The Physical Adaptation Process

Do you think your horse is an athlete?

Horses are less physically adept at performing tasks than one might expect. They all have the same balance and muscle conditioning problems that any athlete experiences, but at the same time they are also unable to always communicate these issues.

A horse can only do what it is physically able to do.

With my training, riding and teaching the conditioning of the horse is key.

The horse generally understands what it is supposed to be doing well before it is physically able to do it. This is where a horse can get frustrated with itself and its’ rider - the same way we can be frustrated when, for example, our instructor is telling us to do something, we know what we are supposed to do, but we can't coordinate it. 

The dressage training scale is designed to develop the horse’s ability for self carriage throughout the levels.

If you look at a dressage test, the movements in each level are the movements needed to develop the quality of self carriage required for that particular level. For example 20m circles trot and canter (done correctly) develop the quality needed for a working trot and canter in a preliminary test. 15m circles trot and canter, leg yield and lengthen are needed to develop the quality of working trot and canter needed for a novice test. Shoulder in and travers, medium trot and canter and 10m circles trot and canter are needed to develop the collection for elementary - and so on and so forth. In this way we use and focus on the quality of the execution of exercises to develop the required self carriage for the horse. 

Generally speaking, it takes 6-8 weeks for the horse to develop coordination and balance to the exercise, 3-4 months for the muscles to develop, and 6-12 months for the bone and ligament density to peak.

When we rush the horse’s development, we can end up with many issues (aside from the mental and emotional aspects) that impact its’ ability to continue to work at a higher level. We may find the horse seeking ‘cheating’ avenues, such as dropping the shoulder or twisting the pelvis, in an attempt to create the exercises that we, the rider, are demanding. In this action, we actually increase the likelihood of our horse becoming injured, disabled and no longer suited to riding.

Allowing the time for the horse to be able to truly develop physical ensures a safer and more successful journey for you both.

Enrol in the Green To Self Carriage Program today to progress your horse through the steps of healthy, balanced physical and mental development.

The Art Of Dressage

Perfecting your seat is the true art of dressage.

• Understanding your aids,

• Developing a 2 way conversation and

• Conditioning your horse to be an athlete

All of these play a vital role in dressage - but when we think about dressage as a dance of the horse and rider, it really all comes down to your seat.

In the beginning of our riding careers, our aids are big, loud and obvious so that they are clear to our horse that that is what they should be responding to and how. Resistance from our horse is their way of teaching us where there are gaps in their training or conditioning and they also are big and loud in the beginning or if we haven’t been listening.

Slowly over time, we refine these aids to be so subtle that others can’t see them. The body of the rider and the body of the horse unite in one fluid, dynamic movement.

This doesn’t mean that we don’t move. If you think about 2 dancers dancing together and one was just standing still it would be pretty silly. It means that the horse is cued in and understands the lightest touch of the leg or squeeze of the rein but also, and more importantly, the action and the movement of the seat.

The seat describes:

• direction,

• angle,

• shape,

• how long or short to make the stride,

• how quick or slow,

• what pace they should be in,

• how much lift,

• how much ground coverage,

• to rebalance,

• to get ready for something different or

• to execute a change in movement.

To achieve this subtly in our training, our foundations have to be so solid.

The horse has to know how to learn, how to tune into a cue but to really get this quality, our horse needs to enjoy moving and enjoy its job. If we take our time with our development, training and connection in the beginning they can easily move forward in the training scale and execute the more difficult exercises with grace and ease when they are enjoying the dance.

Develop your horse’s foundations and your seat by enrolling as a student in the Green to Self Carriage Online Training Course

Why Does My Horse Feel So Heavy?

Do you feel like your horse leans on the bit, is heavier for a half halt, pulls through the bit or snatches it when you’re trying to ride a downward transition or rebalance the stride?

Your horse may be missing a vital piece to the puzzle that is his education: The rein back.

Rein back can be one of those exercises that people really struggle to get under saddle because they don’t understand how to teach it - so it doesn’t get taught.

Maybe you’ve tried? Pulled the reins, wiggled your bum a little maybe even attempted the leg aids and all you successfully taught was the horse to toss its head or snatch the bit. So rather than make things worse you gave up. “Oh well don’t need that any way... right?”

Well it may surprise you that you do need that rein back!! Especially if you’re struggling to get a square halt, a half halt or even steady head carriage and seeking the bit.

The rein back has an important role in the foundations of your horses training. It gets them thinking “sit” and “transfer weight onto the haunches” from bit pressure which is, in essence, engagement.

It is also important for head carriage.

Green to Self Carriage takes you through the process of developing your rein back to develop engagement, along with more exercises to develop true self carriage.

A true frame and self carriage (therefore head carriage) is directly related to the softness and flexion of the hind legs and hocks. The reins don’t control where the head is, they control how much flexion is through the joints of the hind quarters. This in turn influences the amount of roundness through the neck and crest.

