07/17/2013 "Objection your honor"

Riding with contact with a LBE horse is quiet a challenge. Both, Vareto and Estrela teach me that every time.
It's all fine as long as there is room for stretching and kind of floppy reins for moving free without a frame in Z1. 
Estrela is quiet far in her development, we passed L4 and focus on our specialization of Dressage. Mentally and physically she has all the ability for it. The challenge is to convince her from an emotional point of view and emotions start in Z1. How interesting that for a LBE asking Z1 into a frame can be a challenge ;-).

When it comes to contact for a longer time (2 min or more) she has quiet an opinion about the contact and puts a lot of effort into communicating her opinion ;-):
Being above the bit, being behind the bit, trying to take the reins, twist head left or right, not going forward but up, tail swishing, showing emotions by chopping the bit or combination of those ;-) And again, most of those opinions are expressed in Z1. Hm, again interesting.

The worse thing to do is "saying no". It took me some time not to say no and sometimes there are for sure moments I still say no instead of using strategies like "let me help you", "the ambassador of yes versus the minister of no", "tit for tat" *. Every "NO" creates brace and the idea is ZERO brace. But I tell you, there are thousand of NO-traps out there and it is hard not to step into them ;-)

Making it a game is important. Yesterday was one of those session. I had to laugh a lot and what really helps me is kind of rollplay with my horse.

Yesterday we did the rollplay "court of emotions, created by contact" :-)))))
Estrela (lawyer) and me (attorney) had a very animated and intensive dialogue about contact. I got some "objection your honor" from her. My answer was "let me rephrase that". It was so much fun, I tell you!!!!

Not being afraid of an intensive dialogue is the key for me and it took me a long time to accept and to understand that horses like Estrela as a LBE are open and LOOKING for a strong conversation. They will tell you, when blowing out, which is mostly after a intensive dialogue.

I enter these dialogues sometimes with hesitation, but hey, what about never ending self improvement?

So what are your rollplays with your horse?

Let the games begin!

Here are some pics from a contact session...
 

The warm-up within riding with contact: Step 2 of the Game of Contact

The warm-up within riding with contact: Step 2 of the Game of Contact

The warm-up within riding with contact: Step 2 of the Game of Contact

Tit for Tat

Tit for Tat

Sequence within a canter pirouette

"objection your honor"

"let me rephrase the question": extended trot

* If you want to know more about these strategies, read this article by Linda (klick me) and find as well in the Savvy times, November 2010. Find more informations about the article in the Savvy times, August 2010 about "The ambassador of Yes". Available on Parelli connect.