taking count

I love the way learning is a cycle. And everytime you come back to something, you find something new in it. It is like reading a much loved book - the kind you can come back time and time again.

I went to my first MR clinic in 2005 - the one I rode at - came home and got on my mother's pony (my mare had a sore back) and went "go soft!" and bless his cotton socks... he DID. (I did already know he was physically capable of going this way, as I had schooled him before).

Then I went and watched another clinic with Mark - and saw a much better way

You start by asking for softness for *three strides only*. You ask for softness and if they give for one, or two strides, you keep asking. But as soon as they stay soft for three consecutive strides, you release the ask (and let the rein out). The "release" is for the same amount of time it took you in asking to get the three strides. i.e. if it took 2 circuits of the school of getting one stride, then another, then two, then another one, and so on before you got THREE, thats how long you release for before you ask again.

You start this in walk. And you work on asking for 3 strides until they start to give 3 with some consistency. And then you go to asking for 5. So the next time you ask, when you get to the third stride you don't release, you carry and only release if they stay soft for all 5 strides. Again do this til it gets consistent, then go to 7, and 9...

around the 7 and 9 point you could try trot - but you go right back to asking for *3* strides of softness

Because Fi offers softness readily - unless I brace of course - I have not tried the "counted steps of softness" exercise with her before.

But this weekend I did - partly cos it was windy and I wanted something at walk we could both focus on.

And also cos I had so recently described on a discussion forum, so it was on my mind, and I thought I should "walk the talk". I had the sudden realisation that I had always seen it as a *horse* exercise to help the horse see what was being asked for, but that it could equally well be a *rider* exercise. (like with my above example about coming home and asking the fell to "go soft !" - the *rider* needed to realise there was a better way to ask ;))

Anyway, off we went. Fi has DJD in her left hock so does sometimes show some stiffness on the right rein. When I normally ask, I can get some resistance to softening there. But using the "counted steps"... wow ! She got it after a couple of tries and I confess I went from 3, rapidly to 5, and then to much longer... but then I knew she already could do consistent softness if I asked right And the *quality* of what she offered was totally out of this world. I was so pleased with her. It reminds me again that what you get when you *ask* is way different to what you get if you *take* .