Yeah, it's a lot!

..rhythmic walk on the ground, trying to tune the horse's footsteps to your own. It's actually a fun game to play with them.

It be like that sometimes, for ALL of us. The older I get, the less I stress if it feels like we've taken a step backwards. Life happens, and it's usually an invite to go back to basics. Rhythm and relaxation, the foundation of the dressage training scale. And that can look like working on a

Essentially, we tend to need many short sessions of doing nothing but relaxing and breathing to convince the nervous system to rewire itself. It takes the time it takes, there's no deadline.

Also, we don't always have control of some of our tension when we've experienced trauma, don't spend ANY time beating yourself up if your body and mind don't seem to cooperate in the beginning.

It takes TIME, like, a LOT of time for literally all of us to work through it. Small goals, as in, sitting on your horse at the halt, and working on breath to down regulate the nervous system.

What you're describing is real trauma, and your nervous system has learned that there's a need to be protective.

Listen, I've spent my entire adult life helping riders become more confident, you are NOT alone. Our industry is evolving, we're beginning to train horses with more empathy, but we almost NEVER give ourselves that same grace.

'Cruel' isn't heavy enough a word for THIS. My heart aches for these kids 💔 😞

Toxic gas 🙋‍♀️

This. White privilege looks like: me, listening to Rage as a teenager in the 90s, not fully understanding the "rage." He's been right all along.

Can you imagine landing on that knife edge cantle? 😬

"Before"