Instead of thinking about a horse’s primary thought determining the bend, consider the idea that the primary thought should direct the movement. Where a horse is thinking is where it should be moving.
There seems to be widespread confusion between the principles that training methods are founded upon and the application of those principles. I have noticed over several years that both professional and amateur horse people confuse principles and methods a lot.
You may have heard the saying “reward the smallest try”. It is a great concept and works well in training. However, the effectiveness of this concept depends on people being able to recognize a “try”.
There are a lot of different clues that a horse gives off to indicate their ever-changing focus. The most common and easily identifiable are the eyes and the ears. But others include posture, movements of feet, flexion, etc.
I think true kindness is an expression of our humanity and it is not dependent on receiving any gain from it. Kindness is not limited to just people and animals we care about.
