Foraging and the ability of horses to self-select botanicals

My trainer Jossy Reynvoet from Bittles Art of Riding (BAR) asked me a question in regards the Debono Moves, what I think was a great question and answer to share with you all.

Jossy:
“How do you know when a movement is healthy or not? What do you base this on. The difficult part is still to find out what is right or wrong, because a horse does not say that with words. So how do you recognize it? Is there a method involved that describes how healthy movement should be or not at all? What is so different from BAR? And are there also similarities?”

My answer to Jossy:

To me healthy movement is the when there are no restrictions or unnecessary tension in the movement, when the movement can be done with ease.

We ask questions with our hands and do not attempt to force movement to occur. It is like a listening touch, discover what is easy for the horse and build on that. Ask, support, and suggest rather than correct and control. We are not strength training the muscles but we are training the brain. We ask questions like, “How can this movement, however small, feel easier?” How can I help the horse experience the movement a little differently?”

By creating a small movement and always staying in the realm of ease you tell the brain that this movement is possible, from there you can make a very small suggestion to take that movement in a slightly different direction.

Movement alone does not bring improvements; it is the attention of the nervous system that fosters new neural connections and healthier movement habits.

We use movement and sensations to expand possibilities, create opportunities for new ways to feel, move, act, and to have more choice.

We respect the horse’s innate wisdom and recognise that our horse created the compensation and restriction out of a desire to feel safe. We aim to create a safe learning environment for the horse, so the horse can have more choice in how it moves and feels. It reminds the horse how to move with greater comfort and ease by supporting and moving the horse in specific, non-habitual ways to restore body awareness and freedom of movement.

Debono Moves brings the horse into balance by “waking up” the less-used parts of the body.

To give you an example, we often work with the horse’s sternum and ribcage as that is where most of the time the restrictions are (no difference as with the human). By placing our hands on the sternum, we gently bring the sternum away from us and towards us and only go as far as feels easy, what means that the movement might be tiny. We might find that the movement away from us feels easier than towards us. This is great information that we keep in mind, while exploring other directions of movement in the sternum, like from side to side. We can then slowly start to see if it is possible to create a circle, this might not be a true circle as some directions might not be as easy to go to as others but by staying in that realm of ease (healthy movement) you can make little suggestions that it might be possible to move also into the other directions and you will find that the other direction will become easier as well. This might not all be super easy in one session but you can work towards it. Often you will find that after a pause, the movement will be easier in all directions.

In this work there is no real “right or wrong” if you stay in that realm of ease. The more possibilities of easy movement the horse has the healthier and happier the horse.

As the human working with the horse, you need to create a feel for staying in that realm of ease, recognising when there are restrictions and stop before you reach that point. The horse always has the freedom to move away from you.

How is it different from BAR? I think there are a lot of similarities, that is why I like it so much and it fits in so well. But the main difference is that in the DM we are not looking for training certain movements, we are educating the brain to move in as many ways as possible at ease. From here you can start to strengthen specific movements that might be required for specific things like riding. This is why we do not call it exercises but movement education.