TTEAM in 10 minutes a day By Robyn Hood Think you re too busy for TTouch? Think again! Here s how to change your horse s attitude, behavior and performance in 10 minutes a day. Most of us lead very busy lives. Horses may be a form of stress release for us, good friends, a hobby or even a career. None of the unique aspects of TTEAM is that you can focus on one area of the horse for a few minutes, and in this brief time often make significant changes in your horse s overall behaviour, health and/or performance that go far beyond the area worked. When you add up the time not spent dealing with behaviour, health and performance problems such as less resistance and increased willingness to learn- you ll really see the payoff in those few minutes invested each day. As a bonus, you will probably discover that you save at least 10 to 20 minutes of warmup every time you ride. Here we will give you suggestions for seven 10- minute TTouch sessions-one for each day of the week-on various parts of the equine body. We suggest that you select one of the sessions and spend only 5 to 10 minutes before riding (or even if you can t ride). If your flat-hand exploration (see story page 16) turns up a sisnsitive area, consider giving that area extra attention. We think you ll see a change in attitude and often in movement in one week. Feel free to do them in any order, and don t fret if you can t make it out to the barn every day. Even two to three days per week will make a difference. Because TEAM affects the nervous system at a cellular level, even a single session is likely to stick on a long-term basis. DAY ONE MOUTHWORK We ll start off our week with mouth work. As you may know tension in the mouth often reflects tension in the body as well as emotional tension. We are asked to work with many horses with tight lips or rock-hard chins. You ay have heard us describe the mouth as the gateway to the emotions, and there is a great deal of research backing up this statement. You see, the mouth is directly connected to the limbic system, the brain s emotional center. It s quite possible that if your horse is nervous, stubborn, stressed or aggressive, working this area of the body can unlock the door to improved relaxation and responsiveness. Spend up to 10 minutes working every part of the mouth and chin. Keep on hand on the halter s noseband as you work with the other hand. Start with the outside of the chin and the entire flat of your hand. Gently move the chin in large circles. You might find your horse reaching forward with his chin, moving into your hand. Notice how the throatlatch area opens as the chin moves forward, which also aids in releasing tension in the neck. Move on to Clouded Leopard (sidebar) or Raccoon TTouches (sidebar) and carefully explore every inch of the chin area using these connected Touches. As you move into the mouth, use your thumb to go inside the lips as you hook your fingers in the chin groove. If the gums are dry, wet your hand. Gently rub all over the inside lower lip and then do connected circles with your thumb all around the inside of the lip. Finish with soft Jellyfish Jiggles (sidebar) on the chin and then smooth strokes on the outside of the chin. TTEAM Connections 1 Linda Tellington-Jones 2005
DAY TWO BODYWORK We have found that with horses and dogs alike, the Zigzag is a great way to introduce yourself and TTouch to animals, relax an animal and connect him from front to back. This touch has the sensation of scratching, which may seem familiar and safe to an animal, but you don t stay in one place. Start on the neck with your fingers curved so that your thumb and index finger are touching. Make a light contact with your nails. As you move your hand toward the crest, open your fingers, increasing contact with your nails. Draw your fingers back to the curved position. Zigzags can also be used lightly under the belly to help bring a horse s back up. Be sure to start by stroking the belly to ensure that your horse is not overly sensitive. Repeat this motion as you move back along the body in a zigzag pattern, and in five minutes move on to Lick of the Cow s Tongue. The Lick of the Cow s Tongue got its name because this movement is typically make across the lay of the hair, which gives a sensation similar to that of being licked by a cow s rough tongue. Lick with one hand while the other hand rests lightly on the horse to maintain the connection. Start under the belly with straight fingers spread slightly apart so our hand is flat. Slide your fingers across the belly, up onto the barrel and across the back. Feel the movement coming out of your feet rather than just using your hand and arm. It really changes the quality of the touch for you and your horse. Be sure to start gently. A variation is to have your fingers slightly curved. Vary the contact to see what pressure your horse enjoys. You can also use Lick of the Cow s Tongue across the neck, finishing by running your fingers through the mane, across the shoulders or hindquarters and between your horse s hind legs. On the hind legs, fist be sure your horse is comfortable being touched on the insides of his gaskins. You can also use both hands on the hind legs-one hand on the outside and one on the inside. With curved fingers, gently stroke across the gaskin area. Horses that are tight in the back are often tight between the hind legs. This is also good preparation for horses who are sensitive about blanket straps. If your horse is sensitive, use flat fingers instead of curved. With a sensitive horse you may wish to start after riding when the muscles are warmer, or with a sock over your fingers. DAY THREE Lick of the Cow s Tongue LEGWORK For most horses and people, doing something with the legs either means picking them up to clean the feet, painting on hoof ointment or putting on bandages or splint boots. If you spend five minutes doing connected TTouch circles down the legs, followed b the Octopus, you may notice an immediate difference in your horse s confidence and balance. Start with the front legs. If your horse snatches up a leg as soon as you touch it, stroke instead with the back of your fingers. Stroke one leg an then the other until your horse no longer picks up each foot without being signaled to do so. Why is this important? For one thing, it is very inconvenient if you need to bandage a leg or treat a wound. It has been our experience that this type of horse often lacks confidence, is nervous about poles on the ground or objects around his feet, such as hoses, small animals, water or unusual surfaces. TTEAM Connections 2 Linda Tellington-Jones 2005
