Lesson 12 Go and Whoa
The Cornerstones of impulsion
Pat Parelli’s formula for developing horses goes like this:
- respect (mental collection)
- impulsion (emotional collection)
- flexion (physical collection)
Respect gives you impulsion, and respect and impulsion give you flexion.
In Level 1 we are most concerned with developing respect and we begin the foundations of impulsion. Level 2 is all about impulsion which is self-controlled forward energy. Level 3 is then all about flexion, vertical flexion. But we will also be exploring respect, impulsion and flexion as it occurs in a form at each level. The important thing here is not to become impatient and think that you have to have vertical flexion or a head set a this level. As soon as you mix the formula up you’ll find yourself experiencing all the normal problems with horses – dullness to the bit, stiffness, shortening of stride, breaking at the 7th vertebrae, head tossing, leaning, champion on the bit. etc.
For example. Let’s say you have a horse with a tendency to run off. Here’s how flexion is affected.
This seems like an impulsion problem, he is impulsive. But if you look a the formula, you will see it’s a respect problem because respect gives you impulsion. You will also find this horse difficult to bend because having no impulsion (when go is equal to whoa) you will have no flexion. This is because the horse is scared, he doesn’t want to bend because he knows this impedes his flight response.
In the case of a horse who seems lazy and dull, this too is a respect – impulsion problem. He is unresponsive, like a lazy teenager! You will also find flexion difficult on this horse because the system is out of order and he is dull to your requests.
But if you have a horse that is happy to go, happy to slow, you’ll probably find he bends pretty well!
So let’s work on the go and whoa buttons and once and for all get rid of the notion that horses’s need to be kicked to go and pulled to stop.
Use your halter and 12′ lead, be saddled and in a small corral.
Four Phases to Go
- Rise up in your saddle, bringing your “life” up so your horse feels energy in your body. Focus well ahead to where you want to go and stretch your hand and rein forward inviting the movement.
- Smile with all four “cheeks”
- Turn the smile into a squeeze that goes down your legs to your heels.
- Smooch then spank if you please (while holding the squeeze). Let’s talk about spanking. This does not mean whipping and it also does not mean one big spank! there are phases within this phase. Start by spanking yourself with the tail end of the 12ft. line, side to side on your shoulders. Then let the rope get longer, continue the motion until it starts flapping the horse on either side of zone 4, then let this get longer and stronger until the horse responds. Pretty soon phase four will be totally unnecessary.
As soon as you get a response, release your legs instantly! This is the positive reinforcement your horse needs to know he’s done the right thing.
Give each phase a few seconds to work and if there’s no response continue up to the next phase. What’s important is that you don’t stop in mid phase if you haven’t gotten a response, and you keep going up phase by phase until you do get a response.
Ride
This means have enough life in your body for the gait you are wanting. You don’t have to keep your legs active, just have life in your body. The best example would be if you thought about how much energy you needed in yourself to produce a walk, a jog, a run and a sprint without a horse. Practice this yourself and then apply that too your riding savvy.
Four phases to slow
- Quit riding, let your life down like air out of a balloon.
- Lift your rein straight up and high front of you until it makes contact with the horse.
- Hold the rein in that position, with your life down for several seconds.
- Run your other hand down the rein and bend your horse gracefully to a stop.
Again, give the horse a few seconds at each phase to respond before moving up to the next phase. And as soon as any of the phases has an effect, positively reinforce by dropping the rein to his neck. You can always pick it up again and repeat if he moves off uninvited.
Success Tips
- don’t worry where the horse goes, straight, crooked, it doesn’t matter right now. Isolate going and stopping from turning. They are separate lesson.
- go where the horse goes, flow with the go.
- try a walk first: walk a little, then stop. Repeat and repeat until you can then try the trot.
- if you use your phases effectively, it won’t take long before your horse responds at the lower phase.
- Trust that he’ll respond but ready to correct if necessary. And when you do correct, don’t punish, just patiently go through the phases.
Pitfalls
- sharp and jerky movements
- trying to keep the horse going instead of just allowing the early lessons to have more latitude
- being in too big an area, a small area will ensure your safety and build confidence
- not starting at phase 1 every time
- not going to phase 4 if necessary
- not waiting until the horse makes a mistake before making a correction
Troubleshooting
Horse bucks when spanked at phase 4
Your horse is most inclined to buck if you use one sharp, hard spank. He’ll also feel resentful and criticised. Use your phases judiciously. If the horse is still inclined to buck, sort it out on the ground. Use the Driving Game with Carrot stick over the horse’s back (as in lesson 4), you in zone 3. As you move into a trot, tap the horse rhythmically to speed up with you. If he needs to buck a little, that’s OK, keep focused, keep in zone 3 and moving forward. Next, teach your horse to associate a smooch or cluck being followed by a spank if the horse fails to respond.
