Game #3: Focus on the Driving Gameby Pat Parelli This is the third in a horse training series examining the Parelli Seven Games and their role in establishing leadership as well as building a language between you and a horse – any horse. The Driving Game is the third of the Seven Games. It teaches your horse to yield from a “suggestion” with no physical touching involved. In the beginning, the driving is done at a reasonably close range, but as you progress, you can actually drive (or suggest) from quite a distance away. This is the game that develops into such subtle communication, people will think your horse is reading your mind. This is very similar to using hand signals with dogs. The ability to communicate this way becomes especially useful when you need to direct your horse away from you, as in maneuvering him around obstacles or moving him out of your space. As with the Porcupine Game, you need to be able to get the horse to yield backwards, yield the front end, the hind end… and last of all, develop the forward “draw.” A lot of people find the Driving Game comes easily because horses spook at movement—This game is learning how to use rhythmic pressure and becomes a kind of “constructive” spooking. The horse is naturally inclined to move quickly away from moving objects or rhythmic pressure (Driving Game) whereas they tend to lean into steady pressure (Porcupine Game). Because this game is relatively easy to teach to your horse, you will need to be careful not to use it instead of the Porcupine Game. You and your horse need to become adept at all Seven Games. It’s like learning the alphabet. Once you have every letter mastered, you can build complete sentences and have intelligent conversations. Each game is a vital part of your alphabet, so don’t cut corners. When you first begin the Driving Game, you might find your horse a little reactive to rhythmic pressure (driving). He may scoot out, trying to escape, rather than just moving calmly away from you. Stay with him until he is calm and thinking. Be careful not to be too critical or ask for too much too soon and incorporate plenty of friendly game by rubbing your horse when he stops. He will quickly learn not to be scared and start to confidently understand that you are asking him to move away from you, not run off. Horses play the Driving Game with each other all the time. The Alpha horse only has to give a meaningful ‘look’ or a swish of the tail to drive another horse away. With enough understanding and practice, you will be able to move your horse just as easily. Learning the Driving Game on the ground becomes very useful while riding once you progress to riding with Carrot Sticks. The more your horse knows and understands the Driving Game on the ground, the better and more effective it will be from his back. The carrot sticks are used just the same in the saddle as they are used on the ground. This helps your horse understand exactly what you are asking for while he learns to follow your body. This type of Freestyle riding not only improves your horse’s self carriage and your independent seat, it teaches you how to direct your horse from the outside to turn him and sets you up for effortless flying lead changes and spins. Principles of the GameThere are three things you need in order to play this game well: 1. The Schwiegermutter look (this means ‘mother-in-law’ in German!) 1. The Schwiegermutter look. Watch horses interacting with each other. When the more dominant horse drives another horse out of his space, he brings up his energy, puts his ears back and “tells” that other horse to move away. This is usually enough to get the other horse to move. If not, the dominant horse will steadily go to progressively higher phases. He’ll move his feet to approach with greater threat. If necessary, he’ll go the next step and make contact on the other horse with his teeth or heels. In people terms, we call these “phases.” Following through with the last phase is what makes the first phase most effective. Asking for something in phases and following through with certainty convinces the horse he needs to respond with less sooner rather than get more later! 2. RhythmWhen first teaching your horse to understand the human version of playing the Driving Game, you will need to use rhythm in your hands. The beat should be much like that of Indian drums in “B” grade western movies! It goes in little groups of four, with the first beat being emphasized: “BOOM boom boom boom… BOOM boom boom boom….” This rhythm is something your horse will learn to recognize and understand without fearing it. 3. ReleaseAs you probably already know, it’s when you quit or release that the horse knows he did the right thing. By this I mean that you stop (quit) the driving action with your hands and just relax (release the horse from pressure) as soon as he even tries to do what you want. You could release him by stroking the horse in the same area that you were just driving (incorporating the Friendly Game as a reward). Note: sometimes, just doing nothing is even better than trying to pet your horse. You can always stroke him later and some horses actually feel more comfort by not being touched at all. Four Phases of the Driving GamePhases are the key to being firm, fair and friendly, while being really polite, clear and effective in your communication. For the Driving Game, here is what your Four Phases might look like for backing your horse up: Phase 1 Phase 2 Phase 3 Phase 4 If anything, this contact can get progressively more intense but keep your feet still the whole time. This way, the moment the horse takes a step back he gains instant comfort and release from the physical pressure. He’ll learn that if he moves, the discomfort stops. Key tips to using phases
To get your horse truly light and respectful, first you have to be light. Phase 1 is really important for building that sensitivity and Phase 4 is important to keep your horse from getting dull. If you do it right, you’ll find after using Phase 4 only a few times, you will rarely have to use it again. Your horse will want to move well before you ever get there. If phase 4 just becomes a way to get forceful, it will work in exactly the opposite way you want. Instead of teaching the horse to yield, you will only end up scaring him, actually causing him to engage his hindquarters and run away! When you get to phase 4, just doggedly persist until your horse finds that moving backwards is what will get him release. Pretty soon, he will see what happens before what happens happens, and he’ll start backing up well before Phase 4! The system to teaching your horse the Driving Game.
