Contents:
MicroRiding Gets a "Hooves Up" from our Horses

More Thumbs Up for Microriding from Clinic Participants: Four Posts from the Click That teaches List
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MicroRiding Gets a "Hooves Up" from our Horses

By Alexandra Kurland

What an amazing group! As usual, I've been traveling so I haven't been able to participate on the list, but I have been reading the posts - and what a wonderful conversation it has been! The posts this past month have been exceptional. Thank you everyone!!

I hesitate to single out individual posts for comments. There have been so many good ones, if I start rattling off names of people to thank, I'm bound to leave someone out and that would be terrible. And besides, the list would be such a long one. There hasn't been a post that wasn't worth reading. This is such a great group of wonderfully thoughtful, supportive people. I'm proud to be part of this community of caring horse people.

Having said that, I am going to thank three people for three magnificent posts on micro riding. Margaret, Arlene, Katie, your posts were wonderful. If any of you missed their posts, you should make a point of going back and reading them.

The clinics this spring and summer have had micro riding as a primary focus. I've been teaching it, but I haven't had much of an opportunity to ask my own horses what they think of the process that's been evolving. Last night I finally got caught up enough with barn chores to ride. I wasn't expecting very much, just a quick ride, more to give a couple of the horses some extra attention than to work on any particular training piece. This last trip out was a particularly long one, twelve days total. And this is on top of a spring and summer of traveling so basically they haven't been in steady work for a couple of months.

In the past after such a long absence, either I would be stiff and out of shape, or the horses would be. Either way, normally the first couple of rides would be low key affairs. I wouldn't expect much, just some simple walk on a long rein, pick up into some easy flexions, nothing heavy duty or demanding of either of us, just easy, light work to get us both tuned up.

Well last night I rode Sindri and Peregrine, and neither one of them wanted a low key evening. They were ready to give me energy! I had wonderful rides on both horses. Charlotte has been describing all the new found energy she's been getting from Hylo. My horses confirmed this. Micro riding changes riders. You don't have to be actively, deliberately using it for the horses to key into the difference. The process changes the mobility in your joints and the alignment of your spine. I know my horses. I know how they normally feel after a long break, and I was wowed by the difference I felt in them last night. And when I did start to deliberately, actively use the micro riding both horses responded with even more.

Micro riding is subtle. The responses they gave me were subtle, but they were very real, and they resulted in macro differences in both horses. In teaching I often use the phrase : "go to people for opinions and horses for answers." Last night my horses gave me their answer, and it was a definite "hooves up" to micro riding!

So I want to thank everyone again for sharing your experiences with micro riding here on this list. If we are going to have fine-tuned, micro-shaped horses, we need fine-tuned, micro-shaped riders to match them. Micro-riding is the process that connects the dots.

I've collected some great video of the process, so a DVD on micro riding is on my list of fall projects. I suspect that this is one of those things that benefits from direct clinic experience, but in the absence of that, the posts and the DVD, when it comes out, will fill in the gap.

What I do know from the clinics is everyone has been successful in feeling much more than they every imagined was possible. We've had a huge range of experience from very novice to very knowledgeable riders. I love watching the expressions of people as they've worked in their groups of three. You'll see the "monitors" looking very perplexed. "How I can I feel when someone is thinking about rotating her thigh bone? I have my hand on her shoulder. I'm not going to be able to feel anything. Except, I did feel a change. How is that possible!? This is just too spooky!!! Let me try that again. I did feel it! That is so neat!" And the riders will report that they are doing so little, and yet the changes we see as observers are huge. It's a fascinating, very fun, very accessible process. And, as we've been reading from the post clinic reports, my horses aren't the only ones who have been giving a solid "hooves up", yes answer to micro-riding.

Alexandra Kurland
theclickercenter.com

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More Thumbs Up for Microriding from Clinic Partipants

The following was written by Margaret Leach, one of the participants at the Groton NY July clinic and posted to the Click_that_Teaches list July 26

Having recently returned from the Groton clinic, I had to share how much Alex/s microshaping/body awareness instruction is helping me with my mare, Meadowlark, who is sensitive, reactive and still struggles with her emotions and flight response when faced with new places or unusual activity in her familiar environment..

Alex has evolved a body awareness/body alignment training for clicker participants that makes use of behavior chains, tag teaching and the microshaping work she had previously used for horses. And having experienced its power this past weekend, I do believe she is really on to something important and that it can provide powerful changes for the rider portion of the rider/horse unit.

