05/05/2025
BEYOND PRESSURE & RELEASE
An Essay Redefining “Natural” With Horses
I was recently asked by a student what my thoughts are regarding “pressure and release” and what is “natural” with horses. He likely had no idea that it would lead to me writing a lengthy essay on Biodynamics, Biochemistry and Ethics.
Kind-hearted people sincerely want their relationship with their horse to be natural. While I appreciate this sentiment I have learned from the horses to reach beyond what is natural.
To begin with, we have been domesticating horses for a very long time. There is not much left anymore that is truly natural about how they live with us. This is like suggesting we want our relationship with our dogs to be as if we are nomads and they are still wolves.
Having said that, despite eons of domestication, a horse is still “naturally” a prey animal who is hard-wired by nature to live with a lot of stress and anxiety about their vulnerability in the world they live in.
So my ethos is to help a horse become more relaxed with me than it is as a member of a herd of prey animals. I don’t want a “natural horse” - I want to help a horse become “super-natural”.
Here’s an analogy. Gravity is natural. And it is not natural for humans to fly like birds. Nonetheless, our ancestors dreamed of being able to fly. And our dreams became true. With science we learned how to evolve beyond the limitations of gravity.
Flying a plane is using knowledge to literally transcend from what is natural into the super-natural. Likewise, we can use knowledge to help a horse evolve out of its natural stress and anxiety as a prey animal into a much more calm and confident athlete. But in order to achieve this we first need to redefine what so many equestrians practice as “pressure and release”.
It sounds simple on the surface. A human applies pressure to a horse to achieve a result. When the horse “gives” the desired result then the human releases the pressure. But with horses, as in life, it’s not just about what we do - it’s about HOW we do what we do.
While there are many contexts of “pressure and release” it is most often defined as pulling on the head of the horse with ropes and reins until the horse submits and no longer resists being pulled.
There are two distinctly different forms of “contact” with ropes and reins attached to the head of a horse. We can either use the pressure of our contact to pull the head of a horse in the direction we want them to go - or - we can use the pressure of contact as boundaries that block the head of the horse from going in directions we don’t want to go.
My lifetime experience with thousands upon thousands of many different breeds of horses, including wild mustangs, has clearly shown me that they all prefer the boundaries of blocking pressure instead of pulling pressure.
There is nothing remotely natural about a horse having their head pulled by another creature in an attempt to steer them in a desired direction. However, it is natural for a horse to experience boundaries in nature that block their movement. When a wild horse encounters a cliff wall it does not move into the wall it moves around the wall as a natural boundary. And when a horse respects the space of a more dominant horse it has learned to respect the boundaries of that horse and to simply “not go there”.
So what is the science that allows us to fly the horse like a plane?
Energy moves through the horse in one of two directions. Movement either starts in their body first and then moves forward into their shoulders, then their neck, and then into their head - or movement starts in the head of the horse first and then flows backwards into their body. Every horse experiences either back-to-front flow or front-to-back flow every day of their lives.
Nature purposefully designed the horses to have movement flowing through their bodies in either direction. When energy flows from back-to-front the horse is relaxing in their body and mind. But when energy flows from front-to-back the horse immediately creates stress in their body and mind.
Front-to-back movement, meaning the head of the horse is the first part of the body to move, immediately triggers adrenaline flow for flight or fight. We see this whenever a horse is relaxed, sometimes with his or her head held level or stretching down long and low, but then a sudden disturbance in the environment triggers the head of the horse to move first by elevating and turning their neck to look in the direction of the potential problem.
On the other hand, we’ve all seen a horse put their head down low to the ground and the body begins to pivot around their nose. The head of the horse stays in one place while their body moves around their head, and within just a few moments the horse lays down to relax. This back-to-front movement stretches the body, triggers endorphin flow, and the body and mind of the horse relaxes.
Allow me to repeat. Front-to-back movement, when the head of the horse moves first, naturally causes adrenaline flow for flight or fight. And back-to-front movement, where the head of the horse moves last, naturally causes endorphin flow for relaxation and suppleness.
The problem with “pressure and release” in the context of pulling the head of the horse is that the human is causing stress by initiating head first movement. Of course the horse resists this stressful pressure but the human resists the resistance they are creating and does not “release” until the horse submits.
Pressure and release essentially means that the human initiates and causes the stress but then feels good about themselves when they stop causing the stress. This is like someone who starts a fire and then feels proud of being able to put out the fire.
So if we don’t pull on their heads, what’s our alternative for steering a horse?
Visualize how we often move horses, cows or sheep, through parallel fences set up as a chute system. The fences are boundaries that steer the bodies of these herd animals without pulling on their heads. In terms of natural energy flow - we need to ride our horses by steering them between the boundaries of our legs and reins - much the same as the direction of a river flows according to the boundaries of the river banks.
Horses have horizontal bodies. We have vertical bodies until we go skiing, surfing, skateboarding, kayaking or canoeing, or when we ride a motorcycle or bicycle, or push a wheelbarrow or shopping cart. It’s critical here to recognize that in none of the above do we tie ropes to the front of the horizontal body to pull them into turns. But it’s just so tempting for people to pull the head of a horse into a turn!
When we hold a horse while riding, we can use blocking pressure with our contact to show the horse that we want his or her head to move last instead of first. For example, when bending or turning to the right - we need to feel the ribs of the horse bend around our right leg before our left rein release the hold/block/boundary pressure that allows the head of the horse to flex right - so as to assure that the nose is not first, but the last part of the body of the horse to flex into the turn.
