Balance, Cooperation & the Four Corners of the Horse

When I think about poor balance I think about 4 things...ill-health, blockage of energy flow, misalignment and misunderstanding. Horses do the best they know how in order to maintain good balance in their circumstances. They want to eat but not fall down so they figure out how to contort themselves so they can do both! Similarly, they are willing to carry us but don't want to be in pain or to fall down so--again--they figure out how to contort themselves to manage it all. Dealing with ill-health and injury is a subject in itself. So assuming we have a healthy horse that is not lame, it is useful to consider how the four corners of the horse can work together harmoniously to achieve a common goal---improved balance.
Without our interference horses do a very good job of managing their whole body to deal with all aspects of life without falling down or getting left behind. Enter a hander and/or rider and now things start changing...and very often from our being overly controlling.
One of my students recently mentioned hearing dressage rider Steffen Peters talk about his thoughts on how the FEI might do better by changing the word "submission" in its guidelines to "cooperation". What a brilliant idea! Think about it. Just changing that one word could, if we are willing and inclined, change the way we think about training horses. The word "submission" is so harsh and final whereas the word "cooperation" is so liberating and forgiving. The latter allows us to give the horse the opportunity to decide to go along with what we have in mind.
I would like here to briefly describe how I envision improved balance to come about. It is through helping the horse to become increasingly aware of the four corners of his body when we are working with him---first on the ground and then in the saddle. We stop and touch him with our hands, our stick or whip and help him locate the spaces around his body and how they relate to our space. We move him forward, backward and sideways, touching legs(and various parts of the body) to enliven them and help give sense of where to direct the power generated in each limb.
Under saddle, the first thing we do is find calm. We try not to snatch up the reins and confine the horse. Of course, under no circumstances would we invite danger to ourselves by not using prudence. But what I dislike seeing is how the first thing riders so often do is tighten up the reins and close in on the horse with the legs. This latter way is the direct route toward blockages. And then poor balance and then an uncooperative horse.
Start with calm and just as you did in the ground work, touch with one leg or one rein and see the reaction, reward and either re-establish a quiet halt or quietly move on to the next moment of calm, preferably into a halt or slow walk. Make the horse aware of himself---aware of his four corners---taking possession of himself. We should not hold the horse up or fight with him. Gently speaking with one leg or rein or just the stick(stiff whip) to bring this awareness to him gives the horse an amazing feeling of freedom---it reminds him he is a whole horse! And, most importantly, without force it brings the horse into progressively greater cooperation.
A touch on the side------step over
A release-------step into
A touch behind----step forward
A touch in front-----step back or refrain
When we think of the whip only in terms of punishment...even if we only carry this thought in our mind...that it is there to threaten the horse if he doesn't comply, we have missed the point and communicate all the makings of a blockage. (Even harsh commanding legs or a rigid rein against the butter soft tissues of the mouth can shut a horse down.) But if we think of the whip as an extension of a finger or an arm.....reaching out to touch the horse and show him where his body is in space as he carries us, helping him adjust himself(his posture) better.....caressing him and guiding him....then we build trust, cooperation and set ourselves solidly on the road of ever improving balance.
Think like this: the whip, leg and hand are FIRSTLY our tools of finesse and LASTLY our tools of tact.