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The Principles of Release Focused Training

By Meredith Ransley

Achieving success with horses is more about our mindset and who we are on the inside, than it is anything we actually do. Any number of techniques, tools and gadgetry will have little or no consequences (other than perhaps negative ones) if the possessor of these things does not have the knowledge, understanding, physical bearing and empathy needed to be successful with the horse.

The Quantum Savvy philosophy of Release Focused Training (RFT) is based around 3 basic principles that horses instinctively live by. Having said that, RFT is not a horse training philosophy, but rather a people training one, helping horse owners to understand and better communicate with horses by working with their natural instincts. Rather than focusing on training the horse, we look at how we, the rider/handler, can become better communicators and more effective leaders for them, the results of which are softer, calmer more willing partners.

So, what does this mindset refer to and how does it affect our success with horses?

Knowledge refers to true knowledge of the horse, what motivates him, what his needs are, the way in which he thinks and learns, rather than the traditional forms of knowledge that have more to do with how to sit correctly and what shape the horse should move in. These things are important too, however they will come at a later time, more as a refinement than a starting point.

Understanding means being able to look at things from the horse’s point of view … learning to see the world through his eyes, understanding how he feels about things and why he responds the way he does to his surroundings. With this understanding comes patience and confidence as it really helps to know why horses do what they do in the moment they are doing it. Frustration and fear are generally the result of lack of knowledge.

Physical bearing has little to do with your size, or your level of fitness. It refers to your demeanor, how you carry yourself and move around horses and how you approach them. We need to be good leaders for our horses and our physiology will reflect our thoughts and our true beliefs. We may be able to fool ourselves and other people by pretending we are confident, fair and just; however we cannot fool a horse for a minute. Remember, his instincts are finely tuned to his surroundings and everything in it … whatever we are feeling on the inside will reflect on the outside so our hearts and minds must be in the right place. Fear around horses for example, will result in a flighty, nervous horse. Aggression will result in a defensive, sceptical one; one that is hard to catch for instance.

Empathy … whether we care to admit it or not, horses are highly spiritual creatures. How else is it that they are able to trigger in us such feelings of longing and exhilaration. For centuries, man has tried to create an association with the horse to enable him to share in the sense of freedom and abandon, the natural exuberance that is embodied by the horse. We desire a bond that affords a sense of connection and oneness with this most amazing of creatures.

We have already discussed (in previous Quantum Savvy articles) that to be successful with horses, we first need to become great leaders for our horses and providers of safety, comfort and stimulation. We also know that horses are highly trainable and that with enough repetition they can be taught to perform almost any task or manoeuvre correctly. Horses that are more pliable or submissive are the easiest to train … those with a bit more flair and free spirit fare less well.

So how then do we augment our skills and abilities to achieve synergy with horses and create something truly exceptional and inspired? Something that not only retains the natural spirit and freedom of the horse, but helps us to be an equal part in achieving something unique and special.

The answer is with Release Focus Training and its 3 basic principles.

1. Horses learn by release, or when comfort is offered.


2. Horses should always have options.


3. Follow a repeatable programme or pattern.

As mentioned earlier, RFT is a people training programme rather than a horse training one. Through Quantum Savvy principles we learn to approach the horse with a totally different mindset. We focus on release and offering the horse comfort. This encourages forward thought and allows the horse to develop confidence and explore his responses. Training horses for the most part, involves a certain amount of repetition that ultimately results in Pavlovian or trained responses that can dull the horses natural exuberance. In other words, you cue the horse in a certain way to get a specific response. Training in this way will generally only get so far … one cue one response. The depth of any manoeuvre depends on the correct response to a series of cues.

Our natural human instinct is to try to train the horse using pressure, discomfort, force and repetition. In other words, we try to make him do what we want. Rather than turning the horse loose and offering him the choice to be with us and do as we wish, we confine him … hold on to him and try to make him submit to our will. It is not because we are bad people, simply because it is in our nature to try to control our environment and everything in it. The tools that we traditionally use around horses support this. Ropes and reins that afford better grip so we can hang on tighter, bits and tie downs that once again give the control to us and take options away from the horse. What do you think happens to the natural flair and charismatic temperament of the horse when he is confined in such a way?

Through release, comfort and offering the horse options, he becomes more confident in himself, his choices and your leadership. He won’t be afraid of making mistakes; rather he will make more of them, though in an effort to seek out what it is you want him to do and not for any negative reason. This in turns leads us to a whole new discovery of what the two of us can do together.

