Horses are at their most relaxed and content living in natural conditions among a well established herd. When we take them away from that environment, everything we do is experienced as either positive or negative physical and mental pressure. We know positive feelings reduce stress, helping to keep the horse relaxed, and that negative experiences create anxiety and tension. Horses can only pay attention and learn in a relaxed frame of mind. A horse who is focused on looking for a way out is no longer relaxed, and if he can’t find one, will either panic or shut down, depending on his temperament.
Groundwork is the best way to build a foundation of positive experiences for the horse. His trust in us grows as he learns that the pressure of being in our company produces positive feelings of release and comfort. Working with your horse is more than carrying out specific exercises, it means being totally involved with him from the moment you greet him until you’ve finished putting him away. By concentrating on giving him the right kind of attention, you are opening the door to him choosing to be with you. So what is the right kind of attention? It is the ability to replicate a similar system of support that living within a herd naturally provides.
In practice, it is can be difficult to concentrate when our minds are filled with myriad unrelated thoughts, distracting us from being present with our horse who invariably picks up on the “noise” generated by our neural pathways. We can increase the number of positive experiences by being quietly and calmly engrossed in our interactions while letting go of the desire for a specific result. Desirable outcomes in performance and behaviour are more quickly achieved when our horse really understands how to respond to pressure in a soft, relaxed manner. Although we often think of pressure in an unfavourable light, it is always present in establishing and maintaining boundaries within the herd hierarchy or pecking order. The difference between horse to horse and human to horse pressure is that we often have a personal agenda that is of little interest to the horse who, as an authentic being, has no agenda at all. We can also be unaware of the value of its release, as well as how much is too much. To begin with, he has little understanding of our rules, as his natural inclination is to move into pressure or pull away from it.
In physically softening our horse to pressure, our aim is to also soften him mentally, removing fear and the desire to run away. We can do this very effectively on the ground when we make our horse’s need to feel safe a priority beyond any personal ambition. We know we are on the right path, using the right kind of pressure, when our horse is happy to stand quietly in his own space, without moving into or away from ours, and willingly yields every part of his body to our firm but gentle touch.
What is the right kind of pressure? It is asking something of the horse where the desired response brings fast release, or even its absence, which will allow the horse to indulge in one of his favourite actions, which is to do nothing. For instance, tacking up slowly with a quiet, still mind so that the horse feels no need to move around is the absence of pressure. Conversely, a horse who won’t stand to be saddled without some form of restraint feels under pressure in some way, even if there is apparent physical reason.
Pressing on the poll to get the horse to lower his head is an example of pressure and release. The horse understands that he can remove the pressure of your hand on his head by lowering it, provided of course, you don’t forget to take it away. I like this example because a horse will only lower his head if he feels safe or isn’t thinking about something else. To help him get into the right frame of mind, you will have also been giving him your full concentration and attention.
