Episode 290-The Power of Touch: Building Connection Through Contact

Episode 290-The Power Of Touch: Building Connection Through Contact: Audio automatically transcribed by Sonix

Episode 290-The Power Of Touch: Building Connection Through Contact: this mp3 audio file was automatically transcribed by Sonix with the best speech-to-text algorithms. This transcript may contain errors.

Stacy Westfall:
This applies to groundwork and riding, because it's the way the horse is thinking and responding to the touch. It's the way the horse is breaking the connection.

Announcer:
Podcasting from a little cabin on a hill. This is the Stacy Westfall podcast. Stacy's goal is simple to teach you to understand why horses do what they do, as well as the action steps for creating clear, confident communication with your horses.

Stacy Westfall:
Hi, I'm Stacy Westfall and I'm here to help you understand, enjoy and successfully train your own horses. When I'm coaching riders, I often find many are hesitant to make contact, which actually blocks them from building a stronger connection. So in this episode I want to share three examples of contact leading to connection. I'm going to use two words over and over again contact and connection. So let's define them. Contact is pretty much what it sounds like. Think touch. This could be a light touch or this could be a firm touch. When I say firm touch, think about the pressure of a deep massage. Contact can be direct. Think about your hand on the horse's body, or your seat, or your legs on the horse's body. Contact can also be made through a tool, so you can rub a horse's body with a stick and string or a lunge whip, and this would still be a form of contact. You can make contact with the horse using the bridle reins. The word connection can be interpreted two different ways during this conversation. In dressage, when they speak of connection, they will define it as the flow of energy through the horse's body into the reins and back into the hind legs in order to have this type of connection. The horse and rider must have established contact. This means that the horse is willing to have contact with the reins, and that means that they're not ducking or hiding from the contact. And then it also means the horse is not trying to pull the reins out of the rider's hand.

Stacy Westfall:
In order for that to happen, the rider must have kind and responsive hands in order to develop a horse that accepts contact. Keep this in mind. Contact comes before connection. The second way that connection is frequently used around horses is in relationship. Webster's dictionary says connected is to be joined or linked together, or having parts or elements logically linked together or incapable of being separated. By the end of this podcast, I want you to have a picture in your mind of contact leading to connection. I'm going to give you three different examples, because with horses we are always talking body to body. So there's lots of opportunity for contact. So in my first example I want to talk about the foals. I have two foals here, Lefty and Stormy, who are turning three months old this week. And when I think about their journey, physical contact with my hands was their first experience of contact with me when I first began making physical contact with them and moving them around the stall, they didn't have halters on, and so the physical contact of me wrapping an arm around their hindquarters and reaching up under their necks and being able to guide them around. Their first interactions with me were very physical contact. And then came the tools. They were introduced to halters. They were introduced to ropes. I used a butt rope. They were introduced to a stick and string, which is an extension of my arm.

Stacy Westfall:
And during this whole time and still today, they are paid in scratches. What I mean by that is that many times when riders want to reward a horse, they offer them a treat. Well, the foals get paid in scratches, which is also contact building to connection. Let's look at Stormy in particular for a moment. When she first arrived here, she wanted no contact. She had ulcers, and she had had a rough upbringing, even though she was only a few weeks old. So she wanted no contact. So in order for me to give her medications and to begin her training, I would say she hesitantly accepted contact. And what that physically looked like was I would walk into the stall. I would slowly follow her until she was in a corner. I would reach out and I would touch her. I would begin scratching. I would walk up and I would wrap my arms around her and I would steady her. This gave her the chance to experience contact and I always made sure to make it pleasant. This then led to the next stage, which was she began willingly accepting contact. What that meant is that I would go into the stall and she would stay in the middle of the stall. She wouldn't walk to the corner. She would stand there and willingly accept contact. Sometimes she might look like she's holding her breath, but she stood there without walking to the corner, and I can walk up to her and scratch her.

Stacy Westfall:
Those scratches. That physical contact then led to her boldly asking for contact. And what that means is she now marches up and she expects scratches. And you've probably seen this same behavior in an older horse who's been given a lot of treats. Well, the same thing can be done with touch. So you can give treats and you can create a horse that is curious and willing, or you can create a horse that is boldly asking for treats. Well, the same thing has been now done with Stormy. You could argue that it's been overdone, but because in my opinion, she was so far on the teeter totter of disliking people that I wanted to rock the teeter totter the other way. So now we are at the intersection of contact and connection, and the way I'm going to define this is that the horse is entering the relationship, moving into contact. When I walk into the stall and she boldly marches up wanting to be scratched, she is entering the relationship. She's moving into the contact. And now that that is present, the regulation of the energy flow begins. For me, it feels like an ebb and a flow, a push and a pull. Or as you hear me often say, the conversation is happening. So a month ago, when she would hesitantly step in, I would step back. Now she boldly steps in and I stand my ground. I mentioned at the beginning of the podcast that under-saddle the horse must be willing to have contact with the reins, neither ducking nor hiding from the contact, and also not trying to pull the reins free from the rider's hand.

Stacy Westfall:
And in order to do this, the rider must have kind and responsive hands to develop a horse who accepts contact. The same is true here. First, this was built only with touch. I would guide with my hands and it was a deep contact. I was physically wrapped around her. It was the hug that I talk about when I'm riding. But this is in baby form and now it's being transferred to distance. So now the contact is with the lead rope and the contact is from the stick and string. It's different tools, but it's a similar language. And one of the biggest changes is she has different questions now because she's in a more bold stage of life. But out of all of that, what I want you to mostly remember is contact comes before connection. In my next example, I want you to imagine a contact and connection problem with a horse that is very sensitive. What this often means is a horse who has connected the dots, who sees what's coming and is trying to get ahead of the request. So let's imagine a show horse. And this show horse has learned to respond to very light cues. And let's say that this has gone well even for a few years. But then the rider began to notice a few things. The horse seems generally more nervous in the show arena and even at home.

