A chilled Filly

Friday 5 June 2015

Walking slowly

I was flying my glider the other day when I hit one of the worst patches of turbulence I've ever encountered. It felt like the bottom of the glider was suddenly hit by a large hammer. The shock of the impact went straight into my back. By the time I landed it was a bit sore. Two days later it was very sore. A day after that I was in an A and E in Berlin being x-rayed. No major damage fortunately but according to my physio a nerve that was very very unhappy.

The physio did say I need to walk though and who better to go for a nice walk with than Filly :)

So for the last few days we have been walking up into the hills for 40 minutes or so. It is most comfortable for me to walk correctly but slowly. Filly is used to me striding out and this has caused her a little confusion.

James Roberts always said we should make sure that whenever we were walking we should have a forwards walk. He even got us to practise the correct pace by walking up and down his school and timing us. This was to make a forwards walk a habit for both us and our horses when they are with us. As he said without "forwards" you cannot train your horse in any other area. That's why the first three items on his training scale was "Rhythm, relaxation, forwards".
So for years Filly is used to a forwards walk when we are together.

So this has become and interesting and overlooked exercise for us. I particularly need slowness downhill at the moment. I'm trying to achieve this with a soft feel of course. So I have the lead rope at a relatively short length but with some slack. If Filly walks too fast she takes up the slack and leans on the halter.
I ask gently with a twist of my wrist and a drop in my body energy for her to come back to me. If that requires more than around a pound of pressure I avoid getting into a pulling match by using my other hand and tapping her on the chest with the end of the lead rope. Very soon she realised that pulling on the halter resulted in the tap and she stopped pulling. We are now at the point that just the weight of the snap lifting up as she starts to pull the slack out of the rope is enough for her to slow down.

I do NOT hit her hard with the end of the lead rope, just a light tap. If I need more I increase the frequency not the force so that it becomes annoying to her rather than painful. I don't believe you can teach anything through pain except fear.

This might sound like a boring way to spend a training session but actually it has been really good fun and has yet again been a place for Filly and I to explore a soft feel.

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