How our horse reads us

We have talked about how our thoughts effect our feeling and with that our body language. We all know that as a rider we use our body language to communicate with our horse by using our weight, seat, legs and hands to apply aids and therefore tell our horses what we want them to do.
But do we really tell them what we WANT them to do?
A rider who is scared that the horse is going to take off and buck will generally pull on the rein, grip with the knees, lean forward and possibly even dig in their heals. All this while they desperately want the horse to be quiet, relaxed and calm.
From a horses perspective, it has just been pulled in the mouth, kicked in the guts and feeling the panic that comes from the rider, which signals to the horse that there is danger near by.
The horse being a fight or flight animal, now has only one thing on its mind: 'to get away as fast as possible and at all cost'!
So do we really communicate to our horse what we want them to do?
No, that's because we generally focus on what we DON'T want to happen, like:
- I don't want to get bucked off
- I don't want my horse to be stiff on the right rein
- I don't want it to stop at the first fence.
With these thoughts we keep creating a body language that communicates exactly that!
So how do we change? The first step is to be aware of what your thinking and doing.
Stay tuned next week.