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All Photos on this website are the property of Jody & Susan Cunningham
The Soft Feel
Article by Jody Cunningham
Pictures by Susan Cunningham
Picking up a soft feel for me at least is the start
of any and every maneuver I want to make with my horse. This means him yielding softly to any kind of pressure I apply to his
head. If you have been following this series of articles, you have heard me say this before. Horsemanship is the horse
yielding to pressure whenever, wherever and however you apply it to his body. The kind of pressure initiated by your hands,
either by touching him directly or working through a lead line or rein is what I want to focus on this month.
If you know anything
about me, you already know that we are going to start on the ground. The first photo shows Strawberry flexed vertically at the
poll and not moving his feet. All the positions I will show you here are to be done from the stand still first, motion will
come later. To me this is the first step in achieving true collection. The classic soft feel. From this position
when mounted his neck is round, his back is lifted and his pelvis is tipped forward from the bottom driving his hocks up underneath
him. He is ready now to make any move just as long as he will carry this soft feel into motion.
In photos 2 and 3 we show
lateral flexion. If your horse will allow you to put his head into just about any reasonable position from the ground then you
have already laid the foundation for this to go well once you mount him. By reasonable, I mean any position he could achieve
on his own naturally. My goal here is to establish a trusting relationship with his head whereby he will allow me to put his
head anywhere I want, within reason. As usual I show this move from both sides, keeping both right horse and left horse
in balance. Remember that horses learn from the release not the application of pressure. I will put just a little pressure
on his lead until he stops resisting and softens. Here, timing is the key, as soon as he tries any at all then release or soften
your hold. When he yields you yield. Keep working on that response until you can put his head where you want it with softness.
I want him willing and confident in the fact that I am not going to get him into any spot to where he may have to defend himself.
Let me do the driving. Always treat his head with the same respect that you would like to have. His head is your steering
wheel, if he trusts you with it then you have gone a long way to being able to control the whole horse.