“I knew he was cold backed, and I’d come off him before when he took off as I was swinging my leg over his quarters.  We stood at the mounting block with my heart pounding (probably his too!), my mouth dry, sickness washing over me.  I was petrified.”

For a start, ‘cold backed’ is (I believe) a pain reaction, and as such, we should be doing our very best to resolve this.  For another thing, injuries sustained during mounting issues are among the most serious of all, and I don’t believe we should ever just ‘hope for the best’ as we’re getting on.  There’s plenty of physio/vet/coach/trainer/saddler / farrier advice that might help in this situation (I’ll come onto some of that another time).  But this article is about feeling and emotion, and how it might be possible to feel calm in this situation, if you know what you’re doing, if you get the right help (for you and your horse), and if you use the right training techniques (for you and your horse).

I’ve been reading about the difference between feeling and emotion.  There are varying opinions on this, and I was prompted to look after listening to ‘High Performance Habits’ by Brendon Burchard (you can get the book for free on Brendon’s podcast here: https://brendon.mykajabi.com/p/hph-tools, or read a free sample here:https://read.amazon.co.uk/kp/embed?asin=B072N6MQ5V&preview=newtab&linkCode=kpe&ref_=cm_sw_r_kb_dp_AL.xBbB8E3674).  I like Brendon’s explanation, and that of a lady Debbie Hampton who I came across on the internet.  I’m sure there are many more but in an effort to avoid analysis paralysis I haven’t looked further yet!  Anyway, these guys suggest that emotions are the initial response to a situation, hardwired within us, and feelings are our response to the emotion.  We then of course can choose how to act on these emotions and feelings.  Brendon talks about an athlete who trained himself to ‘feel’ the ‘emotion’ of nervousness before a race as excitement, for example.  He couldn’t (and wouldn’t want to) not feel nervous at the start of a race, because for a start the adrenalin that comes with that emotion of nervousness is important in winning the race.  But he didn’t want to be paralysed by that emotion to the point of not racing, so he trained himself to feel the intense emotion of nerves as something to be treasured, rather than avoided.  The trouble is that much of this happens at a subconscious level, so we’re not aware of any level of control over our feelings until we really work at it.  If you’re interested to learn more, have a read of Debbie Hampton’s explanation, and click on the links at the bottom of her page where she links to other people’s viewpoints (https://www.thebestbrainpossible.com/whats-the-difference-between-feelings-and-emotions/).

I found the difference between feelings and emotions was a difficult subject to get my head around, but the basic premise (I think!) is that we can train our brains to feel how we want to feel (for example, calm) about a situation that gives rise to a certain emotion (for example, fear if our horse gets loose when we’re lungeing him and he takes off around the arena with the ropes trailing).  Using this particular example makes sense to me, since having worked with literally hundreds, if not thousands, of young and ‘problem’ horses, I’ve had plenty of experience of most situations, including horses getting loose with the ropes trailing, either whilst I’ve been working with them or whilst I’ve been training the owner to work with them.  In fact, living and working in a dealers yard many years ago, we might turn a horse out with a (short) lead rope attached if he was particularly difficult to catch (I strongly recommend that if you are turning your horse out with a headcollar on, you use a ‘field safe’ one that will break if it gets caught up on something).  If the horse has a fear of ropes trailing then I might actually use a version of this as a training tool.  I can confirm that most people don’t feel ‘calm’ when their horse is trotting or cantering around the arena dragging a rope, and yet I genuinely do feel ‘calm’ (unless there are extenuating circumstances, such as the gate to the road being open, or the horse is rehabilitating from an injury, which is why I always do as much as I can to ensure the safety of the surroundings before I even begin working with a horse).  The trouble is, as with so many of these things, that I actually have no idea how I trained myself to feel this way!  Still, having an awareness is the starting point, so for today, I’m going to concentrate on ‘emotions’ that come up to different situations and conversations, and how I ‘feel’ about them, and see if I can recognise any level of control over my feelings.  How about you?

Sue Palmer MCSP (www.thehorsephysio.co.uk) is an ACPAT and RAMP registered Chartered Physiotherapist, and author of ‘Horse Massage for Horse Owners’ and ‘Understanding Horse Performance: Brain, Pain or Training?’ (available from www.ethicalhorseproducts.co.uk).