A horse that just flexes away from the bit without getting into the haunches cannot develop an uphill action and will be working on the forehand and not able to half halt.

So before you give up on that rein back, think about all the flow on affects the exercise has on the horses understanding of the rein aids and how to use its body. And its actually really easy to teach if we start with using it on the ground first and then transfer to under saddle.

Get step-by-step tutorials in the Green to Self Carriage online program!

My 2 Cents On Clicker Training...

Let me start this with we 100% love and support the use of positive reinforcement in our training.

Used with clear, consistent boundaries, it can help our horses learn by giving them a stronger motivation, help them enjoy the learning process more, help maintain our relationship throughout the training process and can just make hanging out together more fun and less work. And that is the concept that clicker training is based upon.

You can achieve the same result with the Trainability Program as you can with clicker training - without any extra equipment.

Horses seem to be the only animals where positive reinforcement (i.e. treats and pats) is routinely considered a big no-no. But when you look at all the zoo animals that use clicker training, (elephants, seals etc), the argument against it seems to really not make much sense at all.

The problem with clicker training, however, is the limitation of the actual clicker.

You need to use the clicker to mark the behaviour that you want, but aren’t most of us marking the behaviour already when we say good boy/good girl? Or when we give the horse a break for doing well?

We all know that horse that stops dead in its tracks because you said “good”. Some of us are even marking the incorrect behaviour by releasing pressure for the incorrect behaviour or if the horse is scaring us or bullying us.

The first time I tried to “charge” the clicker with the exercise as per clicker training, I realised my horse already knew these exercises and I had other cues and vocals/noises that not only reinforced the correct behaviour but also corrected the behaviour I didn’t want.

I think the application of clicker training can teach a lot of people how to better interact with their horses.

It teaches the horse to seek the answer, not get frustrated by the process and stay curious about their learning. All of which are important when it comes to creating a positive relationship with our horse that wants to please and is willing. But this can all be done without the clicker, and instead with vocal cues and body language.

So while clicker training is a great concept, it is only a new process applied to the positive reinforcement techniques we should practice and know for our horses. When you work with positive reinforcement to help your horse become more trainable, you eliminate the need for gimmicky or extra tools.

Would you like to learn the concept of true Trainability skills? Click here!

Is My Horse Nasty?

If your horse has been acting out you can find yourself contacting industry professionals to try and rule out why.

Quite often I see people ask one professional, who comes back with no there’s nothing wrong with your horse - and yet the behaviour continues. It leaves you thinking you have a dud horse that’s just nasty.

Different professionals see different problems in your horse based on their experience and what they specialise in. Just because one professional couldn’t find the problem doesn’t mean there isn’t one and you shouldn’t keep digging. Sometimes you even need to ask for a second opinion within the same profession.

If you are asking yourself, “what is wrong with my horse” then you need to run through the following list:

• Does the saddle fit well?

• How is the horses teeth/mouth?

• Does the horse like the bit you are using, does it fit?

• Is the tack rubbing uncomfortably?

• Could it be ulcers?

• Are they on the right feed?

• Has the vet ruled out underlying issues?

• Is my horse sore?

The “is my horse sore” is a complex issue to deal with.

All horses have some kind of discomfort from being ridden. The threshold for the level of pain or discomfort the horse feels is completely dependent on its own unique personality. I’ve worked with some horses that you would think should be in a lot of pain from their past injuries and yet they are perfectly behaved, and other horses that are slightly uncomfortable about being ridden and yet complain loudly.

This is why the correct conditioning of the horse is a key component of our horses’ trainability.

They have to be able to hold our weight within the limitations of the tack and move elegantly, freely and boldly, but without making us nervous and uncomfortable. It’s a bit of a big ask right?

Our horses are athletes and as such will require the same support that Olympic coaches put into their athletes. It is why we should put such an emphasis on correct musculoskeletal development, allowing our horse to communicate its’ needs back to us, and getting additional manipulation support by someone with a good reputation whether chiro, massage or acupuncture.

Treat your horse like the athlete he or she truly is - enrol in our Green to Self Carriage program today!

Is Your Horse Bridle Lame?

Is your horse perfectly sound on the ground when lunging (no muscle soreness, nothing picked up by the vet, chiro, masseuse or acupuncturist), but as soon as you start riding, it’s lame?

It could be saddle fit, but it could also be bridle lame.

A bridle lame horse is sound on the ground, in the paddock and the saddle fit is fine. There’s no heat, no issues with the hooves or abscesses, looks fine and not muscle sore. The lameness only shows up when ridden and looks to be somewhere in the front end.

A horse becomes bridle lame when it has become restricted in movement due to bridle pressure. This can be because they aren’t stepping through properly underneath themselves from behind. It can be because they aren’t extending properly through the shoulder. It can also be from tightness through the neck and jaw, or some combination of all the above. It usually is the result of being asked for a frame before they are ready.

