![how do you play my horse and me 2 how do you play my horse and me 2](http://s01.riotpixels.net/data/df/f6/dff6c51a-4e93-4d99-a0c7-6da3d5df780d.jpg)
Every thing in our lives can serve as a lesson- what will you do to help your horse be more symmetrical? The art of Horsemanship is mastery of our own selves. We ask our horses to be even in their bodies, and usually we are unaware of how much we limit their ability to do so, by our own strong one sidedness. When’s the last time you lead your horse from the right side? When’s the last time you mounted from there? When’s the last time you used your non dominant hand for a task? After surgery, I have only one hand to use for a while, and am much more comfortable with my left hand than I expected, thanks to this prep time. At first it was incredibly awkward, but over time I got more comfortable with it. Leading horses, saddling, trimming all predominantly with my non dominant hand, my left. I’ve had many months to prepare using my left hand. I have been thinking about this for a while now, as over time I’ve lost strength and feeling to my dominant hand, due to a pinched nerve. How can we expect symmetry from the horse when we lack it ourselves? I find most folks are strongly dominant on one side themselves, usually their dominant hand side, and most of us do everything with our horses predominantly from their left side. How many of us have complained about our horses’ one sidedness? Whether it be stiffness on one side, struggling with a lead, a bend, or the ability to do something on one side versus the other? Guiding a horse to physical and mental well-being requires understanding of the horse as a whole, and guiding their behavior just as much as creating a healthy, happy body. A horse is a sensory being, living in a sensory world. There is no clear way to separate the two. To me, everything is behavioral AND physical. If the defensive behaviors developed from pain are not guided toward a better place, they can go on. If the POSTURES developed from pain are not changed, the behaviors can go on. If people don’t step in to intervene where the behavior patterns are, they can go on. Sometimes as with ulcers, the tension around the muscling can linger for months long after the ulcers are treated. But the behavior won’t always go away afterwards- sometimes memory of pain, fear of pain or habit can leave lasting patterns. Where it gets tricky is, if there is a source of pain creating behaviors, such as a poor saddle pinching and creating bucking or rearing, the source needs to be eliminated before the behavior can be modified.
![how do you play my horse and me 2 how do you play my horse and me 2](https://thehorse.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/paint-horse-running-in-field.jpg)
![how do you play my horse and me 2 how do you play my horse and me 2](http://travelsandliving.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/the-cutest-mini-horses-you-have-ever-seen-9-e1433183106282.jpg)
We can make educated guesses, but we can’t always know exactly what is going on, even with the best owners shelling out lots of money with great vets. We can get veterinary opinions, which are helpful, but often vague- there are many areas hard to x Ray, pictures of damage we can’t know for sure. The truth is, we may never know exactly how much of each it truly is. Some folks treat everything as a physical issue, and discount behavioral factors. Some folks take the mind frame that physical issues are an excuse, and everything is behavioral. This is a complex question with a complex answer. How do you know if a problem is behavioral or physical?