The Window of Tolerance – Horse and Rider

Have you ever wondered what’s behind a successful horse and rider partnership? Why are they so in sync, confident, capable of mastering any challenge that arises?

The mystery lies in expanding your, and your horse’s, window of tolerance.

What is the window of tolerance?

It is your comfort zone. Where you feel calm, confident, and in control of your emotional and physical state. You are nor scared. You can breathe, trust in your ability, trust your horse.

For your horse, it is his safety zone- he is wothout fear, calm, trusting in you, and his world.

How does it work?

Say you are riding towards a jump. On the approach you feel scared, your heart rate goes through the roof, you can’t concentrate, so you hang on, and leave it up to your horse, hoping he will get you over it. So what does he do? He refuses. he feels scared and runs away.

You panic, you feel afraid, and vow that jumping is not for you. Your window of tolerance is slammed firmly shut. Your horse’s too. You are left feeling disappointed in yourself, and feel you have failed your horse. Your fear tolerance level is zero.

So how do you expand your window of tolerance?

Breathe. Yes, I know it sounds simple, but there’s more to the effect of conscious breathing. Your nervous system has two parts: the adrenalin activated side which gears you into action, (feeling nervous or excited) and the calming part, for rest, recovery, safety.

The same goes for your horse. He either feels scared, or safe. His nervous system will pick up from yours whether the world is safe or not. So the remedy starts with you. You need to be your horse’s’safe person’ horse for him to trust you.

Going back to the jumping example, if your horse pricks his ears, hesitates in his stride, he is asking you ‘is this safe?’

If you answer is”Oh that’s too big, we’ll never get over that!’ you are compounding his fear, so he refuses.

On the other hand, if you answer him with,’we’ve got this, come on!’ and are confident, he will trust you.

Building your safety zone

Learn. Build your expertise and knowledge. Belief in yourself. Trust your physical ability and be aware of your emotions. Trust your horse. Nervousness will pass. It is this recovery that builds your ‘window of tolerance’. It is the belief that you will land safely over the fence, and carry on to the next.

Building the Partnership with your horse

Practice finding the flow between feeling a bit scared (challenged), and back to calm. This flow expands as you get to know what you are capable of.

You can choose to return to your comfort zone at any time by closing your ‘window of tolerance’ when you need to. This choice gives you recovery time, control, calmness, time to reflect on your achivements, be proud of yourself and your horse.

For more information, see the links below:

The Psychology of Horsemanship Book by Claire Lilley

The Psychology of Horsemanship Webinar with Claire Lilley