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science and behavior
If you found out that all human and horse behavior boils down to a programmable response system that only has 2 choices, wouldn't that make life vastly more simple? Learn what the Autonomic Nervous System is, and how to hack it to win!
Additional Information
What would you say if I told you I have the key to switching off the fear/survival reaction, and to turn on the confidence/joy response?
The key is rewiring the Autonomic Nervous System, and its easier than you would think.
The Autonomic Nervous System is the part of the nervous system that controls our responses, and tells our body what to do. The Autonomic Nervous System has 2 different parts, the Sympathetic Nervous System (survival responses only) and the Parasympathetic Nervous System (rest/digest/play/learn/heal responses).
Every organ in the body will be in either its SNS response, or its PSNS response.
Since survival, especially for a prey animal, is most important. Going into a SNS response is very fast and easy.
Getting the horse or yourself into PSNS can take longer at first, and you must feel safe and comfortable.
Once PSNS is your go to response, it becomes your default.
Check out what happens in our body in PSNS and SNS/
Every Organ has a Response
Every organ in our body has its own response, whether we are in PSNS/rest/digest/play/learn/heal, or SNS/survival/fight/flight/freeze. Our entire physical, mental and emotional health rest in whichever nervous system we are using.
Because survival is our top priority, it is much faster and easier to get into the SNS. The SNS is actually rooted in the spinal cord, so your body can react without even thinking.
The PSNS on the other hand takes longer to fire, bc it is rooted in the brain. It takes thinking, processing to fire the PSNS. That's why our horses can take so long to relax, but can pop back into SNS/survival literally in a heartbeat and spook.
Each organ must switch over into PSNS, and to start switching, our horse's Hierarchy of Needs must be met. Horse will start switching from SNS/survival to PSNS/rest/digest/play/learn/heal most rapidly in 4. Relaxation. One must WAIT for horse to finish Processing (switching) to avoid pushing horse back into SNS, Safety or Comfort issues.
Equine Hierarchy of Needs
Your horse has a basic Hierarchy of Needs to survive and thrive, just like we do.
1. Safety - SNS - Red Zone - Fear - Adrenaline
2. Comfort - SNS - Red/Yellow - Discomfort
3. Food - SNS/PSNS -Yellow/Green - Endorphins
4. Relaxation - PSNS - Green -Major Endorphins
5. Play - PSNS - Green - Max Endorphins - Joy
Vagus nerve
The Miracle of the Vagus Nerve
There is actually a huge miracle nerve that connects all of our organs and is the key to getting us into Parasympathetic Nervous System, the Vagus Nerve. If the Vagus Nerve is stimulated and healthy, we will go into PSNS easily. If its shut down, constricted or weak, we will tend to be in SNS/survival.
The Vagus Nerve is our 10th cranial nerve, the longest single nerve in the body. It is named 'Vagus' which means wandering, bc it travels all throughout the body. Having good Vagal Tone is the key to good health. Poor Vagal Tone is blamed for a myriad of common ailments and diseases.
There are many ways one can stimulate the Vagus Nerve and help the body switch from SNS, to PSNS. There are also a few key places we can easily physically stimulate it. The easiest (and least expensive) I know how to stimulate the Vagus Nerve is with Tapping/Endotapping directly on the areas the Vagus Nerve is the closest to the surface.
SNS/survival to PSNS/Relaxation with Vagus Nerve
Basic Equine Nervous System
Basic Autonomic Nervous System
Basic Autonomic Nervous System
This is the basic equine nervous system. Notice where the major nerves are running. When we Tap, we are stimulating these nerves.
Basic Autonomic Nervous System
Basic Autonomic Nervous System
Basic Autonomic Nervous System
In this chart you can see where the Vagus Nerve (PSNS - yellow here) is located. Stimulating this nerve passively with movement, with equipment or actively by Tapping is an excellent way to stimulate the PSNS and the relaxation response.
Basic Facial Nerves
Basic Autonomic Nervous System
Basic Facial Nerves
Here you can see the basic facial nerve system. I believe we can use these nerves to help get into and stay in the PSNS too. By stimulating these nerves passively with equipment, or actively with our hands or a tool, we can achieve a positive benefit.
mirroring for better or worse
Mirroring
The last huge piece of SNS/PSNS has to do with the concept of Mirroring.
A horse’s brain is hardwired to mirror its herd for safety. If it is doing what its herd is doing, it feels safe, bc the horse believes if the entire herd is doing the same thing, the herd appears to be one giant horse to any lurking predators, and too much to handle. It is less attractive and easy to eat than a single horse doing its own thing. Horses believe horses doing something different than the rest of the herd, are easy prey, and in danger.
This means if the herd is acting crazy in SNS, they must mirror and act crazy too, to survive. If the herd is relaxing and grazing, they must relax and graze too, to be safe. Going against the herd and herd leader means potential death, so even if they wouldn't normally react in a given way, if the herd is doing it, they will too.
When we are connected to our horse, this concept of Mirroring is at work. Whether we have our horse online, under saddle or even at liberty, the horse will naturally want to mirror us. We must do in our body what we want the horse to do in his. We must be in PSNS first. Our PSNS must be triggered and engaged to help our horse engage theirs.
We MUST offer our horse something positive to mirror. We must focus on PSNS physically, mentally and emotionally to see results. If we switch to Fear/Survival/Anxiety/Brace, we will eventually pull our horse with us no matter how wonderful they are.