For me, the test of any teaching is whether I can apply it myself at home in my own situation and does it make a difference in my life or get me past a sticky point. I was so excited and enthralled with the changes in my own body alignment and that it made a difference in my horse handling skills immediately and effectively! Her method for altering body alignment/body awareness is easy to learn, quick to apply and highly effective. I can reliably apply it on my own without needing an instructor or practioner with me to provide the cueing or induce the changes in my "self-carriage."

I love that her method is fast to do and easy to learn. I have had a lot of body work and explored yoga, Feldenkrais, and a little tai chi but always found I fell out of the daily hour of practice that is needed for months and possibly years in order to transform the body. What I love about Alex's sequence is that I learned it quickly, easily and that it is fast to perform. I can do it on the fly wherever I am without requiring equipment or looking weird. (I just can't brimg myself to do a tai chi or yoga warm up in the barn when others are around to observe.) And it changes my body and how I feel inside! The best part is how my horse is responding to those changes and how it makes it possible for me to be more effective in applying Alex's rope handling skills and training progressions to my horses.

At the clinic, I felt so grounded and my back was lengthened and my neck and chest opened. I felt strong, capable, confident and calm after she had led me through the process. I saw the changes in other participants in how they stood and could start to see how it could affect their horse's way of going.

The internal sensations were all wonderful but I have felt similar things after massage, rolfing, Feldenkrais, yoga and cranio-sacral treatments. The difference that had me so excited was that this doesn't require me to go to a practitioner every week. I can reproduce it for and within myself and I can do it in seconds. Alex was the monitor but I was the one going inside my body and making the minute adjustments that led to profound changes in how I felt and moved. And it clearly is changing Meadowlark's perceptions of me as well.

The other part that I love is the sensation that is generated feels so good that practice becomes self-rewarding instead of a self imposed disclipline that I have to nag myself to do. I was almost late for the second day of the clinic as I couldn't stop exploring the alignment process while I was showering, dressing, and walking around the house. I explored it while I hand grazed my horse and while I trained. In my view this microshaping of the trainer/riding is something well worth learning.

I was able to go home from the clinic in the evening and practice with my two mares, I discovered that after doing my grounding/lengthening body check, I was moving differently. Meadowlark was no longer spooking at her favorite spook spots. I wa able to be light, slow and relaxed in my rope handling and I felt like a ballet dancer in my motion instead of my more characteristic feeling of klutziness.

I have intellectually understood Alex's instructions about rope handling, how to do 3F3 with a horse and how to set up a tai chi wall. But no matter how I struggled, my nervous system frequently translated my intent into movement that was fast or jerky and my fingers seemed determined to grasp and grip rather than slide like a dancer's. I had a hard time with being both fast and firm then immediately soft and light on the lead rope or rein.

If my horse got frightened or emotional I could get fast and firm but I also became grasping and heavy handed and slow to lighten up so she could feel trapped and sometimes escalate her emotional meltdown. If I was soft and light, she could spook and spin before I could respond quickly enough. She was well past me before I could set up a tai chi wall. If I had to take hold of the lead rope firmly, it was hard to let go or lighten up quickly and precisely. So I coped by avoidng certain situations that I knew would set off Meadowlark's emotions or fears and I quit using the things that I just couldn't seem to do well, like the tai chi wall.

The result was that we could do some things wonderfully (like trailer loading/riding) but there were holes and gaps in Meadowlark's training and weak spots in her coping skills. I trained where I could but what I couldn't train made a difference and I felt like we were stuck at a certain level and never getting past it. And turning her over to a trainer in her youth was a mistake I still regret as I am still undoing the consequences. So we muddled through as best we could. She was wonderfully trained in many ways, leading and lunging at liberty, but not a horse I was willing to put my bones on as I knew safety was still an issue. Sometimes we had a spook in place but taking her into new environments was not a happy experience for either of us.

I have had several days to practice Alex's body awareness and since the clinic, I am taking Meadowlark on long walks while I practice my microriding skills from the ground. I am seeing that I can take her to fields she would normally refuse to go to or I could have a horse in meltdown if I insisted. I can now pass objects that would have her spinning around normally. Once she did spook at a noise in a hedgerow but I was immediately able to use the tai chi wall without her bolting past me and I was immediately able to lighten up and soften. Within two requests for head lowering, she was calm and quiet and we walked on as if nothing had happened.

