It was starting to be touched on in another thread, but thought maybe I’d start its own.
Would really love to read people’s examples of “turning loose” for both their horses and themselves to help me try and wrap my mind around the concept better so I can try to incorporate the idea when with my horse.
And it makes me think of the song from Frozen–“Let it go”, which…is now stuck in my head, lol.
I think it is a brain thing as well as a body thing, but it is a phrase that I have a hard time defining. I won’t say I feel it a lot, but I have felt it before and so it is what I strive for.
To me, it is when Mac is totally with me. Totally. Like I feel like a centaur or something - we are completely in sync and my aids can be so minimal it is like I barely need them. It is when we are in a trot and transition downward by just a thought or a breath and his back comes up underneath me and it is just the easiest thing in the world. Or if we’re doing lateral work and his body just bends around me but without me having to do much of anything - he’s just there, with me.
When I was at a Bryan Neubert clinic last summer, he was talking about how you want your horse to be with you (don’t know if he used the term turned loose because I was watching more than I was listening, if that makes sense) and gosh darn it if he didn’t sit on that horse with the reins dropped and get that horse to do deep side flexions and back up and turn in circles, etc.
I’ve also been able to do groundwork with Mac with no halter or lead - just at liberty, in the arena, working on circling around me or moving the hind or forequarters, or backing and coming to me.
Those are things I guess I think of when I think of turned loose, because the horse isn’t holding tension in the brain that would prevent him from being with you 100%.
But I’m interested to hear what others have to say about it!
I think there’s both a physical and mental aspect to turning loose.
On the mental side, the horse is turned loose when he doesn’t feel the need to fill in for the rider in any way. That may mean trusting you to keep him safe rather than relying on his own instincts to do so, or a benevolent horse will no longer need to add the extra layer of needing to keep you from getting yourself hurt or in trouble.
On the physical side, the horse is turned loose when he’ll allow the rider to access every ounce of his available energy.
One big key to this lock is straightness; a horse can only be 100% available when one part of his body isn’t compensating for another. I remember the time I got my first big glimpse of this, and it scared me a bit (very addictive after!). When the horse is finally balanced within himself, every ounce of energy is directed into motion, and that can be a lot of energy! It’s like clearing the rocks out of a channel…without adding more water, you get more at the other end when you remove all the rocks that were causing splashes and eddys.
Controlling that energy can be hard if the mental part of turning loose isn’t there first. So many people are so used to riding around with a metaphorical handbrake on that when their horse frees up and shows them what’s actually there, it scares the heck out of them. They’re used to using imbalance and dullness as a check against too much energy coming forth at once…then get frustrated when they need more.
The most recent example I can give of all the above is from last weekend, when I went to look at a horse. With her owner, she was dancing around in the stall, never really settling down. Under her trainer, she was forward, but constantly fussing with her head position and pretty inconsistent in her paces. When I got on, the first thing she did barely a second after I settled in was take off at a decent trot. While I won’t deny my first instinct was to take away her hindquarters and shut her down (especially since the saddle didn’t fit me worth a darn), I instead actually remembered to just give her her head and let her move her feet for once. It took us about 5 laps of the arena before I finally felt her let go, and then she was able to listen to a request to come down to the walk. We then were able to play around doing all sorts of things at various gaits, and when I hopped off, she just dropped her head, cocked a leg, and chilled out as the group of us talked with no fuss. She wasn’t tired (it was -25C out so we couldn’t work her too hard), she was just content.
I’ve had a trainer tell me that he sometimes loses clients right at the point where a dull horse learns to free up mentally. Show horses sometimes are said to need to be a little wonky for that “fire and brio” that some judges want, and relatively few people can create this from a horse that’s 100% okay. Oftentimes it’s not even that the horse becomes forward and hot either – oftentimes it’s a “hot” horse that now won’t go forward, because formerly the energy was only coming from the horse being scared forward. This is where the training pyramid needs a grain of salt…whacking the horse to get him forward isn’t the same as a horse that WANTS to go forward.
So it seems, in the examples so far, that the human needs to turn loose mentally first before they can look for the same in the horse?
Well…maybe…
sometimes, what a horse does for a novice, frightened, or otherwise not particularly competent person is ‘fill in’ for them, participate in a partnership to get something done together. A horse that’s going to fill in for you, is going to be turned loose.
But yes, I do think you have to be in the moment, open to learning but free of judging yourself and/or others, free of ego or proving how good a rider/handler you are to anybody watching/teaching, to be able to ask a horse to come be with you, to turn loose.
[QUOTE=froglander;7465064]
So it seems, in the examples so far, that the human needs to turn loose mentally first before they can look for the same in the horse?[/QUOTE]
I do not know much about the “turning loose” term (the way Ray Hunt seemed to have used it). I have little knowledge about any of his work.
I would like to say, however, that it is very important for a rider to be available, when with a horse (really, it is important to be available as a person).
I have noticed you work with a dressage trainer. I am not sure, how things are done in Florida, but I hear it is supposed to be loaded with knowledgeable horsemen.
