The Seven Games are supposed to be studied and played in order. Play 1 before 2, 2 before 3, et cetera. Each game builds on the one before it and they make perfect sense to the horse when presented in their correct order.

Remember to always play the Friendly Game in between tasks, as well as smile and visibly soften when you release.

1. Friendly Game

The Friendly Game is the first of Parelli’s Seven Games because nothing beats a good first impression. When you want to meet someone, how would you first approach him? I like to think about introducing myself to a horse as positively as I would to another person.
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2. Porcupine Game

Horses naturally push into steady pressure, moving against it or barging through it. It’s part of their programming for survival. In order to develop a partnership with your horse, you need to help him overcome his fearful, defensive reactions to pressure and learn how to yield and move away from it. I teach this through the Porcupine Game, Game #2 of the Seven Games.
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3. Driving Game

The Driving Game is the third of the Seven Games. It teaches your horse to yield from a “suggestion” with no physical touching involved.
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4. Yo-Yo Game

Have you ever wished that your horse had more suspension, stopped easily with a light cue, could do a sliding stop, moved straighter, or could back up quickly? The Yo-Yo Game is the key to developing all these things in your horse, and more.
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5. Circling Game

The Circling Game helps your horse understand that it is his job to maintain gait, maintain direction, watch where he is going, and all the while stay tuned into you as his center of attention.
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6. Sideways Game

In the Sideways Game, you will learn how to straighten your horse and have him yield laterally with softness and respect.
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7. Squeeze Game

Horses, by nature, are claustrophobic. They are instinctively afraid of small or tight spaces because these areas usually spell disaster for prey animals. The final of Parelli’s Seven Games, the Squeeze Game, teaches your horse to become calmer, smarter and braver, and to squeeze through narrow spots without concern.
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If you enjoyed the Seven Games, check out all Parelli articles.

This article from Pat Parelli about the Seven Games is a web exclusive originally published in January 2012 for Horse Illustrated magazine. Click here to subscribe!

The post Parelli Natural Horsemanship: The Seven Games appeared first on Horse Illustrated Magazine.

Parelli’s Answer: It’s natural for horses to be afraid of dogs because dogs are predators. Some horses are comfortable around dogs because they were raised with them, while others are not as sensitive so the dogs don’t bother them.

A horse like yours, however, sounds quite unconfident and fearful and the dog situation triggers these reactions in a big way. Here’s what you can do:

1. Get her to be more trusting of you. As her leader, she needs you to take control of the situation and protect her. This starts well before she is near dogs. Are you able to back her up on the ground; how about going sideways? These are two important maneuvers because they cause a horse to think. Horses are designed to run, and not think, acting out of pure survival instinct. Unfortunately, this is dangerous for the rider. By teaching her to be responsive when you ask her to back up and go sideways, you can control her movement and, therefore, keep her mentally present.

2. Develop her self-confidence. In our program, we use different lengths of leads to play with our horses on the ground. The longer the line, the more you help the horse develop self-confidence. Holding the line short and close tends to make the horse feel more claustrophobic and want to climb on top of you. See if you can “send” her away from you and get her to touch things with her nose … a gate, a bucket, a barrel, et cetera. The more time you spend on this, the more her confidence will build and the more obedient and self controlled she will become.

3. Find a friend with a dog to help you desensitize your horse. Ask your friend to walk in big circles, about 100 feet wide. Lead your horse behind the dog, as far away as necessary for her to not feel too threatened. Walk behind the dog until you feel the horse begin to relax a little. She’ll probably blow and snort, and raise her head up and down. Don’t get too close; instead, let your horse choose to get closer to the dog. Your goal is to have her be less fearful and grow more curious, thus wanting to get closer. It’s important to not let the horse touch the dog and not to let the dog approach the horse. If this was you, think of the dog as a lion; you would feel much safer if it was moving away from you!

4. Repetition is very important in building confidence, so do this exercise for seven days in a row, taking as much time as necessary for your horse to settle and want to get closer. Even a step closer is a good place to stop. The second important concept is “approach and retreat.” Any time your horse feels more tense, increase the space between your horse and the dog.

