Celebrating Life

 

I wrote this blog after Westy passed away, on my birthday!

This is a very personal story, which I seldom share but over the last year or so, the Parelli community has become my extended cyber family.

Like most people of my generation, I was brought up on fairy tales with happy ending and a belief that life was fair and if you were a good person, you would be immune to disasters and tragedy. Looking back, I can’t quite believe that I had such a naïve worldview, but there you go!

After 30 years of blissful ignorance tragedy struck my family twice. We lost 2 sons in 2 years and my world fell apart. My reaction was, why me? It’s not fair!

It was a slow climb back from the abyss of depression and despair. I just didn’t know how to be happy anymore. Whenever the phone rang I expected tragedy, whenever one of the children had a cold I thought it might be leukaemia. I was totally paralysed by fear.  Eventually, I learnt to live again, to smile and laugh but I was never truly engaged in the moment. In my search for peace, I read the great philosophers, looked into Buddhism, meditation, yoga…By then, I knew what I needed, I needed to be able to live in the moment instead of always worrying about what might happen. Sounds pretty easy!

Now, I bet you have all guess where all this is leading us! This particular garden path had a horse paddock tucked at end.  When I discovered Parelli, I saw immediately a brilliant way to be with horses.  As a LBE cusp RBE, I threw myself heart and soul in the program, bought my first horse, studied every night, determined to become if not a great horsewoman, at least a good one.

Little did I know that the answer I had been seeking for the last 15 years was just in front of me in the form of the most honest magnificent creature: The Horse.  Parelli principle number 7: “Horses teach humans, and humans teach horses” and so my horses have taught me to what no yoga teacher or meditation guru could, to live in the moment and enjoy the gift of life. They have heal my soul!

So, even when sad things happen, let’s not loose sight of how truly and incredibly fortunate we are, as individual and as a community, to have horses in our lives and to have each other for support.

I want to dedicate this blog to Pat and Linda Parelli who share so much of themselves, endlessly and patiently teach us and have made this incredible journey possible.

Level 3/4 Clinic with Rob McAuliffe DAY 4

Thoughts of the day:  

1. Can't do too much friendly. Take it to another level.
2. Get to your horses' mind. Where their mind is, their feel will follow. 
3. Pay attention to what you can do: for instance don't go saying my horse can't do 8 circles. Say instead, my horse can do 2 circles, how can I help him build on this.
4. Once you start riding in a bridle, ride in a bridle even free style to teach your horse self carriage. 
5. When you stand still, sitting on your horse, you are doing nothing else that follow the rail at a stand still. If you feel your horse's mind going somewhere else like to the grass, do something before it's gone. Like shift your weight or ask for 1 step back. Pat does it all the time when he sit on his horse talking. Hanging out like this in the saddle is good for the relationship.

I can't expect my horse's mind to be with me I my mind is not with him! This should be second nature and applied to everything not just when we are playing. As my horse's leader, he is my responsibility so I need to be aware of what's going on at all time. That's what Pat means when he says: " think like a horse". I need to be as aware as a horse would be. Again it comes to getting their mind. Do what it takes to get that connection going before you do anything with your horse. This may mean to just ask him to back up a few step or disengage his HQ before rugging or  grooming.

Debrief at the end of the day

I applied this in our last online session. Started as soon as we made eye contact and search for the mental connection b4 I groom him. This meant moving him around his yard till he was happy to stand still. This changed the quality of everything we did. When playing online we had a few teenage moments where he said: I can't then I won't so I held his hand (so to speak) and showed him the way to straightness and mental connection. Then we had some lovely moments of softness. Finished the session by teaching Cisco to take the contact when doing 2 reins driving from zone 5. You take the contact with 1 rein to ask your horse to move one of his front feet, on the side where you have taken the contact. Very similar to the game of contact. It took a while for Cisco to understand this concept and not to barge through the pressure.

My big lesson for today is not to stop too soon, and make sure my horse understand the task properly, not just the physical result. 

I need to start building a clear picture in my mind of what I want my horse to do because if I don't understand it then my horse wont' either!

Bottom row: Ashleigh Rowland, Elle Byers, Doll, Christine, Helen Adam, Louise' dog, Me. Top row: Lisa, Sarah Pitcher, Natalie Jones, Jane Bennet, Peter Jones, Louise Attkison, Natalie Warnes, Marylin Souther.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           

Level 3/4 Clinic with Rob McAuliffe DAY 3

Question: Particular versus Critical?

Doesn't mean correct everything necessarily, it depends where your horse is at, what is his horsenality, and whether it's an obedience/dominance issue!
If you know your horse can do a certain task correctly and he chooses to do it badly then don't move onto the next task till you get obedience. Sometime when you insist on getting your horse to do a task well, the rest of the session goes well because he knows you are onto him.

