Rider Breathing

There are many signs that indicate if you are over breathing such as frequent sighing or yawning, difficulty sleeping, over eating, 'forgetting to breathe', and lack of energy, to name but a few.  Learn more in this article

But a good test is that unless you can comfortably pause after a normal sized OUT breath without needing to breathe for 45 seconds or more, and then take only a normal breath IN - not a big gasp, you over breathe according to Professor Buteyko.

Most people do.

If you over breathe it is likely that your horse will to some extent copy this and vice versa. It is easily possible for horse and owner to get into a spiral of deteriorating breathing patterns.

Since over breathing causes symptoms and problems this is not a good situation.

From your point of view, over breathing may exacerbate any chronic conditions such as asthma, migraine, allergies, fatigue etc. Your muscles may be stiffer and tenser than they should be, you may find yourself short tempered and irritable and have difficulty concentrating.

You may feel your fitness is not as good as you would like; you run out of puff easily and tend to ride with an open mouth.

Competing can be exciting and sometimes stressful and this encourages over breathing. Many riders find they have to breathe through their mouth when they compete. If you are one of these riders you may be reducing your own and your horse's performance.

In difficult, stressful situations the handler often talks to the horse thinking that this calms the horse. But people often over breathe more when they talk than when they keep their mouth closed so over breathing problems such as tension and irritability are increased. Horses don't understand the meaning of words, but they can pick up on tension, irritability and anxiety in the voice and these are not reassuring. So sometimes keeping quiet can be more helpful.

Soothing sounds can of course be helpful - especially if they prolong the out breathe. This favours the speaker's parasympathetic nervous system which encourages calmness and this transmits to the horse.

You can make significant improvements to your breathing, riding confidence and performance, and general health by adopting verious tips and exercises given in Horse Breather articles 42 and 43  - see below

Excellent book - Close Your Mouth: Buteyko Breathing Clinic self help manual by Patrick McKeown Patrick has numerous free videos on Youtube

If you have a medical condition such as asthma, depression, insomnia, high blood pressure, anxiety or allergies you can learn to regain normal breathing and health by doing a Buteyko breathing training course.

Breath - The new science of a lost art by James Nestor.  A must read if you are interested in the latest science and oldest traditions relating to the connection between breathing and health

If you breath at about 6 breaths per minute and it's soft and almost imperceptible, then the heart, the circulation and the nervous system will become co-ordinated at peak efficiency. Coherent breathing and is a powerful way to relieve stress; to move from a sympathetic to a parasympathetic state. It's both calming and increases heart rate variation which is a good indicator for health. The technique is simple but depending how good or bad your breathing is, it may require a bit of practise.

The good news is that if coherent breathing is easy and natural for you, then your breathing, and therefore health, is good. The further good news is that if you find coherent breathing difficult then you have great scope to improve your breathing and therefore your health.

Equine Breathing 1N provides similar calming and health benefits to the horse, so combining the two techniques can be really powerful. Especially if either you or your horse has difficulty in relaxing with 1N.

To do coherent breathing use a metronome on your phone and count your in and out breath as follows;

Breath in for 4 seconds. Breath out for 6 seconds. Ideally your breaths will be so gentle that they're hardly visible or audible. Avoid using your chest. Instead allow the diaphragm to naturally control the breathing without hinderance.

If it's too difficult to do 4 seconds in and 10 out, then start with lower numbers for the out, eg 6 seconds so that you can relax. Keep the out breath longer than the in breath and build gradually to 4 seconds in and 10 seconds out.

This double inbreath followed by a long, slow outbreath is the body's natural way to return from sympathetic (fight or flight) to the parasympathetic state. It's often done unconsciously - think of babies crying. But you can do it voluntarily if you find yourself in a stressed state. If your horse spooks for example and you feel your heart racing. Or if you get frustrated during training.

A physiological sigh takes only a few seconds and brings you back into a calm, relaxed parasympathetic state, which your horse will probably appreciate.

You can do a physiological sigh any time you 'want out' of an unproductive fight or flight state.

Here's how to do it

Keep your mouth closed throughout. Take a full breath in. Immediately take a second and sharper breath in. Then slowly and softly exhale .

The longer the exhale the better as it allows the vagus nerve time to bring the body back into a parasympathetic state. You can even hum if you want to make it even more effective.

Test your own breathing.

How breathing affects performance and health.