Group horse training
Jan 1st, 2009 by Carolyn
Hi and I hope you had a wonderful New Year’s Eve. Isn’t it wonderful standing here at the dawn of a new year? It so exciting to think of all the possibilies that lie ahead of us, isn’t it? All the surprises and delights that await us may be just around the corner. We just have to be present in each moment and whilst focused on our goals, not get too tied up with expectation.
I’d like to start off the new year with an interesting game I thought up. When you are training your horse, you shouldn’t be too interested in his performance. Instead of developing the bond to be able to train your horse, you should use the training to deepen the bond you have with him.
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Hi Laura,
You have a good goal and you will reach it. You can also find the way to the happy friendship with your horse. As Parelli don’t work for you, its good you are searching other ways.
Love Stina
Hi Carolyn!
Here I am – just reading this now.
Happy New Year!
I will make a film clip of this game, thank you for sharing it.
Love Stina
Thank you!
Laura
Laura,
What is it that you are wanting to accomplish?
I think you need to change your measuring stick.
When your horse does what you want you think she likes you and when she do not do what you want you think she does not like you. It appears to me she likes you because when you stop your intreaction she comes and plays with you.
Using the Rituals to balance the response you are wanting to achieve. Ask questions like do I have my horses attention? If not use the Eye contact Ritual. Is my horse acting afraid or is too bold? If she is use the Rituals Leading from Behind. Do I have her turst? If you do not do the Hello Ritual. It is your job to continue to adjust her attitude to fit in harmony with you. Put more attention of how she feels and work on deepening the connection rather than the performance. Rule of thumb sit with your horse in companionship as much are you interact,play or train.
Every day it is your job to balance the attitude of your horse by picking the right program each day and each minute this is the key. Always look at what is working and build form there.
It looks like you have a habit at looking at what is not working and trying to fix it.
Take your horse out for a long walk and enjoy the day and let her graze on spots you choose put not on the spots she chooses. This is a great way to establish leadrship and the bond at the same time. In a short amount of time she should find that following your lead is natural as well as desirable. Hope this is helpful.
Carolyn
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I have read your book, Naked Liberty, and I was very impressed. Out of all the things I got for Christmas, it was one of my favourites! I loved the way you told your story and your experiences with the wild horse herd really were pure magic. I enjoyed it very much.
Today I was going outside to do my training work and I set up a smaller area for us to work in at liberty. I got a little too demanding and so strong was the need to get away from me, my horse put out energy she never would have put out for me, and definatly galloped away. I know she wasn’t scared, because I know enough about horse behaviour and enough about my horse.
I was frustrated and brought her back in, but when this happened again, I started to think…something is wrong here. I’ve been doing Parelli Natural Horsemaship for over a year and my horse still doesn’t want to be with me. She doesn’t respect me, and she doesn’t care to be with me at all.
I decided that no matter how much it bugged me that we weren’t ‘doing’ anything or weren’t getting anything ‘accomplished’, I decided that I would sit in the snow covered paddock on the hay feeding trough and just hang out. Sugar came over to me and stayed with me the whole time, occasionally trying to devour my boots, eat my glove and throw my hat. She also attempted to pull my pants off.
Anyways, it was a great experience to put aside the, ‘do, do, do’ and just relax with my horse.
And now that I look back on it…maybe I got more accomplished than I would have anyways!
Feel free to email me, Carolyn, I would love your thoughts, or just post a reply here.
Thanks
Hi Carolyn and Happy New Year to you and all your members!
On New Years Day four of our family members sat in our chairs which were placed in my round pen. We had five different horses play your “Group Horse Training.” However, due to the number of horses, and a low battery on the video camera- to save time, we broke out carrots in half to save time that the chewing would take.
(We just told the horses they were “baby carrots” and they believed us.)
This game was so fun! You see each horses personality come out as they go from person to person looking for their carrot. They all caught on vey quickly, but the oldest, more dominant horse got it immediately. All the horses became more respectful of space as they saw that they would be asked to leave if they became pushy for the carrot.
