Integrative Horsemanship & BioSomatic Embodied Movement

2011-10-03T21:07:00.000-06:00

How do you know when something is 'off' with your horse?

I asked this question to a group of horse women at a one day workshop a few weeks ago. When it came right down to it, everyone had the same answer. They have a feeling that something was off. That inner, gut reaction of simply knowing that something isn't right. The next question I asked was:

What do you usually do when you think there's something 'off'?

Each person had their own way to verify their feeling the next time they saw their horse. This might have been putting hands on, watching them move, palpating or a visual once over.

Very often when we have that initial gut feeling that something is 'off' we won't find anything obvious to support that feeling. So what now? Most of these women agreed that in the absence of any hard evidence they would disregard that initial feeling and continue on as though nothing was wrong.

So if we can't find any obvious issue, does this mean that our initial feeling was invalid or inaccurate?
I don't think so. I believe that because all mammals are hardwired to feel and mirror what those around them are experiencing, that that initial gut feeling is always accurate. The trick is to learn to honor our feelings and learn tools that allow us to unravel the mystery of where this subtle 'offness' might be originating.

Learning to honor our feelings, our instincts and our intuition is an important part of being an advocate for our horse. Those feelings can keep us safe, keep our horses from being ridden when they're in pain and often prevent the development of more serious issues down the road.

A Dream

2011-10-03T21:02:00.002-06:00

My Dad always had horses, but Ricky was
special, he was my first horse that belonged
to me. This was our first ride on the first day
I had him.

I have this dream. It's a dream about a horse, of course! This dream of a quality of relationship that I have with this horse. This horse truly wants to be with me; would chose to be with me and do things with me of his own free will. This horse would invite me onto his back because he trusts me and wants to carry me. This horse enjoys and anticipates with pleasure the experience of our bodies moving together.

This dream seems unattainable and inaccessible. In all my years of riding and working with horses I have not experienced more than moments of this kind of connection with my horses. I am still searching for that dream.

I had it when I was a child. Riding my first horse, Ricky, bareback, barefoot through irrigated pastures - racing through green pastures with water splashing all around us to the top of the hill where I would lie on his back while he ate grass in the shade of the cottonwood trees. We unequivocally loved each other. There was no fear in that relationship - he was my buddy and I was his buddy. My sister and I would take off for the day with Ricky and Danny and ride all day. Our property bordered BLM so we would head into the back country and just explore endlessly. I can remember getting into sticky situations where the trees were too thick and low to ride under and in absence of a trail we would get off and walk through the thick trees, down steep and rocky hillsides to find our way back. God forbid we should have to retrace our steps! How boring!

Ricky and I getting ready to go for a bareback ride.

Perhaps that is why the dream sticks with me. I had it as a child and somewhere along the line I lost it. Looking back, it seems as though the more 'educated' I became about horses and riding, the less connected and safe I felt with my horses. Of course I've had my share of falls and frightening experiences with volatile horses (I somehow attract that variety into my life!). As an adult there is a weight of responsibility, responsibility to earn a living and care for my equine charges. That weight of responsibility also takes a toll on the dream. It makes me extra cautious. I can't afford to get hurt...

I had pretty much quit riding a few years back. I had lots of good reasons why I had quit. Not enough time, too many horses, working too hard with other people's horses. I do rehab so by the time they are rideable they go home.... suffice to say there were lots of reasons and they all seemed very legitimate. But really, they were all just excuses to hide behind because the reality is that I didn't feel safe up there anymore.

In college here. That's my husband, Steve, on Ricky in the background. Still trying to win me over at that time so he was on a horse! :) I'm in the middle on Brandy and my best friend Analise is riding my Dad's roping horse, Apache. We had a blast galloping through the snowy fields that day.

I am beginning a new phase of my journey now. A journey to find my own voice in relation to my work with horses. To live the dream that I had when I was a child. To rediscover the joy and trust that comes with being friends with my horses again!

How can I see this differently?

2010-07-09T20:17:00.000-06:00

I find myself in this strange new place these days.

My focus the last 8 years has been purely bodywork. Stepping out of the role of rider/trainer was essential for me to be successful. The things that I would see as bad behavior as a trainer became essential feedback for a bodyworker. I learned how to be very good at negotiating with my equine clients that it was fine to express their emotions while I worked on them so long as none of it was aimed at me. Punishing a horse for expressing emotions while doing bodywork on them was counter productive.

Now I find myself working in a direction of combining the bodywork theory with training theory. It becomes tricky to navigate sometimes. How do I decide when I'm encountering a dominance or behavior issue vs. confusion or discomfort? The question I find myself asking is: is it that he doesn't want to do what I'm asking or that he can't for some reason?

