Just when I think that I've got used to the tremendous changes that clicker training and 'Riding With The Clicker' can make I find something that blows me away all over again.

I found today, when I rode Grace, that canter has suddenly become her best pace. She stays round and smooth and it feels as though her inside hind is coming a long way underneath her, which is what she just couldn't do at all before, along with many other Dales who struggle with canter. She has also decided that she really likes cantering and is keen and eager to do so.

This is a pony who couldn't manage an even half way decent canter, and would rather not even try to, for at least the nearly five years that I have known her, and it now feels so lovely that I could canter her all day long!

I am also finding that I can get much better flexion from Bella when I squeeze on the inside rein and leave it hanging loose. She responds with a much truer flexion than if I have a direct contact with her mouth and suddenly my very straight horse, who has never been in Jack's class when it came to flexing, feels much more supple, laterally and longitudinally.

I was also playing with changing the bend and going from one lateral movement to another, through the change of bend, just by changing which loose rein I was squeezing on, and then on bringing her up into collection by squeezing on both loose reins together, with no other conscious aids.

I have realized that what happens is that my hand squeezing has the effect of toning up all that side of my body and I think that it also has some increased 'bearing down' effect, as Mary Wanless used to refer to. I'm going to try to recreate the effect by just thinking of squeezing my hand shut next, without actually doing it, so that I can try to use the effect without having to have the reins dangling. I'm beginning to realise that, because I try to ride without ever closing my hands tightly around the reins, to keep the contact as light as possible, that I may be missing out on a whole lot of other useful micro-movements in my core.

I want to keep riding on a minimal contact, preferably weight of the reins only, but if I can do that and make use of these other aids, while staying out of their mouths, that would be very helpful. Certainly Bella loves being ridden like this and responds instantly and with beautifully soft flexion, both laterally and longitudinally, to this new approach.