Stacy Westfall:
In practice, they're not really doing anything wrong, but they kind of feel amped up even if they're moving slow. Or maybe the rider goes to a new environment that could be a different arena. Or maybe they take this horse on a trail ride, and the rider may be experiencing a sense of apprehension to use the reins or their legs, because the horse is so sensitive that they seem to be antsy and also amped up by the things around them, and the rider feels like holding their breath. There are many different versions of this example that I just painted in one specific way. But in general, what's happening is many horses who learn subtle cues are at risk of becoming too sensitive to light, overly responsive. This especially happens with hot horses or sensitive horses. If you've ever ridden one of these horses, you'll notice that you had a desire to hold your breath or not use too much leg or rein. And what's happening here is that the contact has become so light that it's actually breaking the connection. Now pay attention here. Contact is relative. I'm not going to tell you the number of ounces or the number of pounds, because it varies by the horse. Here's what you can remember when the horse is responding to a very light cue and is anxious or tight, it's the tight or the anxious. That's the clue. And the cure is to reset the queue. So in my world, a horse can become too light, and too light is when they have anxiety around the cue, the rein, or the leg, for example.

Stacy Westfall:
At that point, the cure is to show them how to become more accepting of slightly more contact. This applies to groundwork and riding, because it's the way the horse is thinking and responding to the touch. It's the way the horse is breaking the connection. I was recently showing someone, Willows in hand, piaffe and rear, which I haven't been doing lately, actually for months. And during the demonstration she became too light to light. In this example was her offering it before it was asked. And so as she started volunteering these things without me requesting, I started rubbing her with the whips. And the minute that I made the contact and started rubbing her, she instantly settled into the contact and relaxed in her body and in her mind. In my last example, I want to talk about more advanced riding. So let's imagine a dressage horse, and let's imagine that this horse has accepted contact. And now the challenge is connection in the riding form. It's the energy flowing through the horse's body, energy flowing through the body and being received in the rider's hands, and then being directed or harnessed or channeled by the rider into the next desired movement. And the thing I love about this description is that although the phrasing says received in the rider's hands, it's really being received in the rider's whole body.

Stacy Westfall:
As the communication becomes more and more nuanced, the rider's awareness of the whole horse's body must increase, and in turn, the horse's awareness of the rider's body increases. Just because a rider is on the horse doesn't mean they are aware of the horse's body in detail. But if a rider studies and gains the ability to feel and influence different parts of the horse, their awareness will increase and it will open more access to this energy flow. Many times, riders are unaware of how they're blocking this energy flow, blocking that connection with their own body or with their aides. Now, as I say this, a lot of you are going to want to take so much responsibility for your own body that you may also forget that it's also true that even if you're an advanced rider, an advanced rider cannot fully harness that connected energy until the horse is also developed in that way. A great example of this is many writers want a smoother trot or a smoother, more balanced lope or canter, and these are possible when contact and connection have been developed. If you're complaining that you cannot sit your horse's trot or canter, but you also don't have the ability to make contact, your challenge is actually coming from that lack of contact, which blocks that ability to have that connection and that recycled energy moving through the body contact alone is a great starting point. If you pick up on the left rein and the horse moves to the left and you release, it's great because the horse is accepting a level of contact, but it won't get you those smooth gaits until you can have this energy flow that lifts the horse's back, which then makes it a lot easier for the rider to be able to sit the gaits.

Stacy Westfall:
Back in episode 192, I talked about forward is a direction, not a speed. When I talk about forward as a direction, I'm talking about the horse understanding the energy moving through the body, not faster, but through the body in this word that we're using now as connection. If you're riding your horse and you begin to close the reins for more contact, or you begin to close your legs for more contact and your horse dives left or right, then your horse is not thinking forward. And when I say forward, I mean forward as a direction, not a speed. When that is understood that we can have forward as a direction and not a speed, it's a huge moment because it helps the horse understand the energy can flow but not necessarily go faster. And when these building blocks are in place, then it leads me to bridleless riding, where the energy flow is very tuned in, where the horse accepts contact in an even more nuanced way, not a lighter way where the horse's acceptance of contact was once spread over three cue areas reins, seat, and legs. Now it's more concentrated. Now all of the cues are in the seat and the legs and the leg contact has to be well accepted and the energy flow has to be well established.

Stacy Westfall:
Bridleless riding isn't less contact, it's different contact. It isn't too light or we end up in the problem of example number two. And it isn't hard for the horse to understand because it's been well practiced and it isn't heavy because you must be mindful of your ability to send the energy forward as a direction, but not as a speed, and to also be able to bring it back with the same aids, the seat and the legs. Whew. I covered a lot there. But what I love about using contrasting examples is that it allows your mind to practice seeing connections. Pun intended. If I had to summarize all of it. Acceptance of contact comes before connection. And as I wrap up, I'm going to share with you three reasons that step one contact can be challenging. It can be challenging because of unsteady hands. It can be challenging because of poor tool technique, and it can be challenging if the rider has the impression that firm touch equals punishment. The excellent news is that all of this can be taught. This is the work I do with riders inside the Resourceful Rider program. If you'd like me to help you with this, be sure you sign up on the waitlist so you'll be contacted the next time the program is open for enrollment. That's what I have for you this week, and I'll talk to you again in the next episode.

Announcer:
If you enjoy listening to Stacy's podcast, please visit StacyWestfall.com for articles, videos and tips to help you and your horse succeed.

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