Hi Dorothy, >>>That makes sense, and I have experienced it with KLokkur. Upping the pressure works sometimes, but other times it is counter productive.
The reflex is for animals to give to release rather than pressure. The opposition reflex is triggered when you apply pressure, just as our reflex is to pull or push when we feel sudden pressure, when you slowly release the pressure (feels like you are just melting in the muscle that was tight) the animals (this works with dogs as well) cannot help but release as well. I am pretty convinced that is the missing piece to what many people are taught about pressure because as you slowly release the animal will respond with what is described as 'a try'. I don't think that most of the people describing this realize what they are doing because it is so subtle that unless you feel it you won't know you are 'doing' anything. I think one of the biggest problems with 'upping' pressure is that you increase stress and as stress increases there is a hormone called ACTH which blocks learning. The horse may do it but the next time you bring the horse out to work you can't just start where you ended but sometimes actually go right back to the beginning. This means the horse is not really learning. Robyn