Your horse takes off as soon as you give it a loose rein
Take confidence in the fact that by following the program so far, you have already made some good changes to your horse’s respect levels and self confidence. You’ll probably find that the tendency is much improved, however, the key is to get the bending good. You are better off giving a loose rein, trusting the horse, and then correcting by bending if he starts to speed up and lose confidence. when you bend him, keep him bent and stroke him until you feel his emotions come down, then release.
This is also why being in a small enclosure will keep you both safe. Once you are both confident you can move to bigger areas. Take it a step at a time and be prepared to release and bend a hundred times, with especially emotionally scattered horses, that’s what it will take before he feels secure enough on a loose rein to manage his own impulsion.
Here’s a good rule of thumb:
- if you can’t bend at the halt, don’t walk
- if you can’t bend at the walk, don’t trot
- if you can’t bend at the trot, don’t canter
- if you can t bend at the canter, don’t gallop
Take this very seriously! Work on the bend being easy and supple. If doesn’t just control a horse motion, it controls his emotions. As good way to teach this horse to bend is to ‘pump’ the rein three times before asking for the bend. Do this with out putting tension on the halter, just pump it like a trombone motion: down and up, down and up, down and up, then down, close your fingers and bend the horse. This technique will warn the horse that you are about to bend him. He starts to tune in to this and pretty soon he’ll start shutting down as soon as he feels you start pumping the rein! Horses are experts at noticing what happens before what happens happens!
Your horse won’t keep walking or trotting, he slows down or stops
A horse that’s got more whoa than go might have the tendency to slow down and stop by itself. The worst thing you can do is anticipate this and try to prevent it. Remember, horses learn by negative reinforcement, so don’t do anything about it unless the horse actually changes gait. Then do something, go through your four phases until you are effective at regaining the walk or trot (as you choose), then smile and keep riding, that is keep your life up so your horse understands that means keep active.
If you coax the horse on as you feel him slowing down you will quickly make him dull, stop him from thinking and he will train you to work hard at keeping him going! The key therefore is to wait until he makes the mistake, then correct him. In this way he’ll learn the responsibility of maintaining the gait you asked for.
In the beginning, don’t be too critical of the horse changing gait help him to feel right as much as you can therefore at first be happy that he goes and whoas. You can become gradually more particular over the weeks that follow.
Summary
Go and whoa are the cornerstones of impulsion.
Respect, impulsion and flexion mean mental, emotional and physical collection respectively.
Respect gives you impulsion.
Until you and your horse can have controlled forward energy, do not ride with short reins.
A horse with the tendency to run off is impulsive. He has un-self-controlled forward energy.
A horse that is lazy is dull to and distrustful of your request.
Both of these have poor lateral flexion because the respect-impulsion system is faulty.
Learn to cause your horse to go without kicking and to whoa without pulling.
Four Phases to go:
- bring up your life as you focus ahead and stretch your hand forward.
- smile with all four cheeks.
- turn the smile into a squeeze.
- smooch and spank while holding the squeeze
There are phases to the spank too:
spank yourself side to side on the shoulders: let the rope get longer and longer until it is contacting the horse behind zone 4.
At the lightest response, release your legs.
Riding is an active thing.. You have to have enough ‘life’ or energy in your body for the gait you want.
There are four phases to slow down:
- quit riding, life down
- lift the rein
- hold the rein for several seconds
- bend
Give the horse a few seconds between each phase so he has a chance to notice it.
Immediately release when the horse responds.
When teaching ‘go’ and ”whoa’, don’t worry about direction at all.
By isolating just these its easier for the horse to learn.
Trust that your horse will respond but be ready to correct, not one more than the other.
Be graceful, Avoid sharp, rough motions when handling the rein.
Always start with phase 1.
Don’t correct the horse until he makes a mistake.
A horse is more inclined to buck if spanked once.
Use phases and a flapping motion across your shoulders first.
Sort it out on the ground.
Be sure you can bend your horse easily. Bending is something you cannot over do.
Trust your horse on a loose rein.
Bend your horse until the emotions settle – both the horse’s and yours!
Choose a small area to help discourage the horse from running off.
If you can’t bend at the halt, don’t walk. If you can’t bend at the walk, don’t trot. If you can’t bend at the trot, don’t canter. If you can’t bend at the canter, don’t gallop!
Pump the rein three times.
Through consistency your horse will start to shut down when you start pumping the rein.
If your horse slows down or stops when you don’t want it to, make the correction after the horse makes the mistake.
If you coax the horse before he makes the mistake, he trains you to work harder and never learns to maintain his responsibility.
Don’t be too critical but become increasingly particular.
