Horsemanship: Fountain of Witty Ideas

I wisdom dwell with prudence, and find out knowledge of witty inventions.  Proverbs 8: 12

A frequent complaint of students across the country is that they feel they are boring their horses and... they are right!  But this need not be true if you have a witty idea!

When I was newly in the Parelli program, I attended a clinic taught by Neil Pye.  It was a Level 1 Beginning Partnership clinic.  He said something that ignited my imagination,

"Play all the games, in all the zones, from all the zones."  

The games are the 7 Games of Parelli.  The "in zone" in where the "pressure" (or in the case of the friendly game, the stimulus) is.  The "from zone" is where you are.

  

For instance let's think about 1 game in 1 zone from all the zones:

Imagine playing Game 2 in zone 2 from zone 1...

Game 2 is the porcupine game...steady pressure

Zone 2 is from the back of the halter to the drive line (from the withers to the point of the shoulder).

Zone 1 is the muzzle and everything in front of it.

This is not hard to imagine.  You have done it many times with your stick by standing in front of the horse and pushing on the chest.

Ok, how about game 2, in zone 2, from zone 2?  Another one you may already do by placing your fingers on the horse's chest and pushing backwards while you stand beside the neck.

How about game 2, in zone 2, from zone 3?  Now you have to stand behind the withers but in front of the flank?  Can you still reach the chest with steady pressure?  Do you need another tool?  Which one(s)? 

Keep moving back.  Can you play game 2, in zone 2, from zone 4...while you stand next to the hip or hindquarter?  What tool do you need now?  Is your horse receptive to the idea or reactive or oppositional?  If so, what game is broken?  How can you fix it?

Finally can you stand in zone 5--behind the horse--apply steady pressure in zone 2 to request a back up?

Now we have played one game, in one zone, from all the zones in one direction.   But horses can go in 6 directions...and you have 4 savvies to play with...and what if you incorporated toys or obstacles? Now there is almost an infinite number of things you can do with your horse!

When I got home from that clinic with Neil, I lay in bed and created a matrix in my mind and tried to imagine a way I could play each game in each zone from each zone on line.  It was a fascinated and imagination stimulating exercise.  Try it!  Let me know what you think!  How many witty ideas did you come up with?