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The Driving Game
PAT PARELLI
Note: This is the third in a series examining the Seven Games with Pat
Parelli and their role in establishing leadership as well as building a language
between you and a horse... any horse.
Have you ever wondered how “horse whisperers” are able to magically
communicate with horses from across a pen? With suggestions that are imperceptible,
skilled horsemen are able to have a horse respond as if it was the horse’s
instinct to do so. The Driving Game develops these skills, in you and your horse,
to such a degree and with such subtle communication, that people will think
your horse is reading your mind.
The Driving Game teaches your horse how to yield from a “suggestion” with no
physical touching involved. In the beginning, driving is done at a reasonably
close range, but as you progress, you can actually drive from a distance. The
ability to communicate this way becomes especially useful when you need to
direct your horse away from you, maneuver him around obstacles, move him out of
your space or ask him to perform a task without the ability to touch him.
Horses play the Driving Game with each other all the time. The alpha, or
lead horse, only has to give a meaningful “look” and a swish of the tail to
drive another horse away. 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 with a scowl on
his face. The horse’s body language, expression and intention are very clear.
This is usually enough to get the other horse to move. If not, the dominant
horse will steadily and progressively add more pressure to get a response.
He’ll approach with greater threat and if necessary, finally make contact with
his teeth or hooves.
In Parelli Natural Horsemanoship (PNH), we call this progressive, oncoming
pressure “the Four Phases.” Asking a horse to do something using as little
pressure as possible and then following through until you are effective will teach
him to pay attention to your slightest suggestion.
Becoming an expert on the ground with the Driving Game is key to riding a
horse bridle-less. Once your horse learns to respond to your slightest
suggestions on the ground, he is able to understand your suggestions from the saddle.
Sensitizing your horse this way translates into invisible aids. What looks like
magic or a seriously dangerous situation to most normal people, becomes a
simple matter to you because you have taken the time to establish faultless
communication and eliminate the risks.
How the Driving Game Works
Horses are naturally inclined to move away from flapping objects or rhythmic
pressure (as used in the Driving Game) whereas they tend to lean into steady
pressure (like that used in the Porcupine Game, Game #2, Today’s Horse Trader,
January 2004).
When first beginning, your horse may be a little reactive to the rhythmic
pressure of the Driving Game. He may scoot around, trying to escape your
suggestion, rather than moving away calmly and with respect. You just need to stay
with him, stay in position and continue to drive him with passive persistence
until he is calm and thinking.
Be careful of becoming too critical or asking for too much too soon. Take
things at your horse's pace and incorporate plenty of Friendly Game (Game #1,
Today’s Horse Trader, December 2003) by relaxing and rubbing him when he stops.
Your horse will quickly learn not to be scared and will begin to confidently
understand that you are asking him to move away from you, not run off.
Because the Driving Game is relatively easy to teach your horse, be careful
not to use it instead of the Porcupine Game. You and your horse need to become
adept at all of the Seven Games.
It's like learning the alphabet. Once you master every letter, you can build
complete words and sentences and have intelligent conversations. What would
your conversation be life if you had never mastered the letter “A” or the “O”?
All the words containing those letters would be unavailable to you. Wouldn't
that make your communications far more limited?
Each one of the Seven Games is a vital part of your horsemanship alphabet.
Each game builds on the one before it so that it makes perfect sense to the
horse. Learning and using the Seven Games is how you develop a great language and
sophisticated communication system with a horse. They will also help you learn
to effectively diagnose and solve “behavior” problems in horses.
Rhythm
When first teaching your horse to understand the human version of playing the
Driving Game (as opposed to what it looks like coming from another horse),
use rhythm in your hands. The beat should be like the Indian drums in western
movies! Move your hands in little sets of four beats, emphasizing the first
beat of each set: “BOOM boom boom boom... BOOM boom boom boom....” This rhythm
is something your horse will learn to recognize and understand without fearing
it.
Release
A horse only knows he did the right thing according to when you quit asking
for something or release the pressure. 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 ask.
You could release your horse by stroking him in the same area you were just
driving (incorporating the Friendly Game as a reward). Sometimes just stopping,
relaxing, and doing nothing is even better than trying to pet your horse.
Phases
The Four Phases are the key to being firm, fair, and friendly while being
polite, clear, and totally effective in your communication with a horse. Phases
mean that you start as politely as possible and progress slowly and steadily
until you get a response.
The different Phases throughout the Driving Game should not change your
rhythm or beat. The only thing that should change is the level of intensity. The
biggest secret of the Four Phases is to use them! I see a lot of people who
start with too much pressure but never use enough to be effective. Their horses
then become bracey, resistant, dull and get progressively more ill tempered.
These people are just annoying their horses because they have not learned how to
balance between being polite and being effective.
To teach your horse to be truly light and respectful, you have to be light.