Back home, a lot of ability to be relaxed and connected to the horse was gained through seat lessons, when someone else has a hold of the horse and you can just concentrate on feeling of the animal, his movement, your position, etc.
As riders, we were all started on longe line. It started as physical exercise, but turned into mental, too.
Once you learn to feel the movement, where the feet are, then to sync your breathing with theirs- this will give you a lot of confidence and allows you to open up to the horse, go with him, when needed, then, perhaps, influence the movement your way.
I would like to suggest, you take some seat lessons. I think, they would help you immensely in your search for feel of the horse.
Mark Rashid in some of his books talks about how many of us modern people live in a state of constant low level panic. He believes, it is a big obstacle in connecting with animals, people, and Nature in general.
Not as much for the accompanying anxiety, but more, because, when in a state of fear, we all “clamp down” and concentrate on our own survival, just shutting everyone else out. Little connection or feel is possible from that state of mind.
I am anxious by nature and yoga, meditation, and aging has helped me a lot to become more open and develop better feel for life. For some people, it comes naturally.
My favorite Mark Rashid’s books are “Horses Never Lie” and “Horsemanship Through Life”.
You not being afraid of what your horse might do, your horse not being afraid of what you might do.
I wrote this about brace, but it ends up being about turning loose as well.
One of the most important principles of horsemanship is the recognition of the natural brace in a horse. Contrary to many popular sentiments on the subject, the horse is born with the ability to brace against us. It is not man-made. To brace and resist is his self preservation. That is his defense against what he does not understand.
A horseman working from the bottom up, from the unbroken or wild horse to the finished bridle horse, should always be aware and looking for that brace to show up. The result of the unawareness of brace will consequently encourage and solidify resistance. It may be resistance to the equipment or to the action or to the rider himself. Volumes of historical treatise on riding and training throughout history deal with this problem in one way or another, although not naming it “brace” as such. But it is a good description of what happens. The horse operating with a human without brace and resistance is at the core of the equestrian arts. Most good instruction deal with how to soften a horse to our presence, at first, or to the feel of the saddle, and not bracing against the weight on his back, for instance, or to the response of the bit, or to any of the aids, for that matter. Eventually the desire is in having one movement flow into another unimpeded by resistance. The skills of riding and horsemanship that take the longest to learn and study are the skills involving how to work with a horse’s inclination to brace, and diminish it if not eliminate it outright. The classical response coveted by great horsemen is when there is action without brace. The horse “turns loose”.
So by recognizing the innate ability of the horse to resist us, and brace, we will look for and encourage those moments he turns loose of it.
Ray Hunt quote I found on facebook…refers to both horse and rider turning loose.
“Don’t present things that are too hard to learn, don’t be arrogant. Allow the horse to learn in his own way. This takes discipline and maybe that will be the hardest thing for you.
When you’re riding, try to do more by doing less and less. You have to be on the spot every moment because that’s where the horse is. Don’t worry, he’ll teach you if you let him. Fix it up and let it work.
Turning loose means that when you reach for him, he softens. That goes for you too. It should be like silk all the way.
It’s hard to teach what I’ve been talking about all week because the first thing you need to know is the last thing you’ll learn.
But I can tell you this - when you get to square ten, all of square one will be in it.” - Ray Hunt.
From an article by Gretel Ehrlich ‘Ray Hunt: The Cowboy Sage’, Shambhala Sun, July 1998.
Okay, this is probably a dumb question, but I’ve seen the term used many places and I feel like I don’t quite understand. What does it mean to “reach for the horse”? When I think “reach” I think moving toward something, but that doesn’t seem right, so I /think/ it means to pick up the rein? But then that seems contrary to the word reach, so I’ve never really been sure 
OK, so I’ll give you an allegory.
You haven’t seen your husband in a while, you’ve missed each other, and you/he spot each other at the airport.
You see his intention (to greet you with a hug, a kiss, and your special nickname) from across the room, your eyes meet.
There is no physical contact, but he is ‘reaching for you’ in that moment, and you are ‘reaching for him’.
When he comes close, it becomes a physical ‘reach’ for a hug.
In a similar way, you can create intention to do something (as simple as, let’s walk) and as your horse feels your intention to do something, he ‘reaches for you’ by tuning in, feeling for what your request will be.
If you’ve ridden a forward horse, that wants to go, you just raise your energy a bit and the horse notices your intention, he’s looking for it. (Sometimes they anticipate, which is a bit different.) But in any case, you present ‘forward’, and because your horse is mentally there with you, you never have to use ‘pressure’ or ‘release’…it just happens as the two of you intend it to.
I sure hope we get some other replies!
WHAT AN AMAZING THREAD!! A wealth of information! I think I’m going to copy/paste it so I can keep it in my email files 
Thank you, Froggy, for bringing up these very important notions and thanks to those who have answered.
PoPo -we can ask Ross Jacobs and Harry Whitney about some of this, soon
A few things to ponder.
“Think of the horse as your partner…and it’s all one great dance” Buck B.
