"Do you shake your head and maybe get a little dizzy just trying to understand how you can connect your horse? What does it really mean? How can you tell if your horse is connecting?"
In this session Trudy brought Ani to another barn and had to focus on keeping Ani's attention. They are preparing to go to a dressage show so this is very important right now. Ani is moving up the training scale is and is going from a "green horse" balance and connection to "training level" where she is being asked to stay more connected. We start with the Steps to Connection where Trudy checks to make sure that Ani is soft in her jaw, in her poll and loose in her neck. at the same time as Trudy is using her leg aid, when the hind foot is off the ground on that side) During that process Trudy begins to feel that Ani is pulling on the rein contact (which is still new to Ani) This is a sign that Trudy was really holding the rein to long and is something that happens to all riders. Once we knew what was happening I started to ask Trudy to connect Ani on one side of her body, than the other. It was a great way to break up Trudy's old habits and to build a foundation for her to feel that she can connect Ani for a few steps. I started calling this the "2 Steps" It is a form of a half halt on one side of the horse.
Are you ready to take your horse to the next level of connection? Try the Two Step Connection process and see how it works for you. Stay tuned as this week I tried this process on more horses and riders and we had some amazing results that I will be sharing with you here.
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