I thought the other week during a very interesting lesson with a client that it may be of benefit to others to share what happened in the lesson so you too can glean some ideas that you can incorporate or try with your horse.  From now on I will pick one lesson during my week and share it here in this blog.  My intention is that it will inspire, educate or get you thinking of how these ideas could benefit you and your horse.  Please enjoy and leave comments or suggestions.  Louise xx

Indy - 30 Jan

Todays lesson with Indy was about personal space and the bubble around it.

Indy is a new horse for my client and can be described in horseinality terms as right brain reactive.  Everything Indy does is from a basis of fear so his instincts kick in very quickly to flee the scene.  What my client discovered today was how Indy's opinion of humans and what being with them entails is dismal. When trying to play the circling game it can only be played in a contained fashion.  In other words Indy says I will tolerate you as long as you don't come into my bubble and you must stay very quiet, almost sneaking around.  As soon as you apply energy or pressure Indy's lid blows and he has left town 100% in his mind, body and spirit.

How can we play any ground games when Indy's terms are so contained?  Basically we can't and stay safe!

Forgetting the games we began our session with helping Indy get braver, calmer and think.  All left brain stuff.  To do this we had to play approach and retreat to find Indy's bubble.  My client discovered it was huge!  Probably about 20' around his whole body.  Once we understood where his threshold of comfort was we began to ask permission to enter his bubble.  Again my client played approach and retreat.  This meant that when we asked permission to enter his bubble and he reacted by saying no we retreated.  This was kept up until Indy said yes.  Then once in Indy's bubble the approach and retreat started again until he would let his human touch him all over his body.  This was especially important as Indy was very protective of his body and would always turn and face you blocking you out with his shoulder.  This gesture alone was valuable information for my client to have registered that Indy was not happy when a human was touching his body, he was a volcano waiting to explode.

Now my client was in Indy's bubble with him relaxed and calm.  We needed to wait until this time before even attempting a game because we would then be back to square one in the blink of an eye.  Why?  Because Indy would not in his left brain, which is the thinking side of the brain.  Only in this side of his brain can he learn.

With Indy calm and relaxed and engaged with my client, we could try a game.  We chose the friendly game as a place to start.  Indy was great, he stayed calm and relaxed without moving his feet.  With him confident with this on both sides of his body, we progressed to asking Indy to walk out into a circle while playing the friendly game.   This would be the test for Indy.  Because he was still in his thinking brain he was able to keep working with my client and not blow up and take off.  You could literally see Indy figuring it out - that he was just fine and his human was ok too. 

The interesting thing about reactive horses is how people misunderstand their reaction i.e, when they move there feet people tend to think the horse is moving forward.  This is not the case.  They are running away in their right brain.  When you get a reactive horse to start to think, a funny thing seems to happen.  They get unsure about how to move their body let alone how to go forward! The other interesting thing about right brain mode is that horses don't seem to lick and chew a lot.  In their left brain I seem to observe the horse doing this a lot more frequently. Maybe its about feel and timing too.  When you give comfort to the response from the horse.  Anyway lots of food for thought!

This is what Indy was trying to figure out, how to move forward and have lots of energy around him with the friendly game going on.  The good thing was he was in his left brain and thinking.  So he began experimenting, does my human mean go forward, or do I need to stop? He started asking questions and engaging.  By reassuring him and communicating clearly how the game was played, it was game on! Now we could get excited because Indy was really making fabulous progress!  When he figured the game out which didn't take very long.  It was time to QUIT.  Always quit while you are ahead.

While my client and I were reviewing what happened in the session, Indy was so relaxed and you could see how pleased he was with himself and what had transpired today.  He stood quietly, content. With his head low his eyes had a beautiful soft twinkle and his body totally relaxed.  Wow what a fabulous feeling to be able to help Indy find this way of being in himself.

Over a period of time incorporating these concepts into a programme with Indy, he will get braver and calmer and confident with his human and what is being asked of him.  This is not a quick fix scenario, it will take whatever time it takes because Indy will say so!

Cheers Louise