After Back to Work Day 7, where Tumbleweed was so chill after TTouch and basic bladder meridian releases, we hit day 8 and some real emotion about being away from the herd.
Susan Fay talks a lot about identifying your emotions during these moments, but I’m not sure what mine were. Is resolve an emotion? When I see his energy / emotion get up like that, I tend to push mine down and continue to direct his feet. I’ve seen this show enough to know how quickly they can change once they get their naughtiness out.
Soon enough, he’s tuned in and respectful, but as we did work closer up, I could feel his energy rising again when he looked over at his buddies gathered at the round bale. We had more work to do, and we did it.
Working at home has always been the hardest for us. My arena has a clear shot to the main turnout where he can see his buddies having fun and eating. On one hand, it is a worthy cause to push those herd bound buttons, as it will payoff on the trail someday. But on the other hand, it seems like 2 steps forward, 1 step back.
I did some research into TTouch versus Masterson Method and found out why TTouch might be better for us at this juncture for pre-arena work:
TTouch and the Masterson Method are both gentle, non-invasive equine therapies that improve horse wellness, but differ in focus: TTouch uses circular touches and groundwork to activate the nervous system and build body awareness, while the Masterson Method uses light-touch, interactive techniques to release tension in key joints.
It is good that you can focus your emotions on directing Tumbleweeds excess energy into moving his feet. That is what I learned to do, including when riding (give them a job). I had some success redirecting Koda's energy, but not always. Some situations are harder than others.
ReplyDeleteInteresting equine therapy differences. I dabbled a tiny bit with self taught Masterson. Learning hands on vs video would be ideal.
It’s easier to redirect energy from the ground, but my goal is to not have to do it or, at least less often, by being more proactive. I’m finding that when I pull him from the herd, he switches to flight mode thinking, sympathetic nervous system, and we need, for now anyway, a transitional piece like TTouch or MM. I don’t feel like it accomplishes much good to continually have that emotional conversation in the arena. It’s almost reinforcing the idea that he has something to be nervous about. Today was much better, and if this continues, we may have found a vital missing piece.
DeleteI don’t know if you have MM or TTouch practitioners in your area, but I connected with two horsewomen who practiced each and would come to our house and teach us. It is a great tool in your horsey toolbox, and I think it bookmarks well with Sacred Spaces teaching.
Interesting how that worked. I find with Gussie that she really likes MM, it really gets her relaxed. She is herd bound too, and has a fair bit of nervous energy, so anything that gets her connected to me instead of her herd is a good thing. Even if I am not actually riding.
ReplyDeleteInteresting about Gussie. It’s probably good for most horses to have that transition piece to bring the energy down, connect, and get in their thinking mode, especially when they’ve been off for winter. I imagine we will need it less and less as we go along. It’s good for both of us. I can get a little overeager and rush things, so it’s good to have that moment to slow down and get with him first.
Delete