23/12/2025
The Vagal Nerve where the subconscious is king and lifestlyle is key
Its not a magic reset button, if your horse is in a crap situation then manually working on it may give you the illusion of calm yet chaos still simmers under the surface, forced relaxation is an impossible ask and could create more issues further along the journey
First let me say there are very little studies to show vagal nerve work in horses ( interestingly the study that struck me most was the one about how the most positive results came from the owner horse relationship and long term positive interactions with the humans in the horses life) and primarily this nerve has the same function in most Mammals' with slight variations, so we often cross over studies and bring what we find in humans and without any real study a lot of what is wrote is assumption (including mine)
But what we do know is that the subconscious often overrules 90 per cent of how it functions it is often only thought about in humans for the time we are working with it and then for the rest of the time it will function according to how our brains, bodies and genetics are wired
So lets put some human perspective on it, if you are a teeth clencher or breath holder then you will know most times you are not even aware you are doing it and we have to make a lot of effort to unclench our teeth or think s**t i need to breathe😀, why? Because clenching your jaw is an involuntary response, it happens subconsciously. We mostly do it say at night while asleep along with teeth grinding and often its either genetic or environmental factors it is also how you are wired to deal with situations (and why most therapists will give you a set of exercises and mine gave me only breathing exercises) but as we know when our tmj is held in a position over a long time that becomes our normal and to change is a daily struggle as we don’t like moving out of our comfort zone, and remember humans have a varied variety of reasons that horses just would never have
The biggest difference is when anything is done in the human world we have clear communication about what the outcome will be, we can be aware that a moment of discomfort will be beneficial in the long term, we find comfort in words of reassurance, we can see the moment of discomfort will bring a better tomorrow, we cannot tell horses tomorrow will be better if we are the instigators of discomfort they will remember that today we only brought something they didnt like and when we begin messing with the nervous system, then their subconscious might fight back.
There is alot of talk about the autonomic system and again the subconscious is king with this system this system is the basic function for life it works 24/7 and while as humans we can improve the quality of some of this system by consciousness actions the horse however predominantly needs a positive 24/7 environment to sustain that ying and yang swaying between all systems (I mean we can't ask a horse to pop in an ice bath and tell them it will be better after the initial shock)
Personality has a huge part to play, they all have different personalities yet often to get by in our world we demand they react all the same.
So back to the horse well first of the vagal nerve is the longest cranial nerve. it snakes through the body and blends in with some pretty important structures, these include head (which is where I start), neck, thorax, abdomen often it is referred to as the wandering nerve and you can see why, so it is a ying and yang it affects these areas but also these areas will affect the nerve, and remember we have a right and a left side and branches and many offshoots. It plays an important role in the nervous system and is responsible for involuntary sensory and motor functions,
Over simulating the vagal nerve is a real thing and often people will look for an increased blood flow in the caratoid artery as a gauge and reference to the vagal nerve but over stimulating will actual cause the blood vessels to dilate, so while we see an increased blood flow in the artery are we then causing dilation to other important structures, we can't go in w***y nilly in humans we can tell the practitioner if we have a history of any illnesses and caratoid massage in humans is usually only done by someone who has your full medical history as messing with the blood flow in a focused deliberate way can have repercussions, as bodyworkers we will often see an increased activity in the caratoid artery but often it is a result of working on the whole horse and often it's not only an increased blood flow but the artery becomes more visual as the posture changes, and we want to maybe see a slight increase for me I am not keen on seeing a huge pumping I almost feel if we were doing this on a human would they feel faint or light headed
Lifestyle is key to a better nervous, physical and mental wellbeing, allowing freedom to move appropriatly for the regualtion of all the above is paramount, First thing we must do when addressing the vagal nerve is to address the horse's environment, diet and general wellbeing because if those are not right then the 1 hour of bodywork, training or any of the other things that are promised as a cure will only just be that in the horse's life same as me when I was only doing the techniques to help my vagal nerve the minute I went to bed and my unconscious mind was at play the teeth clenching would still be there, we must always find the cause not only just treat the symptom
And remember fight and flight work alongside rest and digest horses need both to work in harmony not one tipping the balance in their favour, would you really want a horse about to compete in the rest and digest phase or would you want a bit of that sympathetic nervous system to be ready. We see this mostly in the field where they will be on high alert then the body will flip into rest and digest as it regulates, now think of a horse that can never get to the 10 in flight or fright will they then not be able to regulate that flip over and therefore forever be stuck in the high stress phase, I used own one of these horses so his environment has been adapted so he can go from one system to the other and even though he is in flight phase a lot you can see how by just adapting my environment to his needs how the body is able to regulate it a little better, I.e very little human interaction, only positive interactions and room and choice to leave if he wants, both systems are play a vital role to the well-being of the body we need both to work together
And remember like I say studies are scarce, so this is my own opinion on how I view it and how I address it I always see whole horse, and everything is part of something, and everything has cause and effect
The only thing for a better body and mind with alot of horses is realising their basic rights and needs just to live comfortable without fear or pain, for some it isn't even mountains of bodywork or training or trying to find solace with us but to give them friends of their own species to feel safe.
Finding trauma triggers can be often be an impossible task, trauma is a strong emotive word, we often equate stress as a trauma yet everyday in all species lives there will be mix of stress, relaxation, and other external and internal influences, horses have to be able to use the appropriate emotion for each situation, micro stresses and suppressed appropriate emotional reactions often leads to a explosive or shut down moment yet often the momentum for that moment was building up over a period of time, but simply providing the right enviroment and helping them to work in the world we have created for them can help them function better in the here and now.
I will say it again when horses feel unsafe they need to move yet when we feel unsafe around the horse we want them to stand still, we talk about nervous system regulation yet in that moment we are only regulating ours, and once again forgetting how different we are when it comes to regulating our systems.
