Jessica Bryce

Tag: mindset

  • My one piece of wisdom

    The most powerful advice for working with horses

    I saw a wanted ad on social media this week, someone was looking to buy a horse for their granddaughter. Some experienced horsepeople kindly suggested in the comments, that it might be better to send the granddaughter to a riding school first, where she could learn some basic skills before taking the leap into horse ownership.

    This got me thinking about the “one piece of advice” that would help new horse owners the most. If there was just one thing I could tell them, and only one, based on all my years of horse ownership and management, and helping the riders that I coach with their horses. If it had to be boiled down into a single nugget of wisdom, what would that be?

    If you want your horse to be easy to handle, cooperative, calm, obedient and willing to work with you, you have to learn to be calm no matter what. Your horse mirrors back to you, your own inner state.

    If you’re inner state is a turbulent mess of, “I can’t believe she said that to me,” plus the lingering outrage at the dim wit driver who nearly caused an accident on the way to the paddock, plus the resistance in your gut towards needing to go to the supermarket on the way home, when you’re already exhausted, and not sure how you’re going to get through the evening cooking and housework, because all you want to do is distract yourself from it all with some funny cat videos…

    … your horse will reflect that back to you, by being spooky, fractious, fidgety, stubborn, distracted, uncooperative, the works.

    Self awareness and emotional regulation. Learning how to put “all the rest of it” aside, and be present, calm and connected to your horse in the moment, is the life-long lesson of the journey with horses. Accepting things as they happen in a neutral way, without assigning labels to them of good or bad, or naughty or nice.

    Approaching your horse with an inner state of calm, without any expectation of the finer details of how everything “should” work out, and being open to alternatives to the idea you had of what was going to happen. This is the path to calm, cooperative, willing horses.

    Oftentimes we’re so preoccupied with thinking about things that have happened, will happen, might happen etc that we’re carrying all of that around with us, and it’s clouding up our present moment, our “now” and preventing us from enjoying that calm, peaceful state that allows us to connect with our horses in a mindful and meaningful way.

    If we allow our thoughts to roll on, gathering momentum like an avalanche, we’ll soon find that they’ve taken control, conjured up emotions to perpetuate themselves in our bodies, and once they really get a roll on, there’s no stopping them!

    Here’s a practical example, I feed some of my agister horses during the week, to help their owners out on work days. There’s this one mare who always tips her bucket over, without fail, every day. Before she’s even take her first mouthful, she gets her foot in the bucket and spills her feed out into the mud. Every single time!

    For the first few days this behaviour really annoyed me, invariably some of her feed was going to waste, and my buckets were taking a beating. Each day I was getting more and more annoyed by this, first I’d start thinking about it as I was walking to the paddock to feed her, then I was on my mind as I was pulling up in the car park, then it started clouding my mood while I was making up the feeds at home. Before I knew it, that one little thing was taking up 20mins of my headspace each day and bringing my whole mood and perspective down, and consuming my thoughts as my mind churned through all kinds of other things that annoyed me as well.

    After recognising what was going on, I decided to stop being annoyed by the upturned bucket. To stop assigning the meaning of “a bad thing” to it, and remain neutral rather than letting in evoke an emotional response. It took about a week to get to that point (there was a little bit of “fake it til you make it” required, as I laughed it off and joked about how predictable she was) until I realised one day that I wasn’t actually giving the bucket-tipping any thought or attention at all any more. Not even on my radar.

    Now, instead of approaching the horse already primed in a grumpy mood and full of negativity towards her, I can arrive at the paddock in a clear-headed and neutral manner, that is most conducive to human-equine cooperation, as she reflects that back to me.

    It’s our judgement of things that gives them the power over us and our inner state of being. When we learn to stop placing judgements or sticking labels on situations, things, behaviours etc, and just see them as neutral in their existence, then we stop reacting to them, and without the cloud of emotions, we can be calm, present, and connected to our horses, and suddenly everything happens with harmony.

    Self-awareness and emotional regulation, it’s the “one big thing” I’d teach all horse owners that would make their horse time happier, easier, safer and more enjoyable in every situation.

  • 4 Keys to Feeling Like a Winner, No Matter What

    and not letting anyone else’s expectations over-ride your success

    How do we get from “green as grass” to a calm and reliable riding partner that you can take anywhere?

    It can feel like such a long journey that you’re missing out on doing the things you want to because your horse isn’t ready yet. Or maybe you thought your horse was ready so you gave it a go but it didn’t work out and now it feels like you’ve gone backwards, or stuffed it up, and don’t know how to get back to good.

