Foundation Training

Foundation training. I can tell you that watching it isn't very interesting; in fact it's kind of boring. But no less necessary. Without it you will have a very problematic horse on your hands in either fear or frustration. That kind of horse tends to be excessively dangerous. If you don't create a positive relationship with that nearly 1 ton animal between your legs you will be in trouble. But if you pay attention to these foundational learning needs by both the horse and it's rider you will have an exceptional horse that you can call friend. You never want to specialize in any sport or discipline without first going through these foundations. 

What does foundational training include? 
Classical dressage has been doing foundation training for hundreds of years; there should be no mystery to it, but there was. Pat Parelli's Natural Horsemanship has broken down these principals into seven games that he uses to teach people. He makes this training simple and easy to remember for the modern horse owner, leaving the jargon behind. Having studied both styles I can draw on similarities and will explain those. 

Foundation One: The Friendly Game (desensitization) 
This "game" is more than throwing your carrot stick's savvy string over your horse. It's about making the horse comfortable with whatever your introducing. Parelli's game makes the person also comfortable with the horse. It just takes the trainer showing the object or situation to the horse and waiting for him to investigate it. Giving him the time to relax around it is essential. In classical training this was done to make war horses comfortable running into battle and trust his rider to not be hit by a sword. 

Foundation Two: The Porcupine Game (moving away from physical pressure) 
This game is about teaching the horse to move away from physical pressure. This is how the horse is taught to move any part of it's body during riding and handling. This is essential when maneuvering around anything. The porcupine game mimics the ground work with turn on the forehand and turn on the haunches along with simple backing. 

​Foundation Three: The Driving Game (moving away from psychological pressure) 
This game is an advancement of the porcupine game. This game makes ground handling easier and safer. Imagine being able to move your horses' haunches over a step from 22ft away! This game makes lunging easy to learn. This technique is used in classical training when moving on to using the thin dressage whip. This tool has a tiny string attached to the end of it and is used to lightly touch the horse to signal which area you are focusing on. 

Foundation Four: The Sideways Game (side stepping, shoulder in, travere, renvere, half pass, full pass, leg yielding)
Once finessed this game encompasses many of the required classical movements. This game uses the driving and porcupine games' principles and combines them to move the horse sideways in either direction. Refining the movement into the classical movements listed in the beginning of this paragraph is easy once this basic concept is taught. Side passing is extremely useful in maneuvering your horse through spatial problems such as opening and closing swinging gates while mounted or getting out of a tight situation safely.

Foundation Five: The Circle Game (lunging)
The circle game is very much lunging. Using the driving game the trainer sends the horse out on to the circle and the horse goes around until he is signaled in. Lunging a horse works the horse aerobically without the need of a rider. The trainer can also assess the soundness of the horse from a distance while lunging, work closely on collection by moving the horse in and out of a smaller circle along with many other benefits. 

Foundation Six: The Yo-yo game
This game seems to be unique to the Parelli horsemanship system. This is extremely useful in teaching horses who crowd your space to better respect you. It seems like it would make the horse head shy when you see it done but in training many horses with this technique I have never seen it create head shyness. In fact it seems to challenge the horse by giving it a problem to solve and much of the time I see the horse setting himself up for the next try to figure it out. This is not needed in horses who have been in classical training from weaning due to the constant and consistent training the horse receives. But it is always useful to teach the horse to back in or out of somewhere with just the shake of a finger. 

Foundation Seven: The Squeeze Game (sending)
This game is the act of sending the horse through, on, over or under something. Combining the driving and circle games the trainer sends the horse to something possibly frightening; this will help the trainer and the horse to bond and develop trust and confidence. This helps when riding and sending him to something different. 

All of these principles are also used while riding and expand when specializing into a discipline. This is why foundation training is so essential. It's the elementary school of horse training. Without it you cannot expect him to be capable of high school and college level education.