Keep a one-pointed focus on the goal at hand, do not become distracted by your thoughts and take your focus off your senses.

Connection means to drop deeper into yourself and be 100% present with what is real in the now. Often, what is truly real is just awareness of what is – and nothing else. This means the ability to observe (the horse) without judgement.

Awareness is a quiet peaceful state without internal chit chatter, judgement or thoughts churning around in your mind.

Awareness is a state that isn’t your mind. It is outside the mind. It’s what some people call “the silent witness” or the awareness behind your awareness. It is a state where you are connected to your senses, tuned in, but the mind is silent.

Your mind is where all the doubts are, the questioning, the worries, the judgements – the noise and the distractions.

Horses can feel whether you are in your mind or whether you are in awareness and present with your senses. When you are in your mind (some call it being in your head) your mental energy is dispersed, because you are not really “there” with the horse. Your mindset is somewhere else.

Perhaps you are busy worrying about something at work or worrying about the horse, or what you imagine your horse is going to do or not do, or you are focused on your own perceived limitations.

Usually this results in the horse becoming dispersed, unfocused, avoidant, stressed, resistant or even dangerous. Although this is behavior that we don’t want, often we fail to see that the horses are simply mirroring our reflection.

Like attracts like. This means that whatever emotion you are sending out has a vibration and this vibration will be reflected back to you by your surroundings either through emotions or actions.

Another famous saying by Carl Jung is: What you resist, persists.

Basically, if you don’t make a change, you will continue to get the same result and continue to go where you are going. I also see it in a different way, which is: The thing you can’t face or confront will continue to pursue you, grow bigger and hold you back.

One of the most common areas I see this pop up in the equestrian world is: Getting a horse to go forward and be obedient to the leg.

When horses don’t go willingly off the leg, it is usually a balance issue (which can be solved with a lifting half halt) combined with a lack of understanding that they should go willingly off the leg. This problem is actually caused by riders not being clear with their aids and nagging the horse with almost constant leg aids, essentially desensitizing the horse to the aid and creating the opposite effect of what they actually want.

Yet when confronted with the solution, many riders can’t face it and so the problem simply persists.

When a horse has become dead to the leg or for some reason doesn’t respond or resists the leg cue, another aid must be added at the exact time of the leg cue to re-sensitize the horse to the leg and cause the correct response.

This job often falls to the academic whip.

There’s a reason why I call it the academic whip. It is a communications tool for wise riders and not a tool for hitting the horse which some riders also fall back on when the leg fails.

The timing of the whip is essential in order to teach the right thing. If applied at the right time (same exact time as the leg until the horse goes forward and then it should be released) it reinforces the cue and will result in swift forwardness.

If applied at the wrong time (2 or more seconds before or after the leg) it can’t be understood by the horse as having any connection to the aid and it must therefore be a punishment or totally random.

Learning to “time the whip with the leg” is easy and the two must be applied until the desired forwardness is achieved. From there, the aids are released giving the horse total freedom. Reward and positive praise are given which also reinforces the now positive response.

Fixing the forward issue is so simple yet seems so complex for many riders because of the moral concern they tend to focus on, which is: “Is it wrong to apply negative reinforcement, also called pressure/pressure release, to motivate the horse to go?”

The question as a trainer that I feel is much more relevant is:

Is it not more damaging to the mental and physical wellness of the horse to experience constant never ending pressure from which he cannot escape when riders are not clear with their aids?

Pressure and Reward have always been well known motivators both for humans and animals.

The interesting thing I notice is that when a rider is hesitant to provide pressure, they are usually also hesitant to provide praise/reward when the horse finally does the right thing.

In my opinion, this whole thing is caused the rider being in the wrong mindset from the very beginning by turning the focus to their mind and focusing on the judgement of right or wrong. A rider will take their attention away from the horse instead of staying present in their senses with the task at hand and doing what it takes to achieve the goal as swiftly as possible.

Although a single action by itself (tapping with the whip) may seem uncomfortable, one has to compare it to the value of the outcome and which one ultimately is the kindest.

Is it A?

Kinder to reinforce the leg with the whip clearly and swiftly a few times whereafter the horse now understands the leg and goes willingly forward with self-impulsion, thereby ensuring that the whip is not needed again whilst also being rewarded for his forward motion.

Or B?

Kinder to squeeze and kick the horse sometimes, also tapping randomly with the whip, ultimately causing total confusion, helplessness and inertia whilst never rewarding or releasing anything and doing so to the end of time.

To me the answer is very simple. It’s A!!!!!

Get out of your head and into your body, into awareness and into your senses.

You can end inertia the second you decide you are tired of resisting and fighting a never ending battle with yourself and the horse.

It’s not about being violent or doing the wrong thing, it’s about balance and putting positive forward energy into the horse; and, sometimes negative reinforcement can do that much easier than positive reinforcement.

If you don’t like whips you can also use other tools to create energy, like a flag or towel or something you can wave around behind you to create impulsion. (Disclaimer: This might not be safer than a whip though, so be careful.)

What’s important is that as soon as the horse goes the negative reinforcement is removed, pressure is released and reward is offered. This will change the idea of impulsion into something positive.

However, if the rider’s mindset is in the wrong place, they will not focus on the positive outcome and will instead find something wrong with the departure and come up with a reason to go back to desensitizing the horse to the leg.

Mindset is everything with horses!
Energy is everything with horses!
Have the right mindset and the right energy and you will succeed. The horses will reflect it back to you!

Ride with a one-pointed focus, get out of your head, stop thinking and feel instead by staying present in your senses!

Ride with Lightness

Celie xo

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