>>> What are some back end exercises? I'm drawing a blank at the moment for the exact exercises the Parelli program has you work on in order to start seeing engagement of the rear end, but basically, they don't have you working towards any degree of collection until Level 3. I think that's plenty early.
I really don't literally follow the Parelli program for riding, but I did work with another local NH for several years in the early-mid 1990's. Some of the exercises he had us do were great, and I still use some of them. Rather than depending on reins, or even seat and legs, he had us first work on lots of transitions. For example, to cue to stop, he had us go through a series of pre-cues, and of course, to begin with, our pre-cues were quite slow and mechanical - very exaggerated. The particular sequence probably doesn't matter, but I think I'll remember this until I die: lean back, left heel down, right hill down, pick up the reins, stop - only after the other cues were we allowed to pull slightly on the reins. The first time I did that in a clinic, I rode a horse that had always been totally ridden by the reins - my old, on-the-forehand QH. Within minutes, he was stopping on "right heel" - I was amazed, and by the end of the clinic, it was so quick that I could almost think stop and he'd stop - even the "lean back" was almost invisible. That exercise served to be only the beginning. We went on to do lots of transitions, mostly walk to trot, then stopping very crisply. We then added backing into the sequence, randomly, so that they horses had to listen - maybe trotting 3 steps one time, 10 the next, sometimes stopping, and sometimes stopping and backing. After riding those exercises a while, I found that my horses wasn't falling forward when he stopped, and he certainly perked up, I think enjoying it as much as I did. The difference in how much he pushed from the rear was obvious from the saddle in just hours, and got more pronounced with more practice. That is an exercise that I still use - although writing about it makes me want to go out and practice some more. (I like having lots of horses, but there are advantages to having just one horse to concentrate on...) The bottom line: I really didn't use a lot of leg, and practically no rein, to get this result - only a very little rein at first to plant the "stop" seed, a little leg to "go", and a little leg (at another spot) at first to reinforce the backing. Karen Karen Thomas
