I had not meant for the mare to stop of course. She seemed to know that, and almost seemed surprised that she had stopped. It did not seem to match her plan somehow. She seemed a tad bewildered and unsure what to do next with her feet.
THAT VEIN OF GOLD AGAIN, BUT EACH ONE IS UNIQUE
We were at that spot again, the one mentioned earlier, that is often journeyed through when transitioning to a feel-based approach in which an escalation of pressure to achieve a particular response is not the strategy. My job for her was to follow my feel and she had done exactly that. Yet here she was again, stuck in her accurate delivery of the foundation previously taught, and hesitant about how to be right and/or whether to expect increased pressure from me in her uncertainty. An escalation would not serve my purpose here. I needed to help her restore her balanced and athletic locomotion so she could succeed in her offer.
That special, catalytic spot presented differently this time: her mind had stayed with me. She was still following my feel, as she offered all four feet repeatedly and turned to stay with my float, but her forward movement had got stuck.
It seemed to matter to her a great deal that she would choose the right answer.
I wanted to be sure in that moment of two things: first, that she had time to sort out that simply following my feel was exactly what was expected – the new job; and second, that she felt right in every try she made. It was my commitment to her to convey my meaning, through a feel of release, so her try would always be right – if it wasn’t what I meant, I would adjust.