Most of the riding Fi and I have done has been largely led by her, with me reinforcing the things I liked. Trot has been something I’ve heavily reinforced, because a) it’s fun and b) she could use the exercise. Fi takes reinforcement pretty seriously, so after a while, we mostly only had TROT or STOP, which has been mostly fine by me because the only things on my agenda had been fun and play. However, she’s really starting to feel like she can handle a bit of refinement, so I figured I could start trying for a walk somewhere in there.
Some short notes on how I’m going about it:
- I’m using posting to differentiate between go, and think about slowing down. Posting was previously completely baffling and slightly upsetting to her, but seems to be more acceptable now.
- My goal is for her to be bridleless. I’m not using reins to stop, mostly not to steer (though she does know those cues), and certainly not to affect head and neck carriage. She’s quite sensitive to my weight and position changes, so I can make suggestions with regard to speed, direction, tempo, and to try to use terrain (moreso outside) to set her up to self-organize using her own proprioception and nervous system. How she carries me is her business, she knows better than I do how to organize herself.
- To request a down transition, I’m using a seat (increased muscle tone overall, slight “holding” with thighs) and breath (long, slow exhale with increased muscle tone in diaphragm) cue, releasing those things as she comes down into the walk.
- Up transitions are still mostly her idea.
I’m super proud of her - this is only the second time I’ve really focused on this, the previous time was maybe a month ago (the last time I rode).
