Soft Eyes: Tap Into the Power of Your Gaze

The concept of soft eyes is nothing new. Sally Swift, in her landmark 1985 book, Centered Riding, was responsible for introducing riders to this way of looking, but the soft eyes principle has long been taught as a central precept in various martial arts, like Aikido and Tai Chi Chu’an.

Rather than thinking, “Yeah, yeah, soft eyes, got it”, take a moment to revisit this concept and think about whether you are using it fully to benefit your riding. Sometimes, the smallest things we change can give us the biggest results. Soft eyes just might be that thing for you.

Do not look at your opponent’s sword, or you will be slain by his sword. Do not look into his eyes, or you will be drawn into his eyes. Do not look at him, or your spirit will be distracted.

– Morihei Uyeshiba
  Founder of Aikido (“The Art of Peace”)

To begin to understand soft eyes, we usually start by considering its opposite, which is hard eyes. When you are looking with hard eyes, you focus your vision intently on one thing, concentrating on its shape, form, and detail. This is useful when doing something like removing a splinter from a finger, but in activities involving movement, balance, and awareness… not so much.

With soft eyes, you let your eyes physically relax. Instead of focusing on one thing, you allow that thing to be at the center of your gaze, while simultaneously taking in the largest possible expanse within your full field of vision. This includes peripheral vision both to the left and right, as well as above and below. By using soft eyes you increase your awareness of everything going on around you.

Vision is important for balance. Try standing on one leg, taking note of how long you can stay upright without having to grab onto something or put the other leg down. Now, stand on one leg again, but this time close your eyes. Notice how much harder it is to stay balanced without the benefit of visual feedback. Fixing the gaze with hard eyes has a similar negative effect on your ability to stay straight, centered, and balanced on the horse’s back. Often riders will go along staring at their horse’s poll, or at the ground to the inside of the circle. By riding in this way, they are cutting off valuable feedback that aids them in balance. Experiment with keeping your eyes up and gaze soft, and see if you feel a difference in your balance and your ability to softly stay with your horse.

If you train in a group setting, using soft eyes will enable you to stay aware of the lines of travel of your riding companions while simultaneously focusing on your own program, easily working together, seamlessly making adjustments for the movements of the others, and sharing the same space without running the risk of collision or upset.

Soft eyes come in especially handy in the warm up ring at a show. I remember a few years ago showing my horse at his first show at Second Level in Palgrave. At this show there were six show rings running simultaneously for three days, with designated areas for us to warm up in so the ring stewards could keep track of everyone and keep things running smoothly. The ring I was showing in was right next to the Grand Prix ring, so riders at both levels were to share a warm up ring.

As we warmed up for our test, my horse was intimidated by the Grand Prix horses in the ring with us, as they passaged loftily about or came flying across the diagonal in a line of tempi changes every stride. He was pretty sure that we ought to exit stage left at the earliest possible opportunity! I had to stay centered, relaxed, and aware to give him confidence that this was all normal. By remembering to use soft eyes I gave myself awareness of everything happening in the ring so nothing would surprise me, and I could make my horse confident in my guidance. To add to the challenge that day, one of our Canadian Olympic riders was warming up for her Grand Prix test, and she kept her gaze firmly fixed on her horse’s ears throughout, oblivious to the movements of others in the ring, who simply had to keep out of her way! This experience illustrated to me that it’s not just us regular riders that need to be reminded to use our soft eyes.

The enhanced awareness of everything around you that comes from using soft eyes includes you being more aware of what is going on under you with your horse. With soft eyes you will find yourself more open to the feedback that your horse is giving you through your seat, as opposed to how isolated you are when your attention is fixated on a single point. Using soft eyes has the effect of making your ride more of a two-way conversation as you stay aware of, and receptive to, what he is telling you. With hard, narrowly focused eyes, you introduce unwanted muscle tension into both of your bodies and block your ability to feel the horse’s back with your seat.

This hard eyes versus soft eyes dichotomy reminds me of a life philosophy, where our human nature is to fixate on one (usually negative!) thing to the exclusion of all else. But, by doing this we miss out on the awareness and enjoyment of many other things in our lives. If I go around all day ruminating on the fact that my dog has a wound that won’t heal, or an unpleasant incident with a customer, or the water bowl out back that still isn’t fixed, I miss out on noticing so much, like the sun is shining, my other animals are healthy, and the big group of wonderful clients who appreciate and inspire me.

A great time to develop awareness of soft eyes is during your warm up. If you start by walking on a long rein for 10 minutes, use this time to switch between fixing your focus on a point, and then letting your eyes go soft and see how much you can take in visually. Then, notice if you are more aware of what your horse’s back, body, and hind legs are doing.

Experiment with soft eyes, and let me know what you notice.