Subtle use of phases

When starting a session: Match your horse energy to start with, then slowly challenge your horse. If you don't challenge your horse both physically, mentally and emotionally then you are not making true progress.
When playing with your horse, keep the flow of energy going, for instance in the turns or the change of direction keep the tempo. If you are in front of your horse movement or behind, then you interrupt the flow and your horse may stop or rush.

Getting the hang of jumping!

Liberty: Better not to start till you are a solid level 3 online or at least, only do what you can do really well online.

If you teach things too soon when your horse is not mentally and emotionally ready and have strong basis you can create real problems. For instance Cisco doing sideway towards all the time! Same goes for teaching spins, backing towards, trotting backward, rearing. Rob has seen a horse that once taught to load in a trailer backward would not load forward!
There is a reason why certain tasks are in level 4 and not 2 and 3. Stick to the program!

SIMULATION: BOW TIE

The bow tie is a very powerful pattern. Pat uses it often to test a horse whoa and go, his straightness...

• downward transition at the beginning of the circle
• Upward transition when exiting the circle and going onto the straight line along the rail. 
• Start at the walk and trot. 
• Be careful not to loose the arc of the circle till you are ready to go into an upward transition. This is what will lead to flying lead change.
• Prepare in your body to ask for a transition just before you actually want it to happen so that you get snappy departures.
• You must have good circles first. If your horse think of leaving the circle go into a spiral inwards then go back out in a outward spiral. It's a pattern within a pattern. Study the pattern booklet!

Key points for today:

RAPPORT, RESPECT, IMPULSION, FLEXION: for each level you need to take each of those to a new level
CONFIDENCE, UNDERSTANDING, ACCEPTANCE, RESULTS. This is the learning process for a horse in this order. If you horse has confidence issue you must continue with the task till at least the beginning of understanding. It's knowing when to quit. Too soon and learning does not take place, Too late and you have pushed your horse over the edge. Learn to operate close to the fulcrum point. The more experience you become the closer to the tipping point you are able to play at. 

Level 3/4 Clinic with Rob McAuliffe DAY 2

 Saturday 13th August

What is the difference between direct line thinking and focus? .....Flexibility! 

It's important to build on the positive so always finish a session on a good note and start the next session where you left the day before.
Start and finish on the pattern. So for instance if you are going to play in the arena, don't fart around, go straight to the rail. Then when you have finish soak up on the rail, just hang there for a while.

What a beautiful bum! Cisco's off course!

                      Simulation for day 2:

Circle with change of direction:
 When your horse pass y our shoulder, turn in the direction of the movement and adjust your belly button so that it is just behind your horse in z5. If you want to do a change of direction at 12 o clock on the circle, start drawing at 11 o'clock. When your horse thinks forward towards you then re send in the other direction. Start at the walk.
Falling leaf:
At the walk and stationary. Disengage just b4 9 o'clock and 3 o' clock, pause, then send in the other direction.  Once this pattern is establish, do it at the walk, walking in a straight line.

Reflection of day 2:
I learn where to put my weight when doing HQ disengagement. On the fore leg that is going to pivot!
When you pick up your reins, even in a hackamore, use the same as on line: Feel for, feel with, feel together.

Key point: You can't do too much follow the rail. USE THE RAIL TO BE YOUR HANDS SO THAT YOUR HANDS CAN BECOME THE RAIL! 

  

Level 3/4 Clinic with Rob McAuliffe DAY 1

This is the notes from the clinic. Mostly valuable for me but might be useful for others.

Thursday 11th. Settling in.

Friday 12th of August:
Rob McAuliffe 4* instructor
Louise Atkinson 3* instructor
Marylin Southern 1* instructor
Natalie Warnes 1* instructor
Ashleigh Rowland (Esperance)
Elle Byer
Helen Adam
Peter and Nat Jones
Doll (from South Africa)
Sarah Pitcher
Lisa (Polo cross)
Christine (Lake Grace)

                                   Session 1: Review of the 7 Games 

key point: In level 3/4 use subtle phase.

YOUR PHASE 1 OF TODAY SHOULD BE YOUR PHASE 4 OF TOMORROW!

• Phase 1 is mental connection. Have a clear picture in your mind of what you  are asking your horse. INTENT ( Phase 1 is never driving)
• Phase 2: Life up

                                               THE SUPPORTING GAMES
Game 1: Friendly- Confidence Game, at the standstill and in motion.
What affects a horse confidence:

• Innate Characteristics 
• Learn behaviour
• Environment
• Spirit

Everything should be done with the Friendly in mind.

