6 Weeks in Colorado - Parelli ISC

Homeward Bound and Thank You!

2007-10-09T18:10:00.000+01:00

So we did the reverse journey on the Saturday with the exception of having a welcome addition in the car of Tracey (pictured)!

The journey was eventful with a wrong turn that took us through a beautiful mountain range where it was snowing, but also used up our spare hour for the journey! We also had to take a detour due to an accident on the major route into Denver.

It was great to bump into Boris and Tjasa at the service station! Small world!

Unfortunately we therefore missed Tracey's internal flight which was her connection to her flight to Oz. This Tracey took incredibly well and thankfully she made the next flight and got home safely.

We too arrived home on time and were welcomed by our wonderful partners and friends!

So who to thank? (I've numbered them, but they are in no particular order!)

Gareth and Family
Roget
All The Faculty
Pat and Linda Parelli
Mark Weiler
All those at Parelli that make the courses possible
Beth
Lynn and Christine
Filiz, Tracey, Tjasa, Boris, Denise and Anne
Stephanie, Kim, Susanne, Nora and Karme
Kim, Linda, Alicia, Carin, Ann, Trevor, David and Liz
Mark, Cici, Cheryl, Victor and Terri
And anyone I should thank, but have not listed!

Well that's the end of that installment in my Parelli journey. Hope you enjoyed it half as much as me!

Friday Fluidity II Finesse Day Ten

2007-10-09T17:23:00.000+01:00

We had a great final Remuda with Avery. I was again in Remuda group 1 and thought the warmth of the lodge beckoned, but alas, we were kicked out so they could prepare the Finale! We did the usual review of yesterday and played at some flying lead change simulations - everyone seemed in a really upbeat and positive mood!

The Finale or Journey Through the Course was the classroom session with the freebies, certificates and overview of topics. It is really good to review the clips from earlier in the course - to see them through 'different' eyes.

Then there was en emotional session for the 6 weekers to discuss how the course had changed us and what were the highlights or points of significant. It is amazing how strangers from all over the world can bond in such a short period of time.

Finally, those of us with Parelli lease horses had to say goodbye. Definitely the hardest part of the day. We were allowed to take them to their pasture and to let them loose (the first time in 6 weeks for these guys!). It was very well organised with everyone ensuring their horse was settled by a pile of hay before simultaneously taking off the halters. This went incredibly smoothly with no horse tearing off. Eventually a few did however decide that freedom was exciting enough to show some exuberance. We had been warned that when back in their pasture they might not want anything to do with us, so I was honoured that Roget did come back to me to say a final farewell - this however started off a new wave of emotion and tears!

What was interesting to note was that Anne and Roget (pictured in the photo) seemed to stick together in the field.

So the course was over and we said our goodbyes or should I say 'Au Revoirs' as we will keep in touch with many of the new friends we made. In fact, we have plans to meet in Switzerland for the Parelli Rendezvous next year!

Thursday Fluidity II Finesse Day Nine

2007-10-09T15:35:00.001+01:00

Would you believe it? I was in Remuda 1 and again had the luxury of warmth inside the lodge! Remuda today was taken by Jesse and Jodie and covered a multitude of questions that students had; when to use liberty, how to deal with 'rooting' when picking up a contact and how to be progressive (the toughest if the three qualities that make a horseman - positive, progressive and natural).

Jumping (Squeeze Games) was one of the final course 3 topics and covers all squeeze games like swimming, trailer loading, saddling, even riding (the ultimate squeeze game), so if you're thinking "I don't want to jump, so this is relevant to me" then you're wrong - this information relates to all squeeze games.

The squeeze game has two primary purposes; the first is to encourage confidence in all zones both under and over the horse and to shorten the horse's flight line. Most problems people experiencing jumping are also issues they have with other squeezes, like running out, going too fast, plowing through or over-jumping. All these problems can be solved easily by the phrase "It's not about the jump - it's about the psychology" - so it appears we have come full circle, back to course 1!

Very interesting quote (attributed to Albert Einstein) that I think applies to most of us: "Insanity is doing something that doesn't work repeatedly and expecting the result to change!" How often do we do this with our horses?!?

We saw two clips of top level riders show jumping - one was a happy horse over fences, but very unhappy between them when the rider started to get in the horse's way and over used tools to force things. The other was a happy partnership where the rider stayed out of the way and gently guided, leaving the horse to do it's job - both horse and rider seemed a lot happier this way.

One of Pat Parelli's favourite sayings is "Ride dressage and show jumping like you have never seen a traditional partnership". This is because most 'normal' partnerships are of the first type described above, to varying degrees.

Back to jumping then. Basically the rider needs to let the horse do his responsibilities and stay out of the way. The best way to do this is to assume the pushing position and to ensure you zig and zag when the horse zigs and zags!

Start jumping on the ground, ensuring the horse can jump confidently, with rhythm and relaxation, in all gaits, asking for higher than what you will ask when mounted - warm up strong, to ride soft. Then after all the safety checks, mount and walk the jumps - walking enables you to notice feedback, even the subtle things - ensure confidence in the walk before moving on to the trot, and so on.

The last topic of the course then was Flying Lead Changes. In level two these are achieved by going fast enough and changing direction that the horse picks up the alternative lead. The old level 3 method of canter half pass, change of bend then new lead is no longer taught as this can be achieved with the horse on the forehand, so this lesson was all about the new technique! Oooohhhhh!

Now there are a few prerequisites before attempting Flying Lead Changes and unfortunately there are quite a few of them - confidence, impulsion, movable ribs, good simple changes, respectful partnership, good sideways and backwards games, control and good leadership - basically levels 1 and 2 completed and started level 3!