5. After a few repetitions of the above, you can now play with your horse as the dog walks big circles around you. Ask your horse to focus on you by requesting her to back up, go sideways, et cetera. You need to act as if the dog isn’t even there … it’s not about the dog. It’s about your horse’s self-confidence and trust in you as her leader. If you pay attention to the dog, she will too. Unfortunately, it doesn’t work to pet your horse to calm her down; it helps more to be proactive, focused and unconcerned yourself. For this reason, too, it’s safer to not ride your horse until she’s virtually unflappable.

6. Finally, do something every day to help your horse become less reactive in general. Things like jumping jacks, skipping around, et cetera, will probably startle your horse at first, but with repetition and by allowing her to move away from you as she needs, she’ll quickly learn not to feel threatened and will start building more confidence. She will develop the ability to think and stay calm instead of panicking and wanting to run.

7. After returning to riding and passing dogs, think about keeping your horse busy when you see a dog approaching … sideways away from the dog, et cetera. Pretty soon your horse will focus on you instead of the dog. When you have a plan, the leader comes out in you, calm and focused … and horses like that. It makes them feel safe.  More about Pat and Linda >>

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Before starting the Squeeze Game, go back to the Circling Game (Game #5) and make sure all three parts of the Circling Game—the Send, the Allow and the Bring Back—can be done with ease. The Squeeze Game requires the same three techniques, but instead of playing the game on a circle, you will now be playing it on a straight line.

Start the Squeeze Game by standing with your horse about 6 to 8 feet away from a fence. This should give your horse plenty of space, but if he shows some fear, then just widen the space or send him between you and a barrel in an open area.
Send your horse through the narrow space by leading his nose and driving him forward from his hindquarters with the lead rope or Parelli Carrot Stick. Once your horse is moving into the space, just Allow him to go through. Turn with him and once he is on the other side, ask for the Bring Back by bringing your hand to your belly button to lead his nose and pushing his hindquarters away.

Once you have both of his eyes focused on you, Send him back through the other way. Continue to ask your horse to go back and forth through the narrow area–with a short rest on each end to give him incentive–until he can walk through without a care in the world.

Once your horse becomes confident with that space, take a big step toward the fence to make the space narrower. Allow your horse to get comfortable with the new width, and then make it narrower again until you have worked your way down to about a 3-foot distance between you and the fence. This process may take a day or several weeks depending on your horse and your skill level. Just remember to end each session on a good note so you can pick up where you left off the next time you play together.

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By developing the simple maneuvers learned in the Sideways Game, you are building the foundation for teaching your horse to sidepass. It is also the foundation skill used to develop more suspension, flying lead changes, spins, and more. On the more practical side, a great Sideways Game builds the foundation for teaching your horse how to get close enough to a gate to open and close it.

The first step of the Sideways Game is to go back to the Driving Game and make sure you can yield the horse’s hindquarters and then the forehand independently of each other. Once you have control over each end of the horse and from both sides, you are ready to ask him to go sideways. With just the halter and lead rope on your horse, ask him to stand with his nose on a fence or rail to prevent him from going forward. Position yourself facing his mid-section, and ask your horse to move one end or the other for just a step or two at a time. Start with the Driving Game to first move the forehand a little, then the hindquarters a little, then the forehand again, then the hindquarters. If you are using a Parelli Carrot Stick, move it like a windshield wiper, slowly going back and forth, driving the forehand then the hindquarters until they are moving together and your horse is going sideways.

Ask your horse for just a few steps at first, and then build up to where you can send him sideways for 20, 30 or even 50 feet at a time. Once your horse is responding well to the Sideways Game using the Driving Game technique, try asking him to go sideways using the Porcupine Game technique.

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Next: The Squeeze Game >>

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The object of the Circling Game is to have your horse willingly and snappily head off in the requested direction, maintain gait and direction once on the circle, and then come back in at the slightest suggestion. Essentially the Circling Game can be broken into three distinct parts—the Send, the Allow and the Bring Back.

Lead him with a light pull on the lead rope in the direction you want him to go. Lift your Carrot Stick or the tail of your lead rope in the other hand to support the horse in the direction you want him to go. Swing your Carrot Stick or lead rope if he hasn’t moved yet. Touch him on the neck with the Carrot Stick or lead rope if he is still standing there looking at you. If he still hasn’t moved, then just start again from Lead It. The next time, do it with just a little more energy and a determined look on your face.

