Left Brain Introvert Stories and Ideas

What kind of games do you play with your Left Brain Introvert? How do you keep things interesting? How to you stay in charge without pushing him around? Do you give treats or just encouragement and good scratches?

My 6 year old OTTB is a major Left Brain Introvert. He is so smart and gets bored so easily, he has a special face that he gives me when he is totally not interested anymore and I can't help but laugh when I see it. He is almost over-driven by food, he gets very distracted when treats are around. I try to keep his mind as active and curious as possible and reward him with praise when he does the right thing. It seems to work much better!

I'm just looking for fresh ideas to keep the fun in our partnership, and as always, I'd love to hear some great stories about everyone else's Left Brain Introverts!

Hit the trails and play all the games out in the wild, around natural obstacles! It keeps their minds sooo busy if they have to sidepass over a log or practice the circling game on a hilly surface, or get to jump creeks, or so much more.

For motivation purposes, long rests at the end of a task help. The horse needs to know where the task ends. An LBI needs to know how long the task is going to happen for, if the end is defined they will put real effort into getting there.

For example : The corner game is good to get them motivated to be forward. In an arena it simply involves stopping in each corner and maybe giving a treat. But be careful giving treats to LBIs, they must have earned them otherwise they become extreme muggers ! After a short rest go to the next corner and so on. Once the horse starts putting real effort into the game you'll find you can add in really snappy transitions as they are so keen to get to the next corner and rest.

Don't make the rests too long. 15 seconds maximum. Longer and the left brain horse will get bored and stop thinking about the game and it will loose its' effect.

Once the pattern is well established then start missing out corners and do two sides of the arena and so on. This will make forward thinking become a habit and after a while you will only need to re-visit the game if you loose forwards.

I've only given one example to illustrate the point. With the idea in mind then you can adapt it to online, liberty, hacking out, whatever. After all one of the Parelli "7 keys to success" is imagination so I'm not going to stifle your development by giving you too many ideas.

Have fun. With our horse, Bonitao, this pattern worked a treat. We hardly ever play it anymore and he is a lovely forward going horse.