There are four rungs to the Flying Lead Changes ladder and they are:

Transitions using Suspension Rein - walk - canter - walk (3-7 strides)
Swinging Shoulders
Serpentine Patterns - walk at change of bend on deep loops getting shallower
Flying Changes - just skip the walk!

It is important not to be too particular too early on in the ladder, the end result is where you should be looking. Also, set up the patterns in walk and trot first, this will enable the horse to understand much more quickly.

We then watched a video of Linda Parelli demonstrating the four ladder rungs on Remmer! This was probably my favourite video of the whole 3 courses! It was fantastic! She added the following comments for the ladder rungs:

Transitions will help to encourage the correct shape and balance.
This maneuver is helped by using the outside thigh.
Take your serpentine more and more shallow until it is virtually a straight line.
Initially the 'walk' phase may be replaced by a 'slip change' - this will go.

Today's demonstration was with students Asia, Molley and Denise jumping their horses. They demonstrated the ground work required before mounting for jumping and then walked to a few jumping obstacles using the squeeze 'turn and face' pattern at strategically placed cones. When their horses became confident or bored, it was mixed up with some yo-yo. It was a good demo that helped me to see the changes in the horses and how the 'hard' warm up really helped.

Wednesday Fluidity II Finesse Day Eight

2007-10-09T14:59:00.001+01:00

I am completing the rest of my blog entries nearly two weeks later, having said goodbye to the Parelli ISC in Pagosa Springs, Colorado and returned home to my hamlet in South West Wales. It may seem unnecessary now as I am with my loved ones, but I have had some requests from those interested in attending future Parelli courses and it will serve as a fantastic memoir for myself in years to come. So here we go.....

Wednesday I recall started cold and again I was lucky to attend Remuda group 1 and we were able to stay warm inside the lodge for our one hour session! We had a general chat about yesterday's topics and I thought one comment was especially worth detailing here:
Effort + Time = Outcome
So for myself: 1 + 9 = 10
But for Pat Parelli, the equation may look more like this: 9 + 1 = 10

Classroom topic for today was Power (Building Engagement). Kathy started by simply giving us the four steps to attaining engagement (sounds easy. eh?), they are

Confidence (Mental, Emotional, Physical and Go=Whoa)
Longitudinal Flexion
Shaping and Balance (Transitions between and within gaits)
Power - Suspension, Engagement (Lateral Maneuvers)

So there it is - class over! Only joking! It is worth noting at this stage that lateral maneuvers are simply the Sideways Game (Game 6) and that we begin doing them in level 1 (sideways along a fence - great for mounting, gates and trail riding) and that by level 3 these have advanced considerably (sideways without a fence with a longer line or at liberty and for longer distances, the half pass and flying lead changes - great for cow work and dressage or with purpose).

Linda Parelli quote: "Whatever you want your horse to do, you need to do in your own body. The horse holds the time line, if you try to rush him it will take longer. Your horse will tell you what's going on."

We then watched clips from the first lessons that Pat and Linda had with Walter Zettl. Wow! Walter Zettl showed how important transitions are - he was asking for them every one, two or three strides - it helped to engage the horse mentally and then physically. It was very interesting to see how Pat, already a master, was really appreciated by Walter. Whereas Linda was very unprepared for how fast she needed to use her mind and how when under pressure her fluidity left her - she also got some amazing feedback from Remmer (tongue out and foot biting)!

The demonstration was given by Kathy and Tina in the Big Top. They showed us where they are at in the four steps. We also performed a number of simulations to enable us to feel the difference between forwards and sideways motion and what helps or hinders; how simple half pass, shoulders in and haunches out can be; and then we had a conga Walter Zettl lesson!

Always remember when performing lateral maneuvers that "Simplicity is the key to brilliance" so why make things more complicated than they need to be? Also Walter Zettl suggests "The less aids you give, the less there's for the horse to fight against".

Tuesday Fluidity II Finesse Day Seven

2007-09-25T22:38:00.001+01:00

This morning we woke to a definite film of ice over everything including the car, for which we had no scraper! So we improvised with a dustpan and then we were off. It was mighty cold though and there was frost everywhere - I hope it doesn't snow for our journey home (starting to worry a little bit!).

I was in Remuda group 1 this morning with Kathy. Group 1 is usually at the fire pit, but we managed to encourage Kathy into the warmth of the lodge and therefore had a comfortable overview of yesterday's work and then some conga horse simulations of the suspension rein during gait and the quack-cha-ching techniques.

Next into the classroom with Tina covering today's topic of Latitudinal Flexion or bend. Once the shaping and balance suspension rein sequence of downward transitions, during gait and upward transitions are well underway in yours and your horse's education, then you can start Snakey Bends - the latitudinal flexion technique.

Snakey Bends is where your horse is 'straight' on a circle, where his body is bent to the same degree as the circle, i.e. inside hooves inside the circle and outside hooves, outside the circle. It is important to note that this is bending or flexing the inside of the horse, not pushing zone 1 from the outside (driving). And the aim of the game is equality. Equal flexion to left and right and the ability to swing between the two. The suspension rein talks to the inside of the horse's bend.

Snakey Bends will develop rhythm, relaxation, bend and fluidity with the goals being to shape the horse, set up lateral maneuvers and to raise the withers (off the forehand). Once Snakey Bends are established you can move onto Serpentines both deep and shallow. Online maneuvers would be falling leaf or zone 3 (ribs), while freestyle could be the bulls eye pattern (level 2 impulsion).

The next thing to cover was that if we went the horse to bend then so do we. How is this achieved? The Drag Queen walk sets this up! Basically move your opposite shoulder/arm over towards your leading hip whilst walking slowly. Very amusing! Other simulation to help the human achieve the necessary muscle memory included being the horse and human on a circle and conga horse simulations.

