Art of Energetic Connection

I find that a very important connection I have with horses comes from the subtleties and energy that we share back and forth. For example, how I choose to connect each time I have been away from my horse. I might choose to be focused on him and greet him with my full attention because that is how he chooses to great me that day. Or maybe I meet him with my focus on the world around us rather than on him to display that I have my finger on the pulse of life. This way I can win his trust in the moment and enforce my important position as a valuable friend and leader. I consider all these things when I reconnect with my horse.

I make these decisions by how I feel, how my horse feels at the time and where his focus is. If my horse’s focus is on eating and he does not acknowledge me, I will sit down and wait for him to come to me.

For those of you who do not have the time, you could move him off his hay and wait for him to come to you and take it slow by continuing to move him off his hay until he comes to you to put on the halter. It will shorten the warm up time you will need before riding him by developing the connection in this manner.

If the horse is focused on something else besides you but is not eating you could lead him from behind until he loses his focus and starts to feel connected to you. After that you can make it up to him by scratching him where he itches. This approach will also lessen the time of your warm up under saddle. The slower your approach, the more purposeful your approach, the more influence you will have with your horse wanting to follow your lead and do his job willingly under saddle.

When I was a kid, I would mimic the cowboys I respected. I would approach a horse that I did not know like they approached every horse, thinking it might cause a horse to trust and respect me like it did for them. Sure enough the horses would show respect to me just as they did to the men I admired. Why not try it. It’s quite amazing. If you do not know how good equestrians approach a horse, make an effort to watch someone you admire that does not have to warm up a horse to have a deep connection when they start riding.

In my training business I always made a point of building the dance with my horse in every moment before I got on a horse, so the first few steps under saddle we take together would be in total unity. If it were not that way, I would turn my horse loose and work at liberty or single line to bring the connection to perfection.

It is not easy to write about subtleties, especially when they have to do with making shifts of perceptions in feeling and focus. The reason I bring this up is that right now I am working on a meditation DVD in nature with wild and domestic horses that I believe will be very valuable in improving relationships and increasing horsemanship skills. I have always felt the strongest tool I have is to empower students to slow down and become present to the moment. Spending time with your horse and liking who he is will help you in knowing how to approach your relationship and training of the horse more effectively.

This is when the magic happens for me. Getting lost in the moment and then discovering how to go about training my horse always leads me to the best way to approach my horse on that day and in turn, that will bring me the best results.

My secret in turning out show horses much faster than my competition was this slow approach in the first five minutes instead of just grabbing my horse like everyone else, or sending a groom to fetch my horse. The groom could untrain my horse by simply leading him with the wrong energy or poor horsemanship. I have always found that being focused on the quality of the horse’s experience in training and riding, and creating a fulfilling experience for the horse, gave me a horse that had more heart and desire to perform in competition and dressage than horses that were trained by focusing on training alone.

One of the biggest problems horses have with humans is how they see where a person puts their focus. Most people, especially people who love their horses, are so focused on the horse that they lose all ability to know the conditions around them. I started noticing this with people drawing horses. Most often times the horses were drawn with extreme care and competency but as you look at the picture as a whole the only thing on the page is a horse floating on a blank piece of paper or the background was drawn with a lack of skill so it looked like two different people had drawn the picture.

I point this out because this can really disturb a horse if the only thing on your mind is your horse and what you are doing. A horse can feel a bit put off, thinking you are giving too much focus to him, which can give off a predator vibration. Think about it; a predator is not focused on his environment only on his target. I have actually caught feral cats that would never normally be caught by waiting for them to be focused on a mouse. I could walk right up to the cat and catch it.

Your energy can be read wrong by your horse even though you are sending him messages of love because the vibration resembling that of a predator is very similar. A horse is more focused on everything that is around him and if we can approach him in this manner, he feels more at ease. It is more horse-like. I focus on the horse and on the environment and the changing conditions in the environment all at the same time. If you are planning to lead your horse on a line, he wants a leader that has their mind on the pulse of life and a concern for the environment.

I hope this helps you understand how subtle the differences are between making a good connection with your horse from a bad one, and provides you with food for thought on the art of energetic connection.

Carolyn Resnick

Natural Horsemanship from the Ground Up