Dear Friends,
Every time Walter comes to teach us I make huge improvements and great discoveries on all kinds of levels – mental, emotional, physical. Last time was especially pivotal for me because during one of the lessons I felt Remmer was ‘heavy’ and when I said this to Walter he looked confused. I could see why when we watched the video – Remmer looked better than ever! I decided that it was just a different feeling for me and approached it with more confidence the next day with great results. However, I was still a bit perplexed…not so much about that, but that I felt like I was pushing Remmer constantly to keep him ‘forward’ and ‘through.’ So that has led to a big breakthrough for me.
In Gold Mastery Manual #12, I had worked with a horse and rider on Finesse posture. This horse would curl up, bend sideways, go like a snake…anywhere but forwards as soon as you picked up concentrated reins, no matter how lightly you held them. So I rode him and taught him to want to go to the contact rather than escape it…and not by making everything else so miserable that it was the better choice, but by teaching him the appropriate response and having him understand it.
Within minutes that horse was more positive, coming over his back, rounder, more forward and the feeling was incredible. I then went to the UK shortly after that (and Remmer had an abscess at the time so I couldn’t try it on him) and it was a couple of months before I could play with the concept again. So for the last few weeks I’ve been experimenting with it and having amazing changes in both horses and riders. Remmer is one of those.
I’m now getting this incredible, powerful and forwards feel from him. He’s coming over his back and connecting with me mentally and physically. Rather than picking up the reins and feeling him shorten and be behind the contact, he now powers up as I pick up the reins. I feel like he knows what the idea is now, and I have discovered how to teach it to him. Basically, when it comes to Finesse and contact, I think most horses don’t know what they’re supposed to do. They just feel that the reins are now short and they have to still do stuff. I also think that most riders don’t know what contact should feel like.
So I’m calling this “The Game of Contact” and slotting it firmly into Principle #4 of the Eight Principles. It becomes a responsibility that you teach the horse: Keep the contact. I can’t wait to share it in more detail, but first I’ve got more experimenting and teaching to do so that when I do share it with you, it’s simple! 
Yours Naturally,
Linda
