palo1
Well-Known Member
I am aware of several appoaches - some of which are quite old school (as in not especially 'fashionable') though as @milliepops says there are people 'out there' using TRT and other methods. Back in the 90s much of the training I was getting was influenced by Molly Sivewright (Talland) and Erik Herbermann as well as other people influenced by Pojhadsky. All of those made their training fundamentally dependent on progressive, sympathetic work where the horse relaxing and understanding how to relax for him/herself was the key to quality. I found Bill Dorrance to be great as well in the specifics of the rider enabling a horse to learn how to solve problems of tension for itself though that was a different kind of riding of course. There has been some good work done by natural horseman type trainers which has really got into the wider public consciousness (I don't just mean Monty Roberts and Parelli but more localised trainers that have been on hand for many people to turn to for help) where understanding what relaxation for a horse looked like in groundwork initially was important. I think that is kind of where most thinking riders are at now, especially where there is an aim for the horse to advance it's work. It doesn't always translate or get communicated at a basic level sadly and there are many people for whom the 'goal' is more important than the horse's state of mind. The switched off relaxation of course isn't something you are likely to see at the moment of competition though as we might want our horses to be concentrating as well as really engaging with the environment and activity. Also, horses have their own ideas and judging from last night's thundering of hooves and generally noisy shenanigans outside my bedroom window there are lots of reasons for a horse to be not switched off lol.
When you watch a great many horses that are kind of systematically trained they do demonstrate (ime) considerable relaxation and confidence - the lovely soft eye, long walk, confidence to graze in hand or perform other natural behaviours even whilst at a 'different' place such as a competition venue. I don't mind seeing healthy horses alert, playful and in a very alert state tbh either; it doesn't necessarily signal a kind of tension which I think is concerning. When I have watched our entirely 'natural' hill pony herd they can be incredibly dynamic - for reasons which are often not obvious and exhibit many signs of 'tension' in their natural interactions with each other. When I ride with them or through them sometimes they are very alert, running alongside our horses - potentially demonstrating those signs of 'stress' yet sometimes they literally don't give a stuff and stay grazing, snoozing etc. I don't think we can be entirely certain that we can either totally understand or control a horse's mental state - they are intelligent and emotional animals so that seems like a very limited and unsympathetic approach to me.
Maybe I am very lucky in that just about everyone I know who rides, strives to achieve a relaxed state or to promote relaxation in their horses; in their living arrangements, their confidence with in hand and ridden work. That makes life so much better for us of course too.
