That bit about the shoulder lean making them feel trapped is so true. I tried something like that on a friend's horse once and got politely told to stick to concrete work where things don't move. Julia's point about breathing is huge though, I've caught myself holding my breath just watching someone else do it. Breaking it into tiny steps like you said is the only way that makes sense to me, start where the mare is okay and just add a second at a time.

Classic case of getting too excited and overdoing it!

Honestly, that "slow build" charm has a limit though, right?

Nah, polka covers of indie hits sound awesome to me. I'd probably stay for the whole set, bad or not, lol. Makes for a better story than just another indie show.

Ugh, this hits on something I see EVERYWHERE now. It's not just repair guides, it's like everything is set up to make you replace the whole thing instead of fixing the small problem. My coffee maker acted up last week and the first search result said "buy new model" when it just needed a good cleaning. Feels like we're pushed to waste stuff and miss the simple solutions that actually teach you how things work.