Game 2: Porcupine. It's a teaching game. Horse gain understanding. Most underused

• Follow a feel
• Yield to pressure
• Steady pressure
• Mental game. (mental, emotional and physical)

Game 3: Driving. Rhythmic pressure. Overused

• Yield From Pressure
• Phase 1 is never driving, rhythmic pressure is supporting
• Not to be used as no 1

                                         THE PURPOSE GAMES
Game 4: yoyo Whoa = Go, Straightness

• personal space, early yoyo with foals
• later on used in up and down transition. If problems in saddle with transition, Improve yoyo on the ground!

Game 5: Circles

• Find rhythm and relaxation
• Maintain arc in body
• Anytime you do an arc, even little ie 90 degrees

Game 6: Sideways

• Help horse think down to their feet. 
• Mental engagement: Great with extrovert horses
• Physical engagement: Use of core muscles. 

Game 7: Squeeze. Identify where claustrophobia is coming from. 

• horses are afraid of shadows because they do not have depth of perception
• Trailor floors are black, that's why Pat often have saw dust on them, easier for horse.

                                               SIMULATION OF DAY 1: 
Phase 1 is intent. Bring your life up. Give the mother in law look!
Yoyo Game: your horse (human congo horse) should be able to see the difference between "At ease" and "life up"
Exaggerate to start with! Then up your phase quickly if you know that your horse understand.
Bring back. Put a feel on the rope, much like picking the reins for contact.
Practice being sexy with your rope handling!
Take the contact: Feel your horse, Move your weight back and take up the rope, much like a sliding rein. Initially you may need to walk backward, then you should just rock you weight back.
Feel for your horse
Feel with your horse
Feel together.  

Circle game:

1. The send is a form of porcupine game, you need to take up the contact. Yield your horse forward and open the door, at 4 or 8 o'clock, much like a direct rein. Depending on how much life you pout in your send, should tell your horse how fast to go. In the send you need to extend your bubble to where you want your circle to be. You may need to move your feet to push your horse away. Cause him to find the end of the rope. Use your CS to reinforce at 9 o'clock or 3 o'clock not just behind your horse otherwise is mind will go behind him rather than forward. You want to take your horse mind forward. If he is not arc on the circle then his mind is elsewhere
2. Allow: Your horse should find the end of the rope, then it's his job to put the belly of the rope on the ground. Use a sliding movement with the rope, don't just drop it! Neutral must be neutral.
3. Bring back: It's an indirect rein. Look at the HQ but practice taking a feel and doing an indirect rein. Make sure it's the HQ that move most not the FH! 

Key Points:  The most underused game is the porcupine. Must do it more. Mental contact is part of the porcupine game and leads to liberty.

Reflection about Cisco: When Cisco doesn't want to change direction it's a leadership issue.

• What should I do to cause him to ask more questions? This is what I need to find out. When he is on the circle wait till he ask a question then ask him for a change of direction or a bring back or whatever. Get mental engagement. Get the conversation going and get my leadership up. 
• need to start paying attention to everything. Everything means something. Cisco is talking to me all the time and basically being subtly dominant by moving his shoulder towards me or shifting sideways when he is meant to be straight.  Kind of like a teenager giving me the finger behind my back! I need to be particular without being critical to let him know that I know what he is up to when he plays his little dominance games!

End of day 1: Ready to crawl in my swag!

Kids workshop, July 2011

Today, I organised a play day for the kids at the riding school. Basically the owner/instructor wants all the kids to learn some Natural Horsemanship and she wants all the ponies to be trained so that they can be ridden in halters. She did some clinics with Pat in the eighties. She is a very knowledgeable lady who has a beautiful way with horses. I told her that I would come and give her a hand every school holiday for a couple of days each time.

We already did a couple of play days last school holiday so today was my third time. I felt a lot more confident and relaxed.

I started with a little talk on the basis of Natural horsemanship then did a demo. The kids did some simulations then a bit of ground work and finish by riding their ponies bare back and learn to bend them to stop.

Today everyone had an awesome day. It was one of the most rewarding things I have done in a long time. The smile on the little 9 years old girl's face when I showed her the pushing passenger position to stay at the sitting trot was priceless.  I helped a teenager girl find connection with her worried RBI. It was so beautiful! When she learnt to slow down and matched his energy, both his and her face softened.  At the end of the workshop I asked all the kids what have they learn. This particular girl said she had learnt how to connect with her horse. From the way she said it and from the chat we had afterwards I knew a fire had been lit! 

The little shred of doubt that lingered in my mind have been lifted. I will become a Parelli Professional and specialize in teaching kids. 

Up and down, round and round! or a year with Cisco.

