EVERYTHING YOU DO WITH A HORSE IS A DANCE – LITERALLY!
EVERYTHING YOU DO WITH A HORSE IS A DANCE – LITERALLY!
Buck Brannaman says – ‘”Everything you do with a horse is dance”. It is a simple quote, and like many well-known quotes in horsemanship it takes on more meaning the more you learn about working well with horses.
When I first read this quote what it meant to me is that working with a horse should be harmonious, just like a dance. Two creatures moving as one. But the more horses I have worked with, the more mistakes I have come to realise I have made and the more people I have helped this quote has taken on more meaning than just harmony.
Today, it means to me that everything you do with a horse is a dance…like literally a dance. So now you are rolling your eyes let me explain what this means. Imagine you are watching two people waltzing. Traditionally, the male leads and the female partner follows. The male leads, means that he is choosing and committing to the line he wants to dance, the moves he wishes to make, and the tempo. The female follows the male and does not resist the line, the tempo and willingly performs the moves. When you take this context and look at a horse and rider, we are the lead and the horse the follower.
So why is this relevant? Well when we train the horse we are teaching it to how to perform the moves and how to follow. When we are riding, we are leading the dance, setting the line, the tempo and the moves. When you work with a horse you maybe both training the dance and leading the dance!
The biggest cause of issues people have with their horse comes from dancing issues, on the ground and particularly under saddle. The 3 most common dancing issues under saddle that I see are the following:
1. People who get in the saddle and stop dancing – sometimes really nervous people just shut down in the saddle, so worried about what the horse might do. This is like watching two people waltzing and the man just stops and freezes. The horse, like the female gets nothing to follow. With nothing to follow the horse can become anxious or frustrated, this then creates a horse with no guidance, no direction that creates a lost horse that has little tolerance for anything else. So when the wind blows or leaves rustle the horse can become reactive. I help people like this so easily just by telling them to ride the best god damn figure eight they have ever ridden in their lives because it gets them focused on dancing and snaps them out of their frozen thoughts. The dance gets moving again, the horse gets direction and something to follow and their anxiety and frustration reduce.
2. People who get in the saddle and stop dancing and start criticizing – I use to be this type of rider when I started to learn about training. I use to get so obsessed with criticizing how the horse was dancing and correcting every little thing instead of focusing on dancing! This created a horse that understood dance steps really well but was anxious under saddle because they hated dancing with me because I wasn’t dancing I was so busy criticizing them! As soon as I swapped my focus from correcting the horse to being focused on where I was riding, how well I was dancing and using my body to communicate my desired line, movement or tempo my horses anxiety and tension issues disappeared. This is because they finally got something to follow so could relax instead of me giving them a hard time!
3. People who expect the horse to dance without teaching them THE dance – This is like watching two people trying to waltz, but the male has no clue how to dance but is oblivious and is just getting frustrated at the female partner for not dancing with them. So the poor horse ends up being pulled on, kicked and so on and they really end up hating dancing because it makes no sense, they are not successful at it and it is traumatic! So they react accordingly either by getting anxious and tense or other more drastic behaviour such as bucking, rearing or just shutting down and becoming dull.
The greatest riders, are great dancers because they have clear thoughts and intentions about the dance and it is the primary thoughts in their heads when they ride. They give clear thoughts through actions from their bodies communicating to the horse a clear lead for them to follow. They also sit well on a horse and are not negatively impacting the horses balance or their ability to perform their role in the dance.
Anyone can learn to be a great dancer, you just got to not forget that is exactly what you are doing – literally!
So I hope I have brought another level of meaning to Buck’s quote – everything you do with a horse IS a dance….because it is! In a nutshell –When you ride or are handling a horse on the ground – keep dancing!! You need to have a plan, you need to have a clear image and thought in your head about where you are wanting to do and what you are wanting to perform. Don’t be a critical dance partner that isn’t even dancing themselves – start dancing, it is amazing what this does to horse’s anxiety and performance. Finally, make sure you know how to dance, get easy dance steps down pat before you go for something more complicated and respect the fact you have to teach the horse HOW to dance with you and be able to control your body so that you give them clear instructions so they have got something clear to follow!
So next time you ever find yourself struggling with a horse ask yourself – are YOU dancing? If the answers is no, then start, there is a high probability that your issue will improve.