    Pictured below is a horse I’ve been working with for the last few months, called Polly. She’s not a young horse (in her teens, in fact) but had been out of work for several years and we didn’t know if she’d been to Club rallies ever before.

    I wanted to take Polly to a clinic with one of my favourite trainers, but it was an expensive clinic, a long way away (about 3 hours drive) and we’d have to camp overnight there. It was a big commitment of resources to get us there and I didn’t want to “waste” my time and/or money if Polly was too stressed to be able to participate in our lessons, or not settled enough to take on new learning while we were there.

    The Test Run

    Here’s what I did: I booked us in for a lesson at my local Riding Club, and planned my schedule to allow the whole day for it, so we wouldn’t be rushing to get there on time, or needing to get home again to do something else (aka set myself up to be calm and present).

    I made sure we arrived really early, so Polly would have plenty of time to relax in the yards and take in the busy atmosphere, and for me to walk her around the grounds before our lesson time to let her become familiar with the environment. (aka set my horse up to be calm and present)

    Before our lesson started, I explained to the coach my intention was just to give her a positive experience out and about and be able to ride calmly in the arena, and that we weren’t all that fit and may not last the full hour. (aka pre-set the expectations with others involved).

    I reminded myself to listen to my horse as she showed me how she was feeling and how equipped (or not) she was to take on this kind of outing. I reminded myself not to get caught up in wanting to achieve anything in particular, and not to compromise on my horse’s wellbeing for my own ambitions. (aka. pre-set my own expectations).

    As it turns out, Polly was a superstar; she stood calmly in the yard munching from her hay bag, and she was calm enough walking around the grounds that I felt it would be okay to get on and attempt the lesson.

    Polly was somewhat distracted by the horses showjumping in the next arena while I was riding, but otherwise took everything in her stride. We didn’t finish the lesson because I felt she was getting tired and becoming resistant to moving forward (which she never is at home) so I politely excused myself from the lesson at that point.

    Success! We went home feeling like winners! Feeling like it would be okay to book in for the clinic away from home, and feeling grateful for the experience and that I stayed true to my principles and held my horse’s wellbeing as my highest priority even while expecting her to cooperate and participate in activities that were fulfilling my human ambitions!

    How to not let other people’s expectations over-ride your success

    Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t all rainbows and lollipops, during the lesson when Polly was constantly looking to the outside of the circle/arena to see what the jumping horses were doing, the coach was trying to get us working on inside bend…

    Afterward, back at the yards, another rider said to me, “Gee, you didn’t last long out there.” (No doubt you can imagine the tone.)

    But by measuring our success by my own scale, by my own pre-planned expectations and intentions, and by being okay with the fact that neither achieving inside bend on the circle, nor lasting the full hour in the arena were a) not part of what I set out to achieve that day b) not required for success in my eyes… and by remembering that the opinions or observations of anyone not in alignment with the principles and philosophies that I train by, are simply an example of what I don’t want/need that serves to remind me to stay true to myself.

    The HOW is much more important than the WHAT that we do with our horses, and finding that harmony between participating in our chosen activities/equestrian sport and respecting our horse’s half of the partnership can be like walking a fine line, not always easy!

    My four keys to feeling like a winner no matter what are:

    🤩 setting myself up to be calm and present

    🤩 setting my horse up to be calm and present

    🤩 pre-setting expectations with others involved

    🤩 pre-setting expectations with myself

    There will always be those who think differently to you (and aren’t afraid to make it known) and there are always those who are relieved to see there’s someone else like them out there (although they may not always make themselves known!) Stay true to yourself and stay true to your horse, and you’ll always feel like a winner.

  • Bi-focal Vision and Environmental Familiarisation

    Did you know the horse’s eye operates kind of like bi-focal gasses? Unlike our human eyes, which have muscles that pull our lenses into different shapes to adjust our focus from near to far, in order for the horse to adjust his focus he has to raise or lower his head.

    By raising his head and looking through the bottom of his eye, the horse uses his long distance focus (think about that “periscope up” impression they do when there’s something way over there that’s caught their attention).

    By lowering his head and looking through the top of his eye, the horse focuses on what’s closest to him. (Think about how they put their heads down and snort when there’s something of concern nearby.)

    What does this mean for your horse when you take him somewhere new? The horse’s first concern is always for his own safety, and as flight-animals safety comes from being able to run away. From being able to spot danger at a distance, so that you can either get a head start on the running away, or avoid it completely by running away before it gets here.

    One of the things we always do at my Young Horse Social Days is allow time for arena familiarisation. For some of the horses who come along, this is their first outing away from home, and we want to make sure they’ve had ample time to explore and become comfortable with the arena/work space, before we try to do any groundwork or riding.