Start with the back up. Play with this until you are able to easily drive your horse backwards at least five or six steps consistently. This can be achieved in just a few minutes. Once backwards is comfortable, you can start to drive the front end. Position yourself in Zone 2 (stand even with the front part of the neck). Stretch out your hands so one is level with the bridge of the nose and the other with the middle of the horse’s neck. This will put you in a good position to move just the front end around. Get to where you can drive the forequarters around in a full circle (360˚). Of course, begin by asking for just for a step or two. Use the same system of phases to build up to 2 or more steps, then more and more steps until he can go all the way around. The next area is the hindquarters. I strongly recommend using a Carrot Stick when you first teach your horse this maneuver. It’s a great extension of your arm and will keep you much safer. Bend your horse’s neck a little toward you using the Halter and 12-foot Line. Just hold the rope steady. Don’t pull on it when you start to move. With your toes facing his tail, walk in a wide arc towards the hindquarters. Do not go straight down the side of the horse or he won’t understand what you want. You could also put yourself in a vulnerable position should he take offense, get frightened or decide to drive you away instead! Begin by tapping the ground with your Carrot Stick using the Driving Game rhythm like a blind man would tap with his cane. If your horse does not move don’t get in too close. Instead, go up your phases and keep your distance. If you need to, tap the horse on Zone 4 (the rump) with the Carrot Stick. Be clear to the horse about what Zone you are driving. The most common pitfall is looking the horse in the eye while you are trying to move the hindquarter. This gives an inconsistent message. Look directly at the part of the horse you want to move. Focus on that Zone! Opposition ReflexIn playing these games with horses—like horses do in their dominance games—you may come across a horse who resists you quite a bit or refuses to yield. He may even kick out or get aggressive. This is natural to horses but usually scary to people because they don’t savvy what’s going on. A horse will do this for one of three reasons: he’s scared; he’s defensive; or, he’s trying to dominate you (he’s challenging you). The better you get at reading him and diagnosing the reason behind the reaction, the more effective you will be in dealing with it. First of all, understand that getting tight or mad will not work at all. It will only further upset a scared horse or show a dominant horse that he’s got your number. Stay calm. Slow things down. Be deliberate in what you ask for and stay out of range. This is where you learn to be passively persistent in the proper position! Just keep asking until the horse realizes he doesn’t need to be scared, or if he’s trying to dominate you, until he realizes it’s him that needs to do the moving. If you use the tools available to you (the 4’ Carrot Stick with the 6’ Savvy String tied to it and the full extent of the 12-foot Line) you should be able to keep yourself out of harms way. These tools are extensions of your arms. Since my students have started using them, it’s helped keep them safe while being more effective. (Please note that flimsy ropes, short ropes and flexible whips are neither effective nor safe. I do not recommend you use them for teaching horses. The lack of good equipment available is the reason I had to develop my own.) Once your horse is really good at the Driving Game, the tools you use are not as critical. It’s just during the teaching stages that I want to make sure you are equipped for success. I know of some, very extreme cases (most of them stallions), where the first stages of the Driving Game were only safely played from behind corral panels or a fence because the horse was so vicious! By having that barrier, I was able to be passively persistent, safe and prove to the horse that I meant to “win” this game without either of us feeling like a loser. I mention this only because it might be something you will find useful as an option if you are having trouble with your own horse. However, I strongly discourage you from taking on any difficult horses until you have an appreciable level of skill, savvy and experience. Consider the guy who just started his first few lessons in martial arts. Would you think he was very smart if he challenged Bruce Lee right away? Once he has studied and earned his black belt perhaps he is ready for such a great challenge. Maybe he will just get beat up and realize he has more to learn. Horses are born masters of horsemanship. It is their game we must learn to play. In my system, you earn your black belt at Level 3. Until then, I recommend you leave the Bruce Lee stallions and colts alone and learn the moves of the game with more forgiving teachers. Start On Line, progress to LibertyThe ultimate goal is to be able to do