The working frame should be the result of good self carriage.

However, due to the emphasis put on the overall frame and picture in competitions, this process can be rushed and compromised for the marks. When the horse is worked from front to back instead of from the hind to the hand, it doesn’t learn how to move freely within the restriction of the frame, doesn’t distribute its weight evenly and doesn’t engage the core. Instead they will load their weight into one shoulder more than the other - and in some horses this can make them look lame. This results in an irregularity of the stride which short term make them look lame, but long term ridden like this will MAKE THEM lame.

The only way to correct this before permanent damage is done is to take their training back down the training scale and retrain them back into true self carriage. The complication to this is the fact that the horse has already been incorrectly trained to respond to a particular cue (put your head into a frame without engaging the core or distributing the weight equally through all four limbs), and you are now tasked with re-teaching these cues, allowing the horse to first learn to flex through the hind legs, lift through the core before placing its head into the frame.

And the only way to prevent Bridle Lameness is to train them correctly in the first place, no matter how long it takes.

Would you like to know more about our Green to Self Carriage training course, which takes you through all the very early training stages for your horse up to the development of self carriage? We are looking for Beta-Testers - click here!

Starting Again

There are many reasons why we need to start our horse over.

Pregnancy…

Injury…

Family commitments…

Holidays…

and the list goes on.

After an extended break, or sometimes even a relatively short break, you will probably find your horse cannot immediately work at the same level you left them at.

This may create feelings of guilt, annoyance, frustration, anger, or even inadequacy.

I get it because I am there right now.

After the loss of multiple family members and ongoing injuries with Custard (the gods, or whichever diety you choose to place your faith in, have a wicked sense of humour at times), I haven’t been able to work him properly for more than 6 months. And even before I feel confident with starting him again under saddle, I have had multiple professionals assessing and supporting his physical comfort.

The positive part to all this is that I get to beta-test our Green to Self Carriage Course along with some of our other students! The purpose of the beta-test is not to see if it will work (it will), but to see if it is easy to flow up and down the training scale for different horses and riders. Super exciting time for us right now!

So as Custard and I start again, I wanted to share some cold-hard truths I have uncovered:

A break

can be just as important for your horse as it is for you.

• Your feelings about starting again are valid, but irrelevant to your horse’s needs. As long as you have continued to provide to the emotional and physical needs of your horse during the break, your horse couldn’t give two hoots and a flying lollipop that you had to stop work (and in fact, probably enjoyed the break). So I am afraid you (and I) will just have to suck it up - perhaps using that flying lollipop you horse has hidden…

• You WILL NOT be able to start where you left off. You will need to go back to exercises that you horse finds easy, and work your way back up the training scale.

• You WILL have to move your goal post. Your horse WON’T care.

• Starting again is so much easier if you have the correct foundational muscular development already established (or establishing) in your horse - as that which we have outlined in the Green to Self Carriage Course. Healthy muscle and movement that feels good is easy for the horse to maintain in the paddock. Poor development is harder to fix and harder to scale up the developmental scale.

• Sometimes, a break is actually necessary for your horse and just as important as a vacation from work for us. Considering the time off a necessary mental and physical break, rather than the loss of time, will be much easier for your own mental well-being.

Join us on the Equestrian Movement Facebook page for videos and updates as Custard & I start out again. And if you are in the same position as I am, have heart - you still have your horse, and he/she still loves you just as much as before the break.

Want to help us beta-test the Green to Self Carriage Course? Click here to learn more!

Setting up your horse for success

We often get told not to let our horse anticipate the aid like it’s a bad thing.

But shouldn’t we celebrate the fact the horse is ready and eager to do what we ask and congratulate ourselves that we’ve been able to communicate and teach our horse to understand us?

Sure, we don’t want our horses to do what we’re asking before we are asking in a dressage test. But do we break their confidence by reprimanding them for it or do we encourage our horse and reward them for their effort and willingness and help them associate it to a cue/aid. Are you setting your horse up to succeed or to fail?

Setting our horse up to succeed is helping them, encouraging them and rewarding them for looking for the right answer. Its making the right answer easy and the wrong answer hard. Its making learning fun and easy. Its making training achievable. When our horses have little training wins it releases happy hormones that makes learning fun. If our horses are always in trouble for getting it wrong or not doing well enough the learning process gets stale and unenjoyable. Our horses stop lose courage to try, stop asking questions and shut down… or sometimes lash out.

Rules to live by to set our horse up to success:

-        First do no harm

-        Finish feeling like you could’ve done more

-        Finish on a positive note

-        Spend time with your horse that isn’t being ridden

-        Try not to repeat an ask more than 3 times before changing the exercise

-        Make sure they know what we’re asking and can do what we’re asking and we haven’t pushed them past their physical, mental and emotional limit.

