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Podcasting from a little cabin on a hill. This is 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.
Hello, I'm Stacey Westfall, and I teach people how to understand, enjoy and successfully train their own horses in this first season of the podcast. I've been discussing issues that frequently affect the way that riders think. As I wrap up the season and prepare for season two, I'd like to address a few more topics that I really see affecting writers. Things that writers can and should contemplate while they're sitting on the couch because it's really going to change the way that you ride. In today's episode, I'm discussing a single word. Pressure. This word is often combined in the Ecofin world with the word release, but for today, I want you to think just about your reaction to the word pressure. When I say the word pressure and I especially when I don't combine it with a release, when I say the word pressure. What are some of the pictures that flash into your mind? What is your very first reaction when I combine the word pressure and horse in the same sentence? Now, I'm going to play a little bit of a game with you, and I'm going to say that when I was asking myself this question, I actually went outside the horse world because I'm in there so often. And I thought, what's my very first reaction to the word pressure? And because I've been watching the good doctor, my very first reaction to the word pressure was put some pressure on that cup before he bleeds out, which is interesting because in that case, pressure is actually helpful.
And I thought about a little bit more and I thought another place where we hear the word pressure used is pressure create diamonds. But we also hear used as in he cracked under the pressure. I'm sure that I could search around and try to figure out a prettier word to use in this discussion, but when I thought about it and started even doing some Google searches to figure out some other words that might sit better with everyone out there who's listening. I thought, you know, why am I hiding this word pressure? Because I actually believe that pressure is a natural part of life. I just posted a video on YouTube and it is the very first podcast. But what I did was because it was going on YouTube. I wanted to put footage with it. So I put footage of three of my horses playing in the round pen. So if you want to get a kick out of it, you can go over onto the Stacey Westfall YouTube channel and you can actually watch the watch. You going to listen to the first podcast episode again? But you're gonna be watching three horses playing. And if you watch it, one thing I would say is you're watching an entire game of pressure and you'll see that two out of the three are distinctly playing the game of pressure, while the older horse is sort of much more subtly showing how he uses pressure. But I'm going to let you go enjoy that little piece of footage on your own over there.
What I hope you see when you look at it is that horses aren't afraid of pressure and that it's really. A world that we're trying to create for them. A lot of times that's not real. This pressure free life. A lot of times I see riders who are trying to shape the world around their horses to be a pressure free zone. But inside of that, we run into a whole bunch of problems. No one being that you might be able to create that bubble inside of a closed environment like a small indoor arena with very little activity. But it's not a realistic view of the world. It's not a realistic view of our world. It's pretty easy for all of you to admit that there's pressure in your life. And it's really not a very realistic view of of a horse's world either. If we want to put them out in nature, you could do a YouTube search and watch herds of horses. And again, you're going to see something similar to what's going on in the round pen footage where there's pressure inside the herds. You put them out in the wild. There's pressure coming from externally. And I think sometimes we when we don't think about how we as individual humans interact with the word pressure, what happens is that we carry over this negative idea of pressure into our riding. And we're definitely going to be addressing that a lot more when we get in to the upcoming seasons.
But I want to touch it here and now in the mental sense. A picture that you could have in your mind, as we discussed this, is that if we look at how muscle is built, there is a form of pressure in the form of resistance. That is what builds muscle. And I'm proposing that it is a form of pressure that builds a horse's mind. I will be the first to admit that the same way that pressure can break a horse or a person down physically. You can absolutely break a horse down mentally if you apply pressure. Wrong, but that's the same thing as saying that you can apply pressure wrong to their body. In neither case is the option of avoiding pressure a good option. If we avoid pressure in the form of building their muscles, they become weaker. I'm proposing the idea that if we avoid pressure in the realm of mental. And this physical crossover that we're about to discuss, that you're actually weakening the horse instead of strengthening them. I know at the moment this still seems a little bit. I don't know. FFE a little bit out in the clouds for me, so I want to bring it down to an actual thing that we can actually picture and even feel the next time the either of us goes out and rides. In practice, a place that people often struggle with the idea of pressure, even if they're not completely aware that that's the word they're struggling with, would be inside of the idea of having contact on the horse's reins.
