The Power of Energy & Intention in Liberty

Have you ever experienced one of those moments where your horse responded before you could ask the question? Perhaps you were riding and thought, “Okay, in a moment, I will ask for canter,” but before you even had the chance to ask, your horse had already transitioned beautifully into canter.

Imagine if your sessions were filled with moments like that!

They can be.

Horses are extremely perceptive of us, even more than we are of ourselves. This is because horses communicate largely through body language. They very rarely need to be vocal to communicate with each other.

Humans, on the other hand, are very vocal. Most of our communication is verbal, accompanied by body language. However, the latter is often not something we think about too much—it just happens in the moment, depending on how we’re feeling and what we’re talking about.

I talk a lot about the power of our energy and intention in The Essence of Liberty Online Academy because this is a massive part of how I invite my horses into different movements and help them figure out new exercises.

When I talk about “energy,” I’m referring to the feeling inside you of anticipation to do something. For example, if you’re about to sprint in a race, you’ll have so much energy bubbling inside you, ready to take off. If you’re sunbaking with a cocktail in your hand, your energy would be low and slooow (I wouldn't mind that right now... 😂).

Your “intention” is your anticipation of what is going to happen. When you invite your horse into a movement, you want to be able to picture your horse doing it in your mind—a mental picture where you can see how he moves, and you can even imagine how it would feel for your horse to do that movement.

So, for example, when I ask my horse to pick up the trot, my internal energy is going to increase in anticipation, and my intention is seeing and feeling the trot!

My theory for why this is so powerful is that our bodies (posture, position, micro-movements) change with our energy and intention. The change is subtle, but horses can notice it quite clearly because it’s a normal way of communication for them.

Also, doing this means that you are becoming more aware of your body and how you’re using it to communicate. Taking a moment to bring your attention to this forces you to be clearer and slow down, which gives your horse the chance to meet you at that level! You will never reach this level of subtle and gentle (yet clear) communication if you always skip that part and jump straight to the “big” way of asking the question.

Now just to note, when you first start doing this, your horse won’t magically respond. Up until now, you have likely been all over the place with your intention and energy, sometimes thinking about ten different things at the same time. Your horse has noticed this and learned over time to ignore all of the "background noise".

So, start taking a moment to ask as quietly as you possibly can, before slowly morphing your question into your usual way of asking. As you continue, your horse will begin to realize there’s a pattern and begin responding earlier, especially if he is very eager and motivated to figure out what the answer is 🤩

So, whether you play at liberty with your horse and/or ride competitively, this is something you can practice incorporating.

That’s all from me for now! Have a wonderful rest of your week, and don’t forget to give your horses a big smooch next time you see them 😍

Bye for now,
Nadine 🌸

PS. Don't forget to check out the free masterclass "Launch into Liberty: Where and How To Begin" to get you started on your path to liberty 🫶🏼 orrrr if you want to dive really deep, enrollments into the academy are now open!