At any stage in the four phases, if your horse even tries to go in the direction you asked for, stop asking and allow him to go on the circle. If he only makes it half a lap or even a few steps, that’s OK; just start over with a new Send as many times as you need to. The object of the game for the human during the Allow is to not move—no turning, no talking, no slapping, no clucking, no smooching and no lifting the Carrot Stick. Just pass the rope behind your back. The only time you get to move is if the horse stops. Then you just Send him again and go right back to the Allow as soon as he goes.

Ask for the Bring Back only after your horse has completed a minimum of two laps at any gait. Don’t do more than four consecutive laps or your horse will start to check out mentally. Lead your horse in by running your hand down the lead rope and then bringing it to your belly button. Bring your hand all the way in and pretend you are “poking” yourself in the belly button with the lead rope. Lift your Carrot Stick or the end of the lead rope and look at your horse’s hip. Swing the Carrot Stick or rope a few times toward his hip, and then touch your horse on top of his hip to get him to face you. If your horse doesn’t respond by facing you or coming to you the first time, then just shorten the rope and go through the four phases again.

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Next: The Sideways Game >>

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Have you ever wished that your horse had more suspension, stopped easily with a light cue, could do a sliding stop, moved straighter, or could back up quickly? The Yo-Yo Game is the key to developing all these things in your horse, and more.

The Yo-Yo Game helps balance your horse’s backward and forward movements. Most horses will go forward without any difficulties, but backward can be an entirely different matter.

A good Yo-Yo Game is a key to building straightness, respect and impulsion in your horse. It will also help you cure such problems in as running you over, running in front of you while leading, nipping, biting or getting heavy on the forehand.
The Four Phases for Sending Your Horse Backward

• Begin with your horse’s nose at about arm’s length from you and holding the very end of your lead rope in your hand. Give your horse a “Schwiegermutter” look (means Mother-in-Law in German!), like you are another horse laying his ears back. Lift up your hand and wiggle just your index finger at him. When you wiggle your finger, the lead rope shouldn’t move at all.
• Close your fingers on the rope and shake just your wrist. The rope should move a little, but it shouldn’t make the halter move at all. (Keep giving him ‘the look.’)
• Lock your wrist tight and bend your arm at the elbow. Move your forearm back and forth. This should cause the rope and the halter to move so your horse can now feel it quite a bit.
• Lock your arm really straight and swing your entire arm from your shoulder joint. Your horse will really feel this, as the rope and the halter are moving hard.

As soon as your horse takes even one little step–at any phase–stop immediately and relax your body. This is how he will know that he did the right thing. When he moves, even at Phase 2 or 3, stop there and then start over again at Phase 1 until he is all the way out to the end of the lead rope.

The Four Phases for Bringing Your Horse Forward

• Once your horse gets all the way out to the end of the lead rope, rest for a minute or two before asking him to come back to you. When you are ready to ask him to come to you, smile and look at him with a very friendly face (like your mother). Lift the lead rope and just motion for him to come to you.
• Keep smiling and comb the rope lightly with open fingers.
• Keep smiling as you close your fingers while you comb the rope. The horse should now be feeling some pull on the halter.
• Smile, plant your feet, bend your elbows and hold the rope steady. Just be like a fence post that he is pulling against and wait for him to come forward.

Again, you will release and go back to Phase 1 whenever your horse takes a step forward.

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Next: The Circling Game >>

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This game is learning how to use rhythmic pressure. The horse is naturally inclined to move quickly away from moving objects or rhythmic pressure, so this game is relatively easy to teach to your horse.

When teaching your horse the Driving Game, you will need to use rhythm in your hands, beating the air like Indian drums in “B” grade western movies! It goes in little groups of four, with the first beat being emphasized: “BOOM boom boom boom … BOOM boom boom boom.”

For the Driving Game, here is what your Four Phases might look like for backing your horse up:

Phase 1
Softly beat the air with your hands (not touching the horse, stay about 12 to 24 inches away from him). Pretend there are a couple of little bongo drums in the air between you and your horse’s nose. Softly beat them in unison.

