Lesson 15 – Focus with your whole body
According to Pat Parelli, this is the most important four letter word you’ll ever learn!
(Fo.C.U.S!!)
Focus give you feel. Focus and feel give you timing. Focus, feel and timing give you balance.
Your whole body is tied in with focus, especially if you focus right down to your belly button!
Try this simulation with your Carrot Stick:
Stand with your feet together and put your Carrot Stick between your thighs. ?Turn your eyes and your belly button to your right and watch what happens to the Carrot Stick, it turns and points in the same direction.
This is just how you’ll communicate to your horse too. By turning your belly button and focusing hard on where you want to go, your horse will learn to feel your focus and to follow it. Start learning how to focus with your whole body.
Focus Games
Now that you’ve learned how to use your reins independently of each other (the “one rein for control” principle) you can use two reins for communication.
Using the horseman’s halter and 12ft. line tied as a rein or you can use the Natural Hackamore, mount your ground skilled prepared horse. Run through your checkout drill and test lateral flexion, hindquarter disengagement, and spend a few minutes in passenger mode.
- Hold you reins in two hands, but keep some slack in them. They should not be tight nor too loose. To see the right distance from your hands to the halter, see if you can bring your hands to your chest. If at this point you have contact, the length is just right.
- Pick a focal point that you are going to ride to, something like a post, a tree, or a coat hanging on a rail.
- Stretch your hands out towards that point and ask you horse to walk forward.
- Imagine you have eyes on your head, your shoulders, your hands, your belly button, your knees and your toes. No matter what, keep all your eyes on the focal point. By keeping them there as your horse tries to change directions on you, you’ll make all the right moves to correct it… it will almost happen without you realising it, just by correcting your body to maintain your focus, your legs and reins will come into play naturally to correct the horse.
- Once your reach that point, relax and stop. Stay there for a least half a minute.
- Use an indirect rein to turn and re-direct your horse’s body. Stop and relax.
- Pick a new focal point and ride toward it with all our eyes. Again, stop and relax when you reach it.
- Keep doing this until you can achieve it without taking your eyes off that point once and your horse starts walking straight and true towards it.
- Try reasonably short distance at first and progress to longer ones. Don’t use curves, just straight lines.
- If you can start to do it easily at the walk, try the trot.
Success Tips
- Use straight lines
- focus with all your eyes
- never take your eyes off your destination, no matter what, not once
- start slow, with short distances, then progress to longer distances, then to the trot.
- stop every time you reach your destination and rest for a minimum or 30 seconds. This will teach your horse to want to get there and therefore to follow your focus better and better
- do this at least four times in a row (the next times you ride). Create a focus program.
Pitfalls
- looking at your horse. He’s not going to change coloraturas, so don’t look at him! It is also the quickest way to lose your bearings and your horse will feel that you’ve lost your focus and make it own.
- Using too long a distance at first. Keep it short, set yourself and your horse up for success.
- if you have problems at the trot, go back to the walk for a while. If you have problems a the longer distances, go back to the shorter ones for a while.
Troubleshooting
Your horse gets faster and faster
Straight lines “lengthen” a “short” horse, therefore they are great for helping slow and lazy horses to find purpose in going forward. Circles “shorten” a “long” or speedy horse. If you have a long horse, he could get a little fast when you first introduce this exercise. In this case, keep the distance short, but stay relaxed emotionally and very focused. If you can still guide your horse toward your focus without getting tense in your body, he’ll settle down. Be prepared for many repetitions and don’t quit until your horse is mentally and emotionally right.
Your horse is really crooked!
Don’t worry! Straightness is what this exercise will teach your horse. It will also teach you to get a very good focus and to keep it no matter what… even if your horse tries to turn 180 degrees! Do whatever it takes to maintain the focus with all your eyes. Pretty soon you’ll out-persist your horse and he’ll realise there’s comfort at the other end of the straight line.
Once you can achieve your focus goals with two reins, try it with one rein! One day you and your horse will get so good at this, you’ll be able to do it without touching your reins at all!
SUMMARY
The most important four letter word: Fo.C.U.S
Focus gives you feel. Focus and feel give your timing. Focus feel and timing give you balance.
Focus from your belly button!
Put a Carrot Stick between your legs like it was a horse. Turn your belly button and watch how it affects the direction of the stick.
Focus with your whole body.
Once you have learned how to ride with one rein, you can use two reins for communication.
Focus Games:
Pick a point and ride to it.
Imagine you have six sets of eyes.
This will help you focus through your whole body and your horse will feel it.
Get to the point and relax and stop.
Turn with an indirect rein and stop.
Pick a new focal point and ride to this.
Do this until you can keep your eyes on your focus and your horse goes straight.
Start with short distances and progress to longer ones. Use straight lines.
Never take your eyes off your destination not even once, no matter what.
By stopping when you reach your destination you give your horse incentive to get there.
Create a program. Do this for the next four times in a row.
Don’t look at your horse he won’t change colour!!
Slow and right beats fast and wrong. Straight lines lengthen a “short” horse. Circles shorten a “long” horse.
If your horse is long keep the distances short and go slow.
Crookedness will come straight when you keep your focus and your horse can’t change it!
If you get really good at this, get to where you can do the focus games with one rein and then without touching them.
