stretch!

Got out of work late (Damn how having to earn money gets in the way), so I decided to try and keep it short and sweet with Harley tonight.

Did a very quick warm up to make sure that he was paying attention to me, then jumped on. He was really trying at the FTR but kept doing this weird back arching. Max assured me that he was just reached down and stretching his back. This is really cool 'cos it's the start of relaxation and longitudinal flexion. I'm using the hackamore so I can't kid myself that I can skip doing fluid rein, but very cool none the less. I tried to encourage this with strokes and rest whilst trying to follow the rail as well. He'd get distracted and wander when he stretched down, but if I kept my focus he'd correct again. After a while he actually started to blow and relax, which he's never done before. Wow!
So how come the sudden change? Well, I noticed that previously I've had a tendency to lean back a bit while trying to get my weight in my pockets (cowboy style), but since our little trail ride on Sunday I've kept my body more central and curved my back to put the weight in the right place (like a pushing passenger). I realised tonight that each time I leaned back, Harley's head came up. Each time I stayed central and pushed back, his head went way down.
Hmm! How interesting!
Talk about feedback.

By the end I felt like I could FTR with my arms crossed. If it goes well a few more times then maybe we can move on to the next foundation pattern as well.