In the last issue, we learned that your first priority in the round pen is to ensure your horse’s mind is attentive to you so that he is open to what you ask of him. If his mind is focused elsewhere, he won’t be able to “hear” your questions, and any attempts to communicate will likely cause a stress reaction if he is sensitive, or simply go unheeded if he is a less sensitive type.

We also talked about fostering a softness within your horse when he is with you mentally, as a soft horse is a calm, willing horse, able to perform to the best of his abilities. We achieve these things by teaching the horse that he can “control” the pressures we apply by staying with us in a peaceful state of mind.

Once your horse is able to be calmly attentive, you are ready to start directing him into movement, which I call “sending.” This is where things often start to fall apart for many people, as they are not able to differentiate between sending and chasing. The goal of sending your horse is to have the ability to carry softness and connection into motion, which strengthens the relational foundation we are aiming for. Chasing also creates motion, but instead of building relationship, it causes your horse to disconnect and feel the need to leave.

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