Have you ever been on a ride with your horse after you practised yoga on a regular base? Let me tell you from my own experience: It makes a huge difference! Your body is in a more flexible and balanced state, you are more aware of your own movements, you are more aware of your horses movements and any changes in tension ( which as we know could end up in a buck, or spooking...), and your focus is in the moment with your horse ( not thinking about dinner plans, grocery lists or work issues). Its just YOU and YOUR horse, united in harmony! If you want to experience it yourself, get in touch!! Lets have a closer look why Yoga is so beneficial for riding and handling your horse. It turns out, Yoga and horsemanship have a lot in common! A horsemanship definition from the web that I think is a very good description: Horsemanship is the art of riding and training horses. Horsemanship involves patience, dedication, and an understanding of horses' behaviour. It involves learning to communicate through body language and subtle cues. A skilled horseman can make a horse perform intricate manoeuvres and develop a bond with the animal. I would even ad, that if you bond with your horse first, you can achieve everything you want in training, performance and even competing with your horse. If the foundation is strong and built on trust, all that follows will be much easier. A very simple definition of Yoga ( how I experience it within my practise): Yoga is the path to yourself. By using an ancient system of postures, breathing exercises and meditation practise you balance your body AND mind and improve body awareness and mindfulness within your daily life. So, why is yoga useful to improve your horsemanship? One example is the breathwork in Yoga: As Sally Swift said in her famous book "Centred Riding": You can breath a horse to quietness! Yoga includes breathing exercises to calm your mind and be aware of the present moment. So, if you are able to calm yourself in a stressful situation (when riding or competing) through connecting to your breath, you will be able to calm your horses breath and heartrate as well. Why? Horses are herd and prey animals, their safety relies on the presence of herd members. Horses are always present in the moment, as their surviving relies on this skill. If you have ever watched a few horses standing together in a paddock, as soon as one horse raises his head to look at something that he has noticed in the environment, the other horses stop grazing immediately and look into the same direction. If there is nothing of concern they all go back to grazing, or if there is something of concern they all increase their energy to be ready to run. What does that have to do with me as the rider? As soon as you approach your horse you are part of the herd. So your horse relies on you to be safe. Or if your horse does not trust you enough ( yet), your horse is looking after you by staying in alert state all the time to not miss the potential threat, it cannot really relax. So, if YOU are able to be in the present moment and pay attention of what your horse is communicating through body language, facial expression and change of energy state AND you pay attention for the environment, your horse feels safe with you. Just a horse that feels safe, seen, and noticed with any changes in their state can learn within training much better, stays healthy ( as it is not stressed) and can perform at its best. And YOU as the rider will be much more successful and happy too! And breathing exercises are just ONE part of the whole transformation through practising Yoga. There is a great study available showing the connection between a heart rate of a human and horses. You find it here: https://www.heartmath.org/resources/videos/symbiotic-relationship-between-horses-and-humans/ Lets have a closer look at the similarities between Yoga and horsemanship:
Conclusion:
Working on your own body awareness and learn how to calm and focus your mind is very beneficial for not just your riding skills, but also for building a strong and trustful connection to your horse. And lets face it, every horse owner desires a strong bond with their horse, for abetter communication and performance. And from my own experience as a rider AND a yogi I can say: Yoga has not just improved my horsemanship skills, it has changed my life quality in general! The path to yourself is the path to your horse! Happy riding, Yours Britta
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorBritta Bruns, Invercargill, New Zealand Archives
July 2024
|