This a major source of stress for the vast majority of horses – and then we sit on them and expect them to be relaxed?
I like to see this task done, even with a horse that isn’t ever going to be ridden. It’s way too often been a source of trauma and there’s no reason for them to be stuck with that trauma lurking in their bodies even if they never even see a saddle after this.
When they’re ready for it, this is a “what’s in it for the horse?” thing. At this point it’s not even about riding. It’s about understanding their story and their feelings around a saddle and supporting them to let go of whatever there is about this issue.
Being saddled is the single biggest anxiety issue for many, many horses and in my experience, releasing whatever is going on with the saddle is one of the biggest breakthroughs for most horses.
And the effect on your riding together is huge. It’s one thing to have a beautiful riding seat on your horse, but it is difficult, if not impossible, to have the beauty of riding together as one unless the saddle that you sit on is in your horse’s Comfort Zone too.
This is a RELEASE, RE-LEARN and RE-PROGRAM task for just about every horse. So keep your eye out for those stages.
I have seen many, many horses who tolerated their saddle and even many who allowed it to be done up without arguing about it – but I can count on one hand the number of horses I have seen who do not have an issue with their saddle that they needed to release.
I remember one little guy, a young Arab who had been recently broken in, whose terror of the saddle was so huge that his “newly connected to him owner” couldn’t even think about putting the saddle in the middle of a two acre paddock while he was at liberty without her almost vomiting with fear.
We had to get very creative about baby steps for this little guy. What we did was we saddled another horse in THEIR deep Comfort Zone to help HIM to release vast amounts of his fear. That’s a very special and lovely story for another day.
In the video below, I am showing both the trauma release aspects of saddling and a safe saddling procedure for the beginners amongst us.
Important Safety Note – there are two safety notices that weren’t covered well enough in the video that I would like you to keep your eyes out for:
1. Notice at what point the halter went on. I like to do some of this saddle work at liberty, but when it comes time to doing the girth up, I want a lead rope on so that I could help them out and get it off quickly if something were to go wrong. It’s that old Murphy’s Law thing – do you have that in your country? It’s when you take all the precautions in case something were to go wrong – and then they never do…
2. Notice that the rope is over my arm as I do the girth up. I personally prefer to always hold the horse myself when I do the girth up. If my horse was to have a bit of pinched skin as I did the girth up, I cannot help them out safely if they are tied up and bucking and kicking. This is the same kind of Murphy’s Law as the last safety issue – things tend to not go wrong when we are doing things with good precautions.
Keys to Success
1. BE Present. Be gently aware of all of what’s going on inside you, so that you can notice what changes easily. We do a lot of Being Present work on our Live Seminars, so join in either live or on the recording.
2. Be aware of your relaxed breathing and your soft eyes. I don’t know about you, but I tend to be a little frowny faced when I’m trying too hard, which in this instance probably means that I’m missing the subtleties of the first Not Quite Right.
3. If you’re waiting for a long time for a Chew, then your horse is most likely to be Releasing and that wait will be the most productive time you’ll ever spend with your horse. You’ll notice them sleepy eyed, you’ll feel them going inward and processing
4. Staying Present with them while you’re waiting for the Chew, enables you to Hold Space for them. It’s kind of like “I’ve got your back, babe” in a beautiful energy – that link will take you to an article on it. We get lots of practice at Holding Space for other people on our live seminars, that directly translates to Holding Space for your horse.
5. For so very many horses this saddling issue was an actual trauma, so treat this with the reverence and sensitivity it deserves.
6. Having their active co-operation in this task is a big deal. You may have to do a Quiet mind together to help your horse figure out “what’s in it for them” – which from my point of view is that they don’t need to be carrying around this mental, emotional and physical pain any more. Keep in mind that riding is a separate issue.
7. Flow with the feel good energy – appreciating it, basking in it wherever it arises. By now you might be starting to experience a joy in working in cooperation with your horse, even on such a difficult subject as this, you can find the joy in the work. That’s a clumsy sentence but I hope it makes sense! 🙂
8. AND of course, (I can’t resist bringing this in again) notice ALL the ways in which you may be experiencing Not Quite Right – has your breath tightened or your breathing got faster? Has your posture changed or gone stiff? Has your heart rate increased? Do you feel any tension in your body, discomfort or even pain? Is there any feeling of anxiety or dread or frustration or sadness even that is your horse communicating with you? Do you feel nauseous like the owner of the little Arab that I spoke about earlier? Do you feel tired or flat or kind of pent up in your energy? Are you worrying about doing this task? ALL of these feelings are ways that you may experience your early warning signal that something is Not Quite Right as a signal to stop what you’re doing, back off to the previous step or even all the way to sliding the saddle off and walking away from it and waiting for your horse to Release and signal that with their lick and chew. Enjoy this incredible gift of healing for your horse.
Up Next
In your next lesson, we do some extreme saddling where we ramp up the energy around the saddle