I have thought about what we consider resistance and I wonder if it isn't the basic nature of horses and ponies to resist pressure.
Yrsa is young and has had minimal training. If I push on her side to move her over in the barn, her first and instinctive reaction is to push back. I can make pointy fingers and say "over" and she will move willingly, but her very first reaction will be not to move away from pressure, but to move into it. When I first began to drive and ride Tosca, if I closed a hand on a rein, instead of moving toward the tension on the rein, she would instinctively move against it. I would label that resistance, but Tosca might say it was her nature to push against something. "Fxing" it, in my experience, comes from rewarding Yrsa for moving away from my fingers on her side my releasing the pressure and rewarding the young horse in training by releasing tension on the rein when she yields. If I continue to apply pressure, I think their inclination is to continue to push. I like verbal praise and a pat on the neck too. "Good girl" Pat. Pat. Nancy