Today's demonstration was taken by Tina with student volunteer's Karme and US Stephanie. It helped to see these demonstrations to visualise what the Drag Queen walk looked like whilst riding! Both riders did a great job and I think we got to see some positive changes in both the horses and the humans. The most important piece of information I think came out of this demo was that Snakey Bends is a principle and therefore you should start by asking for only one step, then two and slowly building to full circles.

Lastly we all made our way back to the seat builders for a 'putting lots of things together' simulation. So whilst staying on your balance point and maintaining fluidity you had to follow the feel of two independent hands! Sound easy? Try it - this is difficult even whilst the rest of the body is stationary!

Monday Fluidity II Finesse Day Six

2007-09-25T04:10:00.000+01:00

Well the weekend seemed to fly by and it was back to up at 6am to feed the horses! Remuda with Kristi was quite amusing this morning, everyone seemed to have a funny weekend story to tell so we spent most of the time laughing!y

Today's topic for the classroom with Kathy was Shaping and Balance aka Collection. First question: what does collection mean? Answers varied from balance, a light front end and not scattered. My favourite was 'like a hovercraft' ready to go forwards, backwards, left or right.

Now for the BIG question: how is collection achieved? The answer is to encourage the horse to change it's shape for you - cryptic eh? No really, if you cause the horse to make the desired changes to it's body shape as a response to your requests, then a psychological rather than a mechanical method of achieving collection is possible! Now you can ask it - how do cause the horse to give collection in this way? 1,000,000 transitions in a short space of time (every few strides) - this is basically the yo-yo game.

Now there are 2 key phases to your transitions:

Transition: Duck Landings (retarding seat) and
Shaping: the Suspension Rein (1 rein lift)

It is important that the suspension rein is introduced in the following order of type of transitions:

downward transitions (get haunches underneath - power)
during gait (to shorten a horse that has become long)
upward transitions (to create elevation and power)

After simulations, both with a partner and then on the seat builders, we had a demonstration in the Big Top with Kathy teaching fellow students Susanna and US Kim, who both did a cracking job of showing their horse's at different stages of collecting. It is always helpful to actually see the technique and the results when applied correctly.

This afternoon I decided that my back was feeling good enough to ride Roget, so I spent time on the ground (1.5 hours), firstly getting him to accept being groomed, then to accept the saddle and lastly to accept me - these left brain extroverts take a lot of energy! As you can imagine, I am shattered and I've only just got on! So we went for an amble, played some fluid rein and some downward transition suspension rein - after all the effort I had put in on the ground to have only 'yes' answers and no brace, it was frustrating that all he offered for about half an hour was brace. Eventually, after trying everything I could think of to avoid giving him something to brace against, we made a lovely soft fluid downward transition, so I got off and called it a day on that good note - hard work or what! Still love him to bits though!

Weekend Five

2007-09-23T00:42:00.000+01:00

Saturday was lazy day again - batteries to recharge and back to heal! I spent most of the morning on the webcam to Gareth catching up with things back home; how family are, what the animals are up to and how he is coping with everything to do on his own! The afternoon was spent with Roget grazing in one of the honeycombs and dreaming of passing my level 3, bareback and bridless riding and liberty with Dillon - apparently visualisation is very helpful! Instead of eating at the ranch, 17 of us went to the local Chinese restaurant and then to the Buffalo Inn bar where we all had a blast. Beth and I booked a taxi so we could both have a drink and left the car at the house - it was great fun - you can see the pictures, which I think show it all!

Sunday was my lie in day - bliss not to wake at 6am and have to rouse myself to the ranch! Another lazy day ensued with very little being achieved bar resting my back and catching up on sleep. Roget and I shared our honeycomb grazing session with Ann and Beth today which was nice I think for both of us. Then a thunder storm rolled in off the mountains and we made a mad dash out of the rain and back to relaxing and chilling out ready for our last week of class!

Goodbye Pat and Linda! On our way down the ranch track Beth and I met Pat and Linda coming the other way in their rock-star style coach and horse trailer. Well we started waving like looneys again and Pat and Linda started waving back, which only encouraged us even more! Then Pat honked his horn, which was exactly what you expect an American truck horn to sound like! So we got our final farewell from them and that was a lovely unexpected extra to our trip!

Friday Fluidity II Finesse Day Five

2007-09-22T03:34:00.001+01:00

This morning started with a Remuda for all the class, where we got to play with fluid rein simulations. We experimented with soft, hard and effective feels to the 'drag' which proved very interesting since effective was firmer than any of us imagined! Next, three fellow students, Filiz, Molly and Stephanie, were brave enough to ride for us demonstrating the fluid rein on horses at different stages of the steps. It was great to see the horses' reactions.

"Knowing I need to listen, and knowing how to listen is not enough. Unless I want to listen, unless I have the desire, it won't be a habit in my life." Stephen R. Covey.

Well, Covey's quote could not be more appropriate to today's topic taken by Kristi, Bit of Savvy, where the emphasis is on whether a tool is a communication device or a mechanical way to hide one's inadequacies (otherwise known as torture devices)! It is worth noting that tool progression is for the horse and should be at the horse's pace - imagine trying to complete you Degree Finals with a crayon and blank piece of paper - the tools we were given to learn to write with as 2-3 year olds! It is the same for the horse as it is for the child learning to write - we need to move from the crayon to the pencil, then the pen with the paper becoming smaller and the lines closer together.

The horseman will use a bit for communication only. As the horse is a large emotional animal, it is unsurprising that man used a mechanical approach (bigger and harsher bits) to deal with horses, but as Pat Parelli says, "We don't want a bigger bit, we want a bigger brain (in the horse)".

