21/05/2025
A few years ago, I had a conversation with Warwick Schiller about relaxation- what it is, how we recognise it, and how it shows up in both our horses and ourselves.
At the time, I had just bought Nadia, my big warmblood mare, and letโs just say the dream of us riding off into the sunset was quickly replaced with something much more humble: taking off all the gear and going right back to the beginning.
Her anxiety told me riding towards sunsets were off the table for now.
๐งโโ๏ธ The only thing I was doing? Helping her relax.
Not long after, a bodyworker came to see Nadia and was shocked at how much her shape had changed over a relatively small window.
"What have you been doing with her?" she asked.
And my honest answer was:
โIโve just been playing with how to help her relax.โ
At the time, my understanding of the nervous system was fairly surface-level. I knew that when weโre anxious, scared, or depressed, we carry ourselves differentlyโthat was obvious, even intuitive. We all know what it looks like to see (or feel) posture reflect mood.
But what I thought I was observing in Nadiaโmuscles softening, tension releasingโwas actually something much deeper.
๐ซ What we often miss: The organsโ role in posture
In all the conversations we have around body and behaviour, what rarely gets mentioned is the role of organ placement and internal pressure systems in shaping posture.
Just like every other part of us, our organs- and our horseโs organs- arenโt static. Theyโre constantly moving, shifting, responding. And their position is directly influenced by the state of the nervous system.
Each of the major survival responses- fight, flight, freeze, and collapse- has a specific motor reflex pattern. The body rearranges itself to serve that response.
For example:
๐น In fight, it prioritizes force.
๐น In flight, it prioritizes acceleration.
When the nervous system chooses one of these, the body- organs included- shifts to match.
Think of the size and mass of structures like the lungs, diaphragm, and liver. Where they sit in the body dramatically affects outward form.
To illustrate this, what I've come to understand is:
๐ซ In a parasympathetic state, the lungs sit higher in the neck tube, helping stabilize the deep front line and neck.
๐ซ In a fight-or-flight state, the lungs drop lower, often creating that rounded โhunchbackโ posture we associate with stress.
๐๏ธSupport from the inside out
In the parasympathetic system, the body functions differently. Each internal โchamberโ is pressurized. The fascia is responsive and alive. The organs are not just in placeโtheyโre vibrant, spinning, and vital.
And this creates a body that is supported from the inside out.
Posture becomes full without force.
Muscles soften, not because theyโre โletting go,โ but because they no longer need to brace.
The skin has vitality. The body, ease.
๐ Thatโs what I was seeing in Nadia.
Not just muscles releasing.
Her entire system was reorganisingโphysically, mentally, emotionally.
And hereโs the most important part:
This wasnโt something I did to her.
It was something her nervous system chose- a different operating system, a different postural template. One that created change from the inside out.
One that affects things from the top down and inside out: physically, mentally and emotionally.
It's changed my understandings about posture, and what we are truly observing when we see physical and structural changes in our horses.
As ever, I'd love to hear your thoughts,
xx Jane
