Licensed Parelli Professional 2* Junior Instructor

My official Parelli Professional website can be found at;

http://instructor.parelli.com/lillanroquet

Tuesday 19 January 2016

Flo's Journey on Improving Catching

So... There are multiple steps, phases, and strategies to a good catching game, to creating a horse that WANTS to be with us, and can't wait to get caught! As I mentioned in a previous blog, to me Flo seems to like humans and want to be with you; however, she is scared of ropes, fast movements, and motion of most kinds. Obviously, this makes her challenging to catch.


One of the ways you can tell which parts of the friendly game your horse struggles with is how easily they re-approach you. For example with Flo, if she leaves, she only goes about ten steps away, stops and then re-approaches. This tells me that she is more concerned about my movements and my tools, not so much about ME! And this is a good thing! It means we just have to continue to improve her friendly game and understanding of motion and tools.


So today,  we played with improving this understanding in Flo. I brought her her breakfast, (two flakes of hay) and then I stood right next to her hay bag. As she ate, I proceeded to touch and rub her face. The first few times, she needed to retreat; during this exercise I didn't apply any pressure on her when she left, I just allowed her to retreat and re-approach in her own time. This works especially well since I have the natural draw of breakfast on my side!


I gradually increased my motion, and today was able to use my hands, and the rope a little bit on her neck and face! My goal is to use this time and this gentle technique to expose her to many many different tools and motions!


This is a great technique for more nervous horses! With my Arabian mare I used this to get her used to plastic bags, tarps, and the stock whip, so keep thinking about how you can be a REAL natural horseman, and use your horses tendencies and environments to your advantage!

Thanks for following Flo's journey ;)!

Lillan Roquet

4 comments:

  1. Thank you Lillan, for helping me to improve the depth of my understanding of the catching game. I love the way you bring another dimension to my learning - gentle, soft, caring and subtle.

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    1. Thanks Eva ;) ... I will continue to try to live up to this awesome compliment ;)

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  2. I'm loving Flo's journey. You say that Flo likes humans what would you suggest with a horse that really isn't bothered about humans.? (I have just rescued a horse and want to get it right)

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    1. Hey Leonore- The biggest thing if your horse doesn't LIKE humans is figureing out what is important to them ... Food, scratches, water, rolling spot ... etc. So that you can make sure that you are a source of something REALLY awesome every time he sees you!

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