Dancing With Your Horse
About the Course Creator
During my advanced studies at equestrian college, instructors often requested that I should ride as we assessed untrained horses that were 'learning' to move freely forward while under saddle.
Several (revered) BHS Instructors commented that I had an 'Electric Seat' and would therefore spare horses the discomfort of undergoing excessive leg and whip aids at the beginning of their education.
While electricity may have a part to play, most 'still learning' horses actually require very little encouragement to move freely forward once they feel balanced enough to do so and it is more likely that a rider's 'electric' or 'independent' seat simply make better use of the maths and physics involved in riding: It's not magic.
A secure and confident rider is not necessarily a balanced rider. Using gravity, momentum, and inertia, the balanced rider offers less impediment to the horse's rhythm, balance and relaxation. When horses are able to move unimpeded they are generally very willing.
While some riders are balanced naturally, it is something which I was taught. My childhood lessons involved hours of being lunged, before progressing to riding with no stirrups and cotton reins ... a huge price to pay for a boy who simply wanted to hack along the river with his friends.
While many riders are secure and effective in the saddle, dancing with your horse requires the horse to trust that you can find and keep your own balance ... in all gaits ... most of the time.
Some horses find it difficult to modify their own movement in order to balance their rider, and particularly so in canter.
In the absense of a balanced rider horses frequently compensate with more momentum ... or evasion.
As an entry level dressage judge I am frequently reminded that many 'still learning' horses find cantering with an unbalanced rider somewhat stressful.
When we consider that every foal is born knowing that if they lose balance they may fall, and if they fall they may get EATEN ... ... from the horse's point of view, there is nothing more important than maintaining balance.
The threat of losing (or being pushed out of) balance is therefore very scary and often the source of much tension and evasion. Horses unpractised at adjusting their rhythm and balance to cope with that of a rider can sometimes trigger an autonomic and life-saving Flight, Fight, or Freeze response. Using force to 'push them through it' simply replaces one fear with another and, as a training ethos, fear is short-lived.
Being prey animals, horses have a heightened sense of self-preservation and when under perceived threat from predators, a herd will produce high levels of noradrenaline and adrenaline. The horse's acute sense of smell is extremely sensitive to the smell of these organic chemicals and they too can trigger a Flight, Fight or Freeze response. The same chemical smells are produced by nervous humans and this highlights the importance of staying calm and relaxed.
The key to finding a trusting and relaxed equine dance partner depends very much on the consistently relaxed, balanced, and rhythmic movement of the rider's body. Music has a huge role to play in inducing this.
In 2009, as a professional musician and trained dressage judge, I was invited to write a series of in-depth articles for the British Dressage magazine offering insight into the role I thought music played in Freestyle Dressage.
Despite having enjoyed writing the articles, I was left concluding that, aside from a slight increase in entertainment value, the Freestyle to Music competition format does little to encourage or acknowledge the scientific and physiological benefits of training horse and rider with music. So ... ...
Drawing from my equestrian/arts/teaching background, and by using music more intelligently, I developed DancingWithYourHorse.com as a recreational platform to help riders find a fun way to practice the scientific aspects of balanced equitation ... without forsaking stirrups or leather reins :)
All horses can dance, they're just waiting to be asked.
