Parelli Clinic SW France 27/28 October 2012

On the 27 & 28 October I participated in a second Parelli clinic with Licensed 2* Parelli Professional Jo Bates from the UK, a lively, amusing and thoroughly professional instructor. This was a follow-up to our first clinic together & here in SW France held in June, when it had been very hot; this week-end it was the opposite - the wind on Saturday was bitter! This time there were only 4 of us participating with horses, so we worked as two groups of two. There were several auditors and many occasions for discussion & theory for everyone.

Once again, I borrowed Polly, a big TB x ID; about as opposite to my little Lucie as you could imagine! I'm going to try to recap some of the things we did over a very full and inspiring week-end. There's a lot to remember so I thought I'd start with a photo & explain the task.

 

Putting effort into backing up; are they still responding in the same way when you are further from them, at the end of a 22' rope, or 45', or at liberty? By being convincing at 12' you can then increase the distance & still be effective even at liberty. Can you slow it down or speed it up, go around corners, obstacles, change direction, bring your horse to you a step at a time?

Asking the horse to move sideways off your fingertips; the horses tended to rush this one because knowing how to go sideways (yeah yeah I know this one blah blah) they were reacting to implied pressure instead of direct pressure (an example of the horse anticipating & reading pressure where it wasn't asked for). So if the horse moved away from the hand in anticipation of being asked to go sideways, you rub gently & follow until the horse stops moving; pause, then start again. Once the horse stops anticipating, you can ask for a step sideways by touching the flank and the shoulder alternately. This is one way of building up sideways movement, but also a way of slowing it down & making it more precise with the horse thinking about every step & where it puts its feet.

Moving on from that, putting more power & effort into sideways using rhythmic implied pressure so again you can progressively get further away from the horse, sending the horse sideways at distance.

Driving from behind (zone 4/5): last clinic I was reluctant to put myself behind Polly but we were getting to know each other better. We again used the rail to follow to help us; I found Polly would rush and cut the corners so spent time stopping her & manouvering her deep into the corners, asking her again to put more effort into it and use herself better. Once this was going well following the rail we could come off the rail and weave through the tyres.

From driving in all zones, at various distances, to driving with two lines; and starting some shaping exercises. We weren't equipped with feather lines for driving so we just used our two lengths of rope, 12' and 22' lines, to practise some driving from behind, asking the horse to move away from the rail then move back to it, using the line against their sides. We then set up a shaping exercise. All the horses are so used to rope work that none of them were bothered by ropes going under & over & round their legs, & flapping in the wind! This exercise required crossing the ropes over the horse's back so that you could take a feel on the side away from you, asking for the bend; then ask the horse to step across in the direction of the bend. Both horse & human took a while to work it out & think their way into the exercise, which was really very simple, it just took us a while to set ourselves up, & I had a problem seeing what was happening the other side of Polly's enormous body.

Another exercise building connection towards liberty is "stick to me" where the horse mirrors the handler, positioned alongside you, nose to the elbow or shoulder (the mare & foal position). The line is loose and the horse should respond to body signals; the training stick can be used to aid - if the horse lags behind, you can reach behind you to ask the horse to move up (a flick of the tail); if you halt & ask for back-up, the stick tapped or waved in front will signal back-up (as another horse might use its neck or nose); these additional signals are usually only needed once or twice until the horse gets the idea.

Some horses will get bored with a task once they've "got it", others need more time or repetition, or reassurance, or need you to go slower, until they are confident.  Watching the two horses in the morning session, Carole's pony Flikflak who is cheeky & assured would soon get bored & start eating or inventing his own variation on the game, if nothing new was added. So once he understood the pattern, weaving through the tyres, make it more challenging by changing pace or direction, or adding another element, like a circle at the end, but not always... Christine's mare Juniper, more introvert by nature, needed more time to build her confidence in the exercise; she was stuck to Christine nicely & doing the movement but cautiously, without exuberence. It would not be the moment to throw in another idea.

Using obstacles creatively, and patterns, are a great way of making things interesting for the horse and giving purpose; and for those like me that struggle to be creative, having a plan!

Very similar to stick to me is driving in zone 3, alongside the horse; although the horse's head is in front he is still listening and responding to body signals, aided if necessary by a little energy provided by the training stick. Liz and I were supposed to be doing this with refinement but as the field we'd moved into at the bottom of the hill out of the wind was full of thistles and potholes, the refinement went out of the window as we stumbled around trying to keep up with the horses who were spooking at the tape moving in the wind, or at the bushes. This one didn't go too well!

From the other group:

Getting the horse to follow a feel: leading by the leg. Little Flikflak found this one so interesting he forgot about the grass and his eyes and ears were glued on Carole as he tried to work it out. Now a lot has been said about pressure and force and how much; in these exercises, we set the horse a puzzle and give them clues and the time to work it out; as a result all the horses got involved, got interested... These horses all know to yield to pressure; so if you put a rope round the horse's fetlock and apply firm but gentle steady pressure, and just wait, see what happens... watch the horse thinking... and the moment he takes the weight off that leg, release... It's the release that teaches; and he knows he's solved the puzzle; and it's not long before he takes a step, then another, and by now the feel on the rope is very light... and so he follows the feel. How light and good is that, and if that lightness can be carried over into riding... :)

Our next clinic is planned for April 2013.