What Do You See?

Tell me, what direction is this horse going in this photo? Forward or backward?

The answer - technically - is Soni is traveling forward in this picture. We are in a slight left bend going from trot to halt.

Soni is a little heavy on his front: I know because this is more than likely the reason I asked for the transition to begin with - he was starting to get heavy and I needed to ask him to shift his weight down and back again without pushing on my hands. I also know because his right forefoot is further along in that phase of the stride than the diagonal left hindfoot. If he were still carrying himself I'd see a little of the opposite or they'd be plumb even.

However, you aren't totally wrong if you said that Soni is traveling backwards. Everything about Soni's and my position in this picture screams backwards. I've brought my center of gravity back slightly, my hands up a little and my upper body is slightly behind my hips. Soni looks very much like he could be taking a step back - this still image just oozes rearward-thinking energy. This is the reason you aren't wrong if you answered backwards. Soni's body isn't going backwards yet, but you can see in his head he is definitely thinking it. 

This is literally a snapshot of a moment where my thought became the horse's thought.

In case you feel skeptical, here's what happened next:

And finally:

A few of those moments per ride is basically what I live for. I can't ask for much more than that. The energy you can literally see in these photos is the same energy you feel in your body when you get that plugged in. The idea of "controlling the horse's feet" takes on whole new life: an animal that outweighs you by half a ton and survived the millennia by fearing you is now allowing you to take control of his thoughts.

I don't think it gets much more profound than that.