What To Do When You Feel the Amygdala Take Over

There is a moment every rider eventually experiences.

The horse changes.

Not gradually, but instantly.

The body tightens, the neck comes up, the eyes lock, and you feel it, the horse is no longer in the same mental space.

This is the amygdala taking the controls.

When that happens, the rider’s job is not to win an argument.

The rider’s job is to survive intelligently and help the horse come back below threshold.

Here is what matters most.

1. Stop Asking for Sophisticated Decisions

Above threshold, the horse cannot process complexity.

Do not demand precision.

Do not add layers of pressure.

Your goal is not performance.

Your goal is regulation.

Simple, clear, survival level requests only.

Forward, bend, breathe.

That is all.

2. Do Not Pull Harder, Pulling Often Creates More Panic

In flight, the horse is not “ignoring the bit” out of stubbornness.

The horse is neurologically overridden.

Hauling on two reins often creates brace, escalation, or a straight line bolt.

If you must influence, think redirect, not restrain.

One rein guidance, soft bend, disengagement of the flight line, not a tug of war.

3. Give the Horse Something to Do That Is Possible

A panicked brain cannot stop.

But it can sometimes be redirected.

Small circles, bending lines, a change of direction, anything that interrupts the straight escape channel.

Do not trap the horse.

Redirect the horse.

Movement is not the enemy.

Uncontrolled straight flight is.

4. Lower Your Own Nervous System First

The horse feels you.

If you lock, brace, gasp, or stiffen, you feed the same loop.

Exhale.

Drop your shoulders.

Soften your hands.

A calm rider is not passive.

A calm rider is stabilising.

Your nervous system becomes the first external anchor.

5. Do Not Punish Fear

Panic is not disrespect.

Fear is not defiance.

Punishment in a fear state teaches only one lesson, the world is dangerous and the rider is part of it.

Correction belongs in training.

Fear belongs in restoration.

6. Get the Horse Back Under Threshold Before Teaching Anything

The ride is not about winning the moment.

The ride is about returning the horse to a learning brain.

When you feel the horse soften, blink, chew, breathe, lower the neck, you are coming back online.

Only then does schooling resume.

Until then, you are managing arousal, not training behaviour.

7. Reduce the Trigger Load Next Time

After an episode, the best horsemen ask:

What stacked the ladder?

Was it confinement, feed volatility, lack of turnout, new environment, rider tension, pain, novelty, timing?

You do not solve threshold events with bravery.

You solve them with design.

Lower the triggers.

Build confidence gradually.

Train under the line.

8. The Most Important Lesson

You cannot outmuscle the survival brain.

You cannot argue with the amygdala.

You can only prevent its takeover through preparation, and restore regulation when it occurs.

The goal is a horse that can feel concern and still stay available.

That is the highest training.

That is true calm.

Because when the amygdala owns the moment, the rider is not giving commands.

The rider is guiding the horse back to safety, neurologically, emotionally, and physically.