Another of Pat's sayings is that "If you can't walk, trot, canter, stop and backup without using the reins, maybe you shouldn't be outside an arena". Harsh perhaps, but true none the less! So the progression for Parelli is:

Halter + 12ft rein
Hackamore
Single jointed snaffle
Double jointed snaffle (fluid rein)
Cradle bridle - elastic nose band, big rings
Cradle bridle - non-elastic nose band, small rings
Western performance - bosalito and spade bit
English performance - double bridle

The cradle bridle should be used with the appropriate bit for the horse's horsenality:

C1 for right brain extrovert where 'hand-holding' is required
C2 for right brain introvert where a little 'hand-holding' is required, but no zone 1 block also
C3 for left brainers where the extrovert is looking for a reason to brace and introverts to stop

Later in the afternoon we had a demonstration with Linda Parelli riding her extreme left brain extrovert Allure. It was very interesting to watch how she prepared to ride such an extreme horsenality and how much variety and playfulness she exerted. The riding did get hair-raising for a moment, when all 4 of Allure's feet seemed to leave the ground and make a height of at least 4 feet! Linda stayed on of course and by matching and mirroring his ideas first of all managed to get Allure to match and mirror her! Very cool! Linda was also kind enough to do the groupie thing and signed my course notes - so now I have the matching pair!

Again, with my back still tender I spent more undemanding time with Roget. He doesn't seem to be getting bored and as grazing is his favourite pastime I think I am accumulating lots of emotional credits for later on! Not counting those chickens though!

Thursday Fluidity II Finesse Day Four

2007-09-22T03:33:00.000+01:00

Thursday's topic for the classroom with Tina was Longitudinal Flexion, otherwise known as topline or flexing from the tail all the way to the nose. This is the first step towards vertical flexion and collection.

Longitudinal flexion is fluidity throughout the whole of the horse's body (with stiffness there can be no fluidity and with no fluidity there can be no collection). L.F. helps to improve the horse's posture and therefore their fluidity. Saddles, bits, emotional blockages and stiff riders may cause tension that inhibits fluidity. The horse may exhibit tension responses such as high head, short gait, inability to maintain gait, stiffness and poor foot traction. The question is whether this tension is mental, emotional or physical?

There are 3 steps to achieving L.F.:

Confidence in zone 1 (no blocks or opposition reflexes)
Topline stretch (lift back)
Lengthen stride (tracking up or over-tracking)

The fluid rein technique helps to achieve the 3 steps - it should be taught at the walk and then the trot (do not teach at the canter as this will encourage horse to go on the forehand). This is a principle technique, not purpose, so it should be used only in short bursts. The correct tools to use for fluid rein is the confidence snaffle (2 joints for 2 reins) with the finesse reins. The halter, hackamore and single jointed snaffle (1 rein) are not suitable. After teaching steps 1-3 and the horse gives positive responses to the fluid rein, then the cradle bridle can be used.

How do you do fluid rein? As if you are swimming front crawl, reach down with one hand and comb both reins back towards yourself, then the other hand and so on. The combing 'drag' should be consistent and steady. When the smallest positive change occurs you should release the pressure for step 1 and for step 2 and 3 lessen the pressure.

Unfortunately I was unable to practice this with Roget today as I have been suffering with a little backache (everyone say 'Ahhhh!') and thought it best to rest so I can fully participate next week ;-( It is important to remember that I am doing the course so I can come home with knowledge to further my horsemanship journey with Dillon and that riding Roget is secondary to that!

Wednesday Fluidity II Finesse Day Three

2007-09-20T06:09:00.001+01:00

This morning was beautiful again - chilly and still. Remuda with Kristi was a low energy affair, with lots of discussion regarding our use of fluidity the day before. It was helpful to hear other's successes and issues - it reminds us that we are all learning and experimenting.

Next, to the classroom, where Kathy took the lecture on the Parelli Formula and Leadership - this I was looking forward to, especially since Roget and I are still working on this area! So what is the Parelli Formula? Simply put it is a people training programme initially until the human has the foundation, then the human can begin training the horse. So what is the human's foundation? At the most basic level it is the first three levels on top of the philosophy of rapport. Read on for more detail.....

The Parelli philosophy is rapport - this means trust, understanding and empathy (walk in your horse's shoes). This is the most important building block as it underlies anything that comes after it. The philosophy is what makes Parelli horseman different - horses are not sports equipment, but life long partners.

So the first level of the human's foundation is the mental or respect building block. This is where safety, partnership, leadership, a positive attitude and 'Yes' versus 'No' responses are addressed. Next comes impulsion or the emotional where 'Go' equals 'Whoa', the human and horse start obtaining skills and relaxation is the emphasis. The last level in the foundation is flexion or the physical, the whole body is now addressed, including posture, collection and the human also starts obtaining tool savvy (bridle, saddle, stick, etc).

It is interesting to observe that if the human is fit in all this, as the leader in the relationship, any horse will start to look as if they are too! Remember the first step towards change is awareness and that your 'learning cup' is never full - there is always room for more knowledge.

The 10 qualities to obtaining the foundation and being the successful student of horsemanship are in the following progressive order:

1/2 Heart and desire (1/2 horse 1/2 human)
Repsect
Impulsion
Flexion
Attitude - positive, progressive and natural
Feel
Timing - both for the release and asking at the right time
Balance - mentally, emotionally and physically
Savvy
Experience

Bruce Lee quote (just for Gareth!): "In learning to master yourself, you don't need to train your muscles, you need to train your mind. There is as much mental and emotional development to be learned as there is the physical".

