The appy lady and her mare had been experimenting in various ways with many moments of notable connection and successful presentations through feel. Much progress was made, but with a kind of staccato in which the moments did not flow together for the whole to be seen. One afternoon is not so much time, when you first dive into this. I wondered if the appy mare could help me help her owner see the bigger picture a little better, before we finished.
I simply asked the appy mare to go out onto a circle. Then I released her to a trot from a spot on the wall 15ft behind her. She moved off willingly for a stride or two. . . as she also shifted her weight down and forward in the transition, and ultimately stopped her feet within the next few strides. I could have added some pressure, and she may have kept going if she could, but her posture did not support that. I asked the appy lady why she thought her mare had stopped. “Does this look like a spot where your mare plants her feet and says ‘no’, as you described?” It was. Could she see that the mare was standing downhill with a slight tightening in her back and base of the neck? This was a new level of observation for the lady, but she could see it now.