About 10 years ago I started Parelli Natural Horsemanship and over time adjusted the program in a number of ways that just felt right to me once I started to think things through from the horse’s point of view and rejected my old competitive training. My biggest changes away from PNH are in the direction of what I gather you are teaching: (1) I am intensely conscious of and responsive to my horse’s feelings (PNH actually teaches this but most practitioners miss it, even, alas, at upper levels of the program), (2) I do most of the groundwork at liberty, first in an arena and then making as rapid a transition as possible to playing all over my 300 acre farm, and (3) when riding I stay at a walk for much longer than the program suggests, working on straightness and responsiveness to just my seat until it is habitual at the walk, then at the trot, before asking for a canter. In fact, I usually do not ask for a canter at first but wait for them to volunteer one, which they always do when they are feeling strong and balanced and enjoying their own movement. If the horse volunteers a canter that feels lurchy or unbalanced in the first stride or two, I ask him down right away and go back to walk and trot work. Then magically one day, usually shortly after the walk-trot-halt transitions and turns are all feeling really light and completely cued from my seat, the horse spontaneously gives me a canter that is springy and straight and balanced and I just go with it. That moment, the first time they offer a canter that feels good enough to ride, is always a thrill. I ride it as long as the horse is offering it, sometimes just a few strides, sometimes a few laps, and transition down as soon as it gets unbalanced or too fast. When the horse canters, stays in balance and cadence, then comes down to a trot on his own, I usually jump off that first time and immediately take off the saddle. Once we’ve started cantering, it usually does not take long (a few weeks to a few months) before most of my TBs are loping like reining horses in a halter or snaffle, on-the-buckle, following my seat and balance to turn, change gait, halt and back, at least in the arena.

Outside the arena I have a favorite technique for getting my very animated TBs to remain slow and steady on a loose rein at speed in open places: I start by asking them to walk from tree to tree in a big open 50 acre field dotted with widely spaced trees. When we get to each tree, I ask for a halt and stand there for a count of 30 to 100, depending on the horse, until they can relax and wait comfortably at each tree. Frequently I lean over and feed them a treat while we wait. Then we walk to the next tree and repeat the process. They quickly figure out the game, realize it is easy, and walk straight and relaxed from tree to tree. When they are completely relaxed at a walk, usually about one or two weeks of daily 10-to-30 minute rides in the field (often depending on how windy it is), I start alternating walking and trotting between trees. If a trot gets unbalanced or too quick, I ask for a walk the rest of the way to that tree and try again on the next one. Some horses catch on quickly and maintain a soft trot within a few days, some take much longer. But eventually they all get there. Only when I consistently get a completely relaxed soft trot without rein contact do I start to ask for a canter. If we cannot maintain a soft cadenced canter the whole way, I ask for a trot or walk as soon as I feel too much impulsion. My two most advanced horses now can maintain a lovely soft canter with no rein contact as we circle and serpentine and change leads in big swoops around the huge open field, even on cold windy days when they are feeling pretty zippy. This process is my own adaptation of Parelli’s point-to-point game. I play it out of the arena with consumate softness and a much slower and less regimated (no backing) attitude than the way I learned it from some Parelli professionals long ago.

By the way, I’ve come across some virulent anti-Parelli attitudes and hasten to say I do not share them. For me PNH is an invaluable gateway to true understanding. It has opened the door to what clearly is a lifetime pursuit to many people like me, who otherwise might never have known about the enchanted garden.