Pablo and Parelli - absolutely thrilled with him!

[Esther.D]

We have been doing a little bit of Parelli with Rupert for a while now and he is really getting the hang of it. However we had not started with Pablo as he is very scared of sticks and wouldn't even let us near him carrying one. However we decided that we would give it a go as he needs to get desensitized to them sometime anyway. We expected fireworks or at least some of his shaking and shivering he puts on when sticks are about. But he was brilliant! He was not happy about the stick but he trusted Stephen sufficiently to allow him to rub it all over him in the friendly game without moving a muscle or even shivering. He cow-kicked once when it was under his belly so we went back to the less sensitive areas for today (we'll gradually try introducing it onto his belly in his next lessons). We were absolutely amazed - he stood with a loose rope (and didn't stop breathing which he often does if he is scared).

You can see he is not happy about the stick but he is trusting that Stephen won't let it hurt him.

[Esther.D]

Sorry the last photo was a bit fuzzy...here is another.

[Esther.D]

He picked up the next game very quickly - moving over and back when asked and coming back to Stephen when invited (as he is doing here). We didn't carry the stick for this one as he would do it without and we didn't want to get him upset needlessly.

[Esther.D]

What a good boy!

[Esther.D]

Of course it helps when you read the instruction booklet carefully :D

[ridehorses]

aw, what good news! he's a very good boy indeed. those pictures are adorable! that last caption gave me a good chuckle too .. :p :D

[Showjumper]

Hehe so cute! Way to go Pablo and Stephen! You'll soon be one of those True Life Stories on parelli.com! :D

[Esther.D]

Showjumper - definitely. If we eventually get him riding happily this way I will be telling the world :D He has such a lovely personality and is such an obedient horse - I wish I could meet the person who left him with all his issues :mad:

[galadriel]

Wonderful to hear--I thought you weren't going to be doing Parelli with him (a while ago) because he was terrified of sticks?

Of course, he *was* terrified of a lot of things; you two have made so much progress with him.

I love that last pic.

[Esther.D]

Galadriel - thats right....but then we decided that nothing else was overcoming the plateau we seemed to have reached so we might as well re-visit the stick phobia and see how we got on with parelli. What I think it has shown us is that we must have been gradually gaining more trust. We are so thrilled with this acceptance of the stick, and he was looking so happy today doing his 'porcupine game'...more relaxed than I have seen him for a long time. And he hung over the gate and wanted his head scratched as we were leaving. Well we have tried most things, so a few weeks learning the seven games can't do any harm :) I will let you know how he does at his second lesson, next weekend (don't you just hate dark nights). Hopefully we have found something to help us continue gaining his trust.

[bexj]

Well done to you all - that is one massive hurdle and you have worked hard to overcome it....you should be proud of yourselves. I'm fortunate that Molly was never afraid of the stick, but we have decided not to use it now as she is almost oversensitive in that if we raise the end of the ground, she shoots off sideways!

I think its absolutely right to take a tool like Parelli and extract bits from it to use to your best advantage.

Love the pics too - could look at Pablo all day!

[Silver1]

Well done! I love that picture of the horse 'reading' the manual!! ;)