“Is there a place where can sit where your saddle and her soul just fit?”
Freddie Dorrance
“Where the horse doesnt weigh anything." R.H. "A place where youre not a drag on each other.”
You reach for your horse, your horse reaches back to you, you move as one.
Your thought becomes the horses thought. Your horses thought is your thought. Your thought becomes the horse`s thought. As in a circle. Harmony
Herd of two that operates as one. Think of a herd of bison, a flock of birds, a school of fish. Think of how they can turn all at the same time, in the same direction without crashing into each other as if each one shares the same thought.
“Most people do not know that “it” exists, but it does exist and most people miss it.” R.H.
The horse no longer has to worry about his self preservation. He has trust in his rider. He may even fill in for the rider at times (without taking over). Preservation of this herd of two.
“He knows when you know, and he knows when you don`t know.” Only someone that “knows” is worthy of the horse turning loose to.
I read today on Tom Dorrances facebook page that Tom was not one for going to church, he said…“It is all around you”. He understood “it”. 
[QUOTE=Fancy That;7467006]
PoPo -we can ask Ross Jacobs and Harry Whitney about some of this, soon :)[/QUOTE]
Check your PMs…
I would like to add that those moments, when horses or people “turn loose” are not permanent states of mind or, at least, I do not believe they are.
If someone gets another creature to open up to them, to become available, it still does not mean, the same creature will never shut down or brace towards them again, because it will. That’s, when the art of negotiation comes in.
It is just like any other relationship- give and take, moments of harmony, moments of discord. It is alright.
I write this for people, who might read our thoughts about how great “turning loose” is and feel, they can never get there or that they were there, but not all the time. I want to make sure, they know, it is natural to switch the “availability” status.
Just watch the horses out in the pasture.
Got to the barn late tonight, so no time to ride, just cleaned his stall, let him munch some hay and gave him a good grooming. We often practice walking slow and walking faster and staying with me, he’s usually pretty good about that. Tonight, just for the heck of it, half-way there, I stopped and…invited him to turn his head toward me by just kind of lifting the lead rope without /pulling/ on it. It wasn’t a proper “twirling” of the head as I suppose he turned his head too far, but it was a relaxed turn, with no tautness in the lead rope or in either of us really. Just a small thing really, but it reminded me of this thread so I thought I’d share.
froglander, you’re quite the night owl!!! :winkgrin:
[QUOTE=Pocket Pony;7467105]
froglander, you’re quite the night owl!!! :winkgrin:[/QUOTE]
Lol, I often don’t leave the barn until after 10. Tonight, since I had to stay at work late and had to make sure hubby had dinner and stuff, got out there late. But I like the barn at night, it’s quiet
[QUOTE=emilia;7465350]
Once you learn to feel the movement, where the feet are, then to sync your breathing with theirs- this will give you a lot of confidence and allows you to open up to the horse, go with him, when needed, then, perhaps, influence the movement your way. .[/QUOTE]
I can’t add anything to the theological discussion y’all are having in this thread. But what emilia said-- we get to learn how to feel more (and do less, control less, block less,) when we learn to feel where the horse’s feet are-- has been a major new improvement that I got from this style of riding/horsemanship. That alone was worth the price of admission and you can use it anywhere, anytime, in any tack, and with a rider of any level of skill or fear.
Kind of a shockeroo that feeling where the feet are and timing my aids to those weren’t more emphasized anywhere in my broad, English-based training. I suppose had I gotten to FEI level dressage, I would have been around instructors who talked about that. But it’s really not common, IME.
[QUOTE=mvp;7467492]
I can’t add anything to the theological discussion y’all are having in this thread. But what emilia said-- we get to learn how to feel more (and do less, control less, block less,) when we learn to feel where the horse’s feet are-- has been a major new improvement that I got from this style of riding/horsemanship. That alone was worth the price of admission and you can use it anywhere, anytime, in any tack, and with a rider of any level of skill or fear.
Kind of a shockeroo that feeling where the feet are and timing my aids to those weren’t more emphasized anywhere in my broad, English-based training. I suppose had I gotten to FEI level dressage, I would have been around instructors who talked about that. But it’s really not common, IME.[/QUOTE]
In European riding schools, at least decades ago it was so, beginners started on the longe line and learning to feel the horse moving, what foot next and how to use that feel to ask a horse at the right time to move for them.
Reins were not introduced until they knew what to look for and were right when calling that out.
The theory is that if you start riding with reins, your balance is altered by it and it is harder to acquire an independent seat, independent of the reins for balance, humans being who we are.
On the longe line, you learned the basics, from posting, to what lead a horse is in, to once loose, what foot to ask to move in a turn on the forehand and hind.
In group lessons, one tried the rest watched and called out when it was correct or not, so everyone learned from both, feeling the horse under them and seeing what we were trying to achieve, educating our eye to it.
I wonder where you started riding English that they didn’t teach that?
By submitting your email, you agree to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. You may also receive promotional emails from The Chronicle of the Horse. You can opt out at any time.
For Customers
Company
Terms of Use
