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.  

Casting about for Horsemanship knowledge

Every eight weeks I look forward to a visit from my horse shoer, as while he trims and shoes horses we discuss a lot on different topics from raising children, to the economy, to his problem clients and horses, and many others. I don't think we solved any of the world's problems, or even any of ours, but this past visit was particulary good as we discussed human nature where it seems many people, in whatever choesen field they are in, are only going through the motions and not seeking to master their craft. He talked about his early years as a horse shoer and how he had to actively seek experienced farriers out, often traveling a lot of miles to ride with them and learn. And sometimes despite the time and the costs in each trip he felt fortunante to learn one little thing that made a difference. We agreed that the whole process is recognizing and building on those moments of clarity and knowledge, but you can't get them without seeking them out as they seldom drop into your lap.

There are lots of different ways to learn. Perhaps the best is in person coaching, but most all discoveries are brought about by or started through verbiage - a person speaking to you. Maybe something a clinician will say that will mean something to you - turn a light on so to speak. Of course you have to be open and ready to receive that wisdom. And that moment of learning doesn't have to be brought about a top hand, as it could just as easily be from virtually anybody.

But on the top of my list is learning from watching someone who is really handy. This readily apparent in ground training as we can learn a lot from how someone really good with horses approaches communicating to a horse from his/her body position and cues, to timing and accuracy. Because of a string of days with bad weather, I was getting ansty about not riding so searching about I checked out one of the Martin Black virtual clinics. This one was a back and forth with Nick Dowers another accomplish horseman and competitor. Martin Black hosts these usually 2 hour sessions via signup on his website and link to a zoom call. You get a re-watch link and it's helpful to watch and listen at your own conveinence. I usually stop the video then start back up where I left off. And you can rewind to re-catch what was said. I recommend checking out Martin Black's site and virtual clinics.

This is how the last virtual clinic helped me......I have a new horse who was very green when I got him months ago. The story told to me was that this horse was intended to be a tied down roping horse but was undersized and the breeder was downsizing. I picked him up from Central Texas and brought him home. I started riding him right off and we went through the normal issues - bracy in the head and body being one of them. I don't know if him being started in a tie down had anything to do with it, but he was not the easiest horse to get soft. Anyway, I was not getting him to give me a soft feel with his poll equal to or just lower than his withers. Listening to Martin Black talk about competing in ranch horse events with his working horses and being docked in points for not having his horse's poll set low enough with the nose vertical, and his response (words to the effect) that he didn't care about the points and wasn't working his horses for competition, but for ranch work, and his horse's head would be positioned where the horse needed it in order to be balanced.

Well, the proverbial light went on in my head and I realized my issues with this new horse getting soft was that I was trying to get him to accept and perform a certain head set when what he was giving me was enough. I got caught up in this mental template I had about head set, and did not look at what the horse was giving me and how he was performing.

That right there, those 2 or 3 minutes worth of talk on virtual clinic, was worth a lot to me. I don't know if I would have self corrected myself, or just would have went on asking that horse for something he didn't need to give me. In figure 1 and 2 above, after I get vertical softness going, I ask for a soft feel at the walk, beginning for just a step and progressing to a point where he can keep it for a few strides, then build on that. You can see from Figure 1 and 2 that when I am asking him for a soft feel that his poll is not level, but just above a line with his withers - thats what I need to accept. In the Figures 3 and 4 (below) he'll turn around maintaining a soft feel and you can see the slack in the leading rein. I think the tail swish in Figure 4 was because my Antolian Shepard was was behind him. Or it was me offending him a bit. Anyway, my whole point is that widening the net and seeking knowledge from many sources helped me in a situation I should have knew better but it took someone saying something for me to get it. And now I'm cognizant of asking too much of him in other things as well.