This afternoon Roget and I worked on the leadership and respect aspects of our relationship! My plan was to allow undemanding time and then without any brace play one of the 7 games with an obstacle. This worked a treat - he really enjoys this type of format, and so do I - he gets to have lots of rest and chill out time and I get to progress my leadership and our relationship in a positive, brace and tension free way - perfect! Tomorrow, weather permitting, I'm going to do some riding using this same format with an emphasis again on the leadership.

This evening was the last campfire of the season, so everyone turned up including Pat Parelli, Tim Sullivan and Katie Drake. Unfortunately it did rain, so we moved from the fire to the lodge porch where the sing song continued unabated. It was a great night and I took lots of photos to hopefully remind me at a later date.

Tuesday Fluidity II Finesse Day Two

2007-09-19T04:07:00.001+01:00

Today the storm and all that rain had blown away and we were left with a beautiful cold morning. Remuda with Kathy where we played the 'Sticky Hands' simulation, where you had to follow your partner's light, heavy and ultra-light hand movements - really interesting that heavy and ultra-light were equally annoying!

Then it was straight into the classroom for Fluidity taken by Kristi. I was a little worried this was just to be an overview of course 2 Fluidity I, but it proved to be the best day so far!

Firstly we covered the 8 responsibilities (4 horse, 4 human) in a lot more depth, going into areas I had never even considered - this left me 'licking and chewing' for ages! In fact I think I still am! Next we discussed fluidity and how it only needs concentration (conscious competence) until the muscle memory is made (unconscious competence). An interesting quote by Henry David Thoreau was given to us to consider:

"I know of no more encouraging fact than the unquestionable ability of man to elevate his life through conscious behaviour."

This led to the challenge that we take responsibility for our outcomes - take all actions and reactions by the horse as feedback and choose what opinion to have for that feedback! This is emotional fitness.

Remember the stages of change......... Anger..... Blame....... Denial......... Chaos (known as the darkest hour before the dawn).

We played with simulations both using and not using our balance point in different situations to find that it enables the whole body to move as one and creates an internal power that is hard to move. This was after watching a Russian martial arts film which basically describes exactly what Parelli have termed 'balance point' - very interesting.

We had an overview of riding the gaits and then discussed how only perfect practice makes perfect and that muscle memory is created by stopping when the feeling is good. Pat Parelli says that ' you should do your thinking at night and your feeling during the day' so try not to concentrate too hard, use the power of feel and then analyze later.

Next was the best part of the day; it may sound a little crazy, but it was great fun and really helpful - this I will be doing every night when I get home! What am I talking about? Well, we all sat on our balance point on top of a yoga ball and watched clips of master horsemen riding whilst copying what they were doing with their bodies! I know, it's crazy, but in this case crazy works!

The demonstration today, again given by Kristi, was about fluidity in the horse. It covered how to use hill therapy, cavalettis and jumps to improve their fluidity and what is good/bad fluidity. As always it is fundamental that the 8 responsibilities and the mental and emotional fitness of the horse is your foundation before attempting physical changes in the horse.

I spent the afternoon with Roget working on leadership - it seems yesterday's Me and My Shadow may have given him the impression that he has more of the leadership than I do! Hopefully we resolved that misunderstanding and having then spent undemanding time together will start tomorrow on a good footing! He really is a character - testing me every opportunity he gets! The best kind of teacher a student could have...........

Monday Fluidity II Finesse Day One

2007-09-18T02:54:00.000+01:00

Course 3 began today after an awful night's sleep - the most enormous storm I have ever heard rolled down off the Rockies, with lightening lighting up the sky and thunder so loud the house shook! So as you can imagine, everyone was a little subdued and quiet for the first day!

We started off the day with Remuda taken by Cathy in the small coverall (hiding from the torrential down pours the storm left behind it). It proved to be great fun, with energetic exercises like Carrot Stick Dueling keeping us all warm. It was then back to the classroom for the day's lecture on Finesse and Brace, however this was delayed due to an impromptu visit from Pat Parelli.

After Pat left it was straight down to business, starting with the definition of brace - a devise that clamps; to press against to stay balanced; to fix, tense, tighten and steel. A brace in a horse is identified by a stiff, tight or tense look, tail swishing, pinned ears or bucking. The most important thing to remember about brace is that, although it has a physical manifestation, it started in the mind and emotions! There can be no finesse with brace; therefore to obtain finesse we must start with the horse's mind and emotions.

Finesse is not simply riding with concentrated reins. Think of achieving finesse as soon as you approach your horse; if you horse turns it's head away from the halter, then there is brace (or mental and emotional issues) to deal with that is stopping finesse in your relationship. Always task yourself with removing all brace and thus strive for finesse in everything you do.

Finesse is intimacy without brace. And intimacy is defined as familiarity, closeness, understanding, relationship and confidence. The question is "how do we remove brace?" The first steps are:

Go slow (slow and right beats fast and tight)
Use friendly game and retreat at first sign
Lots of undemanding time, pique their curiosity and then change the attitude once rapport is established

The dictionary defined finesse as; intricate and refined delicacy, artful subtlety, skillfulness, flare, panache, artistry, tact, sensitivity and perceptiveness.

Finesse can be viewed as a dance - like Fred Astair and Ginger Rogers - the leader is nearly invisible, the partnership works as one.

With the weather horrid all day I played some Me and My Shadow with Roget and then played a little at liberty under the coverall. We played 'beat you to the cone' which Roget thought was really exciting and 'I'll give you a carrot if you...' which is always a favourite of his! So I think we practiced step 3 of removing brace in our relationship - which can't be bad! Hopefully we'll have better weather tomorrow..........

Weekend Four

2007-09-15T17:19:00.001+01:00

This weekend I had one thing and only one thing in mind - to recharge my batteries and rest. The last two weeks have been absolutely exhausting and the next two weeks are the Finesse course and therefore I will need all my mental, emotional and physical energy back to 100%.