And on the other hand, we do not need to use the left rein to pull the head of the horse to the left - instead use the left rein as a boundary to block unwanted right flexion in their neck.
The horse is only truly balanced and feeling good when the energy in their body is flowing from back-to-front. So ideally, we first need to be able to bend the ribs/girth/back of the horse around our left leg before the head of the horse turns left. But, we often need blocking pressure with the reins because we will not be able to bend the back of the horse around our left leg if the horse happens to be distracted and looking to the right.
When the neck and head of a horse is flexed right their back is pushing against our left leg and we are unable to establish the bend we need. So our left rein contact - our left rein “pressure” - should not pull left but instead be a boundary that blocks the head of the horse from looking right as we are attempt to establish a bend in their back around our left leg.
Simple but counter-intuitive. The left rein does not pull the head of the horse left - the left rein blocks unwanted right flexion when attempting to establish left bend around our leg. And the right rein does not pull the head of the horse right - the right rein blocks unwanted left flexion when attempting to establish right bend around our leg.
That’s all about the biomechanics of the body. But remember, the biomechanics of the body immediately affects the biochemistry and the biochemistry affects behaviour and performance.
And now consider that when the rider pulls on their horse the rider is causing the pressure on the head of the horse. But if the horse pushes against the boundaries of a holding hand - the the horse is causing the pressure on their head.
In other words, if you are a horse, you can’t stop your rider from pulling on your face but you can use your own mind and free will to choose to accept the boundaries that block unwanted turns and therefore there is no pressure on your face.
When we hold horses instead of pulling them it is the horse who decides if there is pressure - not the rider. It is the horse who establishes the release of pressure by no longer testing the boundaries - not the rider giving away the boundaries of support that block unwanted head first turns.
I challenge you with this. Watch closely when a horse is standing still and someone pulls the head of the horse into a turn. Watch the back feet as the horse is told to go forward and you will see that every horse always stumbles backwards before they go forward. They step backwards into the turn because their energy is indeed flowing backwards from being pulled head first and they are not balanced to go forward.
At a recent clinic there was a horse who came with a lot of “contact issues”. Meaning, he was tossing his head aggressively in response to the contact from the rider. The rider was overwhelmed and beyond frustrated with how aggressive his head was reacting to her contact. As you can imagine, she had been pulling on him and he was having nothing to do with it.
So I began holding his head, just in the halter, with boundaries of where not to go instead of pulling on him to tell his head where to go. Yes, at first he was bumping into my boundaries and I had to “hold the horse”. But he soon realized that I was not forcing him to stand still, that I was simply telling him that instead of moving his head first I wanted him to try moving his feet first. And as always, within just a few minutes he realized that he was the one creating pressure on his head by challenging my boundaries. And as his head “settled down” his chemistry changed in real time right before our eyes and his head stayed still as he stepped forward with his legs to move gently into my hands.
Within just a few minutes this angry gelding transformed into calm relief as his chemistry shifted from adrenaline into endorphins. He closed his eyes and settled beautifully into my hands. This is when I shared one of my favourite ism’s: “A busy head is a busy mind - a still head is a still mind.” And then someone in the audience asked the common question: “Don’t you think you should give him a release?”
No.
The horse was enjoying the chemistry and relaxation from being “in my good hands” and he was appreciating how he felt as I was holding him. If I were to “release” him now it would not be “freedom” or a “reward”, it would be abandonment and neglect for giving him the help that he needed. But then, for educational purposes I said “okay, watch this…” and I released the holding pressure of my hands blocking head first movement. As I released him he stood still for just a few seconds and then his head came up - he looked around at his environment (head first) and then he looked at me and lowered his head into my hands. He literally plugged his nose into my hands and wanted me to resume holding him.
When I go to my massage therapist she applies a lot of pressure into my body. She asks me if want more or less pressure? And I tell her when I want more or less - but I don’t want her to release her contact. I’m benefiting from the massage. And that’s how my horse feels when I ride her. She appreciates that she feels so good as she moves freely between my boundaries and her energy flows and swings steadily from back-to-front.
When our horses enjoy how we help them feel - when they feel better with us than they do without us - when the best part of their day is when we apply pressure to them - then we can redefine the nature of our pressure and release.
When a horse is held “in good hands” it truly appreciates how it feels in both body and mind. We can “hold our horses” and the release is redefined as releasing adrenaline into endorphins. We release anxiety and tension into calm and relaxation. We release fear into confidence and anger into gentleness. We release confusion into understanding. We release conflict into unity.
Look closely at the contact I have with the horse I am riding in the photo attached to this essay. She was a lovely, very big Hanoverian mare I had just met and only had the privilege of riding once. It was at an Expo in the Netherlands a few years ago when I was asked to give a demonstration on how I would help a nervous horse relax in a stressful environment.
As she realized that I was only using blocking pressure to assure her movements were coming from back-to-front, her chemistry shifted from adrenaline to endorphins and we had a lovey ride together. Look at her relaxing into my gentle blocking hands that did not pull her. Look at the soft expression in her eyes and her calm and focused intention. She’s flying beautifully despite the intense environment around us! Why would I release or abandon my contact when it was helping her feel so much better?
Please evolve beyond pulling on horses. But do hold your horses. Shepherd them forward from back-to-front and help them feel super-naturally magnificent between your boundaries.
