Hey Melissa. When I was riding with Mark Rashid in Colorado, he showed me a great approach, to create more sensitivity to the leg. Using a dressage stick, I’d apply my leg and if I didn’t get the response I was hoping for, I’d tap my leg with the dressage stick. Not the horse, but my leg. It’s all about the energy created and getting our horse more sensitive to the energy again. We did this at the walk and the pressure and release timing is very important. Apply the leg,if you don’t get the response, then apply the dressage stick to your leg to create more energy there. Apply until you receive a subtle change in energy underneath you, even if your horse only changes slightly, the change is what’s important at and what we want to build off of. That’s what will create the pattern that horses brains are so good at recognizing. We did slow walk to more energetic walk first, until there was more responsiveness consistently, then walk to Trot transitions. Also we only did this for 15 mins or so. Mark has done a lot of work with Dr Steven Peters and the neuroscience shows that you need to do short bursts of change and then allow the horse to go away and think about the change. My gelding came back 50-60% better the next day. The keys is to allow them to process it and then come back smarter, the following days. The key I found was to allow my horse enough time to problem solve what I’m asking for in the moment and to figure out the change that I want to see over the week. It really is like the Ray Hunt quote - The slower you go, the faster you/they learn. The more the change actually sticks. Let me know if you try this and if so, how it goes.

Thanks Alissa. I’ve listened to all three of those episodes, a few times. I glean something new each time - and I was there haha. Who would you love to hear on the podcast?

We had so much fun in Bozeman. I am LOVING getting to know horse women from different towns and walks of life. I hope I get to meet some of you in person while I’m on the road. I would love to learn more about your goals and how you are navigating the challenges of life and the love of horses.

Thanks Susanna. I’ll share more on the ‘dear members it’s Noelle’ channel too. So much has happened so far since we hit the road Sept 1. Wow!

Guys, I just wanna say that Breathwork has been a HUGE help for me. I’m so excited for this resource to be on NF+ now. Breathwork is EPIC for those of us that are a little manic or busy all the time and need a nervous system reset. I’m literally gonna be doing this course every morning (I’ll even share a clip on IG). If you’ve ever wanted to try Breathwork, this course with Julia is an awesome and gentle introduction. I personally produced it. I hope you guys enjoy