Super Horse!

I had super and very different sessions with Finn yesterday and this morning. Yesterday, I was still feeling pretty unmotivated and bummed about my saddle, so I decided not to ride and instead pulled out our old "friend" the tarp.

I realize our long and checkered past with the tarp precedes this blog, so to briefly sum it up: we have had issues. We spent a great deal of time working with it early this year, but we were stuck at tolerance, not acceptance. While I could toss it on and around him, have him walk over and across it, and even get him to put his front feet on it for short periods of time, he was not truly calm about any of it.

Finn's injury in March interrupted our program with the tarp, and when he was 100% again, I decided to let it rest a while longer. We were making so much progress in other areas, strengthening my leadership and our mutual trust, that I wanted to see how his feelings about the tarp might change just because so much stuff between us had changed. Well, based on his response yesterday, I'd say this was an excellent decision!



To be honest, I cannot believe this is my horse. I have studied this video and the others I took over and over again wondering if he might be "catatonic," but as best as I can tell, he is simply relaxed, which is how I read it in the moment, too. What a novel concept! Seriously, I am in disbelief.

Next up, crossing:



This might not look like much, but it is SO improved. Earlier this year, I could get him to cross, but he felt like he might leap 20 feet in the air at any moment if the tarp so much as wiggled a smidge. At first he would rush, and I would reward him with a break only for walking. Then he figured out he was supposed to walk, and it was the TIGHTEST walk I had ever seen!

He started out super yesterday, then back-tracked a little into uncertainty, then ended on what you see in the above video, which I consider absolutely awesome. This is a horse I could imagine riding across a tarp without fearing for my life. That is major progress.

There are still a couple things I'd really like to get solid with the tarp. First, actually tying it to my saddle and having Finn carry it through some ground work. Second, having him be able to stop and stand on it 100% relaxed. Third, crossing it confidently from the saddle. And fourth, dragging it from the saddle and even being able to pull it up and over him. The thing is, I feel 100% closer to all of those things after yesterday's session. Now I feel like they are all within reach.

Moving on to this morning's session... I have been getting some inspiration and ideas from a new series of free videos released by Karen Rohlf, and I finally felt motivated enough to actually play with the D,N exercises again. I went out today with the intention to focus on 100% clarity in the simple things.

The nice thing is Finn and I actually have quite a lot of clarity already. I think even an objective observer would agree that our communication is high quality. Not perfect, but certainly above average. What was really helpful, though, was the reminder to strive for 100% clarity, and the high level of focus that requires, at all times. Also, the reminder of how important 100% clarity is to helping the horse be a confident, motivated and willing partner. Of course the horse will be more interested in working for someone who remembers to tell them how absolutely right they are!

After working at this for a while, I shifted to thinking about creating "inspired" movement. After listening to Karen's videos, I was thinking a lot about how to help Finn feel truly inspired and eager to let his power come through. In other words, really getting to the core of the conversation about energy we've been kinda stuck on for the last several weeks.

I asked Finn to show me what freedom looks like. I told him I knew he was so full of power, and I'll love if he could show me some of it. I showed him some freedom in my own body, exaggerating my body motions and really shaking it loose. I went out to really and truly PLAY with it, instead of having a certain way of doing it in mind. And the last thing I changed was I tied my stirrups up, to remove one reason he had to hold back while working on line while saddled. (While he is not afraid of the stirrups bouncing around, he finds it unpleasant, and I can't blame him.)

Well, among those changes we found the key, because we really got it today, first on line and then under saddle. I felt transitions so free and flowing I almost missed being stoked about it because it felt so easy! We quit our on line session on a walk-trot-canter transition in which Finn showed me three strides of the biggest, most elevated, most powerful trot I've ever seen him offer. While the riding was, by design, a little less exuberant, the last transitions felt no less free. And I made sure Finn knew he had gotten it, 100%! Yes, yes, yes! I told him he was my hero.

I am realizing how important and powerful it is for the horse to feel safe to make such a big offer, and how critical it is to make it SO clear to them that's exactly what you wanted when they do. Especially for a quiet, timid type like Finn! This is how we inspire a horse through 100% clarity.

So, both days offered big victories, and opened the road to so much more I want to play with! That's always a good thing. While it's lovely to dwell on moments like these, one makes progress by continuing to move forward... onward and upward.