We are taking daily walks, exploring the far reaches of the farm that had been off limits for my own safety, and she is showing curiosity and genuine eagerness to explore. Every time we approach a situation that I know would normally trigger her reactivity, I quickly do my body alignment check, grounding myself and extending my spine into an open, confident posture. It is helping her! She is staying soft and curious. And I am experienced enough with training her over the years to know how to use an approach/retreat process with her to move her into new territory and back to safety and then into newer territory, so we stay in a comfortable zone of exploring.

In the last several days we have worked in the outdoor arena, the field below the arena, the furtherest field from the barn, the scary place in the woods behind the barn, walking past tractors and lawnmowers and trailers with her next to them. She is doing it all calmly and with interest. She is even going past the scary gate at the front of the arena with me on her other side. For a long time the only way she could get by it without spooking was for me to be next to it. I am definitely giving her time to get used to things, to choose her pace and giving her the opportunity to sniff and stare but we are expanding our horizons.

Having been a physical therapsit and having traiining in how the nervous system works and folllowing brain research as a kind of hobby, I was so impressed at how effective Alex was in both her cueing and the choices of the levels in the body where she has a person focus and explore. I had assumed she had consulted a whole host of specialists both in traditional healing and in alternative methods. No,she hadn't but with her years of horse training and body exploration and her trust in her creativity and gift for making difficult things accessible to the ordinary person, she has come up with another very important piece to help us live our dreams of ballet on horseback.

If you get a chance to explore microriding, do so. And experiencing it is so very different from than reading about it. I have been pleased and surprised the difference it has brought both to my own sense of well being and how it has helped me break through a glass ceiling in my training process, especially with Meadowlark.

Margaret Leach

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This post was written by Sue Hall, another Groton clinic participant and posted to the list on July 26

As always the Groton clinic was hard to put in words; that is why I leave it
up to Katie, but I will try. We have a very special, supportive group that
has skills and knowledge beyond what most of us can imagine. This is my 3rd
or 4th year with this group and always come away relaxed, focused and
energized, this clinic was no exceptions. I can't of course speak for the
group but my experience was deeply enlightening.

Before we rode on Saturday we explored different parts of our bodies and
tried to bring awareness to them. We started with our shoulder and I found
that taking the gross movements out and just being aware of dropping my
shoulder blade took a bit of work. Once that was working in that "subtle
breathing into that space kind of way" we moved on to moving our ribs out.
When I say "moving our ribs out or to the side" we actually just breathed
into that space that we wanted our ribs to go to and they did. This was
really an exercise in less is more.

Alex took us slowly over the next 2 days building not only awareness of
certain body parts but learning the ability to create a flow of energy that
not only went down to our bubbling spring but back up to our head chakras (
it feels like when a horse pricks his ears up). We worked with a mediator
that focused us on each body part and gave us feed back as to what they were
feeling.

I found that my first instinct especially because I am a bit skeptical was
to think that the mediator is just pulling your chain. However both are
learning at the same time how to filter out all of the body noise and feel
the energy specific to what has been asked for. In very little time we had
completely stunned each other with sensations that you have to feel to
believe. Arlene Colon and I were working together on Sunday morning and we
were moving towards her bubbling spring, she was the rider and I was the
mediator. With my hand lightly on her left shoulder blade we moved down her
body to her bubbling spring and I waited because I could feel that she
wasn't over it. I waited for her to adjust and find it, I clicked her and
told her what I had felt and she couldn't believe it but it was crystal
clear to me, I could even tell her what side she had been on at first. It
was amazing.

Now to the horses; I can only speak here to for myself except to say that
what I saw in the horses that rode on the weekend was truly amazing. Not
only did the rider's position seem lighter and more relaxed but the horses
responded almost in anticipation to this new feel. I don't take Busy to
Groton as I live in Canada and crossing the border with a horse is
difficult. Kate Graham and Linn Sweeney kindly let me play with one or both
of their wonderful horses. This weekend I was honored and privileged to
play with Tucson. Tucson and I have worked together only 3 times a year for
the last 3 or 4 years and over that time we have gone from a horse that is
unhappy in most if not all parts of this body to a horse that is
enthusiastic and patient with me as we develop our repertoire of foundation
skills together. On this weekend Tucson was gorgeous and kind and ready to
work. He hadn't been ridden for, I believe Kate said over a year, so I
asked for nothing on Saturday except some forward energy and the odd soften
of his jaw. I practiced what we had been working on and what I found was
that each time I asked him to go forward I didn't have to go very far down
or up the chain to get his energy. The first couple of times I went down to
my bubbling spring back up to the head chakra and then waited for him to
respond; if he didn't I tried again. After maybe 3 tries we started to move
back the number of elements of this energy chain needed to engage him and
get forward movement. He didn't pin his ears and because I waited for him
to process this feeling he knew very quickly what it was that I was asking
for. I also tried not to complicate what I was asking for at the start just
move forward was good enough. The only reason I through in some jaw softens
every once in a while was because he was looking for more.

