Ep 84: Using the Release to Your Advantage
Understanding a horse’s self-preservation instincts is a critical point in the horsemanship journey. Reactive responses, such as anxiety in the trailer, pawing when tied up, fighting the bridle, or bucking, are each an extension of a horse’s natural survival instincts. When a horse demonstrates these reactive tendencies, the goal is to turn these trigger points into safe spaces.
Any time your horse’s brain is in a reactive state of mind, you have to figure out what you can do to establish a trigger that flips that switch back to a “thinking” mindset. That trigger should be a simple exercise that activates that horse’s thought process, focus and attention.
A common issue, especially with young horses, is anxiety when they are tied up at the trailer. The reason this happens is because the horse feels confined and restricted. It’s the equivalent of a human being claustrophobic. When a horse feels trapped and unable to get itself out of a situation, those reactive tendencies will kick in and cause a lot of tension and frustration for the horse, which usually reveals itself in the form of pawing.
When this happens, the goal is to make “being tied up” the release. To do this, we untie the horse and default to a simple back and forth exercise where the horse follows its nose and generates movement from its hips. Learn more about this exercise inside our Foundation to Finish course.
This exercise is nothing erratic or fancy―it is simply enough to make the horse focus on where its feet are going. By creating movement away from the situation that was causing tension for that horse, tying up became the release and the safe space.
Reactive tendencies like this are not broken overnight. Many repetitions will be required to shift that trigger point for that horse into something positive.
Frequency of repetitions is what creates great habits. In the human world, we are prone to looking for a quick fix. If we have something that needs fixed, we call someone, and we get it fixed. Many horse owners are also looking for this--they call a trainer, and they get it fixed. But, a trainer can only do so much. We can begin to establish those good habits through correct repetitions, but it is up to you as the horse owner to continue reinforcing those repetitions to create a lifelong habit, not just a temporary fix.
When dealing with horses who display reactive tendencies, always be mindful of how you can use the release to your advantage.
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