The Landau Reflex

One of the most interesting things to come out of the Mary Workshop back in January, other than the existential crisis, was a better understanding of the Landau Reflex. I have to give Kate credit for bringing it up to me first- she asked whether I'd heard of it before the workshop and I said no, and then she explained it to me. That, plus hearing more about it at the workshop and reading more about it in Mary's recent book, really made me take a hard look at it as an all-encompassing explanation for TC's bolting behavior.

Way back in October, at my last lesson with Tracey, we discovered that if TC was more robustly into the connection, he was much less likely to bolt. Up until that point, we had a lot of little scoots and zips, and frequent bolts where he'd actually get away from me. Some days were worse than others, but it was rare to go more than a ride or two without a downshift. I didn't feel comfortable getting him that heavy in the bridle, only because I had this vision of TC grabbing the bit and taking off with me. It seemed like being light in the bridle kept me safe.

Over the back = safe, well, safer at least

Tracey said that no, TC's bolting occurred when he was able to suck back behind the contact. And this was confirmed when I watched some videos and really paid attention after that. So I put him more into the bridle and he was much better. Since that lesson, we've had very few rides where he really gets away from me, and much fewer scoots, even through the winter.

While this was really great information as to how to stop the bolting, I still didn't have a good idea as to WHY he bolted the way he does. I guess if he stops bolting, I should just sit down and stop thinking about it, ride him more connected, and be done with it. But I really like fully fleshing out an idea, so it remained on my mind as I entered the workshop.

Learning about the Landau Reflex seemed to put another crucial piece of the puzzle into the bolting problem.

Getting away from me by throwing his neck back at me

The Landau Reflex gets its name from the reflex that is seen in infants when they're held horizontally in the air, it lasts from about 3 months to a year or two. You better bet that when my brother has kids, I'll be eagerly awaiting the three month mark so I can flip 'em over and see what happens. Sorry, brother.

Mary argues that in many cases for the rider, this reflex is seen when the rider is scared. Most people think of the fetal position, but that is reserved for the most fearful situations. We more often see the Landau reflex.

I can feel it in myself. When I get surprised or nervous, I will snatch my hands upward and backward, I stand up a bit in my stirrups, I get rigid and long in my frontline and face what is surprising me. And it makes sense with TC. Even his spooks involve him elongating his front line and throwing his ears into my nostrils to look at something. His legs lock and splay away from his body.

And the ultimate in lengthening the front line happens when he bolts. I have a few great pictures of this...

Both of us in the Landau Reflex, so stoked to enter the court

RUN AWAY! See how long his front line is? At least I wasn't
as surprised, but I am lengthening my front with my leg down
like that.

The other day when Kate was in town, she rode TC on a Landau-y day. Lots of stuff was happening- a horse was jumping, people were out in the field, and TC came out feeling buzzy. I remember being like "you're going to need to keep a lid on this shit" as I got off and handed him over. Kate is my stickiest friend, so I happily sat on a jump with Nicole and watched Kate ride my spooky asshole around. I told Kate what I had gathered after all these years with him though- if you put on all your aids and keep him connected in the bridle, you'll be fine. Overwhelm him with the aids.

She didn't really have a good time (sorry Kate!), but she did keep him from bolting. And on a day like this one, she deserves praise for keeping a lid on him. Previously this would have been a day where he would have not stopped bolting.

Nicole noticed that when TC was connected, a calm washed over him and that you could see it in his eye. As he lengthened his backline and compressed his frontline, he relaxed and stayed more focused. It wasn't a very fun ride for Kate, but he soon was right with her and while I know that he still feels like crap, he looked totally fine after that.

This thing was born to stick his ears in my nostrils

Mary notes that for a rider to feel secure, we must counteract the Landau Reflex. We must maintain a light foot on the stirrup, rather than one shoved downward. We must shorten and strengthen our upper body, rather than lengthening our front lines.

I wrote about how much more confident and secure I felt after riding in this position after the workshop. And I think this is a big part of TC's bolting too. If I counteract the Landau Reflex in him even before he gets nervous, he will feel more confident and more relaxed, so the things that previously would have really set him off, won't.

Clicker training helped a lot to get his eye softer and his ear on
me all the time. I miss my round pen!

I think there are a lot of ways to explain why this all works, but this is what really clicked for me. I think it's really fast-tracked the near elimination of our bolting issues. And more importantly, it's really been helpful to understand why he bolts. Instead of wondering what he must have saw or getting upset by his behavior, I use the bolt or scoot as an evaluation of the connection.

Even More Biomechanics

On Friday and Saturday, Nicole brought one of the trainers I met at the Mary clinic in to her barn! I really wanted to ride with her, but I also have a horse who is very hit or miss right now and have no way of getting over there anyway. Hopefully TC will settle, and I'll have a good idea of what my trailer budget is by the end of April, really hoping that I can resolve that problem as early as May!

But I obviously wasn't going to miss out on an educational opportunity if I didn't have to, so on Friday (which I had off from work, which was so awesome), I zipped over to Nicole's barn to watch the clinic.

This clinic feels like a lifetime ago!

