Why Your Horse’s Nervous System Resists Change—and What to Do About It #88

In this episode of "Easier Movement, Happier Horses," Mary Debono delves into the often-overlooked concept of working WITH a horse's current movement patterns, however "incorrect" we may think they are, instead of trying to force a change.

Mary explains how many equestrians, in their desire to help their horses move better, may inadvertently cause discomfort or resistance by attempting to immediately correct posture issues, such as a dropped back.

Drawing on her extensive experience, Mary illustrates how gently supporting a horse's existing habits can create a sense of ease and safety, making the nervous system more receptive to learning new, healthier movement options. This approach not only improves the horse's physical well-being but also enhances its mental and emotional state.

Mary offers a fresh perspective on fostering a deeper connection with your horse by respecting its current state and guiding it toward better movement through gradual, supportive methods.

We'll continue this discussion in our next podcast episode. Please subscribe so you don't miss an episode!

Key Takeaways

• Forcing a horse to round its back can create discomfort and resistance.
• Supporting a horse's current movement habits can create a sense of ease and safety.
• The nervous system is more receptive to learning new movement patterns when it feels safe.
• This approach improves the horse's physical, mental, and emotional well-being.
• Gradual, supportive methods foster better communication and a deeper connection between horse and rider.

Resources:

💥Learn how the Feldenkrais Method can help improve your seat, position, and balance on your horse! Free rider videos masterclass: https://www.marydebono.com/rider 💥

Email [email protected]

All information is for general educational purposes ONLY and doesn't constitute medical or veterinary advice.  

TRANSCRIPT:

Hey there. Today I'm going to talk about something that might seem like bonkers to you, and it's this, if you had a horse who kind of dropped their back, that they couldn't round their back very easily or they were resistant to doing it, what if I told you that one of the worst things you could do is to try to get them to round their back? And there's various ways people do that, but instead to encourage them to do the opposite?

Well, hear me out. There's a lot more to this than you think. And in case we're meeting for the first time, my name is Mary de Bono, and this is the easier movement, Happier Horses podcast. Yeah. So this is something that I've come across, I don't know, thousands of times in my 30 plus years of doing this work professionally with horses and humans, is that there is a lot of people want their horses to be rounder, to carry themselves in a healthier way, and that's great.

Okay. We probably all want that, but there's different ways of going about it. And you'll see many people, they'll try to immediately, through various means, whether through riding training, you know, gadgets, force, try to get their horse in, quote unquote, a frame. Now, many of us know that that is wrong, wrong, wrong. But then there's other ways that people do it that you might think, well, that doesn't seem wrong.

They might do different maneuvers, you know, using pressure under their belly or in the girth area and along the belly to get the horse to round the back. And I'm not saying that's always wrong, but let's think of it this way. Imagine you knew a person who had a really sore back, and they just had this habit, which many of us do, of overarching their back, right. At least one part of their back.

And often it's the lumbar spine. You know, a lot of people, you'll see, have that, you know, concave look to themselves, right. And so, you know, and they had, they have trouble with abdominal control and different things like that. So now, if you went up to that person and just like, poked your finger in their stomach and that person kind of, you know, rounded their back to as a response, it's like a reflex, right?

They tighten their abdominals, they pull in. Okay, they would have rounded their back temporarily, but what would they have learned in the process? Number one, their nervous system probably wouldn't have liked it because it's, first of all, there might be a degree of violence or intrusion involved, but even leaving that aside, if that's not what the nervous system is prepared to do, it is almost like a shock to the nervous system.

And what if there was some discomfort in the actual spine, that the movement of flexing right may have been done in a way that wasn't integrated, that wasn't coordinated, that didn't have the support from other parts of the body? So, yes, you got the horse, or the person in this case to round their back, but at what cost? And you could, you know, have them do it over and over and things like that.

But if you're not improving the quality of the movement and the experience for the horse or the human, you're not really helping them in a significant way, in my opinion. So I'll give you an example, another example. So, okay, we'll go back to a horse. So say a horse, you know, you're looking at the horse, you see their posture isn't ideal. You know, maybe they're a little more on the forehand.

The back is a bit dropped. And that's how they move, you know, whether free or under saddle. And what I do and what I teach my people to do, my students to do in the move with your horse program is we actually support that horse's habit. So let's think about this a moment. And there's very, very gentle ways we do this with our hands. We actually, in this, in this example, would bring the horse's sternum and ribs a little bit more forward, which is supporting that extension, that arching.

Okay, what happens when you do that? Well, what happens is that horse's nervous system gets a feeling of, ah, relief because now someone is doing the work for him. It gets a feeling of, oh, this is familiar, this is safe, right? There's a sense of ease in the movement. Okay, I know how to do this. I'm really good at this. Right? So the brain is like, okay, you've got, like, buy in from the nervous system.

Now, the nervous system is in a state where it can listen, it can learn because you haven't contradicted it. We always have to remember that the nervous system had a good reason to start that habit in the first place. You know, there was some. It was trying to find a solution to something. Now, maybe it is obsolete, it's maladaptive now, but the nervous system did it as a solution to a problem or what it thought would be a solution to a problem.

Okay, maybe the horse started doing it because years ago the saddle was painful or the rider was unbalanced, or the horse had dental issues or hoof issues or whatever that was causing the horse to try to relieve discomfort. Okay, now, so that's the first step. The first step is you support and provide that sense of ease with the experience. And this is so crucial. This is crucial for our own movement re education, too, because you want to be able to use that sense of ease to then bring other options to the horse or to the human.

But what's important is you start with that sense of ease. Okay. So then we go a little bit further, of course. Okay. After that, we don't just leave the horse with more and more extension. We want to start to introduce new options for the horse. The first step is so, so crucial. And so next week, next episode, I will dive into what we do to start to gradually introduce these new options.

Okay? But the first step is you meet the horse where they are or the human, and you actually provide a sense of support. And that allows the horse to feel safe. And we want to provide this, the environment of safety. So the horse can listen. They can. Their nervous system is free to hear us to because we're communicating through movement and contact with our hands. We're communicating with the horse's nervous system.

So we want the horse's nervous system to be able to hear us. And it does that when it feels safe. So by supporting what the horse already does, you start to create that environment of safety for the horse. Now, I want to be clear here. This is not about getting the horse to be more inverted. I had a woman wrote to me years ago, she was starting to do that.

She would, like, use her hands. She was riding with a bridle with a harsh bit, and she was trying to get. I was like, no, no, no. That's not what we're talking about here. This is a way to use our hands to support the horse's sense of effort so we can create by us doing it for them, we can create a sense of ease for the horse and remind the horse that there's other ways to be in the world that they can feel differently.

They can feel, you know, again, a sense of comfort and ease in their movement and their overall well being. And this is why this work has benefits not only just in physical performance, but mental well being. You know, the emotional state of the horse, because you start to help the horse feel. I can respond differently in life. I don't have to be stuck in my old habits. But the first step in kind of unsticking from an old habit is, let's see where we're at right now.

And how can I relieve you of some of that strain and make things feel easier so you can have a different experience in life? Okay, so I hope this kind of just lays the groundwork for why we're, you know, in this work. We are looking for the direction of ease for the horse, and then we create these conditions that stimulate learning, that stimulate connection between you and your horse, clearer communication, and then from there, we can help the horse gradually, easily find new options.

So stay tuned because next episode will go into how you introduce these gradual options and why the direction might surprise you. Okay, thank you so much for listening, reviewing and subscribing to the podcast. I appreciate you so much and I love sharing this with you. Look forward to talking to you real soon. Bye for now.