 is how firm should I get with my horse? So have you ever wondered this? Like, how firm should I get with my horse? And we get group coaching. We get people from, you name it, South Africa. They all ask the same questions. What do I do about my pushy horse is one, and feed questions during feeding time. And then the other one is how firm should I get with my horse? All right. Remember, in horsemanship, feel timing and balance. Feel and timing, I think, makes a lot of sense to people. The balance thing, that doesn't make as much sense to people. And sometimes balance, we think, oh, it's physical. Physical, but it is. It could be mental balance, but I'm going to explain the balance part. OK. There's two questions that I could ask. If I said Nancy, I want you to back up. I could say Nancy, how little does it take to back up? Or I could say Nancy, how soon can you back up? All right. This is so important to me. Now, it comes down to do they understand? Do they understand what we're asking? So for example, and we're all going to try this, we're going to do it in the back up. So at first, I'm going to ask you, I'm going to say, all right, everybody, how little does it take to back up? And I want you to slow. You still have to get it done. But how little can you do and take your time to get them to back? So you're not going to get that firm that soon, but you're going to start slow. So let's everybody try that backing. And it could be you could be direct pressure on the halter, or you could be doing it like sort of driving. How little does it take to back your horse? Now, you still have to get it done. A lot of people, they want to be soft all the time. They're soft, they're soft, they're soft, and their horse never gets it. And then the horse doesn't, the horse will never get soft, because the horse never understood what to do. There you go. All right. Now, here's another question for you. Now, don't get crazy, because if your horses are trying, you don't need to get that firm. But here's another presentation. How soon could you back your horse up? So watch this. I'm going to stand tall, and I'm going to get in there a little sooner, right? And then I'm going to really back away, because I know I got in there. I know I got in there a little bit, all right? So now, try that. How soon can you back your horses up? And there's a reason for this, because soon sharpens the horse, the response. Remember, we were talking about response gives you respect? Yeah. And so if a horse is dull, a lot of people think horses are calm or gentle, but they're really dull. I see a lot of stuck-dull horses. So we have to say, we have to sharpen the response. Get it done and do it soon, all right? But now, did you feel like your horse has got better? What do you think? Did your horse get it? OK. If you feel like they got it, let's see how little it takes now. Go back to how little does it take to back them up. Oh, yeah. You use one to sharpen, the other one to refine them. Yeah. OK. Everything we do with the horse, we can put one of these two questions in front of it before we ask. Now, if you're in the how-littles, you are allowed to get firmer to get it done, but you gradually get firm. Yeah, start again and just take his height. There you go. So circling, try that. How, notice I'm standing tall, I'm leading, I'm stepping, how soon could we circle off to the left and maybe trot? Maybe trot them. If you're always living in the how-little, your horse says, well, I'll just take a little longer. Now, let's take a little longer. What if I don't? Your horse then says, what if I don't? You know what I mean? If you live in the how-soon, your horse is nervous about you. They're switching their tail, they're twitchy, you go to catch them, they don't want to be with you. You've got to have both. It's a balance, how little and how soon.