I have become very aware that my moods are a mirror of how happy I am with my horsemanship. The days I don't get to see the horses are a little miserable, the days where we have a wonderful connection, I am flying with eagles and the days where things don't gel, I am down!
It's not so much about what we achieve, it's about how we achieve it. How good is our relationship? how strong is our bond,? Am I the best leader I can be for them. The days we walk back to the paddock and they still want to hang around with me when I take their halter off, are the good days!
I remember reading John Baar's blog on Parelli Central: "Are you happy with your horsemanship? " and I guess it's a blog I need to read again and again and remind myself to be a little more gentle on myself.
I often ask myself what do I really want out this Parelli journey? The truth is that I am extremely ambitious: To become as good as Linda! To become a world class horseman! Stephanie Westall or someone like this.
The reason: Not the fame and not money! I want to be able to develop amazing relationship with horses. That connection is totally addictive. Do I want to become a Parelli Professional? Yes, of course.

Yet, I do enjoy the journey immensely. This is new to me. Usually, when I am driven by a goal, I totally forget to enjoy myself. Now it's the opposite. The goal is there but the little steps along the way bring me happiness.
Today, I bought a Lotto ticket. I only do this once a year. Then I thought what would I do if I won? I would do 3 things: I would invest the money and have a big long think. I love my life and I wouldn't want to turn it upside down overnight.  I would give a generous amount to the Parelli foundation. I would definitely aim to get myself to the Parelli Campus for as long as they would have me!
I got my first horse a year ago so it's a good time to do a little summary. I keep thinking I started Parelli in 2008 but I checked today and it was Christmas 2009. I played with a rescue horse for 6 months till she was a relax happy mare and the friend who had rescued her could find her a permanent home. This gave me the confidence to buy a horse. Cisco arrived in my life as a 2 and a half years old, green started, a real baby, on the 14th of July 2010! It was love at first sight. We did our first clinic, a level 2 clinic, with Louise Atkinson in September 2010. Since then, we have progressed to level 3 in the 3 savvys and are pretty much ready to audition. I have also started playing with yet another abused OTTB, Trigger and he has made dramatic changes. From being a tense sweaty mess, he has become a relax confident horse, nearly all the time, who can be ridden out on the trail safely.
So I guess, I should really feel proud of my achievements but the thing is, I'm not!
So what do I have to be unhappy about? When I watch myself on video, whether riding or online, I am nearly always disappointed! They are a few seconds here and there where it's perfect and then it's gone. Perhaps, it's normal, maybe there is no other way to become excellent than to be highly critical. I guess it's hard to remain objective on oneself. I live in Parelli land, at least virtually, thanks to social medias and Parelli Connect so it's seems normal to me to stand up on your horse or ride bridle less. As soon as Cisco and I achieve a new level of understanding and connection, I am ready to move on the next one.
Conclusion: The journey of never ending self improvement is not for the wimps or  the self-indulgent! The search for excellence is fun, exhilarating, rewarding and will take you up and down and round and round!

Dreams do come true!

It's seems only yesterday since I wrote my new year resolutions! One of them was to write at least one blog a month. I didn't get to write a blog for June but I wrote one for Parelli Central about the Game of Contact so I guess I did write! So I have defaulted a tiny bit but yet, it's been good to revisit my new year resolutions and find out that they have already all been fulfilled and that I have set new bigger better goals in the meantime.
Driving the float has been mastered with much more ease if not grace than expected. I have done a lot of filming to psyche myself for my level 3, some of which is now on my channel on Youtube
and the money for the fast track or whatever other course I will choose is safely in the bank. Wow! I never thought I would achieve all that by July!

The horses love Charlie!

Now being slightly (read: madly) driven I have moved the goal post by another few miles and started looking for land to move in with my horses. This has been very much in the fore front of my consciousness for sometimes but they have been some hurdles. First, my husband wasn't on board, second, we live at the edge of the desert and I want land with trees, vistas, good soil, water and tons of charms! Fussy, me? just a little, but I can't bear taking my horses to a sand pit. Yet, not living with them has been harder and harder to the point that I had to be honest with my husband and tell him that I would make it happen with or without him. I guess, he didn't have much choice, but I know him well enough to be sure that once we are on the land, he will love it and thanks me for "making him". This has been the story of our life! So now, we are looking and waiting for something special to come up and it will!
Something else has been nagging me! I really wanted Charlie to start getting interested in horses. I love spending time with my husband and with my horses and really wanted more than anything to be able to merge the two. It wasn't a nice feeling to be with the horses, while feeling guilty that I should be at home and to be at home, wishing I was with the horses. Well, Charlie had a minor professional disaster which left him for a few months without much to do. After doing lots and lots of cooking and gardening, he finally decided that he would give horsemanship a go, and he loves it! I can't even describe how happy it makes me to be able to go to the horses with my husband! I am already dreaming of going to the Parelli Campus in Pagosa Spring together and perhaps doing some joint demos! The poor man has hardly ever sat in a saddle, but let's not get small details like this stop me! As for my own horsemanship journey? Just wait for the next blog and have a guess.

