Have you ever noticed that right after you learn something new, you tend to notice it happening around you over and over? Turns out, there is actually a name for this! It’s called the Baader-Meinhof phenomenon. Recently, my experience with this phenomenon is to do with how horses learn and how they regulate themselves.
I have been doing a lot of reading about how horses and humans (and all mammals) fluctuate between the sympathetic nervous system (fight/flight) and para-sympathetic nervous system (rest/digest). This is called Polyvagal Theory. At the risk of being overly simple, think of the sympathetic system as the gas pedal. This is the system that actives us or our horses in response to what’s going on around us. When a barn cat jumps out of the rafters and your horse seems to become air-born in response, that’s their sympathetic nervous system telling them to flee the potential threat. The para-sympathetic nervous system, on the other hand, is the brakes. This is the system that kicks in when your horse comes back to earth and sees that the ‘lion’ that pounced on them is just a 12 pound barn cat. In healthy relationships (and good horse training) what we are essentially doing is teaching ourselves and helping our horses to be able to engage the brakes appropriately so they (and we) can self-regulate.
I was just reminded that there are actually 2 systems in place for the mental and emotional brakes. When fight or flight isn’t an option or doesn’t work, “freeze” is the option that’s left. This is also part of the para-sympathetic nervous system, but it’s motivated by self-protection and defensiveness rather than true relaxation or social connection. When that happens, a human or a horse becomes disconnected and shuts down, commonly called disassociation. I have been working with a few of my clients to notice this happening in their horses and working toward helping them become more attuned and confident.
Where the Baader-Meinhof effect comes in is that shortly after reading more about Polyvagal Theory, I was asked to help a client who felt that their horses were having moments of disassociation during their groundwork. I got to watch this play out as we slowly worked on helping the horses become more “awake” and connected as well as helping us humans increase our awareness and attunement. I felt like we ended in some good places, but I wasn’t as clear or thorough as I could have been in my coaching. Of course, about a week later, I come across this video that explains it so well! I hope this is as helpful to you as it was for me!
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