The reason I believe a lot of people have a lot of resistance to the idea of holding or maintaining contact is because they haven't broken down their actual thought on pressure. I was on Facebook and I followed Denny Emmerson and you can find him at Tamarack Hill Farms, TAF a.m. a are a S.K. Hill farm, and he wrote this post at the end of December that I thought was so good that I would rather share it here than try to rephrase it. And he wrote contact also depends on context. The degree of contact needed for control varies according to several factors. These nine photos and so he talks a little bit about the nine photos that are in this post. The relaxed horse in the last three frames can go on zero contact because she feels equally zero urgency. But if I had zero contact on the galloping horse, it would be a completely different result. The contact in a dressage test is somewhere in the middle. If someone tells you that a correctly schooled horse should go in all circumstances on feather light contact. Send that person foxhunting and see what happens when the horse is galloping down a slope. Was eleven other horses next to it? A three rail vertical post and rail fence coming up fast. There is a nice theory and there is a cold reality and they are not always the same thing as anyone with any degree of experience will have learned, end of the quote.
What I like about the way that Danny wrote this is that it absolutely does depend on context, and I believe that the bareback bridles ride that I did with Roxy has accidentally pointed people to the belief that it was created without pressure. And I am here to say that Roxy fully understood contact and fully understood galloping and me being able to wrap my legs around her and hug her and being able to hold pressure on the bit. And she understood leverage bits and different things. And in understanding them, not only did they not scare her, but they helped her to understand pressure, pressure as a theory. Is not just a theory for people, but it can become a theory and principle for horses, as Rocsi understood, the theory that most of us understand when we flap a plastic bag that we want to teach that horse. That that pressure is not something to run from. That's a theory we're teaching the horse. Not all of these scary things are actually danger, but we can also teach the horse that we can wrap our Ade's around the horse, that we can hold that horses proverbial hand by holding contact with the reins. We can shape the horse and we can wrap our legs around and we can hold the horse. And these aren't scary things. They don't have to be scary things.
But before that is going to happen with the horse, you have to believe it in your mind. There is a simple exercise that everyone. The next time they get on a horse can do the simple exercise. Simple, but not easy. Simple exercise is to take the slack out of the reins and simply see if you can find the rhythm that that horse's head has when it walks. When a horse walks. Doesn't matter if it's a gated horse or a stock horse. When a horse walks, their head wants to move up and down, slightly forward and back the next time you're leading a horse or go ahead and watch the ones playing in the round pen. You're going to see this movement in their head neck. And I want you to get on and I want you to see if you can simply teach your hand to follow that motion. So that means that you could hold with one ounce of pressure if that's what you're comfortable with. Take the slack out just to where there's that and follow that horse's head movement with your hand, because your ability to do this will make you pleasant to hold hands with. And we're gonna discuss a lot more of these ideas of how you can train your body in the next season of the podcast. But if you're sitting on the couch or you're driving in your car and you're picturing the idea of taking the slack out of the reins and following that horse's head as it nods up and down a little bit at the walk, I need you to analyze your thought belief around that idea, because if you have a tense ness in your body, if you feel upset about the idea of contact, if you feel like you're doing damage to the horse in your mind before you're even near your horse, you won't have a good result.
And it won't be because it's a bad practice. It will be because it might not be the right one for you right now. At the time in your life about, I will say that I do truly believe it is one of the keys to higher level riding. When I want to be inspired, I do a Google search and watch the horse named Valero V A L E G R0 and Charlotte Desjardin. It is a beautiful, beautiful ride of an Olympic level dressage horse. And you can see all the contact that this rider has with the bridle reins with her legs and all the understanding that that horse has. I know that Roxy had this understanding. I know that you had an understanding of pressure when you were learning to drive a car and that when you go out and drive on the road, you have to handle a degree of pressure. I know that I had to teach my kids to understand pressure when they were learning to drive cars, because you have to to advance in life, be able to understand and handle degrees of pressure.
Guys, I know that I'm going to start going deeper into some of these thoughts on what it takes to move your understanding of horses if you have questions that you'd like to have answered here on the podcast. I would love it if you would leave me a voicemail question over at Stacy Westfall dot com. I hope this gives you lots of things to think about. And thanks again for listening.
If you enjoy listening to Stacie's podcasts, please visit Stacy Westfall dot com for articles, videos and tips to help you and your horse succeed.
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For some reason, i took this as i need to learn how to deal with pressure in my life so it stops adversely affecting my horse. When I think of pressure, I think of panic. When I think of pressure and horsez, I think of frustration. I think that dealing with my how I process pressure and allow it to affect me will help me to be able to communicate more effectively with my horse.