-        Horses learn from the release of pressure not the application

-        Be clear, consistent and follow through on your asks.

We don’t need to be challenging our horses’ boundaries every time we ride

For some reason every time we ride we expect the ride to be better than our last. We want to have done something that we weren’t able to do last ride. We want our horse to perform better, be more willing, more submissive, more expressive but how fair is that on our horse?

Are you able to do better at work every day than you did the day before? Or better at the gym or a sport you may play? Or horse riding for that matter? Can you bring your 100% every day? Be enthusiast? Pleasant to be around especially under pressure? Can you learn something new every day? Seems like a tall ask right? But we expect it of our horses. And then wonder why behavioural issues pop up.

So today I give permission for you and your horse to just hang. To just enjoy each other. Do what your horse likes. Do they like treats, going on adventures, being groomed? What things do you do that your horse likes? I give you permission to go do that. And then get back to us. How did it feel? Did you enjoy yourself? Did your horse enjoy itself? I even give you permission to do it a couple of days in a row. And then do your training and see if your horse is more willing, more enthusiastic, more eager to learn and participate in the activities.

Developing A Bond With Your Horse

We recently hosted a free workshop in our Facebook group with exercises that helped to develop a stronger bond with our horses.

To be honest, I was surprised by the number of people that joined because they wanted a stronger bond with their horse (which I’m stoked about). I was expecting people to join the workshop wanting to fix certain problems they were having with their horses.

And it got me thinking: I have my understanding of what I want in a bond and a relationship - but what do others expect?

What is a bond?

A bond is stronger than just liking someone. But we do have to start there. We have to like our horses and they have to like us. Liking each other, enjoying each others company and wanting to spend time together fosters an environment where a bond and a relationship can be born.

A bond with another is built on social connection and nurturing the emotional needs of the individuals. These emotions include trust, affection, gratitude and love amongst others. As we build trust and feel safe that they won’t hurt us, we break down our emotional boundaries. The trust and social connection established in a bond make us feel valued, loved and cared for.

Training and developing a relationship or a bond go hand in hand whilst also being polar opposites. You can have a trained, well behaved horse without nurturing their emotional needs, and you can have a relationship without our horse being educated and responding correctly to our asks. Training, our goals and our expectations can easily damage our relationship and bond with our horses if we aren’t respectful of our horses’ emotional needs.

• Asking our horse to do something that is scary or putting them in a situation that they may get hurt.

• Not listening to them when they say “I’m overwhelmed”, “I’m scared”, “I need a break”.

• Using force to get what we want from them even if why we are getting it is because they don’t understand or can’t do.

• Expecting them to bring their ‘A’ game every ride and be better than their last even when we aren’t as riders.

All these things can damage our relationship with our horse and create undesirable behaviours in our horse or lead them to shutting us out and just performing the task asked without enjoying it.

As easy as it is to breakdown this relationship, it’s just as hard to build a strong healthy relationship and bond. A bond is created through times of difficulty or hardship. Have you ever had a horse that you have nurtured while sick or injured and noticed after they recovered that the relationship had strengthened? Being able to guide a horse through a difficult experience safely so that it becomes a positive experiences helps us to show up as leaders and our horses to learn to trust us. The other way is just spending time together and offering a company.

This is why the workshop was based on small, easy to implement exercises done consistently. This is why we harp on having the same expectations of our horse every time we handle them, no matter how time poor we are. So that when we put them in more challenging exercises or experiences they trust us and know what is expected on them. We stop feeling like we could have done more on a positive note without overfacing them. Because each interaction with our horse is first to build this trust, relationship and bond and then secondly to work towards our goals.

If you want to join us for our next workshop, make sure you are on our email list by signing up below!

The Fear And Nerves Never Go Away

One of the things that riders seem to think of professional trainers and riders is that they don’t get scared to ride.

I can’t speak for everyone, but for me definitely the nerves and the doubt never go away - if anything I have more now than when I started.

There’s a certain naivety in lack of experience that means you’re not seeing every flick of the tail and twitch of the muscle and knowing where that could potentially escalate to.

You’re not seeing every worse case potential of even the most mundane scenarios.

As horse riders we learn to feel the fear and do it anyway – it’s either that or we quit!

Most falls I’ve had and most I’ve witnessed have been fairly innocent bounces. Some people do fall harder than others, and of course it still hurts, but you can walk away with some bumps and bruises and get back on.

One thing I have learnt is to have patience and err on the side of caution. I won’t do something I feel uncomfortable with, or let others pressure me into just getting on. I want to be able to ride for as long as possible, so I’m trying to avoid silly mistakes.

Being aware of your environment, your horse and your riding surfaces play a vital role in how injured you will get if and when you do fall off. The worst injuries I’ve had have been from breaking and riding green horses in inappropriately fenced or surfaced paddocks.

