games and groundwork

[sugarcubes]

Hello.

i have recently bought an unbacked 4 and half year old. I have someone come to back him a few days a week and he is so laid back and hes doing great. I do not ride him when the trainer is not there at the moment, but i long rein and lunge him instead. I am really interested in starting a natural horsemanship method with him and have been looking at the different methods available including parelli, intelligent horsemanship etc. I want to start something that can help us build a good bond and that i can use to advance his trainining, but most importantly i want something that can be fun for both of us as i understand that he must be pretty bored with his ruitine at the moment.

So my question is, can anyone recommend any groundwork or games I can do with my horse so that he can have fun too and so that i am not demanding something of him everytime we enter the menage. It would also be good if it can be incorperated into his training, but wont upset what is being done with his backing. So far I have been doing join up with him, and the person that is helping me back him uses join up and body language alot too. There is so much information on the different type of NH and i feel pretty overwhelmed at the moment! I really like the idea of the games used by parelli, but as iv just had to fully kit out my hew horse, i cant really afford it at the moment so if anyone knows of a similar, less expensive method i can start him with until i can afford the parelli starter pack!

thank you very much!

[mayoguinness]

Parelli is always a good place to start if you can't have lessons with a NH trainer/instructer. If poss I would suggest some liberty work to have fun. If you've got a round pen or indoor or outdoor school to do it in thats great where you can let him off line and play at liberty :)

[sugarcubes]

thanks for the advice mayo, i have been free schooling him also, but i only have an ourdoor manage and he tends to jump out! We may be getting a roundpen built which will be great :)

His previous owner said she free jumped him and he really enjoys it, but I am unsure if it is a good idea to do so with him atm because of his backing. Also we cannot jump in our menage, we can only do so in a field, and last time i attempted to lunge him in the field it was a complete disaster! He accepted a rider with a contact at walk and trot off the lunge for the first time ever yesterday. I do feel kinda torn because i dont want to take things too slowly, but i dont want to rush anything either!

[mayoguinness]

I see what you mean. You can just do it out in the field. I've taught 3 horses now that I've never played with before to walk and trot with me in the field off line, to back up, yield to me and do a circle round me at liberty as well as going over small jumps all in the field with nothing at all except a piece of rope in my hand to ask them to walk or trot on :D and its great fun. Though how to explain to you how to do it I have no idea as I was taught by my NH RI how to do it with Mayo:o

[india]

If he only tends to jump out of the school when he's a distance away from you, how about trying some 'stay close to me' games ?

For instance, have [say] three or four cones placed a distant apart in a straight line and get your horse to weave in and out of them with you directing him by using an ordinary head collar and lead rope. When he's got the idea, take the head collar of and see if he will follow you in and around the cones at liberty.

Another idea is to direct your horse to an object and get him to touch it with his nose - this could be a cone, fence post, chair (anything really). Again, do this first with him wearing an head collar and lead rope then once he understands what your asking play the game at liberty using your body language to direct him.

That's just a couple of suggestions, but there's loads of 'stay close to me' games you could play with your horse just using an ordinary head collar and lead rope.

It doesn't have to cost a fortune for both of you to have fun....all you need is plenty of time and a little imagination!!! :D

ETA: You might find this link useful :) .........
http://iceryder.net/7games.html

[Sexy Sietske]

Should that link be allowed?? Im sure thats copy right..people have paid plenty of money to access that and it doesn't seem fair that someone has it written up on the web :confused:

[mayoguinness]

what?? :confused:

[india]

Should that link be allowed?? Im sure thats copy right..people have paid plenty of money to access that and it doesn't seem fair that someone has it written up on the web :confused:

No, it's not copyright materiel.....if you do a Google search, you'll find it's freely available for EVERYONE to view on the iceryder website!!!

[KateWooten]

When you first start looking at it, there really does seem to be an awful lot of different 'methods', doesn't there. And it looks like you have to pay a lot of money for one of the 'really good' ones ... and after all you'd want the 'really good' one, so perhaps you'd best pay out all that money ??

Well, here's what I found, (and it cost me quite a lot of money to find out, so perhaps I'll start up a little company and start charging for the info .... ) ... they're all pretty much the same, just different packaging. Different trainers trying to make a living doing what they're doing, teaching, training, producing materials for you to work from ... really, when you first start out with it, it boils down to who you can understand, who has some book, some dvd that clicks with you.

Personally, I do not find the parelli materials sufficiently easier to understand to warrant all that extra money. Just my opinion. Personally, I got as much as I needed for my first year from a $20 book. I have to admit though, I bought a lot of other $20 books, and most of them were just teasers for the main big money courses. For the money, for an intro to basic 'games', basic groundwork that will work, you can't beat Clinton Anderson's book :

http://ec1.images-amazon.com/images/P/1570762848.01._PIsitb-st-arrow,TopLeft,-1,-14_OU01_SCTHUMBZZZ_V42716526_AA90_.jpg

It will show what games to start, how they work, why they work, what to do if it's not happening 'like it says in the book' (some book, huh ? ). It's easier to do if you have an idea of what things will look like dynamically - I mean, it is easier to follow if you can watch the TV show from time to time, or have a lesson with someone who can show you ... but as long as they're not too dogmatic about it, you can learn from watching someone of any NH 'variety'. I mean, for example, I gained a huge insight into 'escalating the cue' from watching a parelli friend. She, in return, thought I was an idiot because I didn't know the right words for her 'porcupine game' and how to put your Natural Hackamore' back on it's hanger :rolleyes: ... to me, it's just yielding to different pressures and I'll hang my old rope halter any old how I like, but you know, whatever floats your boat.

Each different trainer pretty much has to rename everything, and kind of imply that it's new, and subtley better than the competition .. they have to do that to make money - but it's pretty easy to see your way through all that and gain a clear picture of what's important at the core of these NH varieties... which is that you earn your respect by moving the horse's feet, by consistency, by always starting with the softest cue ... these things are common to horses in the herd, and your horse will typically cotton on to what you're doing very quickly if you get it right.

[mayoguinness]

I agree with you on the names for Parelli games, someone came up to me and said ok so can you show me squeeze game yoyo, porcupine game ect. I just looked at her gone out, she said, I thought you were a NH person!!! I knew exactly how to do all that stuff but why all the names, wish we could just have just one set of names for everything in the horse world........I keep saying about liberty work and aparently its freeschooling........I'm getting all in a muddle..........................lol :D

[Widget]

I just bought that Clinton Anderson book. It really is helpful. I got the Parelli Horse-man-ship one aswell and the methods appear very similar at first glance(Not read much of the Parelli one yet). That Icelandics site has a lot of info on it including some articals by Clinton and Parelli and its all there for free!