The softness of Phase 1 is really important for building sensitivity. Then
Phase 4 becomes important in keeping your horse from getting dull. If you do it
right, you'll find that 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 near
Phase 4.
If you use Phase 4 as a way to get forceful, the phases will work against
you. Instead of teaching the horse to yield, you will end up scaring him. He will
find ways to escape, evade, and avoid until he can run away! Learning to use
the Four Phases correctly will help your horse learn to notice what happens
before it happens and start responding to you well before Phase 4!
Teaching the Driving Game
A key to successfully playing the Driving Game is learning how to be clear to
your horse about which area you are asking him to move. One of the most
common pitfalls is looking the horse in the eye while you are trying to move the
hindquarter. Doing this projects an inconsistent message. Instead, you need to
look directly at the part of the horse's body you want to move.
The first thing to ask for is the back up. Stand in front of your horse, look
him squarely in both eyes and ask him to back up. Play with this until you
can consistently drive your horse backwards at least five or six steps. Using
the Four Phases, this can be achieved in just a few minutes.
Once backing is comfortable, start working with driving your horse's front
end away from you. Get to where you can drive the forequarters around in a full
circle with your horse mostly pivoting on his hind legs. Of course, begin by
asking for just a step or two, then two or more until you build up enough steps
to make a full circle.
The next area to play the Driving Game in is the hindquarter. I strongly
recommend using a PNH Carrot Stick when you start working on this maneuver. The
Carrot Stick acts as a four-foot extension of your arm and will help you
maintain a position that will keep you much safer. Without the Carrot Stick, this
is a vulnerable position should your horse take offense, get frightened, take
off or decide to drive you away instead!
Opposition Reflex
When playing the Seven Games with horses, you may come across a horse that
resists you or refuses to yield. Horses play dominance games with each other all
the time, and most horses will decide to play them with you, too. Horses
challenging your dominance may kick out, pin their ears at you, nip or get
aggressive in some way. This is natural to horses but scary to people who don’t know
what’s going on.
A horse will test you or show Opposition Reflex for one of three reasons:
He's scared, 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.
The first thing to understand is that getting upset or angry will not work.
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 how 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, then until he
realizes he needs to do the moving.
My students use special tools to stay out of harms way. The 4 ft. PNH Carrot
Stick with the 6 ft. PNH Savvy String tied to it, and the full extent of the
12-foot Line are all designed to keep you a safe distance from even the most
ill-behaving horses.
These tools are meant to be extensions of your arms. My students who use them
have reported that they feel much safer as well as more effective. Please
take special note that I do not recommend stiff ropes, short ropes, and flexible
whips because they are neither safe nor effective. The lack of effective and
well-made equipment in today’s market is the reason I developed my own. When
you first start to learn these techniques and begin teaching them to your
horse, I want to make sure you are equipped for success and safety.
Difficult Horses
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 a barrier for protection,
I was able to be passively persistent and safe while taking the time I needed
to prove to the horse that I meant to “win” this game without either of us
feeling like a loser. I mention this only because you may find you have a horse
that challenges you this much when you try to play dominance games with him.
Please understand that I strongly discourage people from taking on difficult
horses until they have an appreciable level of skill, savvy, and experience.
As a measuring stick, I recommend they complete Levels 1, 2, and 3 in my
program before tackling difficult horses.
Horses are born masters of horsemanship; it’s their game! What we must do is
learn how to play their game. In my system, you earn your “black belt” by
completing Level 3. Until then, I recommend you leave the Bruce Lee stallions
and colts alone. Learn the rules and the moves of the game with more forgiving
teachers.
Start On Line, Progress to Liberty
The ultimate goal is to be able to do the Driving Game at Liberty – without a
halter or lead on your horse – with extremely subtle suggestions and from
great distances. To start this way, however, sets you and your horse up for
quite a bit of frustration. Imagine learning to handle the trapeze without a net.
If something went wrong and you couldn't correct it, you end up risking more
than you bargained for.
The secret to learning how to play with a horse at Liberty is to pretend like
you never have a lead rope and halter to use. 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
he has anything on unless he tries to turn away. Your Driving Game can become
so good that all you need to do is look at an area of your horse's body and
shake a finger to yield your horse. Once you can play the Driving Game like
this, you are ready to try it without a rope.
As your skills develop, your horse will start to give you more of a positive
reflex by yielding politely, with a great attitude and a soft look in his eye.
If your horse puts his ears back when you play the Driving Game, 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, too
critical about how well he does, or too fast with the Four Phases. Slow down. Be
happy with just a little and reward often.
Don’t turn the Seven Games into the “Seven Jobs.” Remember to include plenty
of Friendly Game between tasks by smiling and visibly softening when you
release.
Want to know more? Call Parelli Natural Horsemanship at 1-800-642-3335 or
visit www.parelli.com for a free brochure.
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