Sunday I had no goal I knew that Tucson would tell me what we needed to work
on and he gave me a wonderful ride so full of energy that had I gone all of
the way to the head chakra we would have been trotting. Each time he gave
me energy was one step before the last ask. I remember a number of times
actually saying wow out loud. At the end of the day we had not only
established an even amount of energy that we have never had before, but we
got 3 great soften your jaw to the left around a cone, straight through the
middle of the circle and 3 softens of the jaw in the other direction. This
was more than I had hoped for with him and rewarded him by getting off his
back, he was a superstar.

The upshot for me of this clinic, was that thought is far more powerful than
actions.

I wasn't able to stay for Monday this time as I was concerned for my boy at
home, hopefully Katie can fill us in on that day and no doubt add so much
more about the weekend than I can.

Cheers,

Sue and Busy

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Here's another clinic post, this one written by Arlene Colon, July 27

Dear Margaret,

What a lovely and well written post you've given us describing the effects the micro-riding body awareness sessions have had on you and by extension on Meadowlark. I felt very was lucky to also be at that the same clinic and had heard you tell us on that second morning that Meadowlark had responded so positively to the "new you" you brought home to her on the very first evening. But the progress you've described in this post is truly astounding. It almost sounds like this is the start of a brand new journey with Meadowlark, and that those hard barriers that seemed so resistant to change or insurmountable are now starting to crumble before your eyes. How WONDERFUL. Thank you so much for that report!I

Poor Katie (Katie Bartlett) - I know we all seem to leave it up to her to write the full overall Groton Clinic reports. But I'll make a few comments here because we are probably witnessing the beginning of a MONUMENTAL change in thinking about "riding". I think Alex's method may revolutionize the way instructors and students will view horse-rider interactions in the years to come, and will have an effect on how persons following these procedures will view and feel about themselves after engaging in this process for even a short while.

It's clear from all the enthusiastic posts written after Alex's recent clinics that the ramifications of her explorations into micro-riding body awareness work has now been experienced by many clinic participants. For those of you reading who may feel left out because you are not able to go to one of Alex's clinics - DON'T WORRY. Yes it is nice to be introduced to these concepts in such a setting, but rest assured that you also will be able to access the same information and results on your own. Just keep reading the micro-riding posts and try out what you understand of it on your own. Ask your questions and monitor yourselves or ask a friend to monitor you and give you CT feedback. You'll be surprised how in-tune with your body you will become, and how quickly it will affect your body alignment, centering your daily activities, and your interactions with your horse. Who knows, maybe someone will post a video that will guide others through the body awareness sequence.

Since April of this year, when I first heard Alex introduce the term micro-riding at the Spring Groton Clinic, I had been playing at home with body awareness and subtle thought control over the movement of some body parts (shoulder blades, top of the femur), using a hand held mirror as my "monitor". It was so exciting when I realized that I COULD influence the positioning (up, down, out, in) more and more with just a thought to do so. A friend monitoring you would probably best feel the changes in your body parts by placing their hand on one of your shoulder blades (because it is an area with large muscles around it). But a mirror will give you some of the same feedback when you are alone, and in fact will allow you to see your muscle movements without the cover of clothing in the privacy of your room if you want. For me, the mirror gave me the feedback, first letting me see my macro movements, then more and more I learned to elicit and gain control over the micro movements. It became easier and easier to access the movements consciously, and then just with a quick thought.

The best realization was that I could rotate the top of my femur independently or together with other body parts. It was a fun game. At the April Groton clinic Alex had given us information-gathering homework to do. She had suggested that we record what happened in some of our exercises with our horses at home (WWYLM, 3F3, HSS) when we consciously moved some chosen body part(s) in different ways. I played with that in a crude way, but I hadn't reported to the list because I felt my journal entries into the investigation just needed to explore so many more variables. But I probably needn't have been so scientific about it, because my house (Charm) gave me all the positive reinforcement I needed for the good combinations, and very quickly let me know also the combinations that didn't "work".