    What we often see is that the horses are first very interested in looking out of the arena. Many stop to look out the open side of the indoor, or are looking around at the other horses to see what they’re doing.

    It’s counter-productive to try to ask anything of our horse while he’s in “giraffe mode” because he’s far to consumed with being on watch for danger to be able to focus on anything else. What he needs in this stage is just time. Time to take it all in, time to process the new environment and time to reassure himself that he is safe.

    How much time, you might wondering? It can really differ from horse to horse, depending on all the obvious things, like how used to going new places he is, how many times he’s been to this venue, or how the other horses are behaving around him. It also depends on what baggage he’s carrying, his personal history so to speak, and the relationship he has with the handler. (Like children, horses will often behave differently with someone they don’t know, than someone they know well.)

    (It goes without saying that we always need to maintain our own safety, and measures can be taken to keep the out-ward looking horse under control and handler safe, that is a given.)

    After a while, we begin to see during the arena familiarisation time, is that the horses start to bring their attention and focus closer to themselves. Investigating the arena itself, sniffing the dressage letters on the wall, stopping to check out the mounting block, or pawing and sniffing at the sand.

    At this stage, when the horses have satisfied themselves that the larger environment is free from danger, and they’re feeling safe enough to lower their heads to adjust their focus to their immediate surroundings and things that are close by; that’s when we can successfully begin to ask the horse to bring his attention to the handler’s requests.

    We can now start to ask the horse for some simple tasks to see if he’s ready to move into a frame of mind that’s open to receiving learning/training.

    The value of arriving early enough to give your horse plenty of time for environmental familiarisation cannot be underestimated. It also includes workspace familiarisation time if the arena and yards/stables/float aren’t close to one another.

    For horses that are well-travelled and seasoned competitors, the process of going from high alert to a calm and ready to work state may only take a few minutes. For the young/green or nervous horse, allowing him enough time to go through the process at his own rate, before expecting any kind of work from him, can make the world of difference to his (and your) experience having an outing away from home.

    Understanding the horse’s bi-focal style of vision helps us be more patient and compassionate when our four-legged friend is going through his process. It develops the bond and trust between us and shows the horse that we see him, hear him and are willing to work with him.

  • How bush bashing on a Standardbred accelerated my dressage riding!

    You’re probably already thinking “whaaaaat?” but hear me out, and it will all make sense by the end!

    Over winter I started doing some bush riding (aka trail riding) with a friend on her spare horse and loved it! I loved the early morning, yes it was cold! The crisp air, the birdsong, the smell of the bush and the notion that I was doing this purely for my own enjoyment!

    As an Equestrian Rider with some pretty big ambitions, riding has always been purposeful for me. I’m training this horse (my own or a client’s) I’m working towards that, striving for something… it kinda has a “work” feel about it.

    Riding in the bush is a stark contrast to “working my horse” in the arena… because it’s just for fun.

    As dressage riders we’re quite “busy” and by that I mean, we’re micro-managing the horse. Constantly monitoring his bend and straightness, influencing his way of going, correcting any deviations from the ideal that we’re aiming for.

    As a leisure rider, on a horse that’s never set hoof in an arena, it’s a completely different picture. In fact, it’s the total opposite. As a rider completely inexperienced with bush riding, on a horse that’s being doing it for practically his whole life I had to learn to be the follower in the partnership rather than the leader!

    We “sand dancers” are so finely tuned to feel what the horse is doing under us so we can maintain perfection, that any alterations to equilibrium instantly raise red flags in our nervous systems.

    There is no uphill and downhill in our manicured arenas, we don’t have to think about the next best place for our horse to put his feet as the surface is all the same.

    A good bush horse on the other hand, is constantly “on the job”. He’s watching the terrain, he’s thinking about where he wants to put his feet and choosing the best path. A good bush rider simply has to get out of the way and let the horse do his job.

    During our rides together my friend explained a few things to me, like how to choose the high side of the track where it’s wet as the low side will be more slippery, and how to push off the trees with a soft elbow to protect your knees.

    The most profound things I learned though, I learned from the horse.

    From getting out there and experiencing it.

    Letting the horse pick his own path was completely foreign to me, letting go of the responsibility of steering took a whole lot of getting used to! Trust in the horse, I told myself, he won’t put himself at risk, and in looking after himself he will look after you.

    Let him use his judgement and trust in his judgement.

