The sun was sinking and the temp was dropping here at Gentle Giants Horse Rescue in Mt Airy Maryland. As I looked around the arena to find one more horse left. His name was Kanin. A Big brown and white Spotted Draft. Jumpy as all heck. Enough to make you jump in your own skin. You know, that feeling when you are grooming your horse and everything is quiet and peaceful then BAM! HE jumps and that makes you jump. Yep that is Kanin. HAHAHA.
I worked with Kanin the day before and helped him make some breakthroughs on his hyper reactivity. I walked up with a calming voice and offered a hand for him to smell, slowly making my way to his neck for some rubs. As I removed his blanket he held on to his anxiety. I could feel it all bottled up inside, like a 2 liter bottle of soda all shook up, internalizing and filling with pressure. When the blanket came off he ran side to side expressing his worry.
Moving into the ground work with a flag and working on helping him unlock his hips when he became worried about the pressure. It was a big deal to him. Jumpy and reactive seemed to be his middle name. When I felt like he was softer, more relaxed and engaged, I climbed up in the saddle. He felt stiff and tense. Even in his walk, his left hip locked up every few steps. After some lateral work he felt a little softer so we moved into a trot. Trotting until I felt a layer come off and the tension dissipate then we called it a day.
Today, Kanin is again, in the arena awaiting his turn. Patrick was complete with his horses for the day so he took a seat to observe my work.
As I approach Kanin the same old story returned. Like a Jack rabbit jumping out of a hole, Kanin jumps out of his skin. Yep, you guessed it, he caused me to jump as well. I took a deep breath, laughed it off and decided at that very moment, today was going to be different. Today I am not accepting his old story of “I am a fearful horse”. I immediately found my strong solid presence inside and moved forward with a new story around Kanin. My new story is, Kanin is a solid confident horse. He knows exactly what I want at all times, so long as I know what I want and I am confident in asking.
No more slow and easy does it. If we are saying “its okay… its okay” while walking up all slow and creepy, what we are actually saying to the horse is… “Its not okay, its not okay”. We have all done it at least once in our lifetime and the moment we said it was in a moment we were predicting a negative outcome. Hahaha, We are a weird species. LOL
Shifting my thoughts caused me to change my approach and reaction towards him. This time I walked up to him with a nice pace and solid presence. Kanin jumped again only this time I did not react. I responded. I kept walking up with my solid presence, a laugh and with the thought of “Kanin, what are you doing? I want you to just stand here. Quietly. While I take your blanket off.” Kanin took a deep sigh and lowered his head with a slight snort. With Kanin standing still from that moment forward, I removed his blanket.
I confidently brushed the mud from his belly and saddled him up. We walked to the center of the arena with my flag in hand as I ask him to stop and simply stand while facing me. All of this time he has still not jumped or reacted to anything.
As my fingers began to chill through my gloves I found myself still maintaining constant mindfulness of my posture, thought and presence. All of which reflect the confidence he feels from me. As I turned to face Kanin, I could see his anticipation of wanting to run left or right to begin lunging in a circle. I stood grounded with a deep intent on letting him know all I wanted was for him to stand and engage with me for a moment. As he trotted off in one direction I put a sharp focus on his hips and upped the energy with my flag. A few strides later his mind came back to me. His feet stopped and after a brief moment his mind shifted.
This moment right her is extremely important. This is when the horses brain can find it’s landing place if we let it. The re writing of their story happens here.(We will go way more into detail about this in another blog) His mind wanted to hurry right through what we were doing. I did not prevent it from leaving me but rather found a way to bring his energy and mind back to me. Standing in one place, I took a deep breath and released any tension in my body. As I did this… So did he. Kanin found the peace and relaxation with me, rather than while leaving me. This is the beginning of creating a horse who looks to us for the solution.
My plan was to ask him to step across with his shoulder, move forward a few steps on the circle and step under with his inside hind, then change direction, all at the walk.
As I asked I could feel him step out smoothly, move forward freely and then get all sticky when I asked for the hip. I immediately got big with my flag and asked for it fast! This is when Patrick Hollered at me from the far end of the arena..
“Lisa, Think about asking, not in a hurried kind of way but a Sure Way!”
A sure way? Hummmm, Interesting? Because that was part of what I was practicing in other areas with Kanin. Maybe Patrick felt my unsureness in that moment? Or maybe I could accomplish the same with less speed and a more meaningful energy? Or maybe I could accomplish MORE with less speed and more meaningful energy?
“Okay” I hollered back with pure eagerness to explore this new idea.
“Sureness? What does sureness feel like? What does a person who is sure look like? How do they walk? How do they just BE sure?” all these thoughts cross my mind as I am walking around getting ready to ask Kanin again for his hip.
Here it goes.. Me being sure with every fiber of my soul. Sending him out with his shoulder, trotting on the circle and asking for his hip. One, two, three, I’m still asking and I feel like he is still running forward with locked up hips and anxiety about not feeling safe. Finally after a few more steps his mind begins to come in and he softens and yields his hip.
I took a deep breath and waited. Kanin, finally released, dropped his head and licked and chewed. His brain was processing everything that was happening. Taking in the new and letting go of the old. I asked again. And again. Maintaining my calm sureness. After about 10 minuets I could see Kanin becoming more sure about being with me and participating in a more engaged way. He was blowing down and stretching his neck, becoming soft as butter. This was awesome! I discovered something! With the help of Patrick of course. I don’t call him the legend for nothing. LOL
Not only was I able to explore what presence I was projecting to my horse and the effect it had but also that there is a fine line between a horse who is ignoring and a horse who is expressing a need to feel safe. This does not mean that I become smaller … this means I become sure in my being. Win him over with your presence.
At this time I felt like Kanin had made some major changes. I was ready to see how he felt under saddle. Climbing up and just sitting for a moment felt good. His head was stretched down and waiting for me to ask him what I wanted. He even gave a yawn at this time! A step through the hip first as we walked off. He was soft and responsive. Walking along and asking for a few soft serpentines in a very specific way felt productive. Kanin felt like a different horse from the night before.
Making sure I brought my sureness with me to the saddle, I checked my posture and felt more changes in the horse underneath me.
Patrick asked me to move into the trot. Picking up the trot I could feel some bracyness come through the bridle and moments in the hip. When I felt this I went right back to softening the hip, not with speed but with sureness and the softness in my body. Helping him find his safe place. With his leader who was sure and calm. Before long Kanin was trotting along wanting so badly to relax and stretch his neck. This was such a wonderful feeling for me, as this horse was very tight and worried the day before. The ultimate is when he blew down through his nose while trotting on a loose rein with his head sinking and body melting in movement. All I could do was inhale and soak in this moment! These little discoveries are what I call My Little Gold Nuggets.
Many of us would say we know our horses mirror what we project. If we are fearful, our horse will pick up on this and become more fearful. If we become frustrated, as does our horse. Well Patrick threw me another Gold Nugget the other day when he said ” Don’t like what you are seeing? Give your horse something better to mirror”.
Powerful~
Be The Change You Want To See ~Gandhi
Mindful Horsemanship with Lisa Calder 