-What a jam packed day!! WOW! Thank you to all who made it happen!! And to those brave souls who allowed us to watch them learn, thank you!! I hope you could feel all of us 'helping' from the sidelines offering you our support and strength.
Leslie is a unique and talented horsewoman. Her love for horses is so obvious! She took time to answer questions and clarify some thoughts. The demo horses were wonderful and tried just at hard as their owners. Here are some of the things I wrote down. I hope they help somehow in your journey too... You want your presence to bring out the best in your horse. You have to make a change in order to get the horse to make a change. Open the window before you close a door. That horse doesn't make an intellectual decision, they react instinctually. When you ask for more energy, you have to give them room/rope to use that energy. Ride with feel/Ride with dignity The movement of the lead rope from the ground must have meaning in order for the movement of the reins to have meaning. Make your goals clear to you first and then will be clearer to communicate those goals to the horse. Give the horse credit-respect the horse and get out of their space Make sure the horse understands that a feel on the rope does not mean to go/move his feet Perception of fairness is from our own perspective/our own history Release should not mean leave And so much more... Boy, paradigm shifts are difficult... Betsy and Cindy(can I just eat grass while you get clear?) and Suzie (just don't make it too tough for me to understand!!)
