Taking on the training of a horse is a big responsibility.  Where do you start?  What do you do?  Can you do it by yourself or do you need a trainer to train you?  If you’re wondering how in the world to just take the first step I’d like to encourage you to follow the advice of Maria in the Sound of Music: “Let’s start at the very beginning, a very good place to start.  When you read you begin with A-B-C…”

For someone brand new to letters and words, you don’t start with sentence structure and complex grammar, you start with A - B - C.

So what are the A - B - C’s of horse training? 

The Basics of Horse Training

To begin horse training, you need to start by understanding the nature of the horse.  Prior to ever trying to train a horse to do anything, take some time to study and learn the nature of horses first.  By nature, horses are prey animals which means their innate need to survive lives very close to the surface.  

Horses are naturally afraid of human beings because we are predators. Many  horses live in an almost constant state of self preservation and their actions are often labeled as “bad” (bucking, rearing, bolting, biting, kicking, being hard to catch, pulling back, refusing to load into trailers or  other small spaces like race barriers and roping boxes, etc).  

The first step is for you to start looking at things from the horse's point of view. In  order to do this you'll need to understand horse psychology – how horses feel, think, act and play. 

Horse Psychology

To understand the psychology of the horse you need to understand his perspective on survival first. Once a horse knows he is safe, then he will seek comfort.  And if he feels both safe and comfortable the next consideration is play. Horses are  extremely playful and social animals. What we have to do is prove to a horse that  even though we look and smell like a predator, we wouldn't hurt him even if we could.  Horses don't think the same way as people or as dogs.  Learn to think like a  horse first.

Prey Animals & Herd Animals  

Don't ever be shocked by a horse's need to stick with the herd, or his want to  gravitate towards other horses. The herd represents safety and if a horse feels at all  insecure he will always be keeping track of where the herd is or trying to get back to it,  often to the chagrin of the rider! Another representation of the herd is the place where your horse lives – the barn or the pasture. He has learned to feel safe there and will want to return whenever he feels unsafe, uncomfortable or stressed.  

The more a horse learns to trust you and your leadership the less herd bound or  barn "sweet” (horses are definitely not sour on the barn, they are sweet on it!) he will be. If you represent safety, your horse will stay with you and not seek the herd.

Training Your Horse At Home

Now that we’ve established that horse training starts by understanding the nature of the horse, we need a plan and a program to help us learn more about what is natural to horses and to bridge the prey animal/predator divide.  This is where the Parelli Levels Program comes in.  

The A-B-Cs of Horse Training at home are found in the Parelli Levels Program.  Level 1 teaches you to build a solid foundation on the ground with your horse.  Think of how many things happen in your horse’s world while your feet on the ground (vs. riding): feeding, cleaning, grooming, bathing, saddling, bridling, the list goes on. 

Building A Language: The Parelli 7 Games 

The Parelli 7 Games teach horses how to overcome their innate opposition reflex (the natural tendency to survive by pushing into pressure) by replacing prey animal  behavior with a new language.  The 7 Games are based on the games that horses in a herd naturally play with each other to determine herd hierarchy.  By modeling our training after the horse’s natural language and intercommunication skills, we’re communicating in a way they can understand.  

Game #1 Friendly Game  

Game #2 Porcupine Game  

Game #3 Driving Game  

Game #4 Yo Yo Game  

Game #5 Circling Game  

Game #6 Sideways Game  

Game #7 Squeeze Game  

The 7 Games is one of the most exciting developments in horse-human education. The horse that wins all 7 Games is the alpha. Our task is to become alpha because alpha is the trusted leader!  

The horse is already a master at these games and will play them with you. If you can win all the Games, your horse will start to consider you his alpha. This is what respect is all about. A respectful horse is not afraid, not dull, not over-excitable, not scared, not resistant, not aggressive, not resentful.  He looks to his alpha for direction, confidence and safety. He trusts their judgment, and follows suggestions without hesitation.  

The key is to become excellent at all 7 Games.  The first three Games are the Principle Games.  They are the alphabet upon which you will build sentences.  They are the horse/human A - B - C’s.

Start with Groundwork Training 

Everything begins on the ground.  