On top of the world!

When I first started on this wonderful journey, I really never thought I would be where I am now so quickly! Dreams do come true! And then you can start dreaming bigger dreams! I guess I'll never be the content type!!!

Cisco's flying changes!

Cisco is officially a genius! Here, he is doing flying change while being ridden bridle less by is loving but totally ignorant partner (me) : http://www.youtube.com/user/izagreenfield?feature=mhee#p/a/u/0/ulG7rR5q8Qs
OMG! Last night at 5am I could sleep because it was very stormy and I was playing the video we had filmed at the week end,  in my mind and I had BFO: Cisco has been doing flying changes and I hadn't even realised! What on Earth is wrong with me! You'll see in the video at one stage he is disunited in his canter and I was aware of that but he is so well balance that I hadn't even realised that we were doing counter canter and I had missed the flying changes! And there I was wondering how I was going to start teaching him flying changes! LOL. I just would like to crawl in hole right now!
Now why is he doing counter canter is another question that I can't answer. I am pretty sure that we ride in hackamore he canters in the right foot. I really need to get a lot better very quickly with this little horse of mine. He is so talented and amazing and I feel like a complete moron! 

Another BFO!

My brain must be hyper active at the moment, all those BFOs happening!
When I meet people, before I get to know them, I usually have a pretty fair assessment of them and my instinct is often right, but then as I get to know them and develop relationships, emotions often cloud my judgment.  I am a LBE cusp RBE so it must be the RBE side of me!
What I have just realised is that I do the same with horses! How funny is that!
When I first got Cisco I immediately assessed him as a LBE but as we got to know each other and I fell in love with him, he became my little LBI so I spoiled him with treats and incentive! He had me running around at the end of the 22 feet line while he was standing at the middle! LOL
The reality is somewhere in between of course, just as it is with human. He is indeed a LBE as I had thought but cusp LBI!

Is my horse a LBE cusp LBI or a LBI cusp LBE and what does it matter?

I got Cisco nearly a year ago and I feel I know him pretty well. He loves food, doesn't like running very far and when he licks his lips his tongue stays in his mouth. So he must be a LBI. But wait a minute, he also loves putting everything in his mouth and can be quite wilful. Okay, so he is cusp LBE.
Well anyway, that was my diagnostic and I stuck with it and decided that I would treat Cisco like a Left Brain Introvert. Lots of incentive, go as slow or slower than your horse wants, don't push him...This worked more or less well while Cisco was in his 3rd year but then things started being not as good. Nothing dreadful, but I felt that he was loosing respect for me. He didn't come and meet me at the gate as willingly. He was doing less and less and I was doing more and more. Very much like having a teenager in the house, sleeping in till midday and spending every day light hour eating not cleaning up after himself. Horses are such good human trainers! and Cisco had trained me perfectly!

Rather than waiting for things to get worse, I ordered my horsenality report. The computer said:
"Cisco is a LBE cusp LBI" Surely, I know my horse better than a computer program and I must be right! This was my initial reaction. Well, I am a LBE cusp RBE so I know better!
Fast forward a couple of weeks. After reading and re-reading the report, I started seeing a pattern emerging. Actually, yes Cisco was perhaps more LBE than LBI! Maybe I was wrong!
So I started treating him like a LBE. I paid a lot more attention to what he was doing and realised that he had been challenging my leadership in very subtle ways time and time again and I had done nothing about it because I didn't want to upset my 500 Kg baby! In horse world, everything means something but I had been too blind with love for my horse to see it! And the results? We have so much more fun! and Cisco is now offering to do things that we have struggled with for months such as figure of 8 or canter circles.
As for my humanility match report? I am not going to reveal all my secrets right now, but let's say that it was amazing and a little spooky to read about myself in such details!

From Natural Horsemanship to Natural Bee Keeping!

I have a couple of hives at the bottom of the garden. I've kind of inherited them but the thing is: I'm dead scared of bees!

Today I had to rob my hives and had a few "Oh Boys!" moments. First of all, the Queen had decided to move in "upstairs"in the boxes where normally there is only honey. This meant that the whole hive had to be taken apart and reassembled. So, rather than the fairly straight forward process, which although still a bit scary, I have learn to deal with, I ended up with a whole hive of bees flying around and wondering what on Earth was happening to them. I started feeling more and more anxious and bees like most wild animals react to fear and not in a positive way! I normally sing gently to soothe them as much as me but this afternoon, my throat was dry with fear.

