“True play only comes from a place of deep peace and calmness.”
Getting horses playful on the ground can be a wonderful thing to do when both the horse and the human are ready, and when you know how to keep it safe.
Safety is very important here.
🎠 High-energy play can be a great thing because it is fun for both the horse and us. Play is highly intrinsically motivating for horses.
🎠 It can also help horses engage their bodies. Pure play is one of the times horses naturally engage towards collection and develop suspension in their movement.
🎠 If we can inspire horses to begin offering engaged, suspended movement through play and joyful interaction, that is my preferred way of developing it. For those of you who know Helium—the big chestnut Warmblood whose photo of me playing with him at liberty captures that beautiful suspended trot—play was one of the primary ways I developed both his body and this expression of movement.
🎠 Once we have established a foundation of calmness and connection, and the horse has developed the neural pathways and muscle strength needed for optimal biomechanical function, they can begin to use these movement patterns in play. Without the correct development first, horses can and will play, but it is often expressed through quite dysfunctional movement patterns.
Equally important, if we have not developed good connection, communication, and the skills to keep the horse out of our space, exuberant horses can become dangerous because:
🎠 High-energy play can easily tip over into reactivity and fear.
🎠 High-energy play can release suppressed emotions that have been trapped in the body, and those emotions may be expressed towards us.
🎠 Horses often play quite roughly with each other—and we don’t want that when they are playing with us. If a horse is not confident enough or emotionally ready, the heightened energy can push them into overwhelm and fear.
Our timing, feel, and understanding of biomechanics are what help it remain enjoyable for them. If our timing is wrong—for example, if their balance is not organised and we ask them to activate themselves at the wrong moment—they won’t enjoy it. This is one reason we often see horses pinning their ears and appearing unhappy when people use higher energy.
Learning how to create within ourselves the feeling that horses experience when they play is one of the keys. Equally important is knowing when to ask for it, when not to ask for it, how long to do it for, and how frequently it should be included in a horse’s program.
This is a short snippet from one of the recent videos I made for students in my Mentoring Membership, where I explain the whole session with Flash. For those of you who know Flash, you can see he is making very good progress.
Most people remember him for his extreme emotional meltdowns, where he had virtually no emotional regulation and would become completely reactive and unable to think, or alternatively retreat into an angry, shut-down state where he wanted no part of anything. Getting him to a place where he could genuinely feel playful was a significant achievement.
He hasn’t had a major meltdown for a long time now.
Occasionally he still doesn’t want to participate fully, and in that way he continues to teach me a great deal.
These challenging horses are often our greatest teachers. He is teaching me to be more aware, more present, softer, more subtle, and much more. True play only comes from a place of deep peace and calmness.
This is not where we start in the clinics I teach. It is something we progress towards. Learning how to play with horses in this way is not taught until both horse and human have developed the foundation needed to make it safe, enjoyable, and beneficial for both, but it’s a fun goal to have.
In case anyone is wondering – I am using the Equiband Pro on Flash. It’s something I use with some of the postural development training I do. When used in conjunction with good postural development principles it is very helpful for horses.
Music is by Sal Roz – Fire Horse – she is a friend and student who has written a lot of music that was inspired by my teachings and to support me sharing my horsemanship program in the world. Helping to make the world a better place for horses and humans. 💜