I relax, my horse relaxes it's that simple.

     I played with Marsan for about an hour and a half today.  Toward the end of our session, Marsan started to tip towards being catatonic.  I waited for her to tell me something, then I asked firmly for her to move forward with me at her shoulder.  She didn't want to, but I insisted because I didn't want her to have time to wander off mentally again.  This got a slightly better response, so I let her have some time to think about it.  While we were just standing there Marsan started reaching her head around as if to nudge me, but it was as though she couldn't quite relax enough to actually make contact.  As I watched her repeat this process several times I realized how tense I was because I wanted her to snap out of it and relax!  I sighed deeply and let go of my worries about Marsan, the change in was almost instantaneous.  Marsan reached around and gave me a solid nudge, then she licked her lips.  I asked to her move forward and she did on phase 1* but this time her gait was rhythmic, not jerky and uncertain as it had been.  I guess at least for Marsan, how I feel can be the difference between confidence and hesitancy.