Alexis is a Grand Prix dressage trainer and was a demo rider at the Mary clinic on her sometimes tricky but very talented stallion. Seeing her ride this horse and hearing stories about him made me very sure that I wanted to work with her. And then finding out that she regularly works with Friesian x Warmblood crosses really solidified it for me. She also has a fabulous dog, which is always a major plus in my book.

The focus of the clinic was biomechanics, which was great. Kate and I have had many a conversation about biomechanics since the Mary clinic and have helped each other out a bit with it too. I've audited another potential trainer who was at the clinic as well. But it was great to see Alexis' take on the whole thing, and I was really impressed.

Here were some of the things I took away:

Water Pooling Up
I want to write a whole post on the landau reflex and how learning about it has completely changed the way I deal with TC's bolting issue, but Alexis had a great visualization for it. Imagine that the musculature of the horse's topline (and/or the backline of the horse) is a hose and that water flows through it from the hindquarters, over the back and under the saddle, up over the neck, and then into the bridle. When the horse retracts their head and neck backward, the water flows backward and pools. Immediately I imagined the pool of water being right on the horse's wither, since that's where TC wants to drop when he gets his neck backward like that, but you could also imagine it pooling under the saddle where a lot of horses drop their backs.

Pulling on the face is just encouraging this water to continue to pool. Instead of going to the reins at all (and she was pretty adamant that you don't do any pulling/wiggling/wobbling/shaking the bit/*~*softening*~* and I was nodding vigorously by that point I think), you need to find a way to get the water flowing out to the bridle again. This comes from getting the back up. Some horses, like the one in the clinic, really convince you it's all about the jaw/neck/head. They shake it at you, throw it back in your face... but it's not at all about the neck or the jaw or the head placement.

Um excuse me I am not the type to put my ears in
your nostrils, no sir

Suction Cups
One cool thing that came out of both her lecture and a couple lessons was the idea of a suction cup. I've mostly read and discussed it in terms of the seat, so we'll do that first. The rider can do three things with the way their seat interacts with the horse's back. They can squash the horse's back down away from them, they can stay neutral, or they can suck the horse's back up. All in the way the rider is sitting. Alexis emphasized that sometimes for riders, it's hard enough to get into neutral, where the rider is simply staying out of the horse's way and allowing the horse to move under them. But when you start to become really good, you can start to change the way horses use themselves simply by how you sit on them, that you start leading the horse with your superior structure/way of riding.

I've used this a fair amount in teaching, instructing people to sit the trot they want the horse to have or to think about pulling the saddle back off the horse's withers/shoulders in the canter (another way of describing the slingshot). But I've mostly used it with regard to the seat.

Alexis also said that it can be used with the leg as well. If you have a horse who falls away from one leg and into the other, it can be tempting to make space under the leg the horse falls away from, then use the other leg to hound the horse into the void. Horses do not want to go into the void. So the idea is to get the loose leg on and then drive the horse into that contact. Suction cups do not suck unless you put pressure on first. You can't just hold a suction cup away from something and expect it to draw that object toward it (that's a magnet).

Magnetic pull toward himself (man I miss mirrors)

Using the Ground
A lot of what came out of the clinic I'd heard and/or taught before (to be perfectly honest, not a lot is brand brand new to me in the second toolkit), but the way Alexis put things into words made another of layer of realization appear. For example, a certain airy fairy horse needed more impulsion. Impulsion is the horse pushing off the ground and thrusting themselves forward.  I know these things. The way Alexis put it was that the horse didn't want to use the ground. If he had his way, he'd just float along. And it really struck a cord with me.

TC has had some issues with impulsion, less involving the ground and more involving the suppleness of his back (a big part of impulsion that I always forgot about until it was circled in like... all my tests last year). But thinking about his hind legs using the ground in a productive way, vs just floating along (which TC does do at times). Alexis emphasized that this is mirrored in the rider, if posting is just going up and down, you're not going to influence the horse to push more off the ground. She focused on getting more of a hydraulic post and it really translated to the horse.

This amount of impulsion took years to develop. I think I'm still
too scared to know how much impulsion he could have lol

As much as I want to take all my money and throw it into lessons immediately, my plan is to let TC settle into his barn situation for the month of April. While that happens, I will teach as much as I can (I blasted emails to the pony clubs nearby this last weekend and heard back!) to help accelerate my trailer purchase. In the mean time, I asked Alexis if she had a horse I could take a lesson on and she said yes! A few! So I think I'll schedule something with her on one of her horses.

There are a ton of benefits to this situation. First, I get used to driving out to her place and can see what it would be like to haul there (since you know, new rig + new roads = eek). I can also work solely on myself without having to worry about TC's sometimes tricky behavior and our history together. Alexis can get to know me as a rider on a horse she is familiar with so she can really dig into my issues before seeing how they affect TC (maybe I'll even get her on TC!). And TC gets the benefit of me getting better and having more things to work on without having to go off the property just yet. I can feel like we're making progress toward our goals this year even before having a trailer. Plus, I might bombard her with videos of TC to get some input on what she thinks of him.

After that my ideal situation would be to ride with her twice a month. Maybe once a month driving out to her place (and possibly staying overnight if I can swing it since it's 1.5 hours away) and then once a month coercing her into coming out here. I'm also going to keep auditing in this area of course, and see who else comes out here. I gotta get my teaching business up and going so I can do all these fun educational opportunities myself!