How many of us have a stressful day and want to relieve it by going to spend time at the barn with our horse? Raise your hand if this is you - mine is up too! How many of us consider the barn our "happy place" because spending time there with the horses makes our anxieties melt away? Yep, me too.
But have you ever considered where your stress and anxiety goes? Anyone who has spent time around horses (and anyone who has spent time working with therapy horses has an even deeper understanding) has experienced the way that horses act like a sponge for our negative emotions. Just being around horses has a calming effect on humans, and that is a scientific fact. I feel very strongly that horses absorb our negative emotions, however they sometimes have a difficult time discharging it. This is particularly true for horses who consistently spend time with humans who are stressed, anxious, sick, fearful, or in pain, such as horses used for therapeutic purposes (both on the ground and ridden). But the same can be said for horses whose owner/rider experiences some of these feelings on a regular basis and relies on their horse to provide relief.
Let me be clear that I don't think it's necessarily a bad thing to allow our horses to absorb our stress. It is part of the beauty of the connection between horse and human. I just want to bring awareness to the fact that this happens and we need to find ways for our horses to discharge and relieve their own stress and discomforts, along with ours that they absorb from us. Anyone who gets headaches, neck pain, back pain, hip pain etc, understands how stress affects our posture, muscle tension, and body alignment. It's no different for horses, from what I have observed. We already ask a lot of their bodies when they carry us and our imbalances, on footing that maybe isn't ideal, in a saddle that likely doesn't fit perfectly, and in all likelihood we ask our horse to spend the remainder of their day in a paddock or stall where they can't achieve much meaningful movement of their own free will. Add absorption of our own emotions onto what we already ask of them and you begin to see the importance of giving horses relief from stress.
There are a lot of changes, big and small, that you can make in your horse's lifestyle to help with this, and I'd be happy to share some of my ideas. But also consider having massage performed on your horse, even if you don't see "a problem that needs fixing" such as a sore back or stiff movement. Massage is about so much more than fixing problems - problems that started out as a whisper, and are now being hollered. Massage relieves stress, tension, and trapped negative emotions. It catches those "whispers" and prevents them from becoming "hollers". Perhaps your horse doesn't work all that hard physically, compared to a lot of equine athletes out there. But it doesn't mean that he or she isn't working hard emotionally.
As much as I love hearing that horses move better after their massage session, my favourite thing to hear is when owners report that their horse seems brighter or just plain looks happier. That brings me such joy to know that I've helped them discharge some of that stress.
Have you made changes in your horse's lifestyle to help him or her discharge stress? If you have any thoughts or ideas, please share them in the comments!