one thumb is above and close to the little finger of your opposite hand. As your hands move around the leg in opposite directions with your fingers towards each other, your wrists will cross so that one is resting on top of the other. Your baby fingers will now be up. Maintain contact with the inside of your hands- fingers on the inside of our horse s leg and thumbs on the outside pointing toward each other- and slide all they way down to the ground, giving a squeeze on the hoof, and slowly release. Repeat the movement starting on found different places on the horse s leg-upper forearm, above the knee, a few inches below the knee and a little above the fetlock joint. Octopus Start at the bottom of the shoulder and do a line of connected Clouded or Lying Leopard TTouches (sidebar) all the way down the leg to the hoof. Repeat the connected circles from the shoulder down in two or three different places. Now move on to the Octopus. This TTouch is a bit difficult to describe, so go slowly and refer to the accompanying drawing. Start with your hands around the horse s foreleg a few inches below the elbow, with your thumbs pointing at a 45-degree angle toward each other. Rotate your hands and slide your thumbs three or four inches down the leg. Push the skin upward about six inches and slide each hand, with thumbs on top, to the inside of the forearm. As your hands come around to the inside of the leg, rotate and set one hand on top of the other. Slide your crossed hands lightly down the inside of the horse s leg to just below his knee. Pause for a few seconds. Rotate your hands so the palms and fingers make contact, and slide our hands up. Keeping a steady contact with your fingers and palms, slide your hands around the leg toward you. As your hands come to the outside of the leg slide one above the other so DAY FOUR MANE AND TAIL After grooming the mane, lower your horse s head and start at the withers. Taking a small section of mane, place your thumb and forefinger at the root of the mane, circle the hair and then slide up in the direction the mane grows to the tip of the hair. Repeat this a couple of times and then move up the neck to another small section of mane. Continue up the neck until you come to your horse s ears. You can then move to the front of the horse and repeat this sectioning and circling of hair on the forelock. It is remarkable how relaxing this can be for a horse. The hair slides and circles on the mane appear to release tension in the neck and can also be used to help settle and relax a horse while you are riding. If you have time, you could also do hair slides on the tail, or save the tail for another day. Here s how to do the tail slides: Stand to the side of your horse so that he can see you. Starting with the hair at the top of the tail, take a small section of hair and slide your fingers out to the end of the hair. As you get into the longer part of the tail, you still want to slide down the hair to the end, although you may find it easier to use both hands. This is also a great way to groom your horse s tail without taking out too much hair. TTEAM Connections 3 Linda Tellington-Jones 2005
DAY FIVE DAY SIX RELEASE TENSION GEAR DOWN Have you ever noticed that when you are tense, The half-walk, also known as the third your jaw tightens? This happens with horses as walk at the Spanish Riding School, can be well, especially when they are being ridden. started fro the ground and repeated under saddle. The idea is to walk your horse at a normal Start with Raccoon TTouches all over the jowls and the throatlatch area. Continue with walk and then four or five steps ask him to take TTouches under the jaw and between the jowls. steps that are half as long as a regular walking Come back to the outside of the jowl, and with stride. The exercise is useful to improve balance, lightness, focus and self-control. Interest- one hand do Tarantula s Pulling the Plough from the front of the jowl back toward the ingly, a horse that walks too fast will slow down throatlatch. The side of your thumb acts as the while a sluggish horse will speed up- it s like plough as your fingers trace a furrow through adding a new gear. If you live in a part of the and across the hair. As you repeat these lines country with cold or wet winters, you can do all over the jowl, you should notices that there this exercise in a barn aisle should you not have will be a bit of skin rolling in front of your access to an indoor arena. thumb. After doing both howls, make a fist with one Ideally, you should have a wand and either a hand, and place t under the jaw between the chain lead or soft Zephyr lead to do this exercise, but you can also attach a rope with a light jowls. Gently move your fist from side to side. This will produce a slight jiggle that affects the snap to the side ring of a flat, nylon halter and horse up into the atlas/axis area behind the poll use any