Relax your neck
We tend to carry around excess tension in our neck and shoulders. In my experience, horses do the same thing. What happens when we let that go?
Whenever I give homework in the form of massage techniques to owners, I ask them to try it out, so I can make sure they are doing it correctly. Nine out of ten times, I observe them for a bit, then tell them to relax their shoulders. And as they do, the work they're doing becomes softer and the horse relaxes more. By relaxing their shoulders they are giving the cue to the horse that it's ok for them to do the same and they are taking excess tension out of their arms and neck. It's funny how often we don't even realise that we're carrying tension in our bodies.
If I say to you right now »relax your shoulders«, can you do it? I bet you can. I bet you were holding some tension in the neck and shoulders as you were reading this. Observe how the shoulders feel now that you've relaxed them. Is there a softness going from your shoulders up to your neck? Can you feel the softness extend to the back of your head? If not, try to relax this area too. Feel how soft the back of your head can be. Stay with this feeling for a while. Soft shoulders, soft neck, soft head. Now slowly move your head left and right, while keeping this softness. How does that feel? Feels nice, right? Do you notice any changes in your breathing? Is it deeper, calmer? Do you feel calmer, more relaxed? Consciously relaxing your muscles that tend to hold on to tension is relaxing, because it stimulates your parasympathetic nervous system. Consciously relaxing your shoulders and neck several times a day can have a positive impact both on how your body feels and your mood. If you suffer from any kind of upper back or neck pain, this can (sometimes) help alleviate it (depending on the severity of your issues, of course).
Why am I going on about your shoulders, isn't this a blog about horses? In my experience, horses do the same thing. They hold on to tension without even knowing it. How much tension they are holding on to and where, depends on the horse, the situation, the weather, the training... I would say most of them tend to carry tension in the neck and shoulders, just like we do. I find that how much tension the horse is holding on to heavily depends on the horse's general disposition. The ones that worry all the time tend to carry a lot of tension in their poll. The ones that are constantly on guard carry a lot in their lower neck and behind their shoulder blades. Scared horses hold their breath and tense up their bellies. The problem is that this becomes a habit that's really hard to shake. If they are constantly holding on to tension without even knowing it, they never (or rarely) relax their bodies fully. But we need them to be able to relax if we want them to be soft and elastic in training. Being able to relax a certain muscle is just as important as being able to activate it. So,how do we get the horse to relax? Obviously, we can't ask them to relax using verbal cues (at least not without prior training), but what we can do is ask them to relax through touch. Next week we will look at some things you can try to see if your horse is able to relax the tension he is carrying in his neck and shoulders. Don't think of these exercises as massage techniques. Don't think of them as exercises at all. Think of them as questions we can ask.