With Roget I spent oodles of undemanding bonding time and we went for a little mosey around the ranch again, just soaking up the scenery and enjoying each others company. Perfect!

Have no fear - we will definitely be more active over the next couple of weeks!

Aaron - Happy Birthday!

2007-09-15T17:17:00.001+01:00

Happy Birthday to my brother Aaron!

I think you are 36 this year? Anyway, I couldn't find a cake with enough candles on it, so you will have to make do with 6!

Have a fabulous day and I'll catch up with you, to celebrate, when I return in a few weeks time.

Take care and love to Rosie and Gosia.

P.S. I tried calling and couldn't catch you - sorry.

Friday Fluidity I Day Ten

2007-09-15T16:56:00.000+01:00

Last day of Fluidity I seems to have come around so quickly - with the Conference taking up the whole weekend, I think there has been no 'down' time and thus the last two weeks are a blur!

Remuda was with all those staying on for Fluidity II and Avery took us over the last two weeks and we discussed successes we have had, changes we have noticed in our horses and probably more importantly in ourselves.

Then it was to the classroom for the Finale. Again we got our predator 'praise' and 'recognition' in the shape of a certificate and t-shirt, then it was a review of the course and a visit by Linda and Pat Parelli, where we could quiz then on anything we liked.

With the release of the new Parelli-Myler bit (known as the cradle) I asked Linda what their bitting plan was for Lauren's trip to the Para-Olympics next year, which Parelli have been supporting for some time now. The cradle is definitely illegal in the eyes of the FEI and therefore she would not be able to use it. The exciting news is that Parelli are going to be making a presentation to the FEI very soon to try to change the 200 year old bitting rule - watch this space!

Pat was also asked about Parelli UK and he was very adamant that the new office at Stoneleigh Park was the next university site in the Parelli education expansion and that courses are definitely starting there next year. The courses will start off in a different format, being levels based initially, and then later become the same format as the USA university sites - exciting!

After saying goodbye to those leaving I then went and played with Roget. Things went really well, so I got the bareback pad out and we went for our own little trail ride around the ranch. Half way around we met up with some others; Tjasa and Boris from Slovenia, Feliz from Switzerland (living in the UK) and Denise from Austria; and we all sneaked into the Big Top (where the conference was) and played in there for a while. It was great fun, the views were spectacular and it was so enormous, it feels much bigger than it looks! Roget was perfect, we played with impulsion patterns and rib flexion - he really seems to like doing ridden play, however he still like his grazing breaks! Note for myself - Roget has an enormous trot and perhaps I should use my saddle in future ;-)

Thursday Fluidity I Day Nine

2007-09-14T04:50:00.000+01:00

Today was Parelli Games Tournament day! This proved to be great fun and I realised Roget and I (left doing squeeze over a barrel whilst sitting in a chair) could do a lot more than I thought we could and under the time pressure too!

It wasn't a real tournament with winners and losers, but you could score yourself and there were different point scores depending upon the difficulty of the task performed, for example, I performed the tarp test at liberty and scored 40 points, but I completed the circling from a chair test at a trot on line and that scored 10 points. But always remember "It's not about the points - it's about the relationship"!

The whole point of the tournament was to provide the 7 games with a purpose, to have fun and to test the relationship and communication level you currently have. It will highlight any areas that you are doing well in, but more importantly show areas where more effort is required to plug the holes that may be there. Roget and I did most of the tasks well - sideways, squeeze, porcupine, driving and friendly but our circling game sucks! We definitely need to improve here........

Wednesday Fluidity I Day Eight

2007-09-13T03:16:00.001+01:00

We started the day in the usual fashion with Remuda, taken this time by Kristi. It was a good session covering topics from the past couple of days and any issues anyone was having with fluidity or their relationship with their horse. Kristi did cite Roget as a 'difficult' horse in answer to someone's question - so it seems he has a reputation! Although I do find him challenging and he is testing me along the way, I think we're doing pretty good (famous last words!).

So then it was into the classroom for some theory on Trail Riding and Spooky Silhouettes. The lecture began by looking at thresholds, both horse and human, and how by ignoring and blasting through these, you are only damaging the relationship. Horse thresholds are identified by a stop, a turn, getting tense or spooking; the humans, by that inner voice that really indicates fear. Although it is necessary to expand the comfort zone 'bubble' to be in a learning frame of mind, blasting through is not good.

Trail Riding should always be set up for success; success is achieved by carefully selecting your fellow riders, choosing the route wisely and by putting your relationship ahead of anything else (goals, people or time lines). The following are the safe trail riding guidelines:

Safety - get off and fix a problem on the ground.
Protect your herd of 2 - always protect your horse from others, so he doesn't have to!
Rider responsibilities - point your horse's nose at the one in front's tail (use the power of focus) and maintain the space behind your horse with a carrot stick. Never allow your horse to turn sideways, this puts you in the horse behind's kicking zone!
3 Musketeer Rule - success for everyone - all horses and riders.
Have a plan - confirm etiquette with other riders and agree the route.
Have fun with your horsemanship - if it feels like work to you. it feels like work to your horse - PLAY!

Spooky silhouettes are anything your horse deems fearful - squirrels, plastic bags, cattle, stumps, leaves rustling, lorries....... Never use the 'Black Stump Syndrome' where you make your horse approach the spooky silhouette and 'get over it'. This will ruin your relationship. Use approach and retreat, preferable practice at home by setting up a similar situation in your horse's safe environment and then try this out on the trail. Jon demonstrated, with the help of Carin and Boe and their horses, how this can be achieved by using the 'spooky cow' simulator (see picture). This was a great demo - using the approach and retreat method, the horses actually fixed onto the cow and wanted to follow it!

