Pain is Stress & Stress is Pain
In our previous post about Prioritizing Lifestyle for Horses, we touched on the topic of how Pain is Stress and Stress is Pain.
To eliminate pain, we must eliminate stress,
and to eliminate stress,
we must eliminate pain,
to the best of our ability.
Pain and stress exist on a neurological level,
throughout the sympathetic nervous system,
which spreads throughout the body on a macrocosmic level,
as well as a microcosmic level.
There is a time and place for stress.
There is healthy stress,
and there is a unhealthy stress.
Just like there are healthy compensations,
and unhealthy ones.
We must be able to mitigate stress,
and find a place of rest,
macro and micro.
If someone is emotionally stressed,
or their sympathetic nervous system is hyperactive,
or they are experiencing a heightened state of fight/flight/freeze,
this can perpetuate a pain cycle.
This is why when people are stressed,
they often feel it in their body, their shoulders, etc.
This is why when we feel anxious, we get nauseous,
or can no longer regulate our breath.
Shit quite literally locks up on muscular, neurological, etc. level(s).
And we all know that when we are experiencing chronic pain,
we often feel chronically stressed because we are tired of being in pain.
If we have inflicted stress upon someone else,
we have inflicted pain.
If we have inflicted pain upon someone else,
we have inflicted stress.
Be it intentional or unintentional, doesn’t matter.
Becoming aware of this,
allows us to do better,
when we know better
If we are willing to listen to horses humbling honesty,
from an unbiased place,
and not the positive, or negative projections of our mind,
they can be incredibly straightforward and discerning.
Justification
What do we typically do, when we have goals “with” or “for” our horses?
Are they really for our horses?
Or, are they for ourselves?
Most of the time,
when equestrians are asking for something from their horses,
it usually involves asking more of their bodies.
We often unintentionally perpetuate dysfunctional cycles,
by picking and choosing what we wish to do with a horses body.
This applies to their housing, hooves, the groundwork and riding we do with them.
Isn’t it interesting to think about how we keep our horses…
And then we wonder why we have to “off-gas” them before we want to work with them?
Or how we have to distract them by moving their feet chaotically in order to get them “present with us”? My brain has always defaulted to the question of why do horses act like this?
What can I do differently to make them feel as comfortable as possible in all situations and scenarios without desensitizing or numbing them?
When we work with our horses, we often claim that the additional movement we have “given” them,
is for good for them, and falls into the realm of rehabilitative purposes.
Why do so many horses need rehabilitation?
Why do so many horses need help with their proprioception?
How often do we fail to address the horses living situation, hooves, and diet, as possibly being part of their puzzle?
Unraveling, or Exacerbating, Compensation Patterns?
Horses are masters of compensation.
They are gifted with the ability to borrow mobility,
from neighboring and foreign areas in their body,
when needed.
Compensations can be normal. They can be healthy. They can be necessary.
Compensating on top of compensations can snowball into dysfunction.
Dysfunctional cycles spread like a quiet and smoldering wildfire throughout the body.
This wildfire slowly chokes out function and mobility,
in the small and large facets of the body,
until they can no longer take up the slack.
We ask for more exercise,
more often,
with more motion,
and more fancy movements,
and then once we are satisfied,
we put them back into their stall or pen,
where they stand around with minimal enrichment for the next 23 hours.
We use training gimmicks,
purchase custom fitted saddles,
slap on shoes,
and still, refuse, to look at the cold hard facts that that horse is giving us.
Science based, “evidence” based, or not. Veterinary clearance, or not.
Just like we can’t go to the gym one time,
and walk away with superior fitness,
neither can our horses.
Most equestrians understand this, and understand conditioning,
but, still opt for cutting corners.
Taking shortcuts.
Movement Stress
I refuse to lunge my horses, or run them in a round pen,
if they cannot telescope the neck down and out,
if they cannot move without hollowing their back,
if they cannot maintain proper support throughout their pectorals,
if they cannot properly abduction throughout the fore limbs.
Conditioning takes time & shortcuts don’t work for me. Gifting my horses with a full-on lifestyle that allows them as much movement as they like has encouraged natural conditioning, mobility, and proprioceptive development with every little micromanaging or shaping on my part. Because “in nature - biomechanics is never predictable” (thank you, Kathy Sierra, of Intrinzen).
Hoof Stress
The body directly influences the feet, and the feet directly influence the body.
I flat out refuse to work with my horses if they are landing uncomfortably, or toe first,
because all this does is perpetuate another dysfunctional cycle.
We can assess whether or not boots correct that landing,
we can assess whether or not bodywork corrects that landing,
and then work in other ways to contribute to proper landings without boots,
sometimes this requires finding the primary issue, changing the trim, treating thrush diligently, or changing the diet.
Intentional Mental or Emotional Stress
Now that we’ve scratched the surface on physical stress,
let’s explore the mental and emotional stress,
that we unintentionally place on our horses all the time.
There is no reason to bring a horse into a sustained state of physical dysfunction, fight, flight, or shutdown.
There is never a reason to increase your pressure, or demands, in an attempt to bring them out of it.
If a horse cannot achieve emotional regulation in your presence,
sometimes it’s best to get out of their way,
until they can work through it on their own,
and then reproach the situation with a clearer head yourself.
Sure, this isn’t always possible.
Sometimes situations arise that require us to think quickly,
and react differently,
than we are accustomed to…
so, do it… without projecting, without expecting.
Rather than demanding that horse conform to you,
you conform to that horse.
This should always be done with unconditional respect,
and love for the horse,
and the way they are accustomed to.
Because again, if you are inflicting stress onto a horse, you are inflicting pain onto that horse.
There is a very fine line between desensitizing (or numbing) and ‘increasing’ threshold.
Soft, Strategic & Stress Free
As a bodyworker, I always follow the principle of working with the horses,
rather than doing ‘bodywork’ to or on the horse,
this has taught me a huge lesson in,
always opting for softness.
And when that doesn’t work,
go even softer.
Because the more you increase your pressure, your demands, your selfishness,
the more they brace against it.
That bracing may be loud and clear,
or soft and shutdown.
It’s not about “going slow”.
It’s all about going methodically and strategically.
With a whole horse approach,
and a whole human approach.
We should observe, assess, and address - all of the things - all of the time - for all of our horses.
In an effort to eliminate stress and eliminate pain.
As time has gone on, I have become incredibly selective with how I choose to work with and “train” my horses.
Down to the nitty gritty details, the methods, the techniques.
The moment I begin to realize something isn’t working for us, we’re already on to the next thing.
I spent nearly 30 years feeling belittled constantly because of my inherent softness around horses and simultaneously getting in trouble for asking the hard questions that many traditional equestrians refuse to consider. This ultimately led to me biting back the words that were so often bubbling up inside of me. However, I’ve finally realized what discernment is, how to act on it, and how to live it. Honing in on the ability to act on what that discernment has given me, has been a huge blessing. And a big part of that is eliminating stress and eliminating pain.
