Everyday we perform certain actions repeatedly, until they become secondnature or involuntary to us. Actions like walking, picking things up, using a knife, fork ortooth brush become everyday habits that we take for granted. However, that was not alwaysso.

What happens when a baby takes his first step? Mostly they wobble around a bit and then theyfall down. Babies are quite persistent however, instinctively realizing that they need toget up and mobile, so they try again. Over a period of tries they will get to where they canstand for a while and gradually be able to take progressively more steps until finally theycan walk. By the time children go to school, walking and running are things that they dowithout thought on the most part. Each of us in our day-to-day lives performs such actionsregularly without so much as a second thought. Remember the first time you tried to drive acar? For most adults now this task has also become one of habit.

So how is it that something that began as quite difficult ends up being something we doinstinctively? While practise makes perfect, why is this the case? It is because ofsomething called ‘Muscle Memory’. In crude terms, the first time we perform an action, a newmessage pathway from our brain to our limbs is created. Each time the action is performed,the message is once more relayed along this pathway. It’s a bit like accessing something onyour computer from the internet; the first time takes a while as the file downloads;repeated communications are much quicker. The more often the pathway is used from our brainto our limbs or fingers etc, the faster the message gets through, creating something like aninformation super highway for frequently performed tasks.

The first few times you do something new, you access the left side or thinking side of yourbrain. Repetition creates this message pathway and then Muscle Memory - which is the fibresin your muscle endings storing their own data – then leaves you free to perform otheractions whilst your body goes about the familiar actions automatically. This is why you canwalk, talk, tie your shoes, brush your teeth, write a letter, without much thought to theaction. The more repetitions you have, the easier it becomes.

Just think about what happens to someone who breaks an arm for example. Ifit’s the arm they generally favour, they then have to go about teaching their other arm andhand to perform the day-to-day functions they take for granted with the good arm. After somepractise, they begin to gain some kind of efficiency with the other arm. This is becauseMuscle Memory is being created. For an action to become smooth, easy and second nature,Muscle Memory must be created. Muscle Memory takes around 10,000 repetitions to create.That’s quite a few times you need to practise those indirect reins! The good news is thatunused Muscle Memory stays with you for around two years. Have you ever tried doingsomething you used to be good at some years earlier, only to find you have become a little‘rusty’? In this case, the Muscle Memory has begun to dissipate, the amount of which dependson how long it has been since you performed the action.

Give this a little thought next time you are out there doing something new with your horse,like a new rein position, or hopping on from the other side. You may feel uncoordinated andawkward at first. That’s okay and perfectly natural. Allow yourself the time to create newMuscle Memory. You might even speed things up a bit by practising without your horse; whileyou are watching telly, waiting for the kettle to boil, sitting in traffic in the car, onthe dance floor!! There are lots of opportunities to make life easier for both you and yourhorse. The sooner you have an action down as Muscle Memory, the sooner you can get on withsomething new!

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