As an aside in the demo, Jon described the process for teaching horses to drag objects. Like all natural horsemanship it is purely common sense, but since us humans seem to lose our minds around horses, I thought it prudent to document! Firstly this must be achieved successfully on the ground first. When confidence is achieved on the ground and the human has good rope handling skills you can then mount up and begin by walking small circles around the object allowing it to spin on the spot. Then build up to larger circles, dragging the object on a smaller circle. Eventually this will result in the object being dragged in zone 5. Safety point - never tie the object to the horn until you are certain of the horse's confidence.

Today's activity with Roget was obviously trail riding, so we successfully passed all our pre-saddling and pr-mounting checks (yesterday obviously had a lasting effect!) and then mosied out to the playground where we played with the obstacles whilst trail riding around the playground. This was great fun and definitely built my confidence in Roget. I realised that I do not trust Roget yet and thus need to concentrate on a purpose to keep my mind from wondering what he might do next! Funny how when I stopped thinking about the bad possibilities, he stopped being tense and became more engaged.... lesson learned!

Tuesday Fluidity I Day Seven

2007-09-12T03:06:00.000+01:00

This morning started with Remuda with Jesse where we visited horses in their pens and observed their mane switches and their rib tendencies. It still blows me away that a switch can be improved or even reversed by simply massaging the mirror point on the spine - fantastic!

It was then straight into a demonstration by Jon about Bridleless Riding and Perfect Practice Makes Perfect. In reality I believe these to be the same thing, i.e. you cannot perform bridleless riding having not first practiced perfect communication.

So the demonstration started with the overview of the prerequisites for saddling and then for mounting, with an emphasis on perfect practice - so there is no compromise in the horse's confidence, sensitivity and communication. It is important to ensure the saddle is a positive in your horse's mind and that you do not mount until a learning frame of mind (i.e. being a partner attitude) is achieved. Remember everything we do means something.

As soon as you mount the following should occur; hurry up and relax, then test the lateral flexion, indirect rein and direct rein responses. If all is working as it should you can start to move around and practice these at gaits - trying not to use the reins of the hackamore as you are practicing perfect for bridleless! Remember before the rein comes into play there are 3 phases to go through first; eyes, belly button and leg.

When this is going well, you can go to one rein and one carrot stick and use the carrot stick to drive/porcupine as your phase 4, but still have the rein in case of emergency. When this is going well, you can go to two carrot sticks, but keep a rein attached in case of an emergency. If you are at the stage where you rarely go to phase 4 (a carrot stick) for your moves then you can try just a string around the neck and finally nothing!

Remember if you are having to use the carrot sticks too much or the backup rein you need to retreat a step or two and fix things.

For bareback riding it is useful to use the bareback pad before going all the way - this give you a safer seat until your balance is really good. It is also worth using the hackamore at first in case you need the reins for balance, so you do not hang on your horse's mouth.

I did not try either bridleless nor bareback today as I do not think Roget and I are quite up to that yet (with only one short ride under our belts!). So we went back to our saddling issue and tried again. We started off using the same tactics as yesterday, quite why I thought tactics that didn't work yesterday would work today I have no idea! This led me to formulate a new strategy - reverse psychology - you see Roget was saying he didn't like the saddle so I needed to convince him that the saddle was the best thing for him. How did I do this? Easy - we played the circling game at canter and gallop and the only place I would let him rest was by the saddle. He very quickly recognised the rest spot and offered to stop there. After a couple more offered stops, he put his nose on the saddle and that gave me the permission I needed to put the saddle on with Roget standing perfectly still. That's 1:0 to me!

After the saddling everything went well, we practiced all our rein communications, that the whoa and go all worked and then had our own little hack around the Savvy Park, various obstacles and the Playground, with lots of grazing and rests in between. We had an absolute ball! I believe tomorrow is Trail Riding, so hopefully we will be able to join in and leave the ranch for a little countryside experience.........

Monday Fluidity I Day Six

2007-09-11T04:33:00.000+01:00

So after the excitement of the conference, this morning everyone seemed tired and a little subdued, so straight after Remuda with Jesse, we were into a seat builder and yoga ball simulation to wake us all up! We explored our lower back limits, movement with a change of speed, how it feels when the knees are clenched and how to use seat retardant to stop. It was s goos way to start the day and everyone seemed perkier after this.

Today's lecture was the topic of Ribs. This topic seemed a little narrow to me for a whole day, but proved to be very interesting and insightful. We started by discussing the reasons that a saddle may move, these included:

downhill horse
on the forehand
pushing seat or poor fluidity
inequality in the body
bracing in the stirrups
and of course ribs!

For ease of discussion, the outside curve of a bent horse is named the 'high' side and the inside, the 'low' side. The high side is where sideways and canter leads are easier and circles and lateral flexion harder. The low side is where sideways and canter leads are harder and circles and lateral flexion easier. Backwards movement will also be in the direction of the low side.

If the horse is bent towards the left and the rider is pushed onto the low side (left) then the rider needs to sit on the high side of the saddle (right) to enable the horse to straighten his ribs and thus his direction. Staying on the low side will actually inhibit this straightening.

As an interesting aside we discussed the way the mane lays and what that can tell us. I always thought the mane was a purely aesthetic topic, but boy was I wrong. This was the big new piece of information for me today - my brain is still thinking this through, nearly 12 hours later! So the way the mane lays can tell you where there is brace or pain in your horse's back. How? Well, where ever there is a switch in the mane, by measuring the distance to the highest point of the wither and then from there towards the tail, you will find the area of spine in brace. I know it sounds fantastic, but you can actually see the mane change sides by massaging the braced area - blow your mind or what! Also, the top 2-3" by the poll and bottom 2-3" by the wither should lay flat and not the one side or the other.

