Pulling them into the ground

Pulling them into the ground works really good sometimes when your tired of mamby pambying them around and you need to get something done- You cant always beat around the bush. Sometimes making the right thing easy and the wrong thing difficult is too vague. So when they speed up, stop them, over and over again, you dont need to kill them, that is rip them into the ground and jerk their face off- just stop and start over. If they pull on you, soften the face, you may need to wrestle them down, shake them down, see-saw them down forcefully, then forgive them totally and lope off again, which is what I did with Whiz today, who was being a total stiff, dope and wanting to raise up and stiffen up when being guided in his circles, so I stuffed him into the ground and softened him and drove him into the bit, then loped off back into the circle and after enough of this he slowed down and got soft and WANTED to slow down in the middle.

This also worked on Humble when he was learning to stay put in the counter canter- when I put my leg on him he would anticipate, run, get upset and carry on like a dork. So I pulled him in the ground, softened him, pretty aggressivly- its like I had to be very firm so he knew EXACTLY what I wanted from him. Then he was like, "Oh, you want me to go slow? and relax? and not charge? and not lean? why didnt you just say so?)

So instead of beating around the bush and skirting the issue, I keep him in the counter canter, keep shoving him around with my legs, if he gets upset, stop him and start the whole process over again. I have better luck doing this than I do by strictly letting them go at a lope and training on them until they settle down- I still do it, but sometimes it helps to pull them into the ground until they quit all their nonsense. It really helps to fully forgive them after you pull them into the ground and soften them - no big deal, just keep doing it until they improve - then let them stand and breath.