My first thought was: "What would I do if it was a horse?" Approach and Retreat, of course. So I moved back and retreated to the safety of the bushes till I felt calm enough. Each time my fear crept back, I walked backward. It was very much like playing the yoyo game except that I was the horse! By the time I had finished with both hives I was calm and composed and actually in the moment enjoying the peaceful hum of my little workers who had settled down by then. This is the first time in 3 years of bee keeping that I got to that level of peace and serenity working the hive!
My point is that I have reached the place where; whenever something unsettling comes my way, my instant reaction is to turn back to my horsemanship. The question is simple: "What if it was a horse?" and the answer always comes straight to my mind.

Pat Parelli Proudly Presents "Colt Starting Naturally"

I thought I would type my notes from the colt starting event and share them with you:

Day 1 Session: Colts are 2 backyard Colts and Colts from Atwood Ranch, plus another colt that has been handled a bit.  
Pat explain the process of education for a horse: Taming, Starting, Foundation, Specialisation. 
Taming may happen at Birth during imprinting. It must happen before Starting. The horse has to be convinced beyond the Shadow of a doubt that you are not going to kill him.  

As Pat kept saying, horses are not scared of predators they are scared of predatory behaviour!
That is why, you can see on different occasion the colt starters kneeling down in front or on the side of their colt.


5 things you shouln't do:

1. Catch them anyway you can
2. Saddle and get on
3. Kick them to start
4. Pull them to stop
5. Pull on their mouth to turn

The skeleton of Starting a horse is the same for every horse:

1. Accept the Human
2. Accept the Saddle     
3. Accept the Rider
4. Accept the bit 

The preschool program at Atwood Ranch involve the 7 games,  bare back pad and saddle, colts have been already sat on once of twice. They are happy to have they fit trimmed. By the time they get started they are ready to ride.

Basically, the colt starting process is very similar to level 1.

• Lots of friendly using the tools: Carrot stick and line.
• Rubbing horse legs, pick feet
• Disengaging HQ. 
• Whenever your horse turn and face you, walk away

Pat set the colt starters 5 tasks for this session:

• Green ball on back  
• Stand and walk on tarp
• Jump barrels
• Front feet on pedestal
• Load in trailer.

Once the colts have accepted the human on the ground then the colt starters jump across their backs. They have to lift the hand that holds the line to stop the drift. With their other hand they rub the colt other flank where they leg will be once they sit astride. That looked really hard! The next steps are to swing legs, then lie down with knees together, kneel or stand on colt, then sit astride. Walk bend stop relax! How do you keep your energy down and stay relax? This, I really don't know. I think my heart would be racing and I would be full of adrenaline by this stage!

A similar process is repeated first with the bare back pad then the saddle. The cinch is progressively tightened. First no cinched at all till the horse can relax then move to the next step.



By the end of this session, most colts had accepted the rider! 

The process of learning.

I often think, if only I could do everything that Pat or Linda Parelli suggest in their DVDs I would be a great horseman! So what is stopping me?

As a school teacher, I understand the process of learning: You have to be ready! It doesn't matter how great the teacher, if the student is not ready to work with that concept, he just can't learn it. It is very obvious when teaching young children. If you try to teach a child to read the time on a clock before they have assimilate the time concept, it doesn't matter how bright the child, it doesn't matter that they can already read numbers, they just can't learn to read the time.

Trigger

I am discovering, as an adult that it is pretty similar. It is very interesting because now I am on the learner's side of the fence and I consider myself a super learner, always got High Distinction at uni... but with horsemanship, which is quite new for me, I cannot assimilate all the teaching of the Parelli Program by an act of will.
To be a good horseman we have to take the time it takes, just as we do with our horses.

Today I finally got the concept of doing the same program for 7 days in a row. I have heard Pat saying this a hundred times but I just didn't actually properly get it. As a LBE, it doesn't come naturally to me. I want to do too many things at once. For the sake of my horse, I had to make myself do it!
The results have been awesome! Things we have struggled with for months have just got better and I have discovered that in actual fact, I do enjoy the consistency because the reward is in seeing your horse getting better so much quicker.
My horse is so ready to learn that it is hard to keep up! I am looking forward to my next breakthrough.
I just love it when suddenly something you have been hearing for a while becomes part of you!

This is such a fun, exciting journey!

Cisco

writter's block

It's amazing how many time during the week I think of things to write on my blog and then when I finally get the time I go blank! Is that what they call the writer's block?

