The pause box

Sometimes it can be very beneficial to build moments of rest into your work. This can be during groundwork, starting a horse under saddle, but also while riding.
Something I personally really enjoy working with is “the pause box.”

The pause box is an imaginary place (it can be anywhere), where you can place your horse at a distance, with a low neck, to take a moment to pause.

This can help both you and your horse tremendously to process things and find a moment of calm.
On the ground, you can teach this step by step:

Preparatory exercises:
Moving the hindquarters away from the circle, creating space for yourself, backing up, and the exercise of asking the horse to lower his neck. You can then combine these exercises, which results in the pause box.

From the circle, you move the hindquarters away so the horse comes to stand facing you.
You ask your horse to step backwards using your breathing (inhale), energy (upward), posture (making yourself bigger), and your leading hand (upward), supported by energy through the line or lead rope (a light “jingle” towards him).

When he stops again at a distance of about 2–3 meters, you ask him to follow your leading hand by moving it downward with the line in it, inviting your horse to lower his neck.
If he does not (yet) respond, you take one step towards him and ask again.
If he still does not respond, you take another step towards him and ask again. You can keep moving closer until you are standing next to him.

After that, you move yourself back to the place you started from.

In this exercise, it is important to calmly show him what you do want, and then return to your starting position, 2–3 meters away from him.
Horses often find this very pleasant, and once they understand what is expected, they truly find rest in it.

During starting under saddle, especially with very sensitive horses, I often notice that they will already choose the pause box themselves when something becomes very exciting or overwhelming for them.

Example:
I was working with a very sensitive, insecure and flighty horse. I had only been on him for the second or third time when suddenly… hunters started shooting.
And what did he do? He startled forward, sideways, buckled through his knees and… went straight into his pause box.

I was so grateful that I had taught him that.