Finally, A Small Breakthrough
Today brought some much needed relief and encouragement.
I think there is a misconception that when you are an equine professional, instructor or trainer, that you have all of the answers and never run in to challenges. But, in fact, I think quite the contrary happens if you are challenging yourself to grow.
Additionally, becoming a master of the Art requires thousands of hours perfecting, analyzing and repeating work with horses until we can become more finessed in our abilities.
With that being said, I am so grateful (especially these days) to have more time in and out of the saddle with horses, to learn as much as I possibly can.
The first horse of the day needed to be long lined. He’s a handsome thoroughbred but is really collapsed through his thoracic sling and therefore his sternum protrudes out in front of him.
Sternum poking forward and withers dropped
After some stretching on the long lines, we did some wither lifts to finish, and in the exercise alone, he grew about 2-3 inches in the withers. This tells me he’s not fully utilizing his thoracic sling muscles in movement, and so I plan to subtlety add this awareness exercise in at the end of each session.
More engaged and lifted
The second horse today happened to be Rue (my personal horse), and today was a refreshing session after the frustrating week and a half we’ve had.
I decided to go in to the session and focus on just two simple things: optimizing our time in the groundwork and putting in some good work there, and just simply getting out of the ring to go for a little hack around the farm.
As soon as we walked in to the arena today, Rue was highly motivated and ready to play. I should also add that I filled my treat pouch with carrots, celery and alfalfa pellets, to see if the different concoction would encourage her a little more, and she seemed receptive to it.
We worked on staying calm together, lowering her head, bending left and right, leg yielding across the diagonal and on circles in both directions, changes in tempo at the walk and trot, the beginnings of passage steps in trot and rein backs. We were really productive and the work was lovely, soft, correct, effective and a pure joy… for both of us. I used nothing but my energy and verbal cues to communicate, as well as the clicker reinforcing her behavior.
Once we finished, I hopped on and we walked right out of the door and went on a little hack. I barely had to use any leg as she walked around exploring. It was a refreshing break from the lack of response to my leg aids in the arena, which tells me it’s contextual, to an extent.
Even though she gave me a lovely walk around the farm, I still feel like she has much more to offer but carries a lot of tension in her muscles, so I am excited for the liver detox herbal blend to arrive. I am no nutritionist so I am simply crossing my fingers that there ends up being a positive correlation between that and helping her to find a little more natural energy.
Side note: I don't think I mentioned in the last post, but I also speculate that Rue has a nerve impingement in her neck. Ever since I've known her, she's been slightly over at the knee as well as having high low syndrome in her feet. From what I read, this is commonly referred to as Equine Thoracic Outlet Syndrome and has to do with a dysfunctional thoracic sling combined with nerve impingement. For this reason, I have reached out to someone who specializes in this work, and am hoping to get feedback from her. (I'll share more if I do hear back).
All in all, it was a much more satisfying and productive session than we last had.
The last horse of the day, I chose to only ride as I had a limited amount of time before I had to teach.
He. Was. Incredible.
I recently took a course all about releasing residual tensions via the bit and reins, and I have been using the techniques from the course with this horse in particular. While I had introduced the work in his stall earlier this week by standing next to him with his bridle on and holding the reins in my hands, I decided to do the tension release therapy as soon as I mounted, and then move forward in to ridden work.
His response today was better than the last two sessions, which was exciting to see and feel. To me that means he is connecting to the therapy and beginning to understand this idea of letting tensions go.
We took our time in walk, being as thoughtful as possible and finding straightness through relaxation. In a good moment, I asked for trot and we immediately went in to a lovely, quiet trot. It was so relaxed and his back so soft that I opted for sitting trot, and actually ended up riding in sitting trot for the entire ride. He matched perfectly the tempo of my seat and we danced in harmony together.
I have been really focusing on asking him to follow the smallest releasing of tensions in my outside arm/rein in an effort to turn, and he is really beginning to pick up on the lengthening of the outside body. There was no pulling. Only connected contact and releasing/giving. It was a partnership.
We did focused releasing in the trot and a handful of transitions for about ten minutes or so, and then I hopped off. I wanted him to remember the perfect harmony we were in for the next time we are together. He shook his neck loose, took a few big yawns and blew out of his nose.
Sigh...
Such a relief of a day.
I'm left feeling so very grateful for this shimmer of light...
