The Good and Bad of Staying Consistent

I know I'm not the only one who constantly touts “consistency is key” when it comes to, well, almost anything! Whether you're working out, training a horse, learning a new skill for school or work, or just trying to form a new habit, consistency is the one thing you need. But what about when it goes awry?

Let's say you're riding your new horse and you're going it alone but with some help from a trainer. You try teaching them how to leg yeild and you think you remember the right cues from your lesson the other day, but you're not 100% sure. You start going around, preparing for the next long side, but you get nervous because you can't remember if you should do inside leg to outside rein or if you should use your inside rein and inside leg, or if you totally got it wrong and what are you even doing riding such a young horse, this is so much harder than you thought it would be. Now you're tightening up, stressed about giving the horse the wrong cue, and now your horse is starting to feel that stress and is also tightening up! Now both of you are just a bundle of nerves and you have to spend extra time just relaxing you both again. (Please tell me I'm not the only one who has been in this situation — my 15 year-old self is asking!)

In this scenario, there's nothing inherently wrong. You don't have to know everything or how to do all of the necessary movements to ride your horse! It's 100% okay to get nervous when riding and work back to a relaxed horse. But that's the thing. If you don't take the time to get back to a desired state, then you're inadvertently training yourself and your horse something to expect tension during rides.

I know I've been guilty of this! When I was rehabbing Raven, I couldn't do more than a walk for a very long time. Of course my fire-breathing dragon of a horse found that absolutely unacceptable, especially during winter, and would proceed to buck, rear, bolt, play, just do anything she could to get her energy out. Eventually, after enough rides, I came to anticipate her squirrelly-ness and would start to tense up, knowing that I would have to ride a rambunctious horse. But, she also would feel that tension and get even more wound up! Because I did this for most rides, it became a habit. Since consistency is key, I trained us both to expect a tense ride.

This was heartbreaking for me! I couldn't enjoy my time riding and I know Raven wasn't enjoying herself either. I had to consciously adjust my mindset and re-train us both. This took a lot longer than I would like to admit!

So, if it isn't obvious yet, consistency can work negatively, too. This can also apply to bodywork (or lack thereof). If your athlete doesn't get a massage or chiropractic to help their body reset, then a downward spiral of bad rides could occur. They could be feeling tense or uneven because of a previous ride. This could cause future rides to be stressful and unproductive for you both because they aren't feeling their best. Or, maybe you do get bodywork done for your horse, but it's not the right fit. Your horse could tense up or not like the person working on them. Then instead of achieving relaxation, your horse now leaves that session just as wound up as they were before. In both of these scenarios, if this happens enough, it starts to become the norm.

I saw this happen firsthand with Raven, too. (I know, a lot of experiences are with this horse!) I used to get acupuncture done with her a couple of times a year. I felt like I saw great benefits, like reduced tension, improved circulation, etc. The only thing I didn't like was that we had to sedate her to get her calm for the session! After a couple of times, I stopped doing acupuncture and moved to massage and PEMF. I now see a huge improvement after each session and have a more relaxed horse. Acupuncture just wasn't really working for her. That's totally ok! The lovely thing about bodywork is that variety. If someone doesn't work, and continues to not work, there will be another option.

All of this is to say that consistency can work against you too. I find it important to get off the hamster wheel once in awhile and assess what's going on with your horse. Make sure they aren't feeling tension where they shouldn't. If you need to change something, go for it! Give your horse more time off, find a different trainer, find a trainer, make sure your horse is stretching, break up with your body worker, or set up bodywork sessions for them! At the end of the day, your horse is the most important. Make sure you're doing what you can for them because they are giving it their all for you!!