Before you ever fork a leg over a horse's back, you need to get to know him. You  need to establish a relationship based on trust and respect. You have to have a  language by which you can communicate and be understood.  

And then you need to teach the horse. Teach him to become calmer, smarter,  braver and more athletic. To trust your judgment. To try whatever you ask him to  without resistance, without opposition reflex, without fear. To yield to and from pressure. 

Groundwork Training – On Line  

Playing with a horse On Line means handling horses with the help of a line or rope. In the Parelli Program we use various lengths of rope according to different levels of skills and stages of the horse's development.  

Using the line we can communicate forwards, backwards, right, left, up and down,  eliciting all kinds of maneuvers until they are willing and fluid. Where most people just lead and lunge, Pat Parelli has developed a whole science and creativity for working with horses on the ground.  When using these ropes you learn to act as though you don't have one. This is what prepares you for teaching horses at liberty, it's like working with a safety net!  

On Line develops the skills to work horses at Liberty, with no strings attached.  On  Line and Liberty develop the skills for riding horses FreeStyle, on a loose rein and  even bridle-less. Then On Line, Liberty and FreeStyle prepare horse and rider for  Finesse, precision riding.  

This step by step program builds respect, impulsion and flexion in the horse, in that order.  It progressively develops skills and prepares the horse and the human for more advanced and refined maneuvers, in a safe and logical manner.  

Riding for Beginners

If you were to ask a horse what kind of handler or rider he would like, what do you  think he would want? What skills? What understanding? What balance? What  knowledge? What feel and timing?  

The Parelli Program is devoted to developing better ways to help people reach personal excellence with horses. In pursuing excellence, riding is less than half of what we need to become skilled with horses. The other half doesn't involve riding at all.  When we do start riding, we’re going to approach it systemically, following a program, just like we did with our On Line play.  

The Parelli Program starts with the idea of preparing a horse well for riding – we call this a strong warm-up.  Then we teach Lateral Flexion, how to bend a horse to a stop using Game #2, the Porcupine Game.  And the program just continues to build from there introducing skills like control of the hindquarters and forequarters, go and whoa naturally, guiding the horse, and riding patterns.  The possibilities are endless if you start at the beginning and lay a solid foundation in your horse training. 

Learn To Be a Horseman, Not Just a Horse Trainer

Years ago, Pat Parelli was giving this advice:  learn to become a Horseman, not just a horse trainer.  Our mission at Parelli is to teach students worldwide to be true Horsemen.  

Horses don't respond to punishment and reward, they respond to negative and positive reinforcement as we slowly take away comfort and then instantly give it back when we get the desired response. The difference between punishment and negative reinforcement is attitude and timing.  This timing becomes critical to obtaining good results; the better the timing of the release, the quicker the horse learns. As you progress in the Parelli Program, this will develop naturally.  

This program is about becoming much more than a good rider, it's about becoming a horseman. This is someone who is savvy with horses, understands them and knows how to communicate with them: on the ground, with and without a rope on the horse; and on the horse's back, with and without a saddle and even, eventually, with and without reins.  

Pat Parelli does not teach like normal riding instructors. His goal is to affect your  attitude, focus, feel, timing, balance, savvy and experience and this means a much  more creative approach . The Parelli Program teaches you with concepts and tasks, so you learn to work things out, to become a problem solver which promotes your independence. We give you tasks which you have to think through and simply doing these tasks will deepen your savvy and accelerate your skills. They also teach your horse to think and to key into your thoughts and intentions. 

This is why students of Parelli Natural Horsemanship become so good with horses, so quickly.  You’ll learn how to stay safe, have fun and achieve excellence, as true horsemen do. 

Join our Global Community Today

Learning to train your horse at home is an achievable task.  It just takes a step-by-step program that starts with understanding the true nature of the horse. 

The Parelli Network is our online community that connects students from around the world and provides access to our education, the Parelli Levels Program, in addition to live coaching and a supportive network of like-minded horse lovers​.

Are you ready to start training your horse at home today?  We’re ready too!  Come join the Parelli Community, whether you’re a beginner or a seasoned horse lover, this program is for you!