In the meantime I noticed some changes in my body alignment and balance that started to appear seemingly effortlessly as a by-product of just becoming aware and gaining control of body parts that previously seemed just to have a mind of their own. One of the most surprising and nicest results of playing with these body awareness exercises for me has been the discovery that I CAN put my shoulder blades down AND at the same time rotate my femurs AND tuck my pelvis WITHOUT hollowing my back. I could never do that before!!

Margaret, you're comments on Alex's new micro-riding venture are so true:

>> Her method for altering body alignment/body awareness is easy to learn, quick to apply and highly effective. I can reliably apply it on my own without needing an instructor or practioner with me to provide the cueing or induce the changes in my "self-carriage." ..... I love that her method is fast to do and easy to learn. I have had a lot of body work and explored yoga, Feldenkrais, and a little tai chi but always found I fell out of the daily hour of practice that is needed for months and possibly years in order to transform the body. What I love about Alex's sequence is that I learned it quickly, easily and that it is fast to perform. I can do it on the fly wherever I am without requiring equipment or looking weird. (I just can't brimg myself to do a tai chi or yoga warm up in the barn when others are around to observe.) ....the sensation that is generated feels so good that practice becomes self-rewarding instead of a self imposed disclipline that I have to nag myself to do. <<

I agree wholeheartedly and I'm anxious for everyone on this list to experience this for themselves.

At this last July Groton Clinic Alex extended the awareness exercises to progress even further. We were asked to just THINK about or bring awareness to different parts of our body in sequential circuits:
1. First a centering/alignment sequence (shoulders, to ribs, to top of thigh, to lower leg, to bubbling spring), .... then proceed on to
2. Tongue to upper palate, to poll, to top of head (or head chackra), .... then on to
3. to filling the back of heart, to back of your diaphragm, to front of your diaphragm ,
4. and finally then sending the energy out in some direction.

At first you start out slowly because your mind/body doesn't really know what it is feeling, and each step is methodically carried out consciously. You repeat each part of a sequence a few times until you get familiar with the sensations. But soon your body just responds as an entire chain of responses on the first thought, and boom - you find yourself aligned without much effort. I guess this is similar to what the horses do as they get familiar with the progressions towards alignment and balance in such exercises as 3F3 and HSS. Immediately at the first feel of a cue the whole sequence and final effect is there to be had!

These sequences were truly revolutionary. I can confidently say that everyone in the clinic felt at some point or other probably felt that it was almost spooky, because both "rider" and monitor found they were coinciding perfectly in sending the thought and feeling it's effect. It really was at the level of thought!

Sue Hall wrote in her post about the clinic >> The upshot for me of this clinic, was that thought is far more powerful than actions.<< She is so right! And the beauty of it all was that by the time we got out to ride mindfully during the clinic the horses (who are the best monitors of all) told us to the very last one that they were definitely feeling the onset of these thoughts and were responding beautifully to our newly found alignments, centered-ness, and energy. My own horse teacher (the beautiful Miss Button) who in past clinics barely gave me forward, finally in this clinic danced with me through the cones in a lovely 3F3 balance in requested geography, and the third day she even felt my energy asking for more and offered me a lovely trot!! It almost made me cry!

Just one more thing .... During the clinic Margaret pointed out the tongue has major neurological pathways and connections tying in to many parts of brain and body. During the clinic I verified that concretely in my own body. It was amazing how "collection" in my body was so quickly triggered and accessed as soon as I touched my tongue to the roof of my mouth. The whole chain for this just seemed to happen as one event. After I came home, I've continued observing myself and self monitoring by placing my hand lightly on the top of my thigh while I engage or think of engaging different parts other than hip or thigh (e.g. shoulder blades, ribs, bubbling spring, tongue, poll, top of head, etc.) It's amazing how easily I can feel all these parts with my hand at the top of the thigh. Even more surprising was the observation that even the thought of moving my tongue to the roof of my mouth was easily felt. It was uncanny ... almost unbelievable. It feels like a pulse. You have to try it out yourself to believe it. I could detect movement of my tongue this way even while lying down in bed.

So I tested this new-found awareness out on Charm. So far every single time (and I do mean EVERY time) I've mindfully touched my tongue to my palate she's dipped her head in an almost immediate poll flexion. Now THAT was spooky! I realize that all the practice at home had set me up for getting in touch with my own alignment and collection triggered by this simple tongue action, but I was unprepared to see how quickly Charm followed suit!! I also do realize that I have dramatically decreased all the "noise" movements I usually tend to confuse Charm with, but that is the beauty of this observation. Charm reacted by mirroring my body as soon as she could hear it, and she heard it loud and clear when I used my tongue to palate! I am so excited by this. I'll be playing around with this for a long time to come.