I really can’t wait to try this exercise. I feel like this issue has held me back so much. I’ve been so afraid of hurting the horse (teachers telling me the horse is sensitive, he can feel a fly land on him so….) that I’ve messed up in this area big time. It wasn’t until last year that a friend helped me understand that pressure is actually connection and communication, not punishment, that I had a breakthrough in my understanding of riding. It’s been a while since I’ve ridden and I feel like this is kind of a relaunch of learning for me and a greasy start particularly in the way I’m thinking. Very excited and so grateful for this information and knowledge!
Uh fresh start not greasy…. Lol. Not sure a greasy start would give me any kind of proper pressure.
Well, you’ve given me lots to think about. Very informative. I do have a question, however. Three weeks ago I purchased a 7-year-old mare who has never been trained in any way. The owners were elderly and while they had a pretty good operation at one time they got out of the business about the same time this mare was born but just never sold her. She’s basically been a pet. They were not very informative about what she could or could not do. When I asked if she would tie I was told, “Well, she stands for the farrier.” Anyway, these past three weeks have been a kind of show and tell. I’ve learned she’s halter broke, will lead some and will give to pressure. After a pretty good session I decided to tie her to see how she’d do. As soon as I walked away she began to frantically pace. At one point she pulled back for about 5 seconds but stopped and began the frantic pacing again. After about three minutes I untied her and tried to lead her back to the round pen. It was as if everything she knew flew out the window. She walked all over me, acting as if I weren’t even there, snorting and wide-eyed. The 30 feet to the pen were crossed by allowing her to make semi circles around me as I worked her to the pen. I lunged her until she calmed down and I got her undivided attention again and then I let her go. I wanted to end on a positive note. I’ve been reviewing the Jac series and when I work her again I’ll be backing up a little on her progress. What I don’t get is, why did she panic when tied, although she gives to pressure so willingly?
There is emotional pressure and physical pressure. It sounds like you are saying she gives to physical pressure when leading. Have you seen the Jac episode where I take off running and pull on the rope? I’m preparing him for tying. The running triggers both emotional and physical but prior to that I did LOTS of emotional pressure work. Whips, tarps, balls, lunging at speed (on the lunge line where he would feel physical pressure).
When you tied her and walked away, how does her reaction compare to other times when she has been ‘alone’? Does she pace in a stall when alone? Or was tying one of the first ‘alone’ moments she has had? Does she crave being with other horses and/or you (herd-bound stuff)? All things to think about.
In short, she was emotionally triggered and then didn’t have the skills to recover. Much like a person who gets worked up but doesn’t know how to come back down after.
It sounds like your idea of going back will be a good idea.
Will you address the release?
Yes. It will come up during future podcast episodes. If you have specific questions feel free to leave them here or call them in and I’ll work it into the upcoming podcasts:)
I have listened to all the podcasts to date, however, am commenting for the first time. I’m usually listening in the barn and it isn’t conducive to leaving a comment. At least for me it isn’t, since I am techno challenged. I have had so many thoughts as I listen on the various topics. Fear Vs Danger – My fear encroaches because I don’t always trust myself – to have the right answer, to be strong enough (due to some health issues), to react quick enough, to be able to stay in the saddle. Some days my fear is correct – don’t take on that battle right now, but sometimes because it has been correct, I allow it to stop me. Hard to decide what today is bringing – my health, horse’s brain, etc.
The horse’s path is different from my path – Oh my Lord!!!! Yes. Since being diagnosed with Fibromyalgia, which affects my energy level greatly, my brain might say do this, but my body says I don’t think so. My poor horse is confused. I have sympathy for him. This is when I get caught up in the internal argument of failure vs disappointment. Have I failed my horse? Not really. Not after listening to this podcast. He is healthy, and happy. When I am asking correctly and with the right amount of pressure, he does his best for me. Pressure – My first reaction to hearing you use that word, was “What kind? How much?” I do believe I put more pressure on me to “perform” in some way, as I have been riding for many years, than I should. Since my diagnosis, I am learning to accept that some days the pressure is more than I can deal with and change my “goal” for that day or event. I have had to lower some of my expectations in order to have some forward motion. “Just get there. Get on your horse and don’t fall off.” Learning to re-define success. Thanks so much Stacy for helping me put some these thoughts in words. I am moving forward.
Anne- Thanks for taking the time to come leave a comment! I also listen to podcasts in the barn and I agree that it isn’t conducive to leaving comments. My goal with the podcast was to get people thinking…it sounds like I’ve done that for you! I love exploring all of these thoughts because they do change how we show up in the barn. More podcasts coming!
