Obstacle Ahead

I won't fit under this leaning tree

Obstacle ahead. Bronzz knows that if he continues on the center of the trail, I will not fit under this leaning tree, so he will move to the left where I will fit. I do not need to tell him. I am so confident he will take care of this that I have dropped my reins to pull out my phone and take photos. This shows several things....

Bronzz moves left

1. His excellent ability to judge height and distance. He knows just how low an obstacle I will fit under without ducking, and if I don’t fit, he makes another plan. (That's the tip of his right ear in the bottom of the photo as he moves left.)

2. He knows that I DON’T know whether I will fit under an obstacle. A congenital vision problem makes my perception of height and distance unreliable. Bronzz has been compensating for me for 25 years.

3. In a horse’s mind, protection is reciprocal. I am his Protector Leader, someone he trusts to look out for him, so he looks out for me.

Bronzz notices something behind us

Trusting my horse also means giving him the freedom to stop and assess something behind us that concerns him. He will move on as soon as he is satisfied, which is usually less than a minute.