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.
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.
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.
It was Hannah's first day and our first session together. Maia had just arrived, was pretty unsettled and hard to catch. Here's what happened next and how we switched Maia's response to SEEK OUT her person - not with food or pressure, but with a simple change in FEEL. For tips on how to do this yourself, watch the free replay of the full Refine Your Feel tutorial here.
A metal snap on the end of a lead-rope is a pretty practical invention but it does have its disadvantages. Especially if you are interested in refining your feel.