stiff whip. Lead your horse forward and helps to free the jaw. five or six steps and then as for a shortened Have you even wondered if horses get headaches? Several years ago I had thermography walk. Here are two ways to signal the half-walk - use a small flicking motion with the end of done on one of my horses. The thermograph the wand about three feet in front of the maps heat in the body, and we noticed a significant amount of heat in the forehead area. Ap- horse s nose - bring the end of the wand in toward the parently this is quite common and certainly coincides with the physiology of headaches in horse s chest and back out in rhythm with the shortening of the walk combined with a light signal and release on people. To help alleviate tension in the forehead, spend a few minutes doing Coiled Pythons. the lead. You must be well balanced for your horse to stay in balance. Steady the horse s head with one hand holding the noseband of the halter. With your fingers curved and the pads of the fingers making Do this exercise for 3-5 minutes; if you are going to ride, tack up and repeat from the contact with the skin, start the circle at six on ground before mounting. Notice if adding tack the clock (the part of the circle closest to the changes your horse s ability to stay in balance. ground). Move the skin (rather than rubbing This exercise can then be used anytime from the across it) by scribing a clockwise circle once horse s back as a warm-up exercise or to modulate the pace of a rushy horse before riding, around, past six and up to 8 and then do a lift and carry the skin straight up about ¼-1/2. training or competition. Pause and slowly carry the tissue back down. Slide your fingers about an inch to another place Tip and repeat the circle with a lift. Be aware of your breathing and stand with your knees Use half-walk steps yourself: Horses mirror what we do, and slightly bent in a balanced position. It has been we ve found that if we take half steps, our horses will, too. The our experience that TTouches on the forehead slower you can get him to do any ground exercise, the more also make horses easier to catch and more he will think about what he s doing. friendly. TTEAM Connections 4 Linda Tellington-Jones 2005
DAY SEVEN IMPROVE COORDINATION The Star is a leading exercise using a configuration of poles that can benefit a horse first without a rider and then with one. This exercise helps free the back and pelvis, increasing lateral flexibility, improving balance and helping horses that have difficulty in the canter. The gentle angle of the exercise often helps to free the pelvis. Try spreading out the poles on the perimeter of a circle at various distances, then take them at a trot and canter-first inhand and later under saddle. You ll need three to five poles about 10 to 12 feet long, although you can b creative, depending on what you have on hand. You will also need something to support one end of the poles a tire, straw bale, log, milk crate or bucket will work. Cluster the raised ends close together and space out the ends on the ground four to six feet apart, depending upon the length of the poles relative to the height to which they are raised and the horse s stride length (see diagram below). You can change the configuration as you go along, first to make it easy for your horse to succeed and later to add a new element of learning. Lead your horse in both directions through the poles in the Elegant Elephant. In the beginning, allow him to walk over the lowest end of the poles. Notice whether your horse is easily able to follow the curve of the poles or whether the hind end falls out. Is one direction easier than the other? As you repeat the exercise, vary the point at which you ask the horse to step over the poles-the closer your horse steps to the raised (higher) ends, the more difficult the exercise may be for him. The goal is to make it possible for the horse to be successful, so if it is difficult, you can make it easier by changing the height of the poles, placing alternating poles on the ground or varying the space between the poles. TTEAM Terms Body wrap: an elastic bandage or leg wrap, arranged in a figure eight around the horse s body, including the chest and hindquarters, with the cross just behind the withers, which touches and releases contact with the horse as he moves. Useful on young horses before haltering or ground driving to keep them in balance without pulling on the head. Dingo: leading position used to teach a horse to move forward from a signal rather than reflex. Stroke a wand 2 to 3 times along the top of the back and then tap-tap on the top of the croup following a signal forward on the lead. Elegant Elephant: basic leading position, done with the lead line in both hands and a wand held in the outside hand and positioned about 2 to 3 feet in front of the horse s nose. Jellyfish Jiggle; pulsating push and release TTouch used to soften the large muscles of the croup and hindquarters. Lying Leopard Touch: variation of the Clouded Leopard, in which the Leopard lies down, i.e., the curve of the hand flattens somewhat, enabling a larger portion of warm contact. Recommended for a sensitive horse when the Clouded Leopard TTouch is too invasive or threatening. Remember to keep the joints of your hand slightly rounded and your wrist straight. Python Lift: gentle support and pause TTouch, used to release tension, fatigue and spasm on the legs, shoulders, neck, forearm, thigh and chest areas. Support the tissue up about ½ to 1 and pause for about four seconds, then slowly return to the starting point. Raccoon Touch: tiny, light TTouches done with the fingertips on inflamed or sensitive areas, or on very small animals. TTEAM Connections 5 Linda Tellington-Jones 2005