Accidents still happen but we can do a risk analysis and find ourselves somewhere in the middle.

For me to feel confident, I need to get to know the horse on the ground first.

• How does it react to pressure?

• What does it do when it reacts to pressure?

• How does it react when it becomes overwhelmed or stressed by pressure?

• Does it understand its cues?

• Does it know how to communicate back rather than just react?

I used to think if you had to lunge your horse to ride it you didn’t know how to ride - but now I know the work we do on the ground to open the communication and get horses processing cues (and not just reacting to them) are key to our overall safety and therefore confidence in the saddle.

However long that takes, is how long it has to take. There’s no short cut, no quick fix, just the slow and steady development of relationship and communication.

The nerves and fear may never really go away even for the most experienced – but if we know more about the horse we are working with, we can make a sounder risk assessment and move forward with more confidence.

Check out our courses on sound training techniques and improving your riding seat here

Horse Care & The Impact On Training

Have you ever considered that how your horse lives has an impact in their ability to learn?

A horse’s living conditions can ultimately play a huge role on their trainability. The mental and emotional health which largely is the result of feeling safe, having needs met and having social engagement affects how well they can learn and their willingness.

1. Being in a confined space for extended periods of time

Horses are meant to be in open space and spend the day grazing along with some time resting. When they are confined and you only let them out to be worked, getting into that open space can make it harder for them to focus and work.

2. Routine

Where horses have been malnourished in the past, or even when they simply don’t have the option to graze, they can be stressed about when and where they’re next feed is. This stress has a flow-on effect to their training. Having a consistent routine for your horse helps to keep them more relaxed as they know what to expect and when.

3. Social engagement

Horses are a herd animal and also a prey animal. When they live solo it is hard for them to feel safe enough and relax properly. This alertness with lack of rest over a long period of time is damaging on the nervous system. It can make the horses irritable, lack focus, spook at everything or even incredibly lethargic.

4. Adequate roughage

Getting the right feed for your horse is a crucial part to having your horse in a good training brain. Some feeds can make your horse hot and anxious, give your horse a bloated upset belly or make them lethargic. Adequate roughage is important to keeping your horses’ digestive tract healthy and the horse full, relaxed and healthy.

5. Shelter

Horses love a good resting place for their midday nap. Providing an area for rolling, resting, getting out of the sun or weather is important to their daily routine and overall health.

What you horse needs from you to learn

A horse needs a lot from its trainer to be able to learn – and we want our horses to learn, not just submit.

They need to respect you!

• If they don’t think you are competent,

• if they think they are more capable of keeping themselves safe without you,

• if they think you are going to put them in situations that they aren’t ready for or will get hurt in,

• if they think you aren’t putting the effort in with them ...

...then why should they do what you ask?

Think of a situation at work where someone of authority that wasn’t particularly good at their job kept asking you to do something. Do you do it with enthusiasm eager to prove yourself? Or do you dig your heels in becoming more and more begrudging of them? What if you were doing work for someone you respected but they didn’t reward you for your efforts and just asked more from you? Do you keep giving them a 100% or do you start to become resentful of them?

To prove yourself as a leader they need you to create clear, consistent discipline, where you follow through on your ask. You need to provide a safe learning environment and not put them in situations that they can be hurt.

How can you provide your horse a better working and learning environment?

1. Don’t become emotionally engaged in their arguments.

When our horses do test us and push our boundaries, getting angry or frustrated and arguing with them rarely helps. We suggest that you avoid getting into a battle of the wills and work instead on staying centered, relaxed and balanced. Focusing on consistent expectations rather than winning the argument.

2. Consider lowering your expectations

If we want our horses to be enthusiastic and engage in their training, we need to focus on rewarding their effort and for trying rather than pushing for a certain thing we want to achieve. This keeps them interested in learning and keeps their mind open to being curious. We reward for effort, finish on a good note, feeling like we could’ve done more.

3. Know what we are trying to achieve and break it down for them

How many times have you done something because someone has told you you should be doing it with your horse but you don’t know why or how? Well if you don’t know, how can your horse know? Be very clear in your mind in what you are trying to achieve. Often there are multiple steps involved to get to this goal so it is important that we know how to break it down to the smaller steps that build up to that point as well. That also helps us to reward for effort, finishing on a good note, feeling like we could have done more. We know that the steps are just as important if not more important than the end result and can see the path.

4. Make sure you use clear communication

Our horse needs us to understand how they learn and how best to communicate with them, so they understand what is being asked of them. They also need a way to communicate if they need a break because they are overwhelmed, confused or tired. They need us to know when they are trying, to be compassionate if they can’t do it and not let the communication break down.

5. Be patient

They need us to remember that, at the end of the day, they are still a horse and they are letting us ride them and handle them. If they are having an off day, they are sore, fatigued physically or mentally, or having some other problems, we need to be patient and forgiving. It needs to be a 2 way street where we are not always demanding of them, but making the learning and riding process as comfortable and interesting as possible.

