Horses feel both Physical and Mental Pressure

In the fall last year, I was giving horsemanship clinic where I asked the riders to do various things using pressure and release, working on their timing and trying to use as little pressure as necessary. One of the rider's asked if pressure was always physical in nature, if it was always a push or pull on the horse. The fact that the person asked that question,  showed me they knew the answer already. But great question and I said "no, I believe mental pressure affects the horse as well, but as riders or handlers, I think we have much more influence on physical pressure."

The first example I gave them was that years ago, I would stand at my horses' feeders and wait for them to back up before throwing their feed. In the beginning it took a bit for the horse to figure out that he was not getting fed just standing there. The horses accumulating mental pressure would seek to do something different, usually moving forward and I would back away from them a step or two. Evenually they would take a step back then I would throw feed then walk away. Then build on that. In short order during feeding times they would back up without delay then I would throw feed.

 
I stopped doing that a few years back as I became not very fond of the horse moving without an active cue from me. Now my horses approach the feeder and if they are too close, I asked them to back a step or two then throw feed. If as I throw feed a horse begins to approach the feeder, I don't make a federal offense out of it - I'll just pet on him then walk away. Sometimes after I throw feed, a horse will hestiate to move forward until I ask him to, which I do immediately anyway. This all occurrs in a few seconds and again I stopped doing what I did previously as I did not want a horse to move his feet without a cue from me.

During this same clinic there was a rider who problem was her horse would not stand still for anything more than a few seconds. She was using her reins, and her reins alone to stop her horse and when stopped she would reduce the pressure (meaning lessening the pull or tension on the reins) but was still applying some pressure to the horse's mouth via the bit. I had her very delibertly put her hands forward so the reins became slack. The horse would stand for a bit longer but move forward on her own. We loosened the headstall up so the bit wasn't creating wrinkles in the corner of the mouth, then asked the horse to stand still on loose reins. The horse would stand still for longer but eventually start to move forward. I believe this was mental pressure the horse developed from being pulled around by the bit and expecting it to happen.

I asked the rider to ride forward, stop the horse by sitting deep in her seat first followed by the tightening of her reins, then when her horse was stopped, give him a loose rein. Then repeat but be conscious of the horse preparing to move off on his own, and try to ask him to move forward before the mental pressure caused him to. Then build on that, and the time he will stand will increase.

Lastly, another example would be a horse that is in the 'pre-spook' phase preparation. We have all ridden horses that will stop on their own, heads up, ears forward, body tense and usually looking quickly left and right. Then the pressure builds,....may only be a few seconds....then the horse will turn and bolt. This is again mental pressure. Sometimes we can influence in a negative way by preapring for the horse to bolt and they can feel our tenseness.

There are many, many more examples. What I also suggest sometimes is getting the horse's attention in a postive manner, petting them, removing them from what seem's to be causing that mental pressure. I rode a horse back into my property and he saw or sensed something he did not like. This is a path we have taken many times and I couldn't figure out what was different and causing him concern. Before the mental pressure built up on him, I askd him to get soft, reached down and rubbed his neck. and did it afain a few seconds later. We stayed right there, until he relaxed then I asked him to move forard but stopped him before he stopped on his own and I repeated the process. Then soon we rode straight off once he became relaxed enough.

Often, I have seen horses spook either in hand or with a rider, and it's not always the right thing to move that horse with energy, like in a tight circle, as that may sometime increase the mental pressure he is under.  Sometimes a different method of releasing that pressure may work for the horse better.