First lesson with young horse nerves 😄

[Night_Flight]

@RedHorses

I used to take lessons with a trainer who flew in 3-4 times a year. Each time I’d take as many lessons as I could afford. One time, a week or so before the clinic, I found myself working very hard to fix a problem so we would be good for the lessons. Then I realized that I was being silly as the whole point of the lessons was to get help with my problems!

I’ve done the same. What I ended up doing leading up to the trainer coming to town was trying to work hard by myself on the things I knew I could fix myself (essentially my own bad habits or just standard gymnastic work) so that our occasional lessons could be more focused on the things that I truly needed outside help with.

Lessons are for learning. The trainer will be there to help you ride through the silly moments, that’s their job!

[PaddockWood]

This might speak to you like it did for me. A friend sent it and like WOW has it had a big impact on me handling my new horse who is just getting started too. I can feel the positive change in him when I SLOW it all down. I’m also a big believer in “getting an ear” if they are worked up - nervous. Just that second of “hey, come to me.” It’s mental. When they’re with you they’re back. You build on it.

Good luck and remember to breathe. Slow. Breathe.

Copied from another page - this is a good clear explanation for all of us and especially the horses Comparative neurobiology of horse and human. Horses and humans are both mammals.

Our brains may not be the same size, but they are almost identical in their structure and function. Why can our brains look so similar but our behaviours and sensitivity to the world look so different?

The area in the picture highlighted is the prefrontal cortex or the (PFC). Its job in humans, horses, dogs, dolphins, elephants, cats, mice, rats, all mammals, and even birds is to carry out “higher executive functions” such as: problem solving decision making reasoning risk assessment forward planning impulse control intention

Obviously, these executive functions are more advanced in humans than in other species of mammals, but this part of the brain plays a pivotal role in higher levels of learning beyond primal behaviours and learning survival skills.

So why aren’t we seeing these higher executive functioning skills and behaviours in horses as much as what we see them in dogs, dolphins, elephants and even birds? Ultimately it comes down to safety!

The latest neuroscience research suggests that when the brain feels unsafe it causes the body to produce stress response hormones and these stress response hormones cause the PFC to go “offline”.

This means that subcortical regions of the brain (deeper parts of the brain) such as the primal brain (AKA limbic system, survival brain, flight/fight brain) completely take over to increase the chances of survival.

Feeling unsafe causes the feeling of fear and it is fear that gets this party started. So behaviours come from two areas:

1. The PFC, carrying out problem solving skills, reasoning, impulse control, forward planning etc. that may be interpreted as “obedience” and “partnership”.
2. The primal brain, carrying out reactive survival behaviours. This brain does NOT carry out impulse control, forward planning, problem solving, etc. It just reacts to the world. This brain heavily relies on patterns and consistency. This brain will cause freeze/flight/fight behaviours such as shutting down, bolting, biting, rearing, bucking, kicking, barging, etc.

Which brain is the domesticated horse spending most of it’s time in? It’s primal brain!

This is why we don’t get to see their full intellectual and cognitive potential because most of the time, domesticated horses are perceiving their world in a fearful way to some degree. We can help our horses with this!

Feeling fearful is the OPPOSITE to feeling calm. If we want to help our horses access their PFC then we MUST do whatever it takes to help them feel calm.

ONLY when a brain feels calm can it slow down enough to develop TRUE confidence. Only when the brain feels confident will it access TRUE cognition (PFC).

We first need to understand that when we get “bad behaviour” from our horses, it’s not intentional or naughty or rude.

What you are seeing is either a horse that is just reacting to the fear they feel or they are carrying out their “coping mechanism” in response to their anticipation of feeling fear.

Try to remove expectations that your horse should “know better”. “Knowing better” implies that all behaviours are coming from the PFC and there should be some impulse control and reasoning. Unless your horse feels calm, they can’t access the PFC to “know better”.

THIS STARTS WITH YOU!!! You need to be consciously aware if YOU feel calm first. If you feel calm, your horse will have a better chance at feeling calm.

Expecting them to feel calm when you don’t is unfair. The best way to create calmness is to intentionally be SLOW!!! SLOW EVERYTHING you do down.

SLOW your movement down. SLOW your talking down. SLOW your walking down.

SLOW your breathing down. SLOW your horse down. If you feel too slow, then you’re going slow enough.

Calmness is slow, not fast. This will help you and your horse to connect and feel safe together. When the brain feels stressed, the stress response hormones cause the body to speed up.

Stress = speed We can reverse engineer this process and create a calm mind through slow intentional movement and a relaxed posture. The by-product of a calm brain is confidence and cognition (PFC access). Happy brain training ![|16x16]

(https://static.xx.fbcdn.net/images/emoji.php/v9/t7c/1/16/1f9e0.png) Charlotte Photo: Credit: Adult horse (equine) brain, sagittal section. Michael Frank, Royal Veterinary College. Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)

[Scribbler]

This is also totally true of people. Scared children or adults don’t learn well. Pushing a rider in a lesson to the extent they get anxious often makes them do dumb mistakes. The amount of push any given horse or person can take without shutting down the PFC and acting on instinct varies a lot by individual.

[Rosie8888]

Thank you, unfortunately I have a trailer but nothing to tow with, only my dad had until it recently failed it’s mot in a big way and he now has to buy a vehicle! I completely agree otherwise! I did manage to get him out to the beach on a very busy day of the year and was amazed how he coped and even breathed out, relaxed after half an hour or therabouts. Your youngster sounds great and like she has a lot of trust in you

[sascha]

Just 2 things.

1. Be sure to tell your new teacher that you are nervous and if there are specific things (general performance anxiety, cantering, or getting an unseating buck if you tap with the whip for example) let them know!

2. A teacher is meant to teach you, not to judge you. They want to HELP you, not to make you nervous or to make you feel inadequate.

Oh wait, 3 things.

3. If you are confused about anything say so and don’t be afraid to ask questions if you don’t understand an instruction.

Have fun!

[Scribbler]

I’d add that in traditional lessons on a schoolie, the coach owns the horse and is generally pretty reliable as the final authority on what he will do and can do and how to get a good ride out of him. The coach knows him best.

On your own young horse, you are the authority and you know him best, and should keep his best interests front and foremost

[eightpondfarm]

So. How was the lesson?

[candyappy]

@Scribbler

Haha. I’m in the PNW.

I thought you were in Canada.

Good luck with your lesson @Rosie8888

[Scribbler]

@candyappy

@Scribbler

Haha. I’m in the PNW.

I thought you were in Canada.

Good luck with your lesson @Rosie8888

I’m in Canada but in the same climate belt as the American PNW. So for shorthand whenever people are talking about rain, mud, rain, hogfuel, flooded pastures, raincoats, rain, soggy hooves etc etc I just say PNW rather than have to explain to someone from Florida or Connecticut about Canadian geography :).