You need to teach your horse HOW to learn

Horses aren’t born into this world knowing how to be ridden.

They don’t know appropriate and safe ways to interact with humans.

They don’t know what’s expected of them.

In some cases, such as where they are weaned early, kept separate from other horses or go through poor living conditions such as dogger pens and feed lots, they don’t even know how to socialise with other horses – they only know how to do their best to protect themselves.

Our most common tool for training is negative reinforcement through pressure from halters, bits, spurs, and whips. Horses don’t automatically know what these pressures mean and what the appropriate response to those pressures are. Expecting them to know this is like a person starting a new job with a completely complex computer program, being shown their seat and left to figure it out – they are either going to try and fail, try and succeed, look for help or break down and quit.

Is it any wonder that horses become “naughty” if teaching them to learn isn’t done well?

Horses first need to learn how to process pressure and what it means. They need to know that pressure isn’t pain and isn’t there to hurt them, but is there to help them seek the answer.

Which means we need to know how to use pressure & release correctly to teach this.

The first and most important lesson you need to learn to communicate more effectively with horses:

“You can’t beat understanding into a horse”.

If a horse doesn’t understand what you want using the whip, spurs, halter or bit, using them harder and harder and harder doesn’t make them understand any better.

A lot of times, when a horse isn’t doing what its told, it’s classified as a naughty horse and you are told to be harder and stronger with them. However, in my experience if a horse isn’t doing as its “told”, it’s more commonly because it doesn’t understand, or can’t do what’s being asked. So they “act out” or are “naughty” because they resort to instinctive behaviour or past experiences to respond to the ask – and their instinctive behaviour when confused, intimidated or scared is to fight or run away.

There are definitely times when horses will challenge you and your authority but that’s not with the intent of being naughty – it is with the intent of testing if they can trust you. Are you strong enough and confident enough to lead them and keep them safe? If they decide you aren’t a good leader, they won’t feel safe doing as you ask and will react with the intent to protect themselves.

This is the one situation where being heavy handed can work. However, it’s not the best nor is it the most effective tool, especially if you’re already working with a bold, strong, confident horse. You need to be a really…. really… reaaaaally good rider to convince these horses with a heavy hand because their responses can escalate to big dangerous behaviours and it is hard to not get hurt in these situations until we get submission.

That is why we should teach discipline through consistency and following through with our ask, then rewarding for EFFORT, not necessarily the best most correct behaviour. We first condition how our horses mentally and emotionally process the ask before we get them understanding what the ask is. This may take a little longer in the outset, but sets us and our horses up to learn easily down the track.

When there is a clear pathway of consequence, our horses start looking for the right answer, interacting and engaging with us and enjoying the learning process.

Train your horse to be “trainable” with our Training Trainability course - an online training program designed to support the overall learning capabilities of your horse and based on simple exercises that reinforce affection, trust, respect and communication. Click here to learn more.

Why professional trainers, breakers and instructors ride for submission.

Why do most professional trainers, breakers and instructors ride their horse into submission?

Short answer – it’s the quickest and easiest way to get their desired results.

Trainers and breakers only have a short period of time to get big results. They also are very competent riders that don’t baulk at a horse bucking, bolting, rearing and acting out and will just ride them through that behaviour into submission. They simply don’t have the time to spend with the horse to take it at that individual horse’s pace.

Another reason why professionals work for submission is because they don’t have the time to develop the trust and relationship to get the results this way.

Getting our horses to say “yes”, as opposed to submission (not sure what this means – read this first), is because what and how we ask depends on how well-established our relationship, trust and leadership is established. This takes time. With any of my students that get a new horse, I recommend that it takes a year minimum. Normally, when you send your horse away on training, they get maybe 6 – 8 weeks to get the horse to confidently and safely to walk, trot and canter, and to look after their rider. It’s a big ask!!

Lastly, when someone comes to us as an instructor and trainer, it’s not because they are happy with where they are with their riding and how the horse is working. It’s because they want to step up and ride at better level. So for us as instructors and riders, to get more from our students, we have to put pressure on our riders and get them to ask more from the horse.

The horse will nearly always protest because the quality they have been working at has been good enough, so why should they put more effort in? We have to put more pressure on the horse and push through their argument to get them to try harder and often do something they’ve never done before (for both horse and rider) and figure out what that something is.

Where this “push through” doesn’t work.

• Our horse doesn’t know how to process pressure;

• There are gaps in our horse or riders understanding of the aids;

• The horse isn’t physically ready to do more;

• There are underlying traumas (whether physical or mental) that take longer and need more support through those developmental processes.

Is your horse coping with its training? We would love to hear from you!

Submission Vs Yes

We talk a lot about submission in the horse industry. It is one of the qualities of training we are marked on.

