I don’t mean to get
woo woo on you,
or bring you into
the scifi realm.
But let’s face it, there are just some
things about working with horses
that take us there.
One such Horse Training Exercise is called Visualization
Visualization is an elusive tool in great horsemanship training that often gets referred to only in passing, or when the Clinician is pressed to more deeply explain what they are doing to get a response from the horse.
My mentor would often say, “have an idea where you want to go and find out what it takes to prepare to get there”.
Terry Church, one of our featured Horsemanship Greats, always asks her students, “What do you have in mind for today?” and the rider then has to explain what their goals are. She will then ask students a series of questions to drill down to their intention and get a clearer goal before they start the lesson.
Mindy Bower, another one of our Featured Clinicians explained to a group of students how to back a horse without pulling. When further pressed by a student who didn’t understand, she answered, “I change my energy. Imagine a flow of water rolling backwards and going out your back, they feel that”.
Another one of our Featured Greats, Melanie Smith-Taylor, also tells students to “keep their head up and look where they want to go and their horse will feel that”.
Visualization is a Training Exercise in Intention and Discipline
Getting in the habit of visualization takes some work. Here are a few tips to get started:
- Each morning before you get out of bed, visualize yourself doing something in detail. To keep it horse related, visualize yourself walking to the barn and saddling your horse. Imagine every detail of it. It may be really hard to stay focused at first, but that is why you need to practice.
- A massive part of visualization is intention. As soon as you get on your horse, just walk on a loose rein and imagine Terry Church asking you “What do you have in mind for today?” and develop a vivid picture of what your intention is. Be clear: I am not just talking about mechanical intention. Drill down. Are you really looking for more fluidity when you ask for something? If so, what can you do step by step to get that? Break it down into small chunks for the horse.
- Before you ask something, picture where you want to go. Look at the bush across the field. Picture it in your mind with intention and see what happens with your horse. This may be a little frustrating at first if you are not accustomed to doing this. The more you do it, the more you will feel your horse begin to “read your mind”.
- Look at where you want to go and what you want to happen when you get there. For example, “when I get to that pole I want to walk”. Visualize what you would want it to feel like. Then, take note of how much preparation it takes to get the walk when you reach that pole. Keep practicing at different set points like the pole, until you can ask for the walk right before the pole and get it with just a change of intention.
Visualization is one of the tools Great Horsemanship Training Professionals use regularly.
It is one of the things that separate good from great. Keep practicing this technique and you will start to see huge shifts in the quickness and clarity of your communication with your horse!
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Excellent point to emphasize, Lauren! Thank you!
Just this morning I noticed 2 dressage magazines, each with a world class horse-rider on the cover. In both cases the rider (who rightly inspires MANY of us!) was looking down so I could just see eyelids. I resolved to remember during my ride today to look where I am going. Though mechanical in nature, it seems like a bridge to the intuitive visualizing that could help us be better with our horses, as Melanie Smith-Taylor said in the quote you shared with us.
Again, thank you!
You’re welcome, Adelheid! You made my day:)
Great article and suggestions, Lauren! Visualization worked wonders for me when I was laid up with an injury. Picturing something very specific – like a canter depart – in detail was something I did a lot when I couldn’t ride. It was AMAZING how easy it was to get that canter depart when I could ride again. Thanks for the great reminder!
That is a great tip for people who currently have injuries- I did something similar and I noticed that I seemed to ride better once I was back on even though it had been a while since I had ridden. Great tip, Caren!
I compete in Mounted Police Competitions.My horse was great but refused to walk thru the wall of 50 gal. barrels no matter what I did. The night before a show, knowing this was going to be one of the obstacles I began picturing Henry just walking calmly thru them.I looked over and thru the wall, aimed him at it and he just walked thru like it wasn’t even there!I was amazed…it REALLY works if you believe it will.
I’ve been learning about bio mechanics and the other day when I rode I visualized how all the muscles and ligaments should be working and stretching underneath me, it made me ride better and my horse went better than ever, Thank you for the tips, have always though horses could read our thoughts, now I must keep trying to communicate them x
Great article I just read on your visualization! I do this with my little mare on a daily basis to focus on our trail riding and it works better than anything else! I have a Facebook group that is geared towards natural horsemanship, may I have permission to share your posts on there?
Absolutely, Adrienne! You are ALWAYS welcome to share 🙂
Lauren, I really enjoyed your post. Years ago when I was competing in dressage, I used to spend my lunch hours at work visualizing my dressage tests. Riding the tests in my mind and whilst doing this, draw them out on a piece of paper.
I wasn’t in the position at that time to have lessons like all the other riders I was competing with and yet, with the power of visualization I was placed in every show I entered.
Visualization really does work and still does for me. I still manage to ride those near to perfect circles. Visualization can be applied in all areas of a person’s life. A famous artist was once asked how he paints such beautiful and amazing paintings and he said, he sees the picture in his mind first and then just paints what’s in his mind.
And sometimes it’s good to go with a blank slate and enjoy the moments.
i have read that visualization can be as good or better than actual practice because you visualize a perfect movement. There are no mistakes in the process, so when you actually do the movement, it is better than if you had practiced and made mistakes! How woo woo is that?
The kind of woo woo I love!
I have severe RA and couldn’t practice much so I spent lots of time visualizing every inch of my English Hunter Halter classes, minute detail, works, even with very young horses, 3 Pinto world champ wins, use it a lot with green horses, and my old boy just knows and does things without specific cues