My experience of horses is that they very rarely choose not to cooperate simply to test us or because they flat don't want to do what we're asking. Working with horse's physical issues I found that they often were imbalanced, uncoordinated or uncomfortable which made what I asked challenging and confusing. I've been experimenting with this idea and have found that with very few exceptions if I present an exercise in a way that the horse can be successful he/she will do what I'm asking quite willingly.

So how can I present the exercise in a way that my horse and I can both be successful? What if I simply change my approach from thinking he doesn't want to do what I'm asking to he doesn't understand what I want or can't do it? How might that change the quality of the exchange? I played with two of my horses this morning with this attitude in mind and was amazed at the attitude of patience it engendered in me and the trust it built in my equine partners. We were successful at things today in an easy quiet way that has eluded us before.

I hope you are all enjoying your time with your horses this summer as much as I am!

A Rider's Checklist

2010-06-16T15:56:00.000-06:00

Summer is here and we're all in the midst of our varied riding pursuits. For some that means we're on the trail, for others we're competing or taking clinics. It's really the perfect time to check in with ourselves and our horses and make sure we're doing as well as we would like. Time to notice if our horse is holding up to his training regime or developing lameness issues. Time to notice if our horse is stumbling on the trail or becoming spooky and hard to manage. These are all things that can relate to either how our horse is moving or how we are sitting on his back.

Are you aware of how your postural habits affect your horse's ability to move and balance you on his back? How about your horse's postural habits? Does his way of carrying himself allow him to do his job efficiently? Pay attention to how you feel after a ride. Are you stiff and sore when you jump off your horse? Is your horse stiff and sore or have a sore back? If you're not sure about your horse, you can gauge how he's feeling about his riding by how willing he is to get caught the next day!

I'm sure most of you are thinking it's perfectly natural for horse and rider to be stiff and sore after a ride. What if there were a way to ride that you actually felt limber and energized when you got off? That is the fundamental goal of Bio Somatic Training, a series of workshops being offered all summer long on the western slope of Colorado.

To get a sense of what you will be learning I offer you this rider's checklist:

When you mount your horse, pay attention to whether or not he'll stand quietly and wait for you to not only get on, but settle into the saddle, pick up your stirrups and your reins and wait until he is asked to step off. A horse that simply can't or won't stand still for mounting may not have good balance. Poor balance contributes to stumbling and spookiness, among other things. I rarely meet a horse that won't stand still for mounting for purely behavioral reasons.
I find it useful to have my horse stand quietly while I mount and gather myself. It allows the opportunity to stop, settle into the weight of my bones, breath and notice where I might be carrying unnecessary tension in my body. Often I find I'm holding myself out of the saddle just a little rather than settling into it. So first step is to drop in, breath and notice where you might be carrying tension.
Once I've determined where I'm holding excess tension (I say excess because obviously we need to stabilize in some areas to stay upright on the horse!) I continue to breath and focus on those areas of tension to see what I need to do to let them go. Having your body alignment correct is key to releasing tension so if you find you can't let it go you must start to investigate your position in the saddle to find what needs adjusting.
I always begin with the foundation, my feet. Do I feel equal weight in both balls of my feet on the stirrups? The weight of my legs should be hanging into the stirrup without pushing or bracing.
Are my thighs rolled inward allowing the weight of my leg to lengthen down and back toward my heel?
Are my sit bones resting on the saddle?
Are my pants zipped up? A useful visual image for engaging your lower abdominal muscles
Can I feel the weight of my tail bone dropping toward the saddle and allowing length and softness in my low back?
Is my trunk growing or reaching upward from my rooted base?
Once I've found my base it's fun to see if I can be relaxed enough to feel my horse's breath move my legs.

Of course we go on from there to alignment of head and shoulders and arms and hands but for the purposes of this article, finding your base of support is a great place to start.

I am finding this exercise extremely interesting to do on my rehab horses. If I go through my checklist and find that I simply cannot relax somewhere it is proving to be the horse that is bracing against me! Once I know that I can support the horse to relax his excess tension so that he can carry me in a balanced and relaxed way. This only takes a few moments to do before you walk off to start your ride but can make all the difference in the world to you and your horse.

I will keep posting new articles on a weekly basis so please go to my website: http://www.andreadatz.com/ and click the subscribe button if you would like to remain on this list. Feel free to e-mail me with any questions you may have or if you would like me to write about another topic related to Embodied Movement. I look forward to catching up with you this summer! Andrea Datz