Very thought provoking, thank you! I am keen to learn more about concrete examples on how to apply this. We work with a very forward going breed that tends to be a little high strung (Marwari) and so traditionally trainers here have taught them to be numb to pressure. I, on the other hand, have probably gone the other way and preserved them for pressure (creating a fake ideal world – so true!). But how can I teach a horse, especially a green horse, to accept pressure and to look for contact? I understand the example with the hand contact but I’m more confused with the leg contacts. Say you put your leg contact, the horse move forwards, you slow him down but you keep the contact. Doesn’t it mean you’ll have to put MORE contact further down the line to achieve the effect that you could get with less contact had before? Or is it that I’m once again seeing pressure as bad, and perhaps using more contact is not a bad thing? Thanks in advance and very much looking forward to the next podcasts.
I’m planning on addressing this idea of pressure in many ways as the podcast continues. I have a friend at the Kentucky Horse Park who works with a Marwari (and agrees they are a little high strung). The easiest way to think about pressure is that there is a middle ground between no pressure and heavy pressure. Put this into holding hands with someone; not touching, firm/gentle holding, hard/squeezing. These stages are possible with the hands or the legs of the rider. There is a saying that you ride a lazy horse with less leg and a hot horse with more leg. Seems backward? Right? But the reasoning is that a lazy horse will get lazier if he becomes dull…so we ride with contact-response-release. The hot horse will become even hotter if we do that so we ride with contact-softer contact-contact. Think of contact with your legs like giving someone a hug. Contact in your hands can feel like holding hands with someone you love, using your legs can feel like giving a hug. Pressure doesn’t have to be a bad thing.
Part of your question does have to do with the grade level of the horse. Young horses are ridden with a less complicated system than an advanced horse. Still, if you go back and watch some of the Stacy Video Diary: Jac episodes you will find that I’m riding with contact for a very long time! https://youtu.be/z_Q498tgE28
The contact on a young colt doesn’t look the same as a fully developed horse because early on the horse believes that reins are for steering/stopping and legs are for ‘go’. And early on he is right. Somewhere down the line we may choose to advance his training. When we do that the reins are going to mean ‘collect’ and the legs are also going to be part of ‘collect’…and collect involves a thought of slowing down.
I will get into this more as the podcasts continue but I hope this helps a bit for now!
What I took from this is that you’re trying to educate the rider to take a more objective view of training. In other words, to explain that certain principles, such as pressure, need to be divorced from value judgments. Pressure, as a concept, is neutral, though good and bad pressure do exist. I understand your reasoning for this. Horse ‘culture’, which starts with the stories we first hear about horses (Denny Emerson explains this when he talks about The Black Stallion), means our initial understanding and relationships with horses are loaded with emotion and meaning. To be able to step away from that can be challenging, but necessary if we want to provide our horses and, by extension, ourselves with the best experiences. (I had to remember this last weekend when I took my young OTTB out for trail ride and encountered some frightening and unexpected obstacles. The pressure was intense, but I think the experience helped her build confidence… I hope!)
Andrea, That is a great way to look at it. It does feel like a ‘more objective view…divorced from value judgments’ but I’ve never heard it phrased that way. The horses are so very capable of understanding more than most people give them credit for. Done well pressure does build confidence! Most people have had that experience personally on some level and I know it to be true with horses. Thanks for sharing!
Interesting concept of looking at one word like this. It gives me a lot to think about and I look forward to digging deeper on the subject. I know I am one who rejects the thought of pressure and contact on the bit but I’m willing to learn and have a better understanding of it.
Thanks for the podcasts.
Elisa, I’m glad you found it thought provoking:)
When viewed as holding hands the ‘pressure’ begins to have a different meaning. Later on, in training, it is very helpful to be able to hold their hand and shape their body to actually make things easier for them. More food for thought…
Many talk about what we think, I like that you talk about what effects what we think. Thanks for another great podcast! When you mentioned being nice to hold hands with, I had to laugh because that’s what I was picturing. I don’t like to hold hands with someone who doesn’t want to hold my hand, or one that doesn’t commit on their part and leaves their hand loose. Nor do I want to hold with someone who has a death grip on me. It is a mutual connection. When I started riding my current horse who was 13 when I bought him, I wasn’t giving him enough pressure or contact and he was uncomfortable and seemed to be asking where are you? Please commit! Thanks for always inspiring better horsemanship. 🙂
Nancy, I’m glad you have experienced this! It is a pretty neat feeling when the horse reaches out to make contact with you, as you said, ‘asking where are you.’ Once that happens it is amazing what can be accomplished!