I started doing some Parelli work on him in March, 1998. At first I just want to be able to ride with other people with a similar interest that isn't competeing. But now I'm totally hooked because of the improvement I have seen in myself. Mum is doing it too which is good. He is really going well with being ridden in the halter because he doesn't like the bit and continually chews on it.
I rode him out one time with just the one rein on a huge long trail up a few cliffs and had a great time. Mum said I was being silly trusting him out with just the one rein but I knew I could stop him very easily and it's no trouble to turn. There was only one time I tied it round so I had two reins and that was when my my friend, who was riding Brett, bailed out because the ground gave out underneath them and Brett nearly fell down a cliff. She let go of him and he wandered off so Sandstorm and I went cowboy style and galloped down the cliff (well nearly a cliff anyway :) and caught Brett. Then, because Sandstorm kicks, I parked next to Brett and did a horse swap in mid air and led Sandstorm instead. I was so proud of my boys.
Although he started to get really soft in some areas, and could do liberty and freestyle almost to level 2 standards, he started to get defensive with me. If I put too much pressure on, he would start to come at me or try to kick or bite. I didn't know how to handle this, as it became more regular and started to happen even when I wasn't putting *any* pressure on at all.
Less than a week before I was scheduled to take my level 1 assessment, he turned so severely nasty that I called an emergency private lesson with my insructor. She came out and saw what was happening, took over the lesson and spent 45 minutes playing with him. He challenged her the entire time, and she expressed interest in taking him on as a level 4 challenge. She suggested that I didn't play with him any more, an idea that I was only too happy to comply with. I had wanted to stop, but felt guilty about giving up on him. I needed to hear from someone qualified who was detached from the situation that I was making the right decision.
I think that because of his history of abuse, I was challenging his power in ways that he couldn't handle without becoming defensive. I didn't (and still don't) have enough savvy to be able to recognise the signs of problems before it gets out of hand. I simply couldn't help him, he couldn't help me, and we were just making each other frustrated and miserable.
I in no way see these problems as a failure with the PNH system, though many people have tried to tell me that was the case. We made many major advancements, he just needed someone with a lot more experience.