Connecting to the Feet, Part 3: Intention, Attention, and Calibrating the Feel

by Mary Gallagher

Why: To expand on the previous concepts and exercises in Part 1 and Part 2, helping you and your horse develop a language of feel and connection. Continuing a series of articles on Connecting to the Feet, in advance of Mary Gallagher's clinic of the same name (at Freedom Farm this August, 2019).

Horses have an uncanny ability to feel inside of you—they can tell if you have a plan or you are winging it. As you stand with the lead rope, or sit with the rein in your hands… have you thought about a task for their feet? or are you caught up in emotion, pushing an agenda, driving for an end result?

The answer matters more than we think.

When we bring our intention into the present moment by directing the feet to a specific place, we get our horse’s attention. This is different than correcting mistakes. There can be no mistake when you synchronize your mind and then your aids with the horse’s feet, you can feel the horse’s feet, and the horse can feel that you feel his feet.

Connecting to the Feet, Part 2: Feeling the Feet, Placing the Feet

By Mary Gallagher

Why: To become aware of your horse’s foot placement, feeling it through your body, enhancing your ability to support your horse with well-timed aids.  Part two of a series of articles on Connecting to the Feet, in advance of Mary Gallagher's clinic of the same name (at Freedom Farm this August, 2019). (Read Part 1 here.)

The exercises in this article series are aimed at helping you connect with your horse ever more deeply, through greater awareness of what he’s doing with his feet at any given time. In part one, we got you synchronizing with your horse’s front feet, stepping together over cavalettis on the ground, feeling those same steps from the saddle. Now lets go to the hind feet to complete the picture.

Connecting to the Feet—a daily progression to better communication

By Mary Gallagher

Lily and Joia in step...

Why: To time your aids to best complement your horse’s movement, communicating in a simple way that enlists your horse’s cooperation. 

We are all looking for that special sense of connection, that moment when our horse effortlessly responds to our wishes, and we are one with his movement, in perfect balance with each step.

Do you achieve that feeling as often as you’d like? Is it a ‘superpower’ you two share? If yes, I salute you. If no, I’m here to help!

You and your horse can begin this wonderful journey to connection and communication right now. In this series of articles, I will get you started, breaking down the basics for you in a series of simple exercises.

Connecting to the Feet—A Case Study

By Mary Gallagher

Getting connected to the horse’s feet has become a passion of mine over the years; teaching horses to be careful with their feet is an art. So when I was recently asked to work with a promising 4-year old named Zeus, developing him for various kinds of showing, as well as to be a steady, well-rounded horse, I started with his feet.

Lesson Notes: Connecting to the Feet

 by Mary Gallagher

I often stress to my students that riding is a process of connecting to the horse’s feet: our hands connect to the front feet, our legs to the back feet. Knowing this and training ourselves to consciously connect to the feel of the feet can enhance understanding and improve our communication with our horses. With attention and practice we can begin cooperating and synchronizing with our horse’s movement.

The key is to master one foot at a time. Getting connected to the feet is a lot like juggling. It's easy to juggle one ball, but when a second is added, suddenly things get complex. To get four balls in the air seems impossible when you are just beginning. So what do we do to make this easy in the beginning stages?

Lesson Notes: The Precise Placement of the Feet

By Mary Gallagher

A huge part of our success with the horse is through placing the foot in an exact place over and over again. We need to develop knowledge of where the feet are in any given moment--on the trail, in the ring, in a meadow--regardless. When you know where the feet are going to land, you can influence the flight of a particular foot, thus producing a new outcome, whether it is speed, direction, tempo or balance. Yet we are forever settling for 'close enough' or 'I'm not sure where those feet are going!'.