When the Body Remembers

Written By Chelsie Dautrich

If you spend enough time around horses, you start to realize they carry far more than what we see on the surface. A horse may look calm, but feel tight. They may behave “fine,” yet something in their body tells you they are holding on to more than they can express.

This is where the idea of trapped emotions or blocked energy becomes useful. A horse’s nervous system, muscles, and fascia often remember the stress their mind never had the chance to release.

Energy work gives us another way to understand these patterns and support horses who are carrying more tension, worry, or emotional residue than their behavior lets on.

What Are Trapped Emotions or Blocked Energy

“Trapped emotion” is simply a name for an incomplete stress response. It is what happens when a horse feels fear, confusion, pain, or overwhelm, but cannot move through the steps that normally help them return to balance.

Horses release stress through:

  • movement

  • shaking

  • rolling

  • blowing out

  • yawning

  • herd connection

  • time and space

If this process gets interrupted, the nervous system stays activated, even if the moment has passed. The body then adapts to that tension. Muscles tighten, fascia stiffens, and the horse becomes more reactive or withdrawn.

Blocked energy is not a mystical concept. It is simply the body doing its best to cope without a clear way to reset.

Why Energy Gets Stuck

A horse’s stress response gets stuck when they:

  • are rushed during learning

  • show signals of discomfort that are ignored

  • experience pain or physical limitation

  • live in an environment that feels unpredictable

  • are separated from their herd or forced to live solo

  • are corrected for expressing fear, confusion, or any other emotion

  • feel trapped and freely cannot move their feet without human direction

  • work with a human who is tense, distracted, or stressed

In these moments, the horse’s body goes into a protective state. If this happens repeatedly, or if the horse never gets a true release, the pattern becomes embodied. The tension becomes familiar. Eventually, it becomes the horse’s new baseline.

This is where energy work and somatic awareness matter. We help the body find its way back to regulation.

Can We Prevent It?

Not every stressful moment can be prevented (that’s life!) but we can absolutely reduce how often stress becomes “stuck.”

A few powerful prevention strategies include:

  • Slowing down during training so the horse has time to process.

  • Listening early when the horse shows hesitation or concern.

  • Providing choice, even small choices, so they do not feel trapped.

  • Creating predictable environments that support nervous system safety.

  • Regulating your own energy before you ask the horse to regulate theirs.

  • Ensuring pain is addressed through proper veterinary visits and supporting modalities.

Prevention is less about avoiding stress and more about helping the horse move through stress completely.

What to Look For in Our Horses That Suggests a Blockage

Blocked energy or trapped emotion shows up differently in every horse, but here are common signs:

Physical Signs

  • tight, guarded muscles

  • sensitivity along the neck, ribs, or back

  • a horse who braces against touch

  • inconsistent stiffness that comes and goes

  • short, choppy strides when no lameness is present

  • tension in the jaw or poll

Behavioral Signs

  • overreacting to small triggers

  • difficulty focusing

  • shutting down or going blank

  • rushing through cues

  • resistance that feels disconnected from the task

  • anxiety in otherwise familiar places

Energetic Signs

  • a sense that your horse is “not fully present”

  • edgy or restless energy, even if standing still

  • flatness or heaviness that feels more like giving up than calm

  • difficulty relaxing into work or connection

Think of these signs as invitations, not accusations. Your horse is telling you something about their internal experience.

How Can We Release It Safely

Releasing trapped emotion or blocked energy is all about creating the conditions where the nervous system feels safe enough to let go.

Here are gentle, effective ways to support release:

1. Ground Yourself First

Your horse mirrors your internal state. Take a moment to breathe, soften your eyes, relax your jaw, and feel your feet under you. A regulated human helps a dysregulated horse come back to center. We can’t teach calm, but we can lead them to it.

2. Move Slowly and Give Space

Horses release more when they do not feel rushed. Allow pauses between cues. Step back when the horse processes. Let them shake, lick, chew, or yawn without interruption.

3. Use Soft, Mindful Touch

Energy work does not require pressure. Placing a warm, relaxed hand on an area of tension and simply waiting can be enough for the body to begin unwinding.

4. Offer Choice

Let your horse walk away briefly and come back. Lower the difficulty of the task. Change the environment if needed. Choice is safety, and safety allows release.

5. Bring in a Practitioner When Needed

Sometimes the patterns run deep, and outside support helps. A qualified energy worker or bodyworker can assist the horse in releasing the tension patterns they cannot shift alone.

Release might look like:

  • slow blinking

  • blowing out

  • yawning

  • stretching

  • full body shaking

  • softness returning to the eyes and posture

Let it happen in its own time.

Conclusion

Horses never “hide” stress from us. Their bodies tell the truth long before their behavior does. Trapped emotions and energetic imbalances are simply places where the nervous system did not get the chance to complete a cycle. When we learn to recognize these patterns and support release, we help our horses find their way back to comfort, clarity, and connection.

Equine energy work offers our horses a safe space to unwind what they have carried for too long. And when they do, the shift is unmistakable.

Chelsie Dautrich