    It’s so much bigger than just handing over the rights to the reins though, it’s about what I now think of as “rider self-carriage” or “riding like a feather”. Being free enough in your body that when the horse needs to take an extra large step, to avoid standing on a wobbly rock for example, that this unexpected bigger movement is permitted by your nervous system and your body just goes with it.

    Instead of getting left behind, or the sudden movement causing your hips to tighten up or your legs to grab on, you just go with it. You let the horse move you; unconditionally.

    You are then no longer a burden to the horse because you’re taking care of your own posture, your own self-carriage, and you’re not getting in his way. You’re sitting and riding in such a way that allows you to sign your pelvis over to the horse and let him move how he needs to move without putting the hand-break on him.

    It’s not dissimilar to what we are of our horses, to be honest. We expect them to hand over their free will to us and to let us dictate their every movement. Moreover, we expect them to do it calmly, consistently and without objection. Can we offer the same in return?

    I see many riders with holding hips in the canter. They aren’t able to relax their hips and allow the full movement of the horse to travel through their bodies. Instead they grip on with their legs, often losing their stable lower leg position and even then stirrups; knees creeping up and drawing the heels up with them.

    It disturbs the horse; it interferes with his balance and he has to try to compensate. It creates worry for both parties. Many riders have fears around the canter, particularly the transition, and many horses are “naughty” through canter transitions too.

    Next time you’re sitting on your horse, I extend the challenge to you, to think about to riding “like a feather”. Think about letting go of all the tension in your legs, hips, lower back. Think about breathing and releasing all the tension in your pelvis and legs while maintaining your posture and self-carriage through your torso. This rider self-carriage is critically important; it’s what provides the stability that allows you to hand control of the pelvis over the horse.

    It’s what gives great riders that impression of effortlessness on the horse’s back, and it’s what allows our weight aids to become so meaningful that they’re all we need.

  • Disappointment

    a horse rider’s silent stalker

    Yesterday I rode my horse for the first time in the New Year… and it was a real letdown.

    I’d been really looking forward to the ride. I’d barely had time to do anything with him lately. We’ve just come through the longest spring I can remember and I’ve been thoroughly exhausted from the strict regime of laminitis prevention management enforced upon pretty much all of my horses, due to the seemingly interminable grass growth we’ve had. (What a hay season though!)

    The beginning of a New Year is my favourite time of year. It’s a time of hope, planning and looking forward with renewed enthusiasm.

    Enthusiasm beware, because disappointment is silently stalking.

    It’s lurking just around the corner, watching and waiting to ambush you when you’re not looking. Sometimes you’re expecting it; as riders we all get those gut feelings. We’re taking a gamble with the unknown when something just could easily go one way as the other. We accept that the illusions of safety or success can be gone in the speed of a horse’s heartbeat.

    Yet, sometimes the veil of disappointment settles over us completely unannounced.

    The last time I rode was our best ride so far, and the time before that was too! I’d been pretty consistent for a few months with our Equine PT exercise program and the results were impressive.

    While I hadn’t been riding my horse I sure had been learning! I’ve been gobbling up a Classical Dressage book by one of the few trainers in the world making the highest levels of dressage training accessible, and I’d watched him giving lessons through online streaming of a clinic with his regular (and very accomplished) pupils.

    I was full ideas, things that I wanted to try and things that I’d read about and was keen to see if I could feel too. To complete the picture of understanding.

    I get on my horse and in rolls disappointment. It’s been a while since it last visited, but it’s still a familiar feeling.

    Once again we can’t bend to the right, and we’re so far down on the forehand that I feel like I have to hold the horse up myself. Goodbye lightness. Farewell balance; it was nice to have you but now you’re gone.

    All I can do is start the re-building process. All over again.

    Hello square one. Well, to be fair it’s probably square two, because at least this time we can still bend to the left!

    This is what happens when your horse is on grazing restrictions and has been living in small paddocks and yards for months on end… and you haven’t been walking him.

    I’m disappointed for my riding goals, but that’s the least of it, really. I’m disappointed in myself, because theoretically I knew this would happen but didn’t realise in time to do anything about it. I’m disappointed for my horse because his body has stiffened up again, and he has to live in that crooked and tight body every day.

    I can’t dwell on these feelings though, no sense indulging in self-pity. I’ve already booked my favourite equine therapist to come to see him and I’m hoping that with what I learned the last time we went through the process that the results will come quicker and easier this time.

    Obviously some of the goodness has stuck as we can still bend to the left, and I’ll take whatever small victory I can get right now! These feelings will pass and I’ve got the whole rest of the year ahead of me, including winter which is always my most productive season with my own horses.

    Time to do what we all do when the silent stalker strikes… pick myself up, dust myself off, and start again.