Hi my name is Sofie Svensson. I’m a Parelli student from Sweden, and I started doing Parelli in 2007 with my horse Panter.
Panter is a Right-Brain Extrovert ex-racehorse, and we are progressing On Line and at Liberty, but when it comes to riding he is tense and unconfident. I took the four week Fast track course in Colorado in June and it gave me a new awareness, so lately I have been giving my riding skills some more thought. “Is it me that makes Panter unbalanced and tense?”
I have been thinking about riding him on shorter reins to give him more guidance and Austrian instructor Martin Wimmer also advised me to do that at a clinic last year. Linda Parelli has told her story about when she started riding Allure. A loose rein didn’t work with him, and she mentioned how Allure had to earn his loose rein. But still it felt like I was cheating. In my head, FreeStyle should be on a loose rein and not with contact, but Panter needs the contact to be relaxed and then I can reward him with the loose rein.
I have noticed before that when I ride with a bit, with more contact, more structure in my body, and the more fluid I am, he will give me a transition from walk to trot at Phase 1 (smile with all four cheeks). But in FreeStyle he gets tense, twists his body and sometimes doesn’t trot at all. Hmmmm… Do I ask too much? Do I get him confused and tense instead? Probably…
Yesterday I was getting him ready to ride, put the saddle on in the stable and did my pre-flight check in the arena. He was calm, but he usually is before I get on. I mounted and we just stood there for a while.
Then I started with the Follow the Rail Pattern without being critical of him moving away from the rail because of scary things. I focused on riding less in my body than I usually do. Since I came home from Colorado and the Fast track course I have realized that Panter doesn’t move his body as much as Lakota (my lease horse) did. When I was riding Lakota and focused on feeling which of his hind legs he was lifting, I could feel it pretty clear. When I came home and started to feel the same way on Panter, I could feel that his movement was a lot smaller. I have been home for over six weeks now… But still… You don’t get it, until you GET IT….
So yesterday I rode Panter with less movement in my body and there was a big difference. After I did Follow the Rail for a while I started adding indirect to direct rein two times on each side of the arena, and I felt that I was having a whole other feeling when I did it, he was softer because I was softer… Hmmm…. Ha, ha ….
So we went on and did circles around a barrel. We started to the right at a walk, as this way is more difficult than to the left when we trot. In the beginning we did it at the walk and went to the barrel after 1-2 laps or when he was seeking it. He is thinking outside the circle a lot and is turned the wrong way and I want him to be sweet on the centre instead. He was chewing, yawning and was really relaxed. We backed out, turned the forehand and out on the circle again. After a couple of these at the walk I asked for the trot. In the beginning he didn’t maintain gait but after a coupe of times he was trotting. I focused on having my body in the right position on the circle, shorter reins but gave them to him when he was stretching down which he did a lot. I also focused on being relaxed and soft but still have structure in my body, to be more fluid, have tight core muscles to keep my position, as well as elbows in (not flapping), and lift with the right diagonal. Oh and of course smile, he started to seek the barrel so we stopped there a couple of times.
After a while we changed to the left. It’s easier to trot to the left but sometimes he just gets tense and doesn’t want to go at all. But I asked for a trot soft with Phase 1 and lifting the reins, and he started to trot soft and felt relaxed. I tried to be in the moment with him all the time and not think about what he usually does, but instead to think about how slow and right beats fast and wrong, and that if I don’t get relaxation I can’t ask for anything else.
This was by far the best ride I have ever had on him. We were both so relaxed….. very cool.
Oh and don’t forget: The only rule is…that there are no rules.
Sofie Svensson on Lakota at the Fast Track
Sofie Svensson on Panter
{ 14 comments… read them below or add one }
Hi, I have just started finess on my horse, missy. We call her that because she’s so bossy. When we had our first finess ride she was a bit tense, so I started on freestyle. Then i noticed that I was tense in finess and relaxed in freestyle. So the next day I rode freestyle for a while and then went into finess. That time I felt more relaxed and not tense and she was mirroring me. It was so cool.
Now I understand that if i want her to do something in her body I have to do it aswell.
That is cool, when you finaly know how to do it and how it should feel, thanks for sharing
/Sofie
Thank you for all your comments, it´s so fun and inspiering to read that there is other people out there with the same thoughts and issues.
