No matter how often I ride I seems that I have to rediscover two important facts: 1. My horses are far more sensitive than I can possibly imagine.  2. Riding is not as much about simple physical skills as it is about the psychological and emotional connection.

When I teach I use a lot of imagery with my students.  Imagery is very effective because your thoughts influence your physical actions in a relaxed yet effective manner.  Your imagination creates very subtle body movements that your sensitive horse immediately responds to.  Mary Wanless and Sally Swift both incorporate a lot of imagery in their programs. John Lyons says to imagine riding as a dance.  He often declares,  “as you think differently you do differently.”

The trick with imagery is finding the image that works for each rider.  In my last post I talked about connecting centers.  That image really works for me and as well for some of my friends that I ride with.  Some of my students however were really struggling with it so I had to find an alternative for them.

Plugging in is another concept that I was taught that really helps me connect to my horse.  I visualize my seat bones plugging in through my saddle and right into my horse, – as though I am plugging those bones into an electrical socket.   This doesn’t involve any big physical exertion on my part – I am not shoving or pushing at my horse.  I simply visualize being plugged in and connected.

Over the past few weeks I have really focused on teaching this  concept to all of my students and they are all having a lot of fun and success with it. Suddenly they were able to move their horse effortlessly wherever they wanted to go.  One student declared that it felt almost magical. There is no magic involved.  It’s simply about letting the horse know through your body language that you are completely there with them in the moment, prepared to listen and work with them as an engaged partner.

I have also noticed that my horses are very happy when their riders “plug in.”   Their heads drop down and they become very calm, compliant and soft.  When I lose focus and forget to ‘plug in’ my horse Bob is quick to remind me by tossing his head or swishing his tail.

The biggest difficulty in using any type of imagery is that you have to be there in the moment with your horse.  You have to leave the other issues in your life at the arena door and your attention has to be completely on yourself and your horse.   That is really hard sometimes but  you can’t plug your seat bones in successfully if your mind had been disconnected.

Good luck and let me know if you are able to successfully plug in to your horse!

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