23rd October, 2014 Answer on a Postcard

Very different in position and feel to a resting foot. Even the Fell pony, seemingly on his own, is displaying a running foot since I was actually sitting on his companion right next to him and he wasn't at all sure of me being at a height to him. The key thing seems to be that the very edge of the foot is touching, not resting, on the ground. So easy to miss, so important to see. As well as training the pony so that he is no longer worried about whatever was worrying him, there is a little cheat that you can do. You can gently push him back onto the foot and he thinks "Whoa! All my feet are now on the floor, I must be feeling confident." Another little point - if the running foot is on the opposite side to the thing or the human he is less worried than he was before! The most common mistake is to think that a horse in a trailer is relaxed about being in there because his leg is cocked when in fact he is thinking he would like to run.