Post by Calaminty Jane on Mar 1, 2012 18:01:45 GMT -5
Horse Training Tips – Make It The Horse’s Idea
by NCarpenter
February 27th, 2012
Let Me Help You!
A Horse Training article by Linda Parelli, from the November 2010 issue of Savvy Times magazine.
How often have you found yourself counteracting something your horse does? It’s natural for us humans to exert our will (direct line thinking) rather than take the horse’s idea and cause him to turn it around (lateral thinking). Lori Northrup of Parelli Horsemanship Fund
For as long as I can remember, Pat has been saying, “Cause your idea to become the horse’s idea, but understand the horse’s idea first.” Well, isn’t it interesting how long something apparently simple like that can take to sink in? I’m finally starting to understand how to truly do that and it has lead to a major breakthrough with my horse, Allure.
Many of you have followed his journey with me over the past five years and know how challenging he has been because of his extreme Left-Brain Extrovert Horsenality, and his tendency to go extreme Right-Brain Introvert as a learner. Here’s what I love about it: because of those challenges, Allure has made me a better horseman and teacher. The best thing he helped me come up with is the Horsenality Profile, a major breakthrough in reading, understanding and becoming more effective with horses and training.
In this article, I want to share with you how I used the principle of understanding Allure’s idea when riding to not only get him to want to go straight, but be more relaxed and not feel like bucking. It’s a great lesson in reverse psychology because you do the opposite of what the horse expects (and what you want to do!). Lucky for us, Amy Book (now Bowers) was visiting and just happened to have her camera with her!
Day 1
Usually when I begin to ride Allure, he’s a bit tight (1). He doesn’t want to go straight and if I push him he’ll buck. So I spend a lot of time in walk until he relaxes and then try to do some trot. It kind of works, but it takes a lot of time and I don’t feel like we’ve really made any progress because the next time it’s no better. He also doesn’t like going into anything that looks like a dressage arena and gets quite shut down — Right-Brain Introvert. Then when he comes out of it, he goes Left-Brain Extrovert and is very challenging to ride!
I decided to use the Game of Contact because of the great success I’d been experiencing with it helping horses to get more confident and more forward. As I picked up the reins, he started fussing with the bit, shortened his neck, body and stride.
As we inched forward, he started to go crooked. At first I tried to straighten him, and then I thought of the principles of the Game of Contact, so I changed my approach and encouraged him to go more crooked: “You want to be crooked, let me help you!” (2) So I drew on the right rein a little more, causing his head to come even more to the right. We did a couple of laps like this and I could feel his mind getting active (usually it is shut down or arguing) so that was good!
All of the sudden, he wanted to go straight. He tugged on that right rein (whose contact he was avoiding) and as I allowed the rein to slip slowly through my hand, he straightened his neck, stretched his topline and lengthened his stride. I was shocked! After several strides, he shortened and started to go crooked again, so I did the same thing. This time it worked even quicker. Pretty soon I could pick up the reins and he stayed straight and forward, taking the contact. It was really cool.
As soon as it started to go well at the walk, I moved on to the trot. Same thing happened: he went short, bunched up and crooked (3). Once again I said, “Let me help you!” and I helped him to be more crooked (4). This was such fun.
Again, a couple of laps and all of a sudden he wanted to go straight. I allowed the rein to slip through my fingers as he stretched his top line and lengthened his stride. This time he started blowing out. Success! (5) Tension was leaving, understanding was growing.
We made half a lap and I stopped him, got off and praised the heck out of him. It was hard to stop just when it was starting to work, but I knew it was the best thing. Remember, we are not riding for today, we are riding for tomorrow!
Day 2
Walking into the arena today was completely different. Instead of having thresholds, he strode willingly and confidently into the arena (6). In this photo you can see the look on his face, he wanted to be there. It was a great sign.