Horses learn by patterns and while at first these may need to be tangible patterns like circles, figure eights etc., if we focus on our release and how often we can offer it to the horse, these then turn into patterns of comfort, which the horse will actively seek. Riding a circle for example. If when riding a circle, we offer the horse release and comfort by leaving him alone when he is doing the right thing, i.e. following the circle, he will learn that comfort can be found here so he will actively try to stay on the circle. Because he is allowed to move forward freely, his body will relax and soften both laterally and vertically so he will develop better self-carriage and use his muscles and engagement in a positive way. Containing him and trying to hold him onto the pattern will only cause him to brace against the rider’s legs, reins and hands, causing him to use his muscles in a negative way, the result being a heavy, hard horse instead of a soft fluid one.

These patterns of comfort are things you can shape. If your horse is actively seeking to do as you wish, you can place him and shape him anyway you choose. You are bounded literally only by your imagination.

These 3 principles of release, options and patterns, shape our whole approach to horses and their natural instincts, which we’ll discuss in a moment. They are all about working with the horse, rather than inflicting our will upon him. They are about achieving extraordinary things with horses, made possible for all horse owners by simply better understanding horses and ourselves and our relationships with each other. You’ll see that while they are simple enough concepts to understand, they work because they make sense to the horse. They are what form the day-to-day existence of the horse in his natural environment. And best of all, they take nothing away from the horse. By working with him, his spirit and willingness are enhanced rather than trained and dulled away.

Even though they are principles for us to be aware of and shape our thoughts and ideas when we are working with our horses, they make sense to the horse because of they also align with his very nature. Let's look at the first principle.

1. Horses learn by release or when comfort is offered.
More and more of us are understanding the idea of comfort and discomfort. At Quantum Savvy we focus on the principle that it is the release that teaches the horse. Can a horse learn through discomfort, in other words, when pressure is applied? Maybe. Can you achieve what you want by exerting pressure. Yes! If we couldn’t, traditional training methods would have been long abandoned. If your will is strong enough, you are physically powerful enough and you are persistent, then you may get what you want. At whose expense though? Horses by nature will choose the path of least resistance. If they are trapped or entangled, they will instinctively fight against the pressure with a right-brained reaction rather than with left-brained thought, until they are free or find a point of release or escape. A horse feeling pressure will be likely to feel trapped, fearful and stressed. One that finds release and comfort will become calm and responsive and be able to think. It is important then when working with your horse, that you focus more often on when you can offer comfort and release, than when and how much pressure you use. Think about how often you offer your horse an open hand on the lead rope or rein, or how often you just pull or hang onto his head? If your horse is heavy on your hand or leg, ask yourself who got heavy first. He will only push against pressure already applied.

2. Horses should always have options.
Being flight response prey animals means that horses will instinctively flee when they perceive danger or a threat. Comfort for them in this case is in motion. When a horse begins to feel confined or trapped in anyway, he will start to become skeptical and nervous in anticipation of being trapped as we discussed above. In other words, if he begins to feel that his options are being taken away, he will start to listen to his instincts to leave. When he gets nervous and we try to contain him, he just feels more confined and claustrophobic and becomes right-brained. If you try to make a horse stay with you by hanging on tighter to him, he’ll feel his options being taken away and be more likely to want to leave. Give him the option to leave and allow it to be his choice to stay and chances are he will choose to do just that. If your horse feels he has the choice and he knows how to find comfort with you, he will actively seek it, which will go along way to building the rapport between the two of you.

3. Follow a repeatable programme (or pattern).
Patterns are paramount to a horse. Being prey animals, horses are acutely aware of their surroundings. They notice any small change no matter how minute and are always on the look out for anything new or unfamiliar. Their whole world revolves around patterns and familiarity from when and where they eat to the time of day they drink. Horses in the wild will have there own familiar territory that they pass through recurrently and waterholes that they visit on a regular basis. If anything in their environment changes or seems different, they are immediately on the alert. They find comfort and security in familiarity and the natural rhythm of life. This can work well for us when working with horses. Using patterns that are repeatable and familiar can help them to relax and be comfortable. Patterns require focus and leadership from us though, so if either of these two things waver, the horse will test us out to see what other weaknesses they can find. Too many patterns though borders on training, so use them enough to help you and your horse become confident together and achieve your goal, but not so much that you train the horse. Alternately, if you chop and change too often, the horse will become unsure and unsettled. The best pattern you can create is the pattern of comfort. This is the pattern where if he seeks to try for you, to do as you ask, he will then find comfort and release. This pattern will build his confidence enormously. He will not be afraid to make a mistake and will look more and more to you for leadership. This kind of pattern is one that you can shape and place anywhere, anytime and will lead to consistency and true communication.

Release Focused Training teaches us to overcome our natural instincts to want to grab and to hold. To learn to trust the horse and that he will choose to be with us if we give him the chance. It makes sense to the horse and will have him responding to us in a way that is unique and pure and enhances upon nature itself.

ARTICLE ADDED THURSDAY, JULY 2, 2009
CATEGORY: REWARD THROUGH RELEASE

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