Videos and Advice

Equine Balance

17 October 2011 15:00

Your Horse speak to co-founder Julie Houghton to see if Equine Balance (EBT) could really make a difference to your riding.

An adaptation of a therapy called Zero Balancing, EBT aims to help the rider’s body find its own natural balance in harmony with the horse, and help the horse work softly and responsively with the rider. EBT is specifically designed to treat horse-and-rider combinations.

“Zero Balancing was started by Dr Fritz Smith, an American doctor, osteopath and master of acupuncture,” explains Julie. “He devised Zero Balancing to help his clients on the couch to improve their mind/body/ spirit balance by working on the skeleton to release any held trauma, stress or pain.

He was a firm believer in the benefits of both Western and Eastern approaches to medicine and Zero Balancing reflects this – working on both the physical structure of the body and the energy flow,” says Julie.

There are many therapies used to treat riders on the couch and many that treat horses in the stable, but EBT is different because it treats the horse and rider combination as a unit. The focus is firmly on the how the horse and rider perform when working as one, so all assessment and treatment work is done while the rider is mounted.

What does EBT involve?

Before Julie begins working she watches the horse and rider in walk, trot and canter on each rein. “Most of the information I’m looking for is immediately apparent in walk,” says Julie. “I look for any signs of rider imbalance and also look closely at how the horse organises himself to carry the rider. I ask myself, does he move straight with both hindlegs following in the tracks of the corresponding forelegs? Does each leg flow freely forward? Has he got a weaker hindleg, if so which one, and how does the rider deal with this? Is there any asymmetry? Is there any visible tension?”

After assessing the horse and rider in action, Julie then talks through any particular problems the rider is experiencing, before she begins the EBT session in halt. Julie usually starts by treating the rider’s lower body first. As the rider sits in the saddle Julie uses gentle finger pressure and held stretches to locate and release any excess tension accumulated in the deep structures of the body. The pressure is applied to particular points of the body that relate to different points of the rider’s skeleton. “Different points will be used for different purposes, but the objective is to allow the rider to soften and relax through specific areas. This allows the body to reorganise and change its normal way of coping with the movement of the horse, to find the optimum way of harmonising the movement,” says Julie.

“The touch used in EBT engages the body’s structure and energy flow simultaneously. It’s the specific quality of the touch that enables the physical structure and energy to be worked on at the same time and create a harmonious relationship between them,” she adds.

“By holding the touch it draws attention to the area so the horse and rider can feel what’s going on and reorganise themselves to achieve a mutually optimal balance.”

After again assessing the horse and rider in walk, Julie usually turns her attention to the back half of the horse, from the girth backward. She then works on the upper body of the rider and front end of the horse.

The average session lasts between 45 minutes and an hour.

To continue the benefits of the EBT session, Julie provides her clients with a post-treatment work programme tailored to the individual horse.

Why choose EBT?

The stresses of modern life can be seen, or rather felt, deep within the skeleton. Areas of tension caused by sitting at a desk nine to five each day, and blockages caused by hours of driving or mucking out, cause subtle changes to the way we move. These tight areas can take months or even years to build up but, once there, they won’t go away without help.

The tensions cause us to sit asymmetrically in the saddle and, in turn, our horses alter their way of going to compensate. EBT releases these deep-held tensions, allowing the body to move freely again.

“I frequently see horses who have a short, uneven or unlevel stride,” says Julie. “Others are stiff to one side, tense through their back and neck or mentally stressed, and exhibiting this through shying or rushing. Often these problems are caused by a simple imbalance in the way the horse and rider work together.”

How can EBT help?

Even very experienced riders can find it difficult to sit straight in the saddle and often find themselves fighting their own body as they try to force themselves into the ‘perfect’ position. They may feel they have to push their legs back, force one hip further forward to be level with the other, or push down into the saddle to sit to trot. “When you’re forcing yourself to hold a position you’re inevitably going to be tense,” says Julie.

“EBT helps the rider to relax into their optimum riding position with minimum effort. Because this position isn’t forced, the rider is able to concentrate on the aids they’re giving, and the communication between rider and horse therefore becomes lighter and more controlled.”

Julie has treated several riders who’ve developed a crooked position due to an injury they’ve been carrying. Many riders are eager to get back in the saddle following a fall and return while still carrying an injury. They then instinctively adapt their position to protect the injured area. Often this continues once the injury is fully healed and may be so subtle that even experienced coaches don’t notice it – but the horse will.

“The horse will change his way of going to accommodate, eventually resulting in asymmetrical muscle development and even lameness,” explains Julie. “There are many tell-tale signs that show a horse is no longer comfortable in his work. If your horse is no longer fluent in the lateral work on one rein, if he starts to show a delay in picking up a specific canter lead or if his back appears stiff or resistant – he may well benefit from a session of EBT.”