It took about two minutes for him to be straight at the walk, so I began the trot. The first few strides were great, then he went crooked again. “Let me help you!” (7) This time I needed to have him be even more uncomfortably crooked before he wanted to go straight, but the good part was that there was no stress for him (remember, it was his idea!) and it was still simple, fun and interesting for me.
“I wanna be straight!” said Allure. “Sure!” I responded. And it was amazing (8). Lovely, forward, relaxed trot. I couldn’t believe it could be that simple.
After a couple of laps of walking and petting, I went for the canter. It was a little difficult at first, he didn’t want to canter, and put in a few little bucks – tiny compared to what they used to be… more like riding a dolphin (9).
Then he stopped, pooped, and as I gathered my reins when walking off, he lifted into this beautiful, soft canter (10). Wow. We cantered half a lap, I stopped and then got off and praised him. End of session! I was so thrilled and excited.
Moving Forward
Since that day, Allure has been amazingly calm. Playing the Game of Contact for straightness and relaxation has led to being able to ride him FreeStyle – I’ve waited years for this moment! And on one day, I was cantering him around the Big Top and he got a little over-stimulated by something going on up there. As he wadded up I quickly did the opposite of what I would have usually done: instead of bending him, I helped him wad up. I remember thinking, “Either this is going to work, or I’m going to help him do the biggest buck ever!” We wadded up together for a few strides and then I felt him ask to go forward instead of up. “Sure!” I said, as I allowed the reins to lengthen. And that was the last time he thought about bucking.
So why is this so effective? I think it is because you’re giving the horse nothing to argue with, nothing to brace against. As a result, emotions de-escalate and trust and harmony grows.
I hope you find a lot of “aha” moments as you read this story and, like me, that you will now understand what it means to truly understand your horse’s idea and use lateral thinking to cause him to want to follow your idea. Best of all, it takes all the stress and frustration away… it’s fun saying “Let me help you!”
PS: I would not recommend using the Let Me Help You approach when riding a horse that wants to run off! Instead, use Partial Disengagement or get off and encourage your horse to go faster when you’re on the ground.
by NCarpenter
February 27th, 2012
Let Me Help You!
A Horse Training article by Linda Parelli, from the November 2010 issue of Savvy Times magazine.
How often have you found yourself counteracting something your horse does? It’s natural for us humans to exert our will (direct line thinking) rather than take the horse’s idea and cause him to turn it around (lateral thinking). Lori Northrup of Parelli Horsemanship Fund
For as long as I can remember, Pat has been saying, “Cause your idea to become the horse’s idea, but understand the horse’s idea first.” Well, isn’t it interesting how long something apparently simple like that can take to sink in? I’m finally starting to understand how to truly do that and it has lead to a major breakthrough with my horse, Allure.
Many of you have followed his journey with me over the past five years and know how challenging he has been because of his extreme Left-Brain Extrovert Horsenality, and his tendency to go extreme Right-Brain Introvert as a learner. Here’s what I love about it: because of those challenges, Allure has made me a better horseman and teacher. The best thing he helped me come up with is the Horsenality Profile, a major breakthrough in reading, understanding and becoming more effective with horses and training.
In this article, I want to share with you how I used the principle of understanding Allure’s idea when riding to not only get him to want to go straight, but be more relaxed and not feel like bucking. It’s a great lesson in reverse psychology because you do the opposite of what the horse expects (and what you want to do!). Lucky for us, Amy Book (now Bowers) was visiting and just happened to have her camera with her!
Day 1
Usually when I begin to ride Allure, he’s a bit tight (1). He doesn’t want to go straight and if I push him he’ll buck. So I spend a lot of time in walk until he relaxes and then try to do some trot. It kind of works, but it takes a lot of time and I don’t feel like we’ve really made any progress because the next time it’s no better. He also doesn’t like going into anything that looks like a dressage arena and gets quite shut down — Right-Brain Introvert. Then when he comes out of it, he goes Left-Brain Extrovert and is very challenging to ride!