Phase 2
Increase the intensity of the rhythm but do not move closer to your horse.

Phase 3
Start moving closer to your horse, slowly and meaningfully. Give him a hard look.

Phase 4
Tap your horse’s nose (on either side of the bridge of the nose) using the same rhythm until he backs up just a step. Your feet should get planted in place once you start making contact with your horse.

If anything, this contact can get progressively more intense, but keep your feet still the whole time. This way, the moment the horse takes a step back, he gains instant comfort and release from the physical pressure. He’ll learn that if he moves, the discomfort stops.
Key Tips to Using Phases

• Any time your horse moves backward a step, release (quit, relax and smile).
• Allow your horse to think for a moment when he does the right thing. You could even wait for him to lick his lips. Then, start again.
• Always begin at Phase 1. In the teaching stages, give each phase about three seconds, but stay with the fourth phase until you get the horse to move.

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 there.

Start with the back up. Play with this until you are able to easily drive your horse backward at least five or six steps consistently.

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Principle 1: Intention
Your look conveys your intention. It orchestrates the right body language and the amount of life you need in your body. In the Friendly Game, your look is very soft. If you don’t differentiate your look from a “Friendly” look to a “Porcupine” look, you will confuse your horse and be giving him conflicting aids. You need to be clear.

Principle 2: Steady Pressure
The Porcupine Game uses steady pressure.

Principle 3:  Four Phases of Friendly Firmness … and Instant Release
There are four phases to applying pressure.

• Phase 1 – Press the hair (almost like a fly)
• Phase 2 – Press the skin
• Phase 3 – Press the muscle
• Phase 4 – Press the bone

Each phase becomes progressively and smoothly more insistent, pushing a little harder and making it increasingly uncomfortable for the horse if he doesn’t move. The instant the horse responds by moving away, or even tries to respond, immediately release all the pressure! It’s not the pressure that teaches. It’s the release from pressure that tells the horse he did the right thing.

Principle 4: Rub-Press-Rub
Every time you prepare to play the Porcupine Game, you need to rub him first. After you’ve pressed and he responds, you need to rub that spot again. If you just go to prodding and pressing and never rub before or after, your horse is going to become pretty defensive. Rubbing is a form of the Friendly Game and is important in the horse-human relationship.

There are many directions you can ask a horse to yield in the Porcupine Game:

• Backward
• Forward
• Left (hindquarters and forehand)
• Right (hindquarters and forehand)
• Up
• Down

Instead of starting with your fingertips, you can accelerate the Porcupine Game by using a Carrot Stick. Four feet long, stiff and sturdy, the Carrot Stick enables you to apply pressure to your horse’s chest, neck and hip while staying out of the range of trouble. Because it is always steady and strong, it is far more effective than your fingertips. Since I started teaching the Porcupine Game with a Carrot Stick, the results are much quicker. Use the Carrot Stick to teach, then your fingertips to refine.

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Next: The Driving Game >>

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It is, without a doubt, the most important of the Seven Games. You need to play it with your horse first, before anything else, and then you need to continue to play it before, during and after each of the other Seven Games. You can play the Friendly Game with your 12- foot lead rope, with a Carrot Stick, with your bare hand or with anything you have. Play it from the tip of your horse’s ears, inside his mouth, down all his legs to the end of his tail. There is no part of your horse’s body you should not be able to be friendly with.

I start by rubbing the horse in a pleasurable way wherever he will allow me. I begin with these areas and gradually move to the ones he feels more defensive about. When the horse is no longer defensive, he is telling me that he trusts his body in my hands. From there, I increase the stimulus to see how much the horse can stand. I swing ropes. I skip around. I jump up and down. I stagger around until the horse gets desensitized. All the while I have a smile on my face and a non-threatening, relaxed body language. I persist through the process until the horse becomes confident and relaxed. To leave the horse feeling scared is just not fair.

(NOTE: The Friendly Game can also refer to using the method of approach and retreat.)

Click here to watch a video of Pat Parelli demonstrating how he works with a new horse.

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Next: The Porcupine Game >>

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