I encourage everyone to begin at home self-monitoring small movements of shoulder blades, rotations of femur heads, in all directions and seeing how much subtle control you have. Next get a feel for your bubbling spring and your balance on that spot. Proceed on to your tongue, poll, and head. Isolate small movements. Experience and savor what it feels like separately and then together. Link the sequences to include more and more body parts involved in collection. Visualize your diaphragm expanding - back to front - feel your back filling and your center energy moving. Then try chaining a sequence of these energy circuits. It feels good. I had the impression of spirals of energy moving down and up again through my body. You may find that alignment suddenly becomes surprisingly effortless, or at least more accessible, ...and that your horse will notice!

Enjoy your experimentations!
Arlene and Charm

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And finally, this post from Charlotte about her quarter horse, Hylo.  Charlotte was one of the June clinic participants:

Posted July 29

I've recently been playing with the exercises in the t'ai chi rope
handling video and the book and to say I'm fairly gobsmacked is an
understatement! I may have posted on here that I have a very laid
back horse who finds going forward an issue – partly poisoned cue,
partly his economical nature. I've been using the clicker to
encourage forward movement, and he's definitely starting to
understand that forward is a good thing – plus the groundwork means
he now moves off with a nice lifted back and much better carriage.

However, there's definitely bits of the puzzle missing, and recently
in the school whilst I was doing a little bit on walking off to a
soft cue, I got the chance to try and work out what it might be. I
was doing a fair bit of setting it up and waiting, and whilst I was
waiting, I remembered that I'd intended to practice the swimming and
flying exercises, particularly because my upper back has been killing
me! I'd already put the shoulders back brace on so I think I was
more upright than usual, but I can't believe how these two exercises
helped!! It was amazing – I put Loly on a loose rein and did the
backstroke and flying exercises before picking up the buckle again
and Hylo definitely lengthened his whole topline and strode out. I
leapt off and gave him a huge jackpot!!

The next day, Hylo and I went out for a shortish road hack and we had
a fantastic time! Taking from what we'd been doing in the school,
and the fact it had made such a difference, I decided to do the
flying/swimming exercise after every halt before we moved off as well
as rotating my shoulders to help stop them `sticking. It was a
little halting, and progress wasn't brilliant but it definitely got
less sticky as the hack progressed. I noticed that if I did the
backstroke exercise whilst he was walking, Hylo seemed to lift and
walk out with more purpose.

The day after that, we went out again and it seems clear that he now
definitely understands that walking out is what gets a reward, but
the wonderful thing is that he is teaching me what I need to do in my
body to help him – if I'm not right, it feels sticky and halting. I
was analysing what the backstroke exercise does to my seat and think
its something to do with connecting my shoulders and seatbones, so I
played with just thinking that, and got similar changes as when doing
the full exercise. I then discovered that I really need to keep my
hands above the pommel (or a couple of inches infront); if I push my
hands forward (as has been my wont), I lose my stable base and he
slows up so riding on the buckle needs to be done in the right
place. I'm sure I'll have the ability to do this later, once
my `box' is more stable but for now reminding myself to keep my hands
back keeps my seat connected.

As I played with my balance, Hylo was really making an effort and I
realised there was something else to do with my seat. I was tensing
my buttocks!! So long `pushing' to try and get him to move has
obviously resulted in a tensing which I'm sure doesn't help and no
doubt hinders a great deal. The more I kept thinking `relax your
bum' (!) and connected my shoulders, the better the walk became.
Adding in breathing into my back helped, too.

I'm over the moon to have got this – Hylo is offering the walk
(sometimes he stops because he thinks he is `owed' a click but we are
working that out by me then asking for a little bit more before
offering him a click and treat). The most amazing thing is that this
walk continued downhill – something he usually has trouble with.

I can't even begin to tell you how this feels – to be sitting on Hylo
feeling that I'm being taken along, legs and seat soft, connected
into his hips sitting on that great strong back is just joyous. I
love my horse he is just the best teacher!!! Now I know I have a
long way to go, and I must make sure I don't go too far the other way
and start leaning back, but I really feel that by unlocking his walk,
the other paces will naturally follow and that's really exciting.

Thanks for reading and indulging my post!!

Charlotte and Hylo