In this video, I am doing a tapping session for the first time with Rayne. Rayne is an OTTB with long standing sensitivity to touch and grooming. This video walks you through how I’ve been experimenting with using tapping as a body work modality, in general where I’m tapping, how hard I’m tapping, how fast I’m tapping, with what rhythm I’m tapping, my theories around body work, my belief that during body work we should aim for staying below the horse’s threshold for the full session, etc. Please understand that this is a work in progress. Rayne is the twelfth horse I’ve tried this method on. There will be more videos coming on tapping for body work from this session. There is over an hour of video from this session, quite a bit of it with us both standing quietly and calmly and me tapping lightly. I am splitting the particularly information packed parts into four videos. I hope you enjoy this little mini-series within Rayne’s series :)
I am a strong promoter of body work for horses. Every horse that comes here participates in body work. In the online courses and programs, I highly recommend/require for certification, having a relationship with a body worker, having knowledge of different body work modalities, etc.
In the traditional horse world, body work is considered “woo-woo” by some, but it is gaining larger appeal and respect. I’ve seen body work being questioned and shunned by a section of the positive reinforcement community.
I can see where confusion could set in. In body work, it may appear as if we are applying pressure and removing it for a “desired response”. However, the “desired responses” are not behavioral per say, they are natural limbic and somatic responses, and we are carefully watching for behavioral evidence of those internal changes occurring.
I can also understand the aversion to body work from the inherently aversive quality that body work has. YES, body work is aversive by its nature to horses when we begin. We are identifying and addressing areas of discomfort and postural tension, so just like getting chiropractic work, massage or physical therapy ourselves, there are times where it is uncomfortable. HOWEVER, if you do not offer body work to your horse, and are therefore not seeing releases of tension, that doesn’t mean the postural tensions are not there. They still exist.
Here we get to my opinions, proceed with caution if you are against body work and are not open to other opinions on it:
• I believe that NOT offering body work is avoiding temporary discomfort at the expense of long-term well-being and welfare. When body is done with the horse’s threshold as our guiding light, they come to enjoy and seek body work, just like training sessions.
• I believe that NOT addressing those postural tensions is a welfare concern. Horses means of relieving postural tension are limited. Postural tensions are often caused and triggered by humans in the first place. Asking horses to participate in any operant conditioning-based training while holding those unaddressed postural tension is compromising their physical, mental and emotional well-being and welfare. Therefore, in order for any training to be humane and LIMA, body work must be addressed.
0 Comments