We know that horses have 2 sides of their brain. We know that you must educate both sides to have a well-balanced horse. We also know that when horses "disengage" their legs (cross over/across the midline) they have to use both sides of their brains. This is why they usually have moments of calm and focus while doing these things. It is why a change of direction or simple lateral movement can help re-balance them and help regain their focus.
*This is obviously very "summed up" and I realize there is a lot of grey area in the above statement.
Now, with all that in mind lets ask ourselves how a horse's brain halves would be affected should that horse have physical braces, injuries or impingement's.
Horse #1) Stubbornly wants you to be on its left side. When you are on the right side, the shoulder, and base of the neck are always coming at you. This IS a sign of disrespect however, what if the horse's sternum and base of the neck have an issue? What if Physically, the body is bent to the left with an intense kink in the base of the neck. Will this horse actually be able to bend around a human to the right? Will it get more worried or spooky on that side if it cannot comfortably do what the person insists?
Horse #2) Very spooky despite best efforts to help the horse... Particularly on one side. Have the cranial bones been shifted? There are a lot of nerves in the head and should one have pressure on it, it might not be firing correctly. There is a chance your horse may not actually be seeing out of one eye the same as the other or that its head hurts on one side so therefore is much jumpier. Do we continue to attempt to train it the same way?
Horse #3) Constantly resists the right rein as an outside aid. There is a very good chance that the neck is locked up on one side. Similar to horse #1, the horse might not be able to physically do what you ask. If the neck is inflamed or stiff, the nerves and blood flow are not functioning correctly - so can the brain actually not be getting the right signals? Would this affect one side of the body/brain more than the other?
These are just a few of the types of things I've come across and it really makes me think about what could be happening on a deeper level if all the things you are doing are not really working all the way (I am also assuming the handler is competent and able-bodied). The body is connected and intertwined more than we can imagine. Physically, mentally, spiritually and emotionally. We really can't influence one area without touching another.
How do we respond when we feel like we have hit a brick wall with our horse? How do we recognize these deeper not so simple issues that bubble up as we work on things? What do they reveal about ourselves and also about the horse?
Just some food for thought that things may not always be complicated, not always simple and surely always intertwined.
- Sarah Orloff, Still Waters Equitation