How can I see this differently?

I find myself in this strange new place these days. 

My focus the last 8 years has been purely bodywork.  Stepping out of the role of rider/trainer was essential for me to be successful. The things that I would see as bad behavior as a trainer became essential feedback for a bodyworker.  I learned how to be very good at negotiating with my equine clients that it was fine to express their emotions while I worked on them so long as none of it was aimed at me.  Punishing a horse for expressing emotions while doing bodywork on them was counter productive.

Now I find myself working in a direction of combining the bodywork theory with training theory.  It becomes tricky to navigate sometimes.  How do I decide when I'm encountering a dominance or behavior issue vs. confusion or discomfort?  The question I find myself asking is: is it that he doesn't want to do what I'm asking or that he can't for some reason?

My experience of horses is that they very rarely choose not to cooperate simply to test us or because they flat don't want to do what we're asking.  Working with horse's physical issues I found that they often were imbalanced, uncoordinated or uncomfortable which made what I asked challenging and confusing.  I've been experimenting with this idea and have found that with very few exceptions if I present an exercise in a way that the horse can be successful he/she will do what I'm asking quite willingly.

So how can I present the exercise in a way that my horse and I can both be successful?  What if I simply change my approach from thinking he doesn't want to do what I'm asking to he doesn't understand what I want or can't do it?  How might that change the quality of the exchange?  I played with two of my horses this morning with this attitude in mind and was amazed at the attitude of patience it engendered in me and the trust it built in my equine partners.  We were successful at things today in an easy quiet way that has eluded us before. 

I hope you are all enjoying your time with your horses this summer as much as I am!