Slowing a “GO!” Horse

This post is part of an ongoing series of excerpts from Janet Johns’ book, Winning the Ultimate Game, Naturally. Keep an eye on the Parelli Central Blog for future excerpts.

Rocky was our first horse and the first horse that I had ever ridden.  I had a huge learning curve to develop the effective use of the lead rope and Carrot Stick.  This learning curve required overcoming emotional fears and developing the physical abilities and coordination to orchestrate all the tools at one time.  I had a bigger challenge learning to RIDE.  I decided to start riding Rocky in the small paddock where I was feeding him so he couldn’t run very far.  I started each day by playing with Rocky while I groomed and saddled him. We did a lot of Yo-Yo backing up and sideways around the sides of the paddock.  I spent a lot time just standing quietly with Rocky.

Relaxing with Rocky

I started using the fence as a mounting block.  We spent a lot of time just standing quietly by the fence – both of us on the ground.  I started sitting on the fence while Rocky stood by the fence.  I would get Rocky to stand quietly by the fence while I got into the saddle from the fence.  If he stood quietly, I would get off and wait a few minutes before getting back on.  If he moved, I stayed on him until he stopped moving before I got off.  I would wait a few minutes and get back on.  This seemed to give him a sense of control – if he wanted me off his back, all he had to do was go stand quietly by the fence.  We did this for weeks.  Standing by the fence became a comfort spot for Rocky.  Even today, when Rocky thinks we have been riding long enough or he is starting to get stressed, he will go stand by the nearest fence and turn his head to look back at me with an expression that I interpret to be “Can we do something else?” or “Are you ready to get off?”

I started trying to actually ride with some control like turning, backing up, and sideways.  I did all this in that little paddock.  Rocky would stand by the fence, I would get in the saddle from the fence, we would walk a few steps along the fence, and if he stood quietly by the fence, I would get off again.  We would repeat the process riding around the fence of the paddock and making small turns.  I started adding short backups along the fence.  Rocky initially seemed stressed about backing up so when he backed up a few steps and stopped, I would get off as his reward.

We had mastered sideways on the ground and I was amazed at how easy it was to start doing sideways in the saddle.  He would voluntarily sideways to the fence to see if I would get off.  Sometimes I did, other times I didn’t.  I started giving him little treats at random when he stepped sideways to the fence instead of getting off.

Playing the Sideways Game

I now had a slow poke horse.  People wanted to know why he didn’t move faster – was something wrong with him?  I said a huge prayer of THANKS!  I finally had a horse that didn’t wildly attack me on the ground or give me a wild ride in the saddle.  I had a horse with better ground manners than most and I had some tools for responding to aggressive behavior.

How slow did I make this horse?  In May 2005, we went to a playday at one of the local riding clubs.  I rode with the Parelli bareback pad and intentionally walked him through every event just to make sure he wouldn’t become angry about the other horses, announcers, dogs, kids, folding chairs, umbrellas, traffic, lunch bags, wind blown bags, and anything else you find at a horse riding club playday.  In one of the events, we walked slowly by the timer and Rocky flicked his tail just after we passed the timer.  The announcer called us back to start over because his tail flick had registered as the end time on the timer.  Many people asked if I could make him go faster – YAHOO – my GO horse was now well-adjusted enough to calmly walk through anything at a noisy playday!

Tagged as: Janet Johns, Parelli Media