26th October, 2013 Spotty Lottie II

Worked with me second Spotty Lottie of the year today - what are the chances of that? Except that this Spotty Lottie was only spotty because she had a measle-y rug! Working with her rider, J, we were looking at the factors that lay behind her setting her neck and how we could counteract that. The behaviour itself stems from instinctive behaviour wanting to go back to the herd reinforced by the fact that it has worked. A change of saddle meant that J was more secure and could then offer more clarity about where she wanted her pony to go. We used techniques that have been useful to me with Theoden, including taking my hand to a fixed point to ask for a turn, asking Lottie always to end on soft, counting the rhythm of a pace and then speeding it up and slowing it down, and doing a body audit to spot any tension. In this I act as a 'trailer' for the Amanda Barton 'film' and I am only too happy when my clients graduate to lessons with her.