“If horses are so sensitive that they respond best to the very lightest or no touch at all, how does the riding truly affect their bodies?”
stress can restrict movement and affect performance. The horse reaches a point where he can’t completely release this stress or tension on his own, even after the work, injury, or pain that caused the tension pattern is gone. The techniques are applied to key junctions of the body that most commonly affect equine performance: poll and neck; neck, shoulders and withers; and the sacroiliac and lumbar junction. This is a method in which the horse participates in the
process. The horse tells you exactly where the stress is, how much pressure to use and when it is released. You observe results during the process in the horse’s release responses and in performance afterwards. A few typical release responses of the horse are licking and chewing, head shaking, deepened breathing, dropping a hip and, my favorite, yawning. As a practitioner, the release responses and the obvious relief to the horse bring me joy. To be effective in releasing
tension, the practitioner must use the correct level of touch at the right spot on the horse’s body. As one practices the techniques while experimenting with the level of touch, time after time the horse teaches the all important lesson that less is more, meaning the lighter and the slower the better. In the beginning, it is difficult to set the clock aside and dial in to horse time. It is also hard to set aside the human notion of a meaningful touch and realize that the horse rarely prefers a vigorous touch or intense massage and will instinctive brace against heavy pressure.
PUTTING IT INTO PRACTICE As an experiment, I did a whole bodywork session on a horse I thought of as a bit of a bully and was surprised to find that he responded exquisitely to air gap pressure (barely touching) all through the whole 90-minute bodywork session! Learning The Masterson Method has given me an appreciation of the enormous sensitivity of the equine neurological system; not just
Opposite: Coralie competes her mare Feuertraum at second level. Above: Coralie demonstrates one of the techniques to unlocking the poll-atlas junction.
that they can feel a fly, but that they easily respond to the warmth of the hand. I have come to question the conventional notion of a
“stoic” horse. Are they less sensitive than others or actually much more sensitive? A horse often resists releasing the tension in a muscle or joint because he has been guarding an area for a long time as part of the survival response. As a prey animal, a horse’s first survival response is to flee; the second is to brace against discomfort, covering up signs of lameness, pain or stress. In the horse’s psychology, to show weakness is to become a predator’s next meal. The practitioner learns to work around the survival response. A horse can’t brace against a light touch. As I have practiced these
techniques and learned to read the very subtle responses of the horse, I have gained more than an awareness of the condition of a horse’s body that is meaningful to me as a horse owner and rider. The extensive study of the equine bone and muscle anatomy required for The Masterson Method certification fed my fascination with biomechanics and deepened my understanding of what a dressage movement really requires of the horse. There have been some additional
surprise benefits in practicing The Masterson Method. For example, being very right-handed, the ability to use my left hand has improved and the fine motor movements of both hands and arms needed for effective riding are becoming more coordinated and controlled.
HORSE AS MIRROR TO THE RIDER At some point along the path of learning The Masterson Method, the really big question hit me—if horses are so sensitive that they respond best to the very lightest or no touch at all, how does the riding truly affect their bodies? I started experimenting with my own horses by assessing the condition of my horse’s body before and after riding. Did tension in the poll and neck increase or decrease? Is one side of the back more sensitive than the other? Is one shoulder tighter? Do these findings correlate with the issues encountered during the training session, the ability to bend and flex and the ability to travel straight? What
Warmbloods Today 39
Photo courtesy Coralie Hughes
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