The Horse Thinks All Pressure Means GO…!
My daughter, Olivia was doing groundwork today with one of our horses, a 16’ hand dark bay thoroughbred. He is very highly charged and can easily loose concentration and not listen to instruction whether from the ground or ridden. He was bought by my husband to hunt. When he arrived, nobody was allowed to ride him, the reason being – he was unpredictable and hence dangerous, although he had been schooled professionally over a period of months. When riding him, he might bolt, buck you off, or spin round, i.e. highly unpredictable.
He has improved so much that he can now be ridden by my daughter, Olivia, 17yrs, without bucking her off, bolting and performing any of the bad habits he once had… however, there is always room for improvement.
To improve his concentration she has been doing a lot of groundwork. In Parelli terms this has been, the friendly game, circling game, sideways work, and walking over tarpulins etc
His biggest issue at the moment is, he struggles to understand different types of pressure. So whether pressure in front, behind, or pressure directed elsewhere. He finds it difficult to differentiate between the direction of pressure that is and is not directed at him.
The problem with not understanding pressure is, my daughter may be riding him in the arena or outside, and everything is fine, but if a bird was to jump out or somebody was to move suddenly, wave their arms, open an umbrella, you name it… he would get very worried and the very worst would be that he’d try and buck her off.
Olivia has been attempting to remove this problem by helping him to understand the direction of pressure.
- Pressure in front – i.e. pressure anywhere in front of his body up to his withers. Pressure in front should mean slow down, stop or turn.
- Pressure behind – i.e. pressure behind the shoulder of a horse to its hind quarters and beyond. Pressure behind should mean GO, yield the hind quarters and lateral work.
- Pressure elsewhere – i.e. a bird jumping out, a car, a plastic bag flapping, an umbrella, a lorry etc. Pressure elsewhere should mean nothing to the horse. He may be aware of it, but he should not act on it.
So today working Andy on the ground – she would send him out on a circle in trot, to slow him down or stop him, she would put pressure in front (ie waving the Parelli carrot stick in the air 5 feet in front of him). However, he struggled to understand this and would respond by gallop around the circle flat out, completely ignoring the pressure. Olivia would then reapply pressure in front and to help him understand that this meant “stop” she would block him – by putting him between her and a fence and then “smacking” the fence 5ft in front of him, which made him stop because there was nowhere else to go as his direction was blocked on the circle. After she did this a number of times, she no longer needed the fence and was able to apply pressure in front with a Parelli carrot stick which made him slow down, or stop depending on the amount of pressure she applied.
That solved “pressure in front”.
Pressure elsewhere was the other problem. Still on the ground with a rope-halter and 12ft-line she turned her back on Andy, and using the Parelli stick she would hit the ground, gently to begin with. He immediately started to circle frantically, as if she had whipped him – she continued to hit the ground, gently while keeping her back to him (ie, doing a small circle within his, as if she were lunging a horse), eventually (half an hour later!) he would calm down and stand – she continued to hit the ground. The idea being that indirect pressure should not mean go! She had to continue to hit the ground (ie, apply pressure elsewhere) even when he stopped so that he understood that this pressure was not related to him and noone was asking him to go and it was in no way dangerous or scary.
Parelli Carrot Stick
A stiff stick with a string attached to the end of it.
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