In the dictionary, submission is defined as:

• “The action of accepting or yielding to a superior force or to the will or authority of another person”.

• “The act of allowing someone or something to have power over you”.

I don’t know about you, but this isn’t the kind of relationship that I want to have with my horse.

All my life I had been taught how to bully my horses into submission. To be bigger, scarier and stronger than my horse and anything it could be scared of.

I used to hop off at the end of a ride feeling guilty about how I had treated my horse.

Not that the way I handled them was particularly brutal or heavy handed. It just wasn’t the relationship or the experience I wanted to have with my horse. It wasn’t the relationship I had with them on the ground. I didn’t understand why that’s what I needed to get what I wanted from my horse under saddle.

As an instructor for kids and beginners, I also understood that they physically (and for the kids, mentally) were incapable of dominating a horse into submission. The lack of strength, coordination and balance in the saddle (and for the kids understanding) meant that the horses weren’t doing as they were told because they weren’t being made to.

There had to another way to get cooperation from our horses.

This is where Training Trainability came from. How can we engage our horses in the learning process so they enjoy the training sessions and want to participate?

One of our core philosophies is to ASK, not force.

Training Trainability gives the horse the opportunity to say “no”, which a lot of riders and trainers don’t agree with. This is understandable, because if you’re horse has never been given the opportunity to say no they really take advantage of it and will just about to say no to everything!! This can feel like you’re going backwards with your training and your horse is being naughty, so riders can quickly give up on doing it this way.

This method of training is about empowering the horse’s voice so:

• They choose to participate in the training, and

• They also can feel comfortable about saying that’s enough when they feel pushed to their limit mentally, physically or emotionally.

It’s about us, as trainers, to think outside the box and find motivators other than how hard we can kick, use the whip and pull on their head. It’s about developing a trust, relationship and bond with our horse, so that they want to spend time with us and look after us.

It doesn’t mean that there is no discipline and we let them walk all over us. It’s about establishing clear boundaries and expectations of behaviour so that when we work with them they are respectful and safe.

When it comes to performance pressure where we are stressing their intellect and physical condition however, we must take our time and let them say “yes” or “no” rather than expecting submission of everything we ask for.

To learn more about how to apply Trainability to your horse, click here.

Who Wouldn't Want To Train A "Bomb Proof" Horse?

Ok - so first let me preface this with:

we don’t like the terminology “bomb proof”.

Often when I see horses described as bomb proof, they are malnourished or shut down.

Even when we are working with the truly quiet horses, I believe the term bomb proof puts us in a false sense of security that increases risk of accidents happening.

My experience has been active in training horses to be beginner riding school horses, so we need to get them as quiet as we can. For me it is important to have our horses in peak mental, emotional and physical health as well as a clear understanding of what is expected of them and their cues to be considered “quiet”.

School horses are truly special horses as they need to look after riders that are unbalanced and can unintentionally hurt them when they lose their balance, don’t understand complex aids (the horse knows they can get out of work at any stage) and aren’t strong enough to “bully” them into submission.

In my experience, the quiet “bomb proof” horse isn’t created by sacking them out and desensitising them.

They are created by proving ourselves as competent and trust worthy leaders, building our horses confidence and their understanding. This can make any breed and any temperament of horse “bomb proof” - as long as we rule out other considerations such as pain, medical conditions, ill fitting gear and the like.

Outside of pain or discomfort, the reason a horse might NOT be classified as “bomb proof” include:

• The horse not understanding what is needed of them

• The horse can’t do what we are asking of them

• The horse does not have the confidence in themselves (or their rider) that they are safe/will be kept safe, and this can include any past traumatic experiences.

• The horse does not understand how pressure is being used as a tool of communication. (This often starts with the rider/trainer not understanding the timing of pressure/release for the horse to understand it)

• The horse doesn’t feel understood. (This is the most common issue I see. Our horses try to communicate with us what they need and we often miss the subtle cues and the horse ends up overreacting and being considered dangerous)

• The rider/trainer not knowing when to back off and when to push for more, or expecting too much of the horse

These principles are our guiding factors in establishing the training that Equestrian Movement offers in our online courses:

• First do no harm. Ensure that any of the training you are doing moving forward is of no detriment to the horse.

• Create a safe and stable learning and living environment.

• Create a relationship with our horse where they trust us that not only will we not hurt them but we also won’t put them in a situation where they could be hurt.

• Teach them how to learn and understand what we want.

• Teach them how to process their emotions and think rather than react.

• Teach them confidence

• Make learning fun

• Make moving fun

• Make being ridden fun

Curious to know how we do this? We cover all these in our course Training Trainability.

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!

Poor Acceptance of Bit Pressure? 5 Things You NEED to Consider

“My horse is behind the vertical”

“My horse is behind the bit”

“My horse is reacting badly when I apply rein pressure - help!”

