be attached from the rings of the snaffle bit, to a roller or a saddle. I normally commence a session of lungeing without the side-reins so the horse can work without restriction, enjoying a little joie-de-vivre.. However, if natural exuberance is taken too far, use soft tones to encourage the horse to calm and steady the pace. Short vibrations on the lunge line, with your wrist, will ask the horse to become more attentive.
Work the horse, for just a few minutes on the left rein, and then repeat the exercise to the right, before introducing the side reins. After a few minutes of work without side reins, the horse should settle into a more regular rhythmic trot.
When the horse is working correctly on the circle, the contact can be light, allowing the horse to experience lightness and self-carriage within a natural balance.

SIDE-REINS
When introducing the side-reins to a young horse we would normally only fit the outside rein – fairly loosely. When the horse begins to accept this rein and relaxes his neck into a contact (not away from it), we can then fit the inside rein. This process normally eliminates the resistance that two side- reins can produce at first. This restriction can cause fear and the horse can express this by rearing up, or leaping to avoid the contact.
When the horse is ready for both side reins, the outside side rein can be about two holes longer than the inside rein, to allow the horse to stretch, when working on a circle. When fitting the side reins, the head of the horse should be in front of the vertical line and the side reins should be long enough to accept this frame. I usually keep the side reins a couple of holes longer to encourage the horse to work into the contact, without feeling too much restriction. In this way he can more naturally seek his self-carriage.

When a horse takes the first step forward, the first part of his body to move is his head and neck. Therefore we must allow him to feel comfortable within his movement. A feeling of restriction may suppress his desire to move forwards with enthusiasm and confidence.

BODY LANGUAGE FOR LUNGE WORK
Your body language used in loose work and lungeing is focused towards pushing the horse away and directing your energy towards the area behind his shoulders. Stand in the centre of the school, with your whip in your right hand and your horse looking to move on the left rein. Take a deep breathe inwards and then as you breathe out deeply, at the same moment, move your body towards your horse.
Your right shoulder should be directed behind the inside shoulder of the horse. Take a step towards the horse, directing your breathing and body energy towards him. Your outward breath and a voice command may be used to instigate forward movement. Use your lowered whip behind the horse, just trailing behind in a passive way, unless you need to re-enforce your aids.

After several walk strides you can ask the horse to move forwards into trot, by taking a deep inward breath.. On the strong outward breath give the ‘t-rot’ command and encourage him with your body energy directed towards him. Re-enforce with voice and whip if necessary. It only requires this sequence of aids to be repeated a few times for the outward breath alone to trigger the upward transitions.
Once the horse is trotting energetically forwards on the circle, maintain your position, until you want him to walk. Then, slow down your own walk and take a deep breath inwards. This will re-balance and steady your own body position and your horse will learn to mirror your body language and come down into walk himself.

When you finish the lesson, bring your horse to halt and just relax your shoulders and give a deeper sigh. He will mirror your calmness and sigh himself. This releases all his tension and you finish the lesson with a relaxed horse and handler.
It is possible to learn this system of communication, with no previous experience and allow your horse to be both teacher and pupil. Observe his responses to your body language, there is much to learn and enjoy.

When we can teach this calm attitude on the lunge it will become easier to gain a similar response from the horse under saddle. He will gain confidence from the connection you build from the ground which will help the ridden work to be more relaxed. When the horse has calm energy, his head and neck will lower as a result of the hind limbs propelling his energy forward, through the spine. When the strides are lacking impulsion , his head will naturally come up. In this way we can look for the correct type of ‘relaxed energy’ we will need for our training both in lunge work and also under saddle.

Energy borne of instigating the fear and flight instinct will be stilted and tense with a more rigid back. The head and neck will be up in the air and the horse will look anxious. Training is about teaching the horse to listen and become energetic and joyful in his work.

If we can connect with our horse from the ground we are already building a good foundation in preparation for ridden work. We are on our journey of teaching and learning – learning to listen to our horse.