the Driving Games without a rope on your horse—at Liberty—and from greater and greater distances. To start this way, however, is setting you and your horse up for frustration. Imagine learning the trapeze without a net. If something went wrong, you might not be able to correct it. The secret to working at Liberty with a horse is to pretend there is no rope when you have one and when you don’t have one, pretend like you do. Playing with your horse On Line until the rope is dragging on the ground prepares you for playing at Liberty. This means there is always slack in the rope so your horse doesn’t feel like you have one unless he tries to turn away. For example, if you are driving your horse backwards and he turns his head away, then his body, you can use the rope to get “two eyes” looking at you again. Use three little rhythmic bumps to get his attention back and his eyes on you. If he ducks to your left, bump high and to your right (never pull downwards). The better you get at this game, the more responsive your horse will become and the less you will use the rope. Pretty soon you can lay the “belly” of the rope on the ground and just hold on to the leather. Once you can do all your Driving Games like this, you are ready to try it without a rope. Don’t be tempted to get rid of the rope before things are solid or you may find your horse escaping. You can always go back to the rope for a while, but the real secret is don’t take it off until you are more than ready to do without it. Your Driving Game can become so good that all you need to do is look at a Zone and shake a finger to get your horse to yield. The better you get, the more he will give you a positive reflex by yielding politely, with a good attitude and a soft If your horse puts his ears back, this tells you two things. One, that he is unhappy about you being dominant and probably still challenging it. Or; Two, that you are too hurried, too demanding, overdoing it, too critical about how well he does or too fast with your phases. Slow down. Be happy with just a little and reward often. Don’t turn this into the driving job!
Remember to always play the Friendly Game in between tasks, as well as smile and visibly soften when you release. The greatest challenge of all… the draw. Getting your horse to come forward to you is probably the most difficult maneuver to master. The first criteria is to have a really good disengagement (yielding) of the hindquarters (Zone 4) in your Driving Game. The second is to have an excellent bring-back in your Yo-Yo and Circling Games (Games 4 & 5). What the horse starts to respond to the beckoning motion of your hands, the sweet look on your face (no ‘Schwiegermutter’ this time, it’s a ‘come-hither’ look!), and your walking backwards in order to encourage him to keep walking towards you. In Level 2, the draw starts to come quite easily, but usually only at the walk. By Level 3, it’s at the trot and by Level 4 it’s at the canter. You can’t hurry the horse until your savvy and his preparation are in place. If you do, you’ll end up forcing him into doing something he doesn’t understand. Once you do that, the task is simply performed as a trick, not through communication. All I want you to see now is where this can go. Naturally, I would love to see you achieve it as soon as possible. So would your horse! Special reminderThis is Game #3 which means it should not be played until you can successfully play Games #1 (Friendly) and #2 (Porcupine). The Seven Games are supposed to be studied and played in order. Play 1 before 2, 2 before 3, etc. Each game builds on the one before it and they make perfect sense to the horse when presented in their correct order. For trouble shooting, to reverse the order helps solve problems. If you have trouble in Game #3, go back to Game #2… and if you have trouble in Game #2, go back to Game#1. Using the games is how you develop a great language and sophisticated communication system with the horse. It also helps you effectively diagnose and solve “behavior” problems with ease. |
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About Parelli
Pat Parelli, coiner of the term “natural horsemanship”, founded his program based on a foundation of love, language and leadership. Parelli Natural Horsemanship allows horse owners at all levels of experience to achieve success with their at-home educational program. Together with his wife Linda, Pat has spread PNH across the globe with campuses in the United States, United Kingdom and Australia. Newly launched in 2011, parelliconnect.com provides an online social forum packed with training tools, step-by-step to do lists, video and more. Log on today for your FREE 30-day trial at ParelliConnect.com. |
His body language, expression and intention are very clear—move out of my space before l bite or kick you!
look in his eye. Parelli Membership
Game 1- Friendly Game
Game 2 – Porcupine Game
Game 3 – Driving Game
Game 4 – Yo-Yo Game
Game 5 – Circling Game
Game 6 – Sideways Game
Game 7 – Squeeze Game
