Horses

TTouch has been used successfully for rescued horses and ponies, competition horses, racehorses, family horses, youngsters, horses that are recovering from injuries or ill health and those that may be suffering from the effects of old age. It provides many valuable tools for helping horses to overcome common problems such as spooking, bucking, running out, loading difficulties, poor performance, rushing, jogging, difficulties standing for the farrier or at the mount block, bolting and so on.
TTouch is an excellent way to start or re-start all equines and gives the horse a solid foundation on which further education can be built.    TTouch teaches horses to act as opposed to react and enables them to move beyond instinctive and often fear based behaviours. Tellington TTouch Training/TTEAM offers positive solutions to common issues such as:

• Sore back
• Stiffness
• Hard to catch horses
• Nervousness and tension
• Inconsistent performance
• Lameness or unevenness of stride
• Cinchiness, bucking and rearing
• Resistance to the vet and farrier
• Head tossing and tail wringing
• Biting or kicking
• Pulling back when tied
• Trailering
• Resistance to grooming or saddling

An Overview: TTEAM offers a training approach that encourages optimal performance and well-being. Based on the understanding that behavioural issues are often caused by pain, soreness, fear or tension in the body, TTEAM addresses these underlying issues through a combination of TTouch body work, specific TTEAM ground exercises, and riding with awareness.  This low-stress, logical method of dealing with horses seeks to take horses beyond the reflex of instinct, and educate horses how to think and act rather than re-act to stimuli.

Ground exercises enable a horse to override habitual patterns of posture and movement and to learn without fear or force.  Changing postural patterns through movement helps retain the effectiveness of bodywork as well as change behavioural patterns associated with pain or tension. 

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Body work can be incorporated into the ridden work giving the horse and the rider the opportunity to experience the freedom of movement both may be keen to achieve. The patterns of poles used in the in hand exercises can add variety to any schooling session increasing focus, flexibility, proprioception and co-ordination.

It is not necessary to adopt the entire TTouch approach when helping your horse to reach his potential under saddle.  Whilst ridden work can build on the exercises taught from the ground, TTouch Riding Techniques can also be used on their own.
Specific equipment such as the TTouch Promise Wrap and the Balance Rein for example can bring a dramatic improvement in both performance and behaviour and the combination of Connected Riding Exercises which address bracing and tension in both the horse and the rider are a beneficial addition to the TTouch work.