Secret Sauce

   One of the things that really struck me about the driving lesson with Tesla was how 100% prepared she was to learn this new thing, and how much I had (inadvertently) set her up for success. 

The past year of intense groundwork has gotten Tess very in-tune with my body language. So when driving her, I placed myself towards her inside hind, she obediently moved off towards the rail (Good mare!) The process of trust building, of only asking her to do what I am confident she can mentally and physically handle, so that she can be relaxed and try what I ask.

"Sacking-out" and desensitization work (the day of as well) made the new sensation of lines sliding around her no big deal.

According to Wikipedia, sacking out means to have a Dude ride your horse sidesaddle with a flapping blanket LOL.

Tesla easily put the dots together for this exercise and there was no question in her mind about what I was asking - it all flowed very naturally from the previous concepts.  and I had an AHA moment: this is what horse training is supposed to be, all those exercises that seem monotonous, or maybe not even really that important are baby steps in the bigger picture - and if you do it right, it should be crystal clear to the horse - and THATS the tough part - how do you break down a BIG request into easy steps - that's the secret sauce!!