A common complaint I hear from owners is that their horse is heavy on the reins, doesn’t respond to the rider’s leg, drags on the lead rope, or ignores the crop. In other words, many people despair that their horse is dull to pressure.
I would like to offer a brief explanation of my understanding of how training is supposed to work and why there is confusion among people who are opposed to the use of pressure and feel.
As I said at the start, the distinction between using pressure to get a horse to do something and getting it to let go of doing something is subtle. I don’t know some people who understand this and fewer people who teach it.
My point is that it is the way you ask a question the first time that is important. You must always present your first ask in a way you want it to be in the future
Feel needs to be learned. Students don’t learn feel from a trainer. They learn feel from a horse. A trainer can help you learn what to look for in a horse that is responding to good or poor feel. But it is the horse that is the teacher.