On this podcast episode, Stacy Westfall introduces the idea of viewing a horse’s conduct as an “invitation” that riders can select to simply accept or decline. She explains that horses usually current two varieties of invites to riders:
– Emotional invites: When a horse turns into anxious, jumpy, or shows a specific emotional state, it may be seen as an invite for the rider to affix that emotional state.
– Coaching invites: Horses might also invite riders to make use of sure aids or reply in particular methods throughout coaching or using. For instance, a lazy horse would possibly invite the rider to do extra work to take care of vitality, whereas a sizzling horse would possibly invite the rider to continuously apply the brakes.
Stacy encourages riders to:
– Acknowledge these invites from their horses
– Turn into conscious of their default responses to those invites
– Think about selecting a special, extra productive response
– Search for invites throughout their subsequent 10 rides
– Intention to interrupt ordinary patterns by responding deliberately to their horse’s cues.
