We have a small lake behind our house and my husband and I love sitting on the balcony looking out on the lake. On a beautiful summer evening, the lake is almost a complete mirror with a perfect reflection of the woods and the sky. Then a fish jumps up and creates a sequence of ripples throughout the lake. This makes me think of ripples of energy the horses detect when their flight instinct is stimulated by the environment. I think young, inexperienced horses, as well as highly sensitive horses are more bothered by the energy thrown at them than more experienced or older horses who have learned how to respond instead of react. Experienced horses are more tolerant of ripples of energy closer to the source of those ripples, and their response could be anything from a turning of the ear and looking to not being bothered at all.
Horses are and always will be flight animals, I don’t believe we will ever be able to completely train that out of them, because they are hardwired for flight and that is what has kept them alive for thousands of years. We have to feel where the horse’s tolerance level is, as soon as they are concerned, regardless of which ring of those ripples you are at, it is very important to pause there with your horse and let them know that you are listening and understanding their concern. Sometimes all it takes is that moment of allowing the horse to feel the energy knowing that the rider is not adding additional pressure but is quietly hanging out at that spot with understanding and empathy. If you can feel your horse’s energy level or concern drop, you might be able to invite him to get a step closer to the energy which has him concerned. If as riders, we do not recognize that moment of concern, and inadvertently or on purpose add more energy to the field, we might push the horse over the edge and into fight-or-flight.
Being sensitive to this, starts with riding the horse you are on today. Those ripples of energy might have your horse concerned much sooner on a cold winter day with the wind blowing after he has had a few days off, than on a hot summer day when he’s been in work all week. Listen to your horse and become aware of the slightest change in his demeanor, this requires you to be mindful and present in the moment with an intentional connection to your horse. Usually, the ears are the first sign, followed by the head going up, and by that time you should feel a tightening throughout his body. If you miss those indicators and keep throwing energy at your horse, while he feels that he’s getting too close to the edge of his comfort zone of ripples, he might have to resort to a way of resolving this conflict that you might not like.
Just like the ripples in the lake, the strongest ones are closest to the center which caused them, and the further out you go, the softer those ripples become until they eventually ebb away. If you can find the place of tolerance for your horse, and allow him to be comfortable there, without adding additional pressure, he will quickly learn that he can trust you to help him deal with this and will eventually be able to get closer to the center of what causes the ripples without having to resort to flight.
Juliana Zunde 