The last few weeks have been a bit frantic so I should have lots to say. I finished a 6 weeks training block with my 3yo. I try to do 6 weeks then give him at least a couple of weeks off. It's been a great time to reflect on what we have achieved and where we are going. I wrote a new plan for the next 6 weeks. Everything is getting better, softer and more established. Our big break through was with Liberty which is now developing nicely.
While Cisco was having his little horsey holiday, I started playing with Trigger again. I've really enjoyed the change of horsenality. It's quite different playing with a damaged horse. Everyday I have to prove to him that human are not all bad. We start most of our sessions with a horse that has gone so deep within, that he is almost catatonic. We mostly finish with a LBE and often have gone through all the horsenalities in between. Keep me on my toes!
The big new challenge has been my new volunteer position on Parelli Social Media team. It's been a great learning curve in many respects. The most difficult so far has been to try to porcupine myself away from the computer and to keep some form of balance in my life. In my attempt to drag myself away from Parelli Connect, I have started reading again. I am reading Temple Grandin. My mother had given me the book years ago. It's one of her favourite books. When I saw that it was on Pat Parelli reading list, I thought I would give it a go. It is a fascinating insight in the mind of an autistic woman who because of her illness developed a deep understanding of the psychology of prey animals. I am trying to understand what it is like to perceive the world in pictures. What a challenge!
It's been really funny because, in my initial efforts to dissociate my private life to my Parelli life, I've set up a new FB page and a new email address, except that they are both almost identical in their content. I came to realise that there were no longer boundaries between my "normal" life and my "horsey" life, and that the Parelli ethos and philosophy had become my way of life. I can't think of a situation where I do not apply some of my Parelli principles to solve the puzzle.

Well, maybe I did not have writer's block after all!

Update on New year Resolutions

As much as I have needed to slow down to address the emotional and mental needs of my horse, I have not slowed down in other areas.
I am pleased to say that I have taken quite a few trips with my trailer, on my own and manage to reverse park, hitch and unhitch without too much trouble. I am no way proficient yet but slowly my confidence is building up. I have now to learn how to change the tires and apparently I have to grease the nipples??? because the trailer is a bit noisy. No idea what that means, didn't know that trailers had nipples but I'm sure I'll find out.
Although I haven't start videoing yet, I have just purchase a super duper camera that does video as well and I am now in the process to learning how to use it. There is a whole CD of instructions to read! Not my favorite thing to do, I usually get my son to do it and explain it all to me but now that he is at College I have no choice.
The saving money part of my new year resolution has been a total fiasco so far, tax bills, kids at college...
Finally, I am slowly translating my horse savvy into human savvy. My husband and I were chatting the other day and I caught myself saying:"Don't make assumptions"
I am also getting better at reading people horsenality and treating them accordingly. For intance my husband is a LBI who becomes RBI under pressure and then you can be sure there will be an explosion! My daughter is also LBI but she becomes even more introverted under pressure but when things are just right she can be LBE!
It's been super hot here weather wise so I have been spending a lot of time hiding away in front of my computer on Parelli Connect as well as reading people's blog on Parelli Central. I have also been watching the horseman apprentice series 1 which I got as a Christmas present. A great way to learn more savvy!

Doing everything on Valium!

I am just only starting to appreciate what "doing things on Valium" means for a LBI.
As a LBE myself, I'm finding it hard to slow down enough for my horse. It's a bit like trying to do meditation when doing yoga! Yet, it is probably exactly what I need to do if I am to become a better centered person. How interesting!
I had designed a training schedule which suited me perfectly, we were doing slightly different things everyday while working on the same principles but one day we would play in the playground, the next day in the arena...It was not a problem till I started wanting to do more liberty. LBI loose their confidence quickly at liberty and I had to go really slowly, reward the slightest try, listen to my horse properly and do the same thing everyday, 7 days in row to build his confidence.
This lead to some massive WOW moments for me: First of all, I hadn't truly understood how powerful the pattern were if you really did them 7 days in row. Second of all, I always thought I was pretty good a listening to my horse. Well, let me tell you, the truth comes out at liberty and he told it to me by leaving me, time and time again! I realized that ever so nicely, I was making him do stuff rather than causing him to want to do them. I have had to really change to look after him emotionally. This means that some days, when he is ready at the gate and want to do lots we just go for it while other days it might take 10 min before he wants to be haltered, then another 20 just playing close to the gates, having massages and scratches till we can move on.
The good news is that in our last liberty session, when I took the time it takes and waited for Cisco to be ready to connect with me mentally, emotionally and physically, for the first time ever, he never left me at Liberty and even manage to do a very slow figure of 8 and a couple of yoyos!!!
I still have a long way to go but this is the journey, the road to never ending self improvement towards true harmony!