Using all 3 positive purposeful triggers will make all the difference in the world in our horse. This is the secret of the great horsemen. They have focused on all 3, physical, mental and emotional fitness. You can too.
Mirror what you want in 3 ways
Mental - Visualization
Physical - Use PSNS Muscles
Emotional - Peace & Love
Your horse has Mirror Neurons in their brain, that help them mirror the rest of their herd better. Not only do they use body language to communicate, they can communicate through mental pictures.
The picture you hold in your mind is what your horse will do his best to mirror. If it is a positive picture, he will want to mirror it.
If its what you fear will happen (buck, bolt, spook), he will also want to mirror it. He doesn't understand words like, "don't do this", he just sees the picture, and his mirror neurons do their best to make it a reality.
Always visualize what you WANT to happen, not what you are worried might happen.
Emotional - Peace & Love
Physical - Use PSNS Muscles
Emotional - Peace & Love
Your horse feels all of your emotions. They will feel positive, like joy, peace, love, relaxation, and acceptance. Or they will feel negative, like fear, anger, judgement and hate.
They cannot tell why you feel the way you do, they just do their best to mirror whatever you are feeling. Positive emotions help trigger PSNS. Negative emotions will trigger SNS.
Practice letting go of all judgement and negative emotions. Leave your outside life far away from your horse. Practice clearing your mind, and feeling only joy, gratitude and love when you are with your horse.
If you come to your horse with judgement, frustration and disappointment, you are setting yourself up for more of those same feelings.
Physical - Use PSNS Muscles
Physical - Use PSNS Muscles
Physical - Use PSNS Muscles
The absolute best way to get a performance goal accomplished, is to do in your body what you want the horse to do in his.
We have all heard this, and feel like we do our best to do this, but we have been missing the biggest clue to making this happen. We hear "relax, relax, relax" but what does this mean? If we actually completely relaxed, we would collapse off the horse. We must maintain some degree of tension in our bodies to remain upright on the horse.
Did you realize the specific muscles you use to stand, sit, move and ride come in 2 groups?
We actually have a group of PSNS muscles that trigger relaxation, and maximum athletic performance. We also have a group of SNS muscles that trigger fear, survival, brace and spook. We must use the PSNS muscles if we want a relaxed, happy horse.
PSNS Muscles - Stabilizers
PSNS Muscles - Stabilizers
Physical - Use PSNS Muscles
Your PSNS muscles are called your Stabilizers. They are your core, fine tuned, dancer muscles. They give you access to your maximum athletic potential, they are your artist muscles.
The main muscle of your PSNS is called your Transverse Abdominus, or TA. To activate or engage your TA, pull your belly button back to your spine and tip your pubic bone up. When you do this, tiny muscles in your spine called Multifidi, or the Spinal Stabilizers, will fire, swell and stretch your vertebrae apart.
This mirrors to your horse to engage his belly and lift his back. This triggers PSNS, relaxation, engagement and that awesome feeling of being 'in the zone'.
By engaging you TA, you can override spooks and negative behaviors, at least long enough to safely dismount. If you are using the physical muscles of the PSNS, it goes against your horse's instincts to fly into SNS. THIS IS HUGE!
SNS Muscles - Mobilizers
PSNS Muscles - Stabilizers
SNS Muscles - Mobilizers
The muscles we don't want to be using are our SNS Mobilizers. These are our fight/flight, gross motor skill, big, mechanical muscles. These are hard firing, survival muscles, pedestrian, dump truck muscles.
The main muscle of the SNS is called your Psoas, or fear muscle. It is the only muscle that attaches your upper body, though your pelvis to your femur and lower body. When triggered, it tightens down, pulling the pelvis forward, locking the hip flexors closed, arching and tightening the lower back all the way up the spine through the neck.
This causes your back to arch, belly to pooch, butt to stick out, and if allowed to stay engaged long term, creates back, hip and knee pain, inflammation and deterioration.
It also sends the body into SNS, and until it can be released, will continue to trigger fear, anxiety and SNS in the human and horse.
More Hacks to Relax
PSNS Muscles - Stabilizers
SNS Muscles - Mobilizers
Finding ways to trigger our PSNS may sound elusive, but here are 20 proven ways to stimulate your Vagus Nerve and get yourself on to greater health and happiness.
1. Breathing – slow deep breath in, long open mouth exhale. Deep breathing is the fastest way to stimulate the Vagus Nerve and send yourself into relaxation. Receptors in the body sense your exhale and release ‘Vagusstoff’ that instantly lowers heart rate.
2. Pull belly button to the spine (engage Transverse Abdominus), and tip pubic bone up.
3. Exposure to cold water – splash cold water on your face, cold shower, swim in cold water.
4. Yawning/TMJ jaw realignment (open mouth/part teeth)/Relax tongue down off roof of mouth
5. Ear massage – Vagus Nerve goes right next to the ear.
6. Listening to mid-frequency music (Disney soundtracks are great!)
7. Humming – deep tones especially the ‘OOOOO’ sound
8. Singing, especially at the top of your lungs
9. Laughter, Smiling, Eye Contact, Speak with sing-songy voice, Use fascial muscles when communicating (no flat affect/Botox face)
10. Massage
11. Yoga
12. Meditation/Prayer
13. Connecting with friends – bonding releases oxytocin
14. Tapping
15. Fasting
16. Tai Chi/Qi Gong
17. Acupuncture/Chiropractic/ Osteopathy/Reflexology
18. Probiotics – balance the gut microbiome/healthy bacteria in the gut
19. PEMF
20. Live, work, and learn in environments that feel safe.