Oh I meant “respect” in scare quotes because that’s what NH says. But it’s instinctual natural behavior which is why NH can get it so fast. Training them to stop straight is actual training.
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QH and stock types do better with relational training that lets them think and have a personality but yes they are better at shutting down when they don’t like what’s happening.
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I have developed my own hodgepodge of ground work methods. There were years and years (7-8) when I couldn’t ride much so it was ground work or nothing as I could not afford to send her out to a trainer.
Way back when, I drank the Koolaid (Parelli) but soon found myself gagging. I worked with a trainer in the area that was primarily a western person but she worked a lot with Bettina Drummond so had some “classical” bent in her groundwork. The last few years I have been doing a lot with Karen Rohlf’s material.
I know most dressage purists would be apoplectic but I am nearing the end of my riding life and I have no plans to show so I am going to enjoy my horse how I see fit. I seldom if ever use side reins but despite that, I have seen improvements in her self carriage. Lately, when I have her on the lunge I have been working on changing directions into the circle at trot(oh the horrors 
), changing bend and cantering off. She had been never getting the left lead when changing from right to left…very stiff and discombobulated but chunking it down to smaller, slower steps she now has it. No wrong leads or cross firing.
I enjoy it immensely and we have a great relationship. If my health issues hadn’t cropped up, a more direct dressage journey might have happened but I have still enjoyed what we have done
(I am 67 and horse turns 21 this year).
Here is a quick clip of working half steps in long reins…off the halter.
Susan
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that was great!! I love how soft and willing and calm she is.
My thought is if the horse is ‘getting’ it, they way you are doing it, change it, break it down more.
that’s what you did!
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We call that a P!ssed-off.
My totally green mustang and I are going to have a lesson with a cowboy young-horse trainer next week. He mainly does cutting and has a good reputation for starting the babies. It will be interesting to see how it goes.
That’s really nice.
Western riders don’t want their horse behind the bit.
AQHA and Arabian horses are often shown BTV regardless of discipline.
In general though western disciplines seek self carriage and working off leg aids far sooner than English (so they can transition to a curb). Working at slower gaits makes this easier.
That said, I dislike pretty much all “western” ground work, as it is based on “Natural Horsemanship” which is based on a prey-predator relationship. I prefer the Equitation Science ground work because it is based on actual science (vs observational)
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And I bet that piaffe was not correct… My horse used it as an evasion for a while, avoiding the “harder” walk-canter transition…
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That Piaffe was indeed not correct. But when hes not Captain Anxiety, he does have some semblance of correct in him.
We will get to that some day, once we’ve mastered “cantering all the way round the indoor arena without randomly melting down at A.”
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Check out Yvet Blokesch - Feather Light Academy. I heard Will Rogers mention her on his podcast w Warwick Schiller. For $40 USD you can join for a month and see her work and take that out to your own.
She’s soft and her timing impeccable.
https://featherlightacademy.com/
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The shakey-rope thing is supposed to be the high volume version of the backup. It’s not the first and last aid. You start with moving your index finger, then your wrist, then your arm, etc till you get a backup step. Eventually you should be able to get the backup from a posture/focus change, anyway. Most horses figure out to start backing up when your finger moves within a few tries. If you are still shaking your rope at the horse to back them up….you’re doing it wrong.
I work with a guy who started with the Parellis, but has developed his own version of groundwork. The concepts build on each other and definitely translate under saddle to connection, forward thinking, yielding to the leg and hand, moving shoulders and hind-quarters, etc.
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Yes, I do understand that, every time I have seen it ‘taught’ the horse has a high head and that high head response lingers; I don’t use that approach because I don’t want to teach something that I don’t want. I teach rein back with a different method that the horse never learns to throw his head up and yes, when the horse is proficient may not move back from a rope wiggle but will move from a voice command or a hand cue.
Just saying that is a particular ‘cue’ that doesn’t translate under saddle imo. 
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No, they don’t.
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That’s adorable lmao. I’m sure it’s super frustrating for what you’re trying to accomplish but would be great in so many other situations.
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I had a hard time teaching my GP horse to self-load into the trailer because the method I knew was to tap the top of the butt to get a horse to move forward. (He had always been led into a trailer.) To him, tapping the top of the butt meant piaffe, so he would just stand at the trailer ramp and piaffe like crazy! Had to get a cowboy to come teach him to load with a flag which didn’t involve touching him. Eventually only needed the flag if he balked at loading.
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Sorry if I offended. It was quite the generalization, wasn’t it? I should have said “way too many people train their horses to face you on the lunge line.”
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I was thinking about this some more this morning, and was reminded of a story in a book called “Horses Never Lie” (good read, by the way). The author had started this horse from the ground and taught a lot of “yield to pressure, always” stuff. He was pretty happy with his training because this young horse was so light and responsive. In fact, he did such a bang-up job training this horse to yield to pressure that when he put a saddle on for the first time, the horse stood there for a moment and then laid down 
Lesson learned.
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Just a wee bit of a generalization. 
The owner of a farm I used to board at was big on letting her saddlebreds turn in when she lunged them. I just ignored that, not my horse, not my problem. I just don’t get it.
My appendix QH used to always tried to face me when I asked her to stop. It was hard to keep her from doing it, and it was nothing she was ever encouraged to do.
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Take a look at Warwick Schiller’s stuff. He has a very specific style in terms of cultivating a relationship with your horse.
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