I bet you have all heard the phrase ‘engage your core’ or ‘shoulders back’, ‘heels down’ or ‘activate your seat’ but… SMILE?
What if I told you that there are two muscles, often overlooked and rarely promoted that would improve all aspects of your horsemanship!
What you say! Yes I say. The most important muscles in your body if flexed will instantly improve EVERYTHING!
The zygomaticus muscles or more specifically the zygomaticus major and zygomaticus minor are the muscles in the face responsible for pulling your mouth up and out.
SMILE…
It is the call I make most often to my students ‘Don’t forget to Smile’. I get that sometimes it is not always the easiest thing to do, especially if you are concentrating or nervous. But I guarantee if you can smile, what you are concentrating on will become easier and the nerves will dilute.
Horses pick up on our energy and stress, nerves often increase our heart rate. This combined can have a negative impact on your horse. Maybe not the first time but over time. They seek harmony and balance not stressheads with a fast heart beat or tightly wound, non breathing, perfectionist!
SMILE…
It can help reduce our heart rate and give us more emotional balance, help us unravel and relax. When you smile, your brain produces these clever little molecules that fight stress, inviting our friends dopamine and serotonin to the party.
Remember the song by Louis Armstrrong? – (M. Fisher / J. Goodwin / L. Shay)
Oh when you smilin’, when you smilin’
The whole world smiles with you
Yes when you laughin’, when you laughin’
Yes the sun come shinin’ through
SMILE…
Smiling is infectious, when we see a smile our brains react in a similar way to when we smile, and usually we begin to smile. So what if when we smile our horses see it and feel it? And if they feel it, we feel them feeling it. Like one big happy-go-round.
Without a doubt, taking a snap shot of my students, those that smile more progress further and their horses are far more relaxed and willing, even when both, horse and human, are attempting something new.
So if you hear the call to engage your core take that as a cue to flex your zygomaticus first.
Better still, each time you pick up the halter, way before you think about riding, put your smile on, the cheesier the better. You and your horse will feel better for it.
Rachel Windchaser – The Horsesmith™
“Connect with their MINDS and their Bodies will Follow”
ReWild Your Horse Spirit
Other Stuff
Another blog post that you may find helpful, The 3 R’s – Release, Relax Refect
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