​Your Horse Feels Everything

​Your Horse Feels Everything
By Gaye DeRusso
 
Your horse can feel a fly, which makes him twitch his skin to make it go away. Yet you climb on from the ground and when the saddle slides you shove it back over with your weight. You pick up your reins and you yank him left and you yank him right. You yank on the bit to stop and yank harder to back up. He won't stand still so you just keep yanking. 
 
Many times, our horses are on overload, and we have no idea.   Many  get upset with us and all the stimulus we are giving them because the horse feels everything. He not only feels you physically but emotionally, so if your mind is running loose or you are thinking about life issues as you are riding and not focused, he is feeling all of it underneath you. 
 
You lean to the side as you turn around to talk with your friends, with your weight totally unbalanced on his back and never give it a second thought. All the while your horse is just trying to balance your weight.
 
The horse feels everything, so there is no need to yank or pull harder if you teach them what you want. There is no reason to shove your saddle over if you can loosen it and put it in place or tighten the girth more before you get on and use a log or mounting block. 
 
If you are doing these things, it is time to stop and become a better rider. Because your horse can only do so much to help you, and it can only tolerate so much. Many times, that is why your horse is acting up. He is trying but you just keep hurting him in the process and giving him stimulus that you are totally unaware of. 
 
The horse is a gift, and we should treat him as one. We need to teach the horse cues, so they understand what we want under saddle and then use the lightest touch needed to give those cues.  Always start with the lightest cue and then increase till they understand. But each time go back to the lightest cue, until they make the connection.
 
When you shorten your reins, inch your hands up quietly, and then hold your thumb down on the top of the rein to keep it in place so you don't need to keep shortening them. Or slide one hand down and then the other but no more chucking the reins up to get them shorter because it pulls on the bit each time. 
 
When you steer use your fingers and squeeze on the rein instead of pulling, then relax the fingers, so there is not a constant pull on the horse. When you back up, hold light pressure to tell them backwards, then add leg to say go and release every time they back up a step. In time they will understand to back up just from light pressure, your weight being back and leg.
 
If you teach the horse correctly there will be no reason to yank or kick or hit them. The horse will respond from a light touch, a light cue, they will respond from your energy going up and down, they will respond from you changing your seat position and weight. If they can feel your emotions, they can feel every movement you are making, and some of them are on overload because of what you are doing up there. 
 
More sensitive horses can be controlled many times with just your mind and a look to where you want to go, a thought of going faster or slower, a thought of stopping, or relaxing your body to slow them down. 
 
If you would only give the horse a chance. They would willingly do what you want. They just don't understand and that's why they need to learn cues and you need to give the cues correctly for the communication to work. 
 
Realize they feel everything. They are born that way. If you teach them well and ride soft and balanced, the horse become magical. You can communicate with your breathing, the lightest touch on the rein, a light cue with your seat and leg. But if you do not give them a chance, you are just punishing them with all that extra pressure. Nature gave them a gift, let them use that gift. 
 
This is one example of how sensitive they are. The other day a horse was tense inside the round pen, but there was two of us in there, and two people outside watching. When the client got nervous because the horse was moving fast, I told the people outside to take a deep breath in and out through their mouth and like magic the horse stopped. I told them, he can feel you from more than 20 feet away. He feels everything, so if we all relax, he will relax. So, if a horse can feel you from 20 feet away just imagine what he feels on his back when you ride. 
 
If your horse keeps getting upset or is stuck on go, it maybe that he or she is feeling too much of what you are doing and is on over load. Make sure you are focused and with the horse,  not thinking about what you need to do once you’re done riding or issues you are having in life. 
 
Sometimes just using your seat and breath to stop and a light contact if they don't respond, is all you need to quiet them down. Be more still in the saddle, stay relaxed with a quiet seat. Breathe more and deeply to help them relax. Practice in the arena first to be safe but try to become a quiet relaxed rider if you have a sensitive horse and use the least amount of pressure possible to communicate with your horse. 
 
And never forget the  horse  can feel everything.