I was working with a horse yesterday who pins his ears with a mind to bring his teeth up to your face in any move that might involve touching his ears, such as haltering. It's tempting to gloss over such things and get to the actual plan we had in mind. But how he feels about equipment on his head will be in all his responses.
A stretchy connection is one that allows you and your horse to stay together on things, when things get challenging - it's a connection that stretches instead of snapping.
How you are anywhere is how you are everywhere, from your horse's point of view. So how you respond in tough moments shapes what your horse learns to expect from you.
There is SO much more to enjoy in our horses when we stop trying to be a better "boss" leader - especially when that does not come naturally - and bring more of ourselves into being the kind of leader our horse enjoys. It feels different when our horses follow our lead because there is meaning for him/her within a good Connection Flow, not because things will get uncomfortable if they don't.
Bentley was chronically uptight under saddle. Becky had improved this by exercising him for about 20 mins, but was seeking a better solution because this seemed to be needed at the start of every session, no matter what she tried.
This was a memorable one! Our riders had to negotiate their way through pow wows, jousting contests and parading stallions to get our Ever-Evolving Dressage presentation arena. Now that creates a little tension to relieve in the horses as you can imagine.