I decided to use the Game of Contact because of the great success I’d been experiencing with it helping horses to get more confident and more forward. As I picked up the reins, he started fussing with the bit, shortened his neck, body and stride.
As we inched forward, he started to go crooked. At first I tried to straighten him, and then I thought of the principles of the Game of Contact, so I changed my approach and encouraged him to go more crooked: “You want to be crooked, let me help you!” (2) So I drew on the right rein a little more, causing his head to come even more to the right. We did a couple of laps like this and I could feel his mind getting active (usually it is shut down or arguing) so that was good!
All of the sudden, he wanted to go straight. He tugged on that right rein (whose contact he was avoiding) and as I allowed the rein to slip slowly through my hand, he straightened his neck, stretched his topline and lengthened his stride. I was shocked! After several strides, he shortened and started to go crooked again, so I did the same thing. This time it worked even quicker. Pretty soon I could pick up the reins and he stayed straight and forward, taking the contact. It was really cool.
As soon as it started to go well at the walk, I moved on to the trot. Same thing happened: he went short, bunched up and crooked (3). Once again I said, “Let me help you!” and I helped him to be more crooked (4). This was such fun.
Again, a couple of laps and all of a sudden he wanted to go straight. I allowed the rein to slip through my fingers as he stretched his top line and lengthened his stride. This time he started blowing out. Success! (5) Tension was leaving, understanding was growing.
We made half a lap and I stopped him, got off and praised the heck out of him. It was hard to stop just when it was starting to work, but I knew it was the best thing. Remember, we are not riding for today, we are riding for tomorrow!
Day 2
Walking into the arena today was completely different. Instead of having thresholds, he strode willingly and confidently into the arena (6). In this photo you can see the look on his face, he wanted to be there. It was a great sign.
It took about two minutes for him to be straight at the walk, so I began the trot. The first few strides were great, then he went crooked again. “Let me help you!” (7) This time I needed to have him be even more uncomfortably crooked before he wanted to go straight, but the good part was that there was no stress for him (remember, it was his idea!) and it was still simple, fun and interesting for me.
“I wanna be straight!” said Allure. “Sure!” I responded. And it was amazing (8). Lovely, forward, relaxed trot. I couldn’t believe it could be that simple.
After a couple of laps of walking and petting, I went for the canter. It was a little difficult at first, he didn’t want to canter, and put in a few little bucks – tiny compared to what they used to be… more like riding a dolphin (9).
Then he stopped, pooped, and as I gathered my reins when walking off, he lifted into this beautiful, soft canter (10). Wow. We cantered half a lap, I stopped and then got off and praised him. End of session! I was so thrilled and excited.
Moving Forward
Since that day, Allure has been amazingly calm. Playing the Game of Contact for straightness and relaxation has led to being able to ride him FreeStyle – I’ve waited years for this moment! And on one day, I was cantering him around the Big Top and he got a little over-stimulated by something going on up there. As he wadded up I quickly did the opposite of what I would have usually done: instead of bending him, I helped him wad up. I remember thinking, “Either this is going to work, or I’m going to help him do the biggest buck ever!” We wadded up together for a few strides and then I felt him ask to go forward instead of up. “Sure!” I said, as I allowed the reins to lengthen. And that was the last time he thought about bucking.
So why is this so effective? I think it is because you’re giving the horse nothing to argue with, nothing to brace against. As a result, emotions de-escalate and trust and harmony grows.
I hope you find a lot of “aha” moments as you read this story and, like me, that you will now understand what it means to truly understand your horse’s idea and use lateral thinking to cause him to want to follow your idea. Best of all, it takes all the stress and frustration away… it’s fun saying “Let me help you!”
PS: I would not recommend using the Let Me Help You approach when riding a horse that wants to run off! Instead, use Partial Disengagement or get off and encourage your horse to go faster when you’re on the ground.