Groundwork offers us the opportunity to share unconditional time & space with our horses, by exploring each other’s body, energy & boundaries.
By becoming aware of your own body, emotions & mind, you will issue an invitation to your horse to relax into himself. Only from a place of relaxation, true connection and sustainable training can be initiated.
When we are working with our horses, we honestly have to ask ourselves: does this activity or approach offer any true value to my horse? Does it enable naturalness?
The most natural state for horses is Being. Being you could also call relaxation.
Whenever we deviate from this natural state, we are creating tension in the body and the nervous system. This can be caused by our pace, our expectations, by asking too much. Tension, if not balanced, will over time lead to behaviour issues, pain, illness and a refusing attitude. So how much and how fast can we ask?
The aim of this session is to guide your horse and yourself into Balance.
There is a fine equilibrium between energy input (e.g. voice, aids, whip, energy, expectations, etc.) and energy output (movement, forward drive, communication such as tail, licking, chewing, etc.).
In a session we’ll be closely paying attention to the horse’s communication in order to FEEL the natural state – the moment when input and output are in harmony.
You will learn about your horse’s natural ability, pace & releasing time, and your horse will strongly connect with its own body and its natural capabilities – without putting tension into the body.
There is a saying that your inner balance is always reflected by your outer environment. In this case this will be your horse.
From this state of balance, we can ask for more: be it impulsion, forward or collection.
We’ll get an honest sense of how much of “more than natural” we can ask without compromising the body or our relationship to your horse.
In balance the horse has the ability to release stored tension – instead of accumulating more tension through work. And of course, with time and patience, the natural Normal will move towards More all by itself. The effect of tension-free, kind & sustainable training.
Each session will present different opportunities, because both beings (human and horse) are never the same. Be it the environment at the yard, the weather, herd dynamics or our internal dialogue, no day is alike.
I generally work with these phases during a session, which I will facilitate for you and your horse:
The first session is a general Conscious Bodywork onboarding session. It is important for me to feel into your horse and your relationship to establish the state of the nervous system and general approach to life.
Follow up sessions are between 45 – 60min, very dependent on the horse’s ability to digest and learn . And of course your own space of mind on the day.
This approach to groundwork doesn’t have to be separate to whatever you are already doing with your horse. I see it more as “adding consciousness” to whatever you are already exploring together.
In my experience, Relaxation-based Groundwork compliments any gentle, pro-horse training method really nicely.
Essentially, it is about understanding yourself better & understanding the natural state of horses which will lead you into more balance & harmony.
