12/15/2024
ππππ πππππππ I can't stress enough to everyone that will read this - with the way that we are approaching the idea of releasing the horse's poll, it is NEVER about the horse saying "I don't want to"... it is ONLY ever "I feel like I can, or I feel like I can't." It is NEVER " my horse doesn't like that" ... it is MOST OFTEN "my horse feels the need to protect that."
When we misread the situation and the horse's responses, deciding to think of it as resistance or "my horse doesn't like that" will make our approach one of "doing" instead of "being."
Maybe it might be best to think of the poll as a sensitive being, separate from the horse. That POLL that lives with your horse is a highly sensitive person that is the gatekeeper to the rest of the body that your horse lives in. And if we push on the request to get in past the poll, that only makes the poll more defensive. That pesky poll needs subtle small talk to open the conversation. And when we engage in the conversation, we need to talk around this idea of getting into the rest of the body... we need to be subtle about engaging the poll in a way that encourages the poll to INVITE us into the body. Being invited is a blessing. Trying to barge through just bars the door and proves to the poll and the horse that we were insincere all along and plotting to "make" instead of "help.
This reminds me a bit of the story of the Princess and the Pea, where the prince has to identify which of several mattresses has a pea hidden inside it... it's a test of perception and sensitivity. We can only "marry the princess" when we've been sensitive enough to identify where the pea is hidden.
Maybe this is a silly or a little "woo-woo" way to think about it, but might be helpful.
The way that we do everything with our horse will affect this... because the poll is one of the most subconsciously protected areas of the horse's body. So long as everything we do is about producing relaxation first, then a response, we are working in congruence with the ask for the poll release.
