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"