Step 8 After getting supremely confident* with your "Pushing" Passenger Lessons at the walk and trot, it will be time to graduate to Level 2, and do it at the canter. You should find this reasonably easy because by this time your horse will be feeling very comfortable with your riding, and you with his way of moving.
Rather than pushing with both hands, you might find it even better to have one hand pushing and the other moving in time with his cantering leading leg. At first it doesn't matter if you've got exactly the same lead as him but pretty soon you'll find it naturally because you're in harmony with your horse. It will feel right to use your right hand when on the right lead and your left when on the left lead. If you're not sure about what lead you're on, try first one hand and then the other and feel which one is better. *By "confident" I mean you'll have done so many repetitions of the Passenger Lesson that you feel totally balanced, safe and confident on a consistent basis. You'll feel you could go to a larger area, or progress to the canter. If you don't feel like going to the canter or a larger area yet, it means you don't yet feel confident. It's got to be your idea to do it, don't let anyone else tell you when you are ready! In the courses we've been running here at the Florida International Study Center, we've been having every level of class do the Pushing Passenger Lessons, starting at the walk and moving to the trot and canter when it all feels right for them. Even some Level 1 course students were cantering around, outside of an arena within five days! Awesome! We did it in my Level 3 course and the transformations in the horses and riders were incredible to say the least. After telling everyone what to do, we just let them go play with it for 20 to 30 minutes and to only get as far as the trot on the first day. (Even the most difficult horses accomplished this!). By the third day, cantering became the desire and the change in the horses was phenomenal. Many horses who ran off or bucked or wouldn't canter suddenly started cantering with rhythm and grace, and one in particular that I remember was a horse that was so crazy in the canter it was dangerous to ride. In the end we had trouble convincing the rest of the class how difficult this horse really had been! Remember, horses are fine until we get on them... so what is it that we are doing or not doing that upsets or inhibits them? The secret to success here is being totally, 100% in tune... hard to do unless you use this new breakthrough in Parelli Passenger Lessons: PUSHING on the base of the neck. _____________________________ Judy http://icehorses.net http://clickryder.com
