Any comments are only starting points because as soon as you try any-
thing you will have the opportunity to see how the horse responds and
that may completely change your game plan.
A few (and not necessarily complete) list of thoughts include:
1. A very large supply of patience. The bigger the supply the less likely
you will PROBABLY be not to need much.
2. Start with the basics of all the natural horsemanship in the round pen.
If you and the horse are both proficient at it, it should only take
minutes to re-establish things with the horse (at least in the round
pen.) On the other hand, it sounds like some of the basics have been
forgotten by the horse. What basics? That is why one needs to go through
all the basics and then focus on each problem area as it comes up and
get the desired response.
3. Disengaging the hindquarter is one way˙to be able to stop the horse with
one rein. I can remember Brannaman at one of his clinics saying that he
would not get on a horse that he could not do this to. He expressed
amazement that many people ride without having the horse trained to be
able to do this.
4. Be willing the circle the horse on the forehand with the inside rein until
the horse stops, AND THEN IMMEDIATELY RELEASE the rein. If the horse
wanders off, do the circling again.
5. Do this in the arena.
6. Practice how little you can use the reins to get the horse to do what
you want. (That comes right out of a Hunt Horsemanship clinic)
7. It may come down to has the greater patience, you or the horse. I can
remember one person remarking about getting dizzy while the horse
continued to circle. Eventually the horse did stop in the round pen.
8. I have the opinion that ONE of the values of the clinics is that when
a person applies the technique, that person may not be sure if he is
doing it right, begins to wonder if it should have worked by now, and
other such stuff. when people like Hunt, Brannaman, etc are there they
can provide immediate feedback if there is some sort of error, such as
perhaps also pulling on the outside rein. They also know the method works
and can push you to keep doing it. Three minutes of circling may feel
like three hours. In all serious, I wonder what 3 hours of really circling
would feel like. Do not set a time limit. It takes what it will take.
9. From personal experience, I know of one horse that was having problems.
Just as an excuse to spend time with the horse, I decided to put the bridel
on from the right side. It took one hour. However, I did get it on three
times in 1 1/2 hours. There was improvement. This is sort of what Parelli
seems to be talking about. The total time was spend with fix and release.
If the horse moved its head to evade the bridle, I just moved it back. NO
BIG DEAL. Eventually, I gently wore the horse down. It showed no bad
feelings. The second time it gave in sooner. the third time went even
better.
10. a big problem may be if too many people with differing philosophies try
to help you. There is a saying about too many cooks in the kitchen.
The above represents my point of view and is FWIW.
Enoug for now. (A distant voice is heard to say: "Much too much!")
Joe jpu@kaiwan.com