These are comments we see regularly on horse forums, in lessons or even when you start typing into google!

Horse’s don’t wake up one morning and decide to not do something. They do, however, try to communicate discomfort and confusion the only way they can - through behaviour.

But what could it mean for you if your horse is showing these behaviours?

1. Dental Issues

Check whether your horse is coming, due or overdue for his or her next dentist visit. These symptoms above may be simply caused by discomfort or pain, and is something your dentist can help you with.

2. Saddle Fit

Believe it or not, an incorrectly fitted saddle can create pain and tension that reverberates through the shoulders, the poll and eventually the jaw. Simple movement restriction and tension can create poor receptiveness to your aids, or can create poor posture, resulting in the horse ducking out behind the bit.

3. Body pain

As with a poorly fitted saddle, body pain, even that of the back legs, can translate into bit evasion. Remember - our entire body is connected, so when one area is not working well, it will influence the rest of the body. Seek out advice from your professional body worker.

4. Bridle & Bit Fit

Is the bridle correctly placed? Is the nose band too tight? Does the bit move around in the mouth? Are you using the right bit for your horse? (having just been to a bit fitting session, that is a whole other topic that needs more professional advise!). These could all be reasons that your horse reacts negatively to any changes to the bit pressure. Make sure to use someone qualified to ensure your horse has the right bit, and that all the bridle and associated parts are not causing undue pain or cutting off circulation of the major vessels.

5. Training

Finally, if your horse is displaying these behaviours, consider the training that has gone into that horse. Does the horse actually know what you mean when you apply rein or bit pressure? Have they learnt to duck behind the bit to get out of working correctly? Work with a reputable trainer, or sign up to learn about our Green-to-Self-Carriage course.

Your riding position influences your horse more than you think

There’s always that one horse that nails a lesson home.

Growing up, I was like “Pfft - as if my position affects if my horse is on the forehand! It’s all about the aids”.

I spent time working on my sit trot, on my 2 point seat and looking good, but never really thought how my balance was affecting how my horse worked.

That was until I was working with a very athletic thoroughbred on our show jumping.

She had zero ‘go slow’ thoughts and for the level of training I had at the time, none of my riding tricks slowed her down and I refused to add stronger aids. I was taking my time and being patient with getting the steady button to work and then one night I decided to play around with my posture.

At the time I was working with the exercise physiologist on improving my posture and engaging my core, and it was because of this I decided to apply some of these techniques to the saddle. I was riding down the long side and with no other aids, I used my core to get more upright and balanced and hallelujah - she came up off the forehand and steadied the trot. I was so psyched and surprised at how effective it was!!

After that I practised more with this mare - she made it so obvious when I was doing it right and wrong! I then was able to translate that positional correction across to the other horses I had on training at the time. While the improvement was not so drastically obvious, it significantly improved their ability to come up into self carriage.

Since that day I have found this an invaluable tool especially when breaking and riding green, unbalanced horses.

Could your postural position need a tweak? Click here to see how you can improve your riding position in as little as 3 weeks.

Toes in, heels down - why you should reconsider your priorities

We know that our riding posture is so important - if only to get those extra marks on our test!!!

But the postural corrections that we get corrected on (that are aesthetically pleasing) can get in the road of our core posture improvement; which in turn impacts how well our horse can balance and maintain self carriage without going on the forehand.

From the age of 7 I was getting 2 lessons a week, competing on the weekend and being critiqued on my posture regularly.

• Heels down,

• Toes in,

• Legs back,

• Shoulders back,

• Look where you’re going.

I was always trying to make my position “look” better.

• Lessons without stirrups,

• Pulling my legs up learning to get deeper in the saddle,

• Or hours on end practising the 2 point seat.

My biggest weakness was always rounded shoulders. It wasn’t until I started to work with an exercise physiologist after an injury that I learnt that posture and balance doesn’t come from tweaking arms and legs, but learning to use your body from your core.

The more self awareness and coordination you have from your core, the more balanced you are and the more control you then have over the rest of your body.

The thing about not knowing how to use your core and centre of gravity is that you curl and shrink your body down to try and gain your balance. The more you can isolate and engage your core the longer you can stretch your body and the straighter your upper body will be.

So at Equestrian Movement, our focus is first and foremost engaging the core and working on balance points that make us more independent in our riding - and then do the tidy up to look good. We want to stay out of our horse’s way so that they can move freely. We want to find the most important positional corrections that keep us on the horse, and THEN look good doing it.

It is why we made the course 3 Weeks to Improve Your Riding.

My students have done it and I have seen a huge improvement not only in their position and balance but also how well their horse works. The aids are clearer, firmer, more balanced and the horse is allowed to move freely.

The course contains 6 videos on how to ride from your core along with a 3 week exercise plan written by a PT to help you isolate and learn how to use you core.

Are you ready to improve your riding position? Click here to learn more.