So it’s icy out and I have work tonight so no time to play with the ponies. I figured I would post something written over the course of this fall. It was largely inspired by a Neuromuscular Therapy course I was attending, and also from the previous understanding I’ve had of the horse. Something to inspire the mind, I hope. :) Enjoy!
“Horses As A Whole – Ramblings”
…The horse world is not the only field where we dissect and divide into specialties, sub-specialties and a myriad of categories. Our entire modern civilization functions in just the same way. We look at our bodies as being suitable for this separation – if our shoulder hurts we do not link a connection to our feet with the pain.
For this reason, I propose a whole horse approach. I can believe that when the horse is healthy on the whole, that there is no reason he would resist, be inattentive, lethargic, anxious, aggressive, fearful, etc. These are the symptoms of a larger picture, which is often ignored or misunderstood. Too many “impossibilities” are proposed when it comes to the horse as a whole. When the horse has low energy, he is labeled as being lazy, dull, or disinterested. The question then becomes, “why?” What is it that is causing the low energy state?
Can the horse have similar tail bone injury issues as humans? What about their hyoid[1|2] bone(they do not have one)? If the nervous system is upset, the whole of the horse would feel it. Where then will the compensations show? How their diet is involved, for an animal made to eat grasses, but is fed grains? Gluten intolerance? What about chemical additives in grains, and even hay or pasture?
The horse’s craniosacral [1] rhythm? Connection between fixed organs, their inability for free visceral[1] pulse, and certain types of colic? More people are becoming aware of liver and kidney overload with feed. Mesentary[1] work? Physical imbalances in the horse? Poor muscle tone, poor posture? The violent force of rectal palpation, and it’s connection with difficult breeding, births, or behavior changes in mares? Behavior changes in mare in connection with the birth process? Sacrum alignment? What about the bone plates of the horse’s skull, do they also have a Sphenoid bone[1]? Fox cerebri? Cranial alignment, postural assessment? Changes in hooves caused by postural imbalances or compensations?
What are the top no-no’s when it comes to working with horses?
- No pulling – on the reins, on the halter, etc… leading into…
- No denting. The horse must be respected, we cannot change them by taking or giving, only by influencing them by our presence and actions. Note.. I don’t say “interactions” – let’s stay on the outside.
- Stronger does not mean faster. Strong legs do not mean go, they mean stop. Strong aids do not inspire the horse to intelligent responses, only reactions.
- Better out than in (I like that), if the horse is to react to something, always encourage an external response. Internal ‘stuffing’ causes disease – mental, emotional, physical.
- Never contain, compression creates pressure, that can be released either slowly like a pressure cooker, or suddenly – explosive.
- Resistance is a warning sign – moving past resistance damages. This is on all levels, physically the body breaks, mentally the mind breaks, emotionally the heart breaks.
- Pulling – what does pulling inspire? Give what we get, if we pull we get pulling in response. If we give, we are given to in response.
- Denting – if we dent we damage. Do we want to ride and train damaged horses?
- Strength – as above, give lightness, get lightness. We can never be as strong as the horse, so why try?
- Externalizing/Internalizing – when energy is compressed, it becomes pressurized and either explodes outwards or damages the container holding it together. If the horse’s body is used to contain this energy, the energy will either carry the body in an explosive manner, or damage the external structures holding it together.
- Resistance – falls along with the category of Denting. Resistance warns us that we are on the edge of denting. When we don’t explore with intelligent touch, our nerves never have a chance to warn us that we have met resistance until we’ve already moved into or past it. Careful, light exploration sensitizes our nerves, building our ability to recognize when we’ve met resistance and back off before denting the horse.
General : Force –
Force, a relative term, is so overused in today’s training of the horse. They are pushed, pulled, whipped, cranked, yanked, yelled at, kicked and in general, overstimulated.
According to Ardnt’s Nueurological Law ( Rudolph Arndt, German Psychiatrist, 1835-1900), “Weak stimuli excites physiological activity, moderately strong ones favor it, strong ones retard it, and very strong ones arrest it.” So, from weak to very strong, as the stimulation is increased, the physiological response decreases with the intensity applied. This is why strong force causes a horse to shut down, rather than exciting them into intelligent actions.