What I learned by watching our videos of this game, which I hope will help others who try this, are a few things I’d like to share:
1. Don’t be too hurried to push your horse away in order to see them get another carrot from another person. Be okay, as long as he’s respectful, to just let him hang out with you.
2. When you need to ask them to leave, ask very gently first. I felt our hand gestures were just a bit too harsh when they were asked the first time to go.
3. Allow yourself more interaction with them when they are coming to you for the carrot. When we did so, we could see their enthusiasm for the game grow.
4. One of the most important things I experienced is that social interaction and acceptance by the horse seemed to take precidence over his desire for food.
I found this game nurtured my relationship and closeness that I feel I have with my horses. We can only grow from this. Thank you Carolyn!
Stina,
Happy New Years. Where are you?
Carolyn
Valezka, thank you for your letter. You have put into practice the way I intended the Waterhole Rituals to be applied by allowing the relationship to grow out of the 1st bonding ritual / Sharing Territory and applying the next bonding rituals as they are needed. Using music in training helps the horse and yourself to communicate in the moments of connection. Timing is the answer to leadership that is followed. If you are not followed it is either your choice of program, your timing in communication or loss of connection.
The music helps you to develop your leadership communication skills by practising the timing of leadership communication to be exact through the rhythm of the music. Staying in the rhythm of the music causes you to ask your horse to perform only when he is willing and focused on your direction by staying in the beat of the music. The music leads and inspires you and you lead and inspire the horse.
When the connection is lost because the horse loses the connection for any reason, stop your interaction and wait for the horse to reconnect and in time If he does not reconnect change your focus by returning the connection using the bonding ritual that would bring back the connection and dance.
I wish that all your adventures this year are magical and your journey is how you recieve your well being and fufillment.
Carolyn
Hi Carolyn, I am very enthusiastic about your game and I have a great group of people to help me, my older kids.
I have been watching your dvd and rereading your book, and after a long time of using just the first ritual my mares and I are progressing through the others. I am very grateful to you as I am feeling something very special with the mares and inside myself when we achieve the connection and we dance. I am going to bring in some music into it like you suggest.
The work you teach is not only healing for the horses who have been abused but so healing for the human too. In a short time we are communicating so well with feelings and pictures and movement and sometimes words, I am very moved everytime, especially by my arab mare that was abused and rescued by me. She has become the most willling and desiring to bond with me, I never would have believed it. It was your lessons in leading from behind and making eye contact which were pivotal in turning our relationship around. I had already begun something similar with Mia before finding your book, something that she herself was tellling me about, so when I saw your work it really hit home for us.
I hope you also had a wonderful new year and may all your new projects be successful. May you continue to spread the love and light.
Valezka
Dear Marja,
To start out with it would be a good idea to use less people to get the hang of the game and build up to more people not only for the horse but for a person to get a feel for it as well. I have been using this game for quite some time and it creates an amazing connection and trust and fun no matter the amount of people involved. I thing that in the begining it is a good idea to start with two people and then expand slowly. If the horse does not respond don’t worry things are really working and creating a trust you just can’t see the growth at frist. The main thing is that people need to witness the power of letting things grow at their own pace to learn how to lead though allowance.
Remember the purpose of the game is to come out creat a horse that is not too shy or too agressive with an enthusiastic nature like Panadero. This is achieved by being gentle when the horse appears to be shy and then direct when he is pushing for a carrot and seems confident or you feel bit threateded or you thing he needs the lesson on how he should respect your personal space. It is like The Mother May I Game for the child.
But it has more purpose in that it not only develops the horse it teaches how to interact as leaders and program directors and partents because your are adjusting your communiciton so that it will creat in the horse a well adjusted nature, loving personality, polite,willness, and increase his or her ablity to figure out how to work with in your system at the same time you are developes leadrship and commnuniction and team working skills for all involved.
Good luck,
Carolyn
this sounds like a lot of fun. Do you play with only one horse at a time or can you have as many horses involved as people?
dianne
Too cold right now, but sure looks like a fun game to play in the spring.
Oooh, what a fun exercise! Don’t know if I can gather up enough people to try this (the more people, the more fun I think) and I would have to wait for nicer weather (it’s freezing here right now…) but it sounds great
)!