Hi Sofie,
I very much enjoyed reading your post. Feeling it was just me in my own little world going through this same process, realizing that my horse was more confident with some contact, and thinking there was some gap in my foundation that she was this way. Now, I feel that she just needs me to be there for her for a little while, and if I can really feel for her, then it becomes evident when she is ready to take more on on her own. Thanks for sharing!
Sofie, I also had to find out that sometimes you have to ride with contact before you do freestyle…. In my case to help my horse finding a better posture. It’s still a work in progress and a learning process for me.
Thank you for sharing. Only the best to you and Panter!
Petra Christensen
Parelli 1Star Junior Instructor
Parelli Central
Just tonight as I was trying to improve my freestyle riding with Max (RBE) I realized that he went more relaxed when I had a little contact. I use to think that I was micro-managing him, but when I do “hold his hand” he will stretch down and relax with better gaits. So I was pondering this problem when your blog showed up. I have made so much progress, he goes very nicely now in the rope hackamore. But if I move on to the neck rope, things seem to fall apart. Thanks for giving me fuel for thought and I will try to find ways for him to earn his freestyle rein. And I won’t be so frustrated, it is alright for him to be him.
Hi Sophie,
I was so glad that you wrote this blog. I have a horse like this too! Rascal does much better with some contact, and then as he relaxes he’s given a loose rein. I kept blaming myself for being timid, but my other young mustang, with just about 30 rides on him, I am fine with riding him in a halter. So, I began to think well… they are just different! I was in a clinic where the instructor kept insisting that I use a totally loose rein and it was a nightmare.. later she worked my horse on the lunge and it was so abusive I had to stop her.. so there you go! Now, I can tell my students that each horse is different and responds to our different ways of asking the same things differently. For some reason, I can give then assurance that I find hard to give myself! So thanks for your assurance!
Kate
Orcas Island WA
Great blog Sofie and very timely for me as i have been having similar problems. I am going to try Archie with a slightly shorter rein.
Thanks
Andrea
I loved your post Sofie, thanks for sharing that. It spoke to me as this is something I’ve been thinking a lot about too. I too had this voice in my head saying: “No! You can’t pick up the reins! Don’t use a bridle! Stay in the hackamore and get your freestyle really solid first. It’s not Parelli if you don’t!”
But something wasn’t working and so we struggled on and made little progress. But after a while I thought: something’s got to change. Then listening to Linda speak on the Mastery DVD I got the final ‘permission’ I needed to give it a go and pick up the reins. It was exactly the same story you mention in your post, in issue one of the Mastery training DVDs. In the second segment on partial disengagement – Linda recounts the story of how she was similarly, doggedly, trying to ride Allure on a casual rein in a hackamore… And Allure was just having a ball! Pat said that Allure needed to earn the right/responsibility of having a loose rein. “Don’t be so righteous! Do what the horse needs!” So of course Linda changed her strategy, and with great results…
I think I too have fallen into the trap of thinking I have to follow the rules, no matter what. But of course I know well that ‘there are no rules’! You have to do what the horse needs…. (And this is what I think is really the fundamental part of being a horseman and not just a rider I think…) Linda went on to explain that there is a difference between riding with short reins and riding with finesse: riding with short reins is a…
Thank you for your comments.
Lori: The structure and still being fluid “thing” is more about finesse. Yes you will get there, I hace just started to figure it out
Sofie – Isn’t it lovely when you get it. The feel is everything and the relaxation of the horse. I learned this in the Confidence Course. I’m so happy you are able to translate your time with Lakota to your time with Panter. You will go far.
Hello Sofie: This is also what I have found works with my RBI/E arabian. When she is RBE she needs more contact, sometimes even needing to be on the bit; when she is RBI she needs little to no contact. It has been fun figuring it out, but I did need to let go of the “rules” I had been taught for dressage riding of ALWAYS having her on the bit, and the expectation I brought to my Parelli play that no contact was best. Have fune!
I am new to Parelli and have only done their home study programs. Thanks for this encouraging post. Even though I have not made it to Freestyle yet, Iyou encouraged me to relax (I have a LBI and a LBE so that in itself presents a challenge – they are so very different). But still patience and relaxation are key for me with “my boys.” I am confused when you talk about having structure and still being fluid. I guess I will get there eventually. Thanks again!
Awesome post! Food for many thoughts. Thank you for sharing.