Moonlit ride

Geraldton has experienced the oddest weather this summer. Hot and muggy for weeks and weeks while it is normally very dry and windy in the summer. Feeling like I've moved to Asia! It's been a bit tough as far as playing with the horses so I took the opportunity of a free night during the full moon to experiment with night time playing.
I am writing this a few days later and since this magic night both my big kids have left for college and my horse is cut off from me due to severe flooding! Not sure what is most painful. Well in all honesty I was prepared for my kids leaving home but psychologically not ready for being cut off from my horse. This is the week where I was going to spend heaps of time at the farm with the horses. Life rarely goes as planned and one of my challenges is to learn to go with the flow (the river flow as it is) and embrace changes. So rather than feeling sorry for myself I am using the free time to do lots of other useful things such as buying a good camera to video my level 3 auditions and reviewing my training program.
Back to the magic of the moonlit night. Got to the farm in time to feed the horses. Some time later as the full moon was rising I went to see if Cisco was ready for a play but he definitely was not. He hardly came to say hi and quickly returned to his hay. So I sat down to enjoy the night. The peace and silence was surreal. After a few minute Trigger came softly to nuzzle me. He was the one wanting to play. So we did some soft yo-yo and HQ disengagements. Everything felt so much softer and slower than during the day. I really loved that! Trigger is my beginner horse who has confidence issues and I felt really privileged that he offered to play at liberty in his paddock while the other horses ate.
Finally Cisco was ready to be haltered so we set off along the tracks playing online as we went. It was the first time ever that we played at night and I just wanted to make sure I didn't barge through any threshold. I found it so much easier to be in tune with my horse and listen to him during the night. Maybe because I had to listen to his breathing a lot more to check on his mental/emotional state. I felt that we were having a proper conversation, lovely.
All was well so I saddled up and we just walked and trotted not too far. I was so pleased that Cisco stayed left brain and never got worried about shadows or anything.
I took Cisco back to his pasture riding him bareback and he was really relaxed with lots of blowing. When we got to the pasture the other horses came cantering towards us. It was a magnificent sight with the moon glowing on their coats and the dust rising behind them looking like smoke. Cisco stayed quietly beside me in no hurry to go back to his pasture buddy.
I am going to try to renew this experience as often as possible. I think I am better at being soft and attentive to my horse in the dark. I love the silence and peace of the night. It was a bit like being under water, in a bubble just Cisco and me.

What I don't understand

Well, really there is lots I don't understand but right now I just don't get why people choose not to do Parelli. I have a bunch of friends who know about Parelli, partly because they hear me talking about it constantly, they see how good my horse is and yet they choose to struggle on with their problem horses. They go over the same problems day after day, they get disillusioned, their children fall off their horses and yet they still make excuse why they can't do Parelli. They seem to think I am just lucky with my horse. Occasionally, I am called to help with theirs.
The last time I tried to help, I was not told the whole story and ended up getting hurt. To cut a long story short, the pony was mistreated when young. The only person he trusts is the young girl who owns it, but she is only 12. He won't let anyone near him and even season local Natural Horsemanship people (non Parelli) have given up on him. Of course I didn't know that and ended being dragged at the end of the 12 feet rope when he took off with me, till I thought of letting go. I was too surprised to react! He is only a 14 hand pony so I didn't expect such extreme RBE. I must have misread him as I only have Left Brain horses. The result of this misadventure is my ego and my behind being bruised! I found out afterward that he does that to everyone except his little girl. Great!
So, I have decided that I am not going to put myself at risk trying to help people unless they want to help themselves. I will kindly direct them to the Parelli website, lend them my videos and it will be up to them.
I have to add to this that after seeing a number of horses who have done a bit of Natural Horsemanship under various trainer, I am not impressed. There is not one program around which is as comprehensive as Parelli.
It's just like Pat says, "People say they don't have the time to do Parelli, but they have the time to do the wrong thing, time and time again"

New Year Resolution

I usually avoid New Year Resolution because they make me feel trapped but this year I feel really clear about my goals. Parelli has given me a much clearer picture of who I am and where I am going and it is with confidence that I can write those lines.
My short term goals are: to become proficient at driving, reversing and hitching my new horse trailer and to start doing some filming in preparation for my level 3.
My long term goal is to save enough money to attend the fast track course in Australia in 2012.
My overarching goal is to become better at applying my horsemanship principle to the human in my life. This, I know is going to be the hardest one for me. My husband watch me playing with my horse and ask me why I couldn't be as patient with my family as I am with my horses. It was a fair comment so I'm taking it on board. So I will strive to translate my horse savvy into human savvy this year.
2010 as been a fantastic year, the start of my Parelli journey, my first horse...I am looking forward to 2011 with an open heart and mind.