By Jennifer Klitzke

Emotional Balance

There are many ways where balance improves the quality of movement in the naturally gaited horse, such as leading the horse into a balanced posture and relaxation of the mind and body; developing a balanced riding position; and for me, maintaining emotional balance while riding.

I think back to the first few years with my dear, sweet trakehner/thoroughbred gelding Seili. I purchased him as a well broke, yet green five-year-old, and I was yet only two years into my dressage journey.

Adding to this, I thought riding would be a great way to release my stress. Wow, bad idea! It didn’t take me long to realize how sensitive Seili was; me being emotionally out of balance by taking my stress to the barn expecting my horse to make me feel better produced my worst rides ever!

Stress caused me to tense my body and riding position which translated tension and nervousness to my horse. When Seili was  nervous and tense, his movement became stiff and rushed.

When I wasn’t present with Seili, he didn’t have a trusted leader to guide him, so he took the leadership reins which caused reactionary fear in me. I felt out of control. Then the reactionary fear in me caused my nervous horse to further lack confidence that I could be trusted as a leader.

The harmonious dance that I had hoped for to relieve my stress was replaced with a two-way battle for preservation: I wanted to live through the ride where I felt out of control, and my horse was running away from me to find relaxation that I hadn’t provided.

I left the barn more stressed than when I arrived and I humbly realized that emotional balance is my responsibility, not my horse’s to resolve.

It became clear how important it is to find emotional balance before I step foot into the barn and de-clutter my mind and heart. This way I can be present to lead my horse into a partnership of trust, harmony, balance, relaxation, rhythm, connection, engagement, straightness, and collection—all of which impact the expression and quality of movement whether the horse is naturally gaited or of the trotting variety.

If you are on this naturally gaited dressage journey, I’d love to hear from you. Please contact me, join the NaturallyGaited Facebook community, and subscribe to the NaturallyGaited YouTube channel.