I shall leave you with that amazing revelation to absorb - why is this not known in the normal horse world?

Roget and I had a stale mate situation today where I was not given permission to saddle him (he would not stand still) yet he was more than cooperative at getting in position for mounting and did not move at all when I lent on him and flapped my arms against his sides. Confusing - mixed signals! So I did not saddle, nor ride today. I think he is testing my leadership and I was unable to formulate a plan to win this game he was playing. Thinking cap on for tomorrow - I need to outsmart this nag!

Meeting Pat Parelli..........

2007-09-11T04:25:00.000+01:00

Yep, I did the queuing to meet Pat. It only took an hour and I had my course notes signed which will be a great memory in the future whenever I refer back to them. Unfortunately I do not believe I was very coherent when answering his questions - a little nervous and in awe I think!

I had hoped to get Linda's autograph also, but will have to try to catch her if she does another demonstration during our course, as her queue always seemed too enormous to join!

Weekend Three - Parelli Conference

2007-09-11T04:18:00.000+01:00

Long weekend (Friday - Sunday) with the Parelli Savvy Conference an added bonus in the middle of the course. As you can image, everyone was very excited and there was alot of interesting and spectacular stuff to see. There was far too much going on for me to comment on everything, so I'll mention some of the highlights and then you will have to wait to see the rest on the Savvy Club DVDs! Oh yes, there was also great shopping - so I have saved loads of money by buying lots of bargains!

Friday's highlight without a doubt was Cally. Cally has been introducing an equine "pre-school" at the Atwood Ranch for the past 6 months, having previously studied with Pat and Linda. Well she blew my socks off with what she could achieve with the two year old she brought in - they could do level 4 ground skills - amazing! She then backed the horse for the first time in front of the 2000 strong crowd - the confidence the horse had in her and the communication and consequently the control she exhibited where phenomenal. Pat has always said "Colt starting is level 1 with excellence" - Cally showed me what that really meant.

Saturday's highlight was Cally again, but before I briefly describe that session, it is worth mentioning that Jon from the Savvy Team, who open the day's events by playing with their own horse's, was spectacular - he showed me how little and subtle communication between human and horse can be with fantastic results (someone to try to emulate me thinks). Anyway, back to Cally, who again stole the show with her "pre-school" programme. Today, she came in riding with a yearling on either side. They made turns, transitions and jumped in this threesome format. Then..... she added another yearling to each side, so they were now a fivesome - WOW! The finale was to load the four yearlings into a trailer (whilst Cally stayed mounted) and then to ride away. I still cannot fully articulate what this display did to me - words like awestruck and amazed do not seem sufficient!

Saturday evening proved to be a culture shock with the Dinner and Dance. I think American's are all born with line dancing patterns already imprinted, because just as I was getting to learn the routine the song changed and they were automatically doing a new one! It proved highly amusing though! It was a great evening with an opportunity to get to know fellow students and faculty/instructors outside of the classroom.

Sunday's highlight is one of two. I enjoyed Linda's demonstration entitiled 'Ride In' where she showed how to be playful and provocative for your horse whilst riding in an arena. She was riding Remmer so it was also a great example of motivating a left brain introvert. The other highlight was Trevor riding western finesse - like Jon he displayed a level of subtley and poise that I aim to try to emulate.

It may seem strange that Pat and Linda hardly get a mention in the highlights, but isn't it encouraging that their student's are now doing so well and achieving so much. Their success proves that the system works and that achieving excellence is possible. Now all we have to do is emulate Pat, Linda, Cally, Jon and Trevor!!!!!

Thursday Fluidity I Days Four and Five

2007-09-11T03:46:00.000+01:00

Due to the conference taking up day 5 of the Fluidity I course, we had a very busy day covering two days worth of topics, Riding the Gaits and Impulsion.

Riding the Gaits (or Fluidity) simply means to ride without rigidity mentally, emotionally and physically. We watched Linda on the Success Series DVD and then discussed the different gaits' requirements for fluidity:

Walking requires the rider to be on their balance point, to pedal for the hind legs, to mirror the front legs and to match the energy.

Sitting Trot requires the rider to be on their balance point, to be able to place the palm of their hand on the horse's flanks and to pedal.

Rising Trot requires the rider to be on their balance point in the pushing position, not to brace in the stirrups, to squish with their butt, to push out and flex the lower back and to allow the horse to push the rider up out of the saddle.

Canter requires the rider to be on their balance point, to be able to place the palm of their hand on the horse's flanks, to have a following seat, to mirror the front legs with the leading hand, to sit on your thumb and to flex and push out with the lower back.

Note: Our horse can only be as fluid as we are! Anywhere the rider feels pain, the horse does too and it indicates a place of brace!

The signs of harmony (or fluidity) in the horse are a low head, a round top line, willing/asking, smoother gaits and rhythm, blow out cobwebs.

Impulsion was the next topic. Simply put, impulsion means whoa equals go...... A 'long' horse tends find the go easy and the whoa harder, whereas a 'short' horse is the reverse. To help long horses shorten we use circles and to help short horses lengthen we use straight lines.

A short horse will give feedback such as bucking and tail swishing (back end) whereas a long horse will rear, head toss or chomp the bit (front end).

Tactics to help a long horse could be to match them then add 4 ounces - for example if your long horse wants to trot fast, ask for a faster trot so they offer to slow down and then you take their offering (reverse psychology). For the short horse, you need incentive, so play point to point between clumps of clover!

Remember straight lines are not straight - they are simply a route with a start and finish, so a trail ride could be a straight line. A circle is not simply a circle - it could be a spiral or a route between obstacles where you circle before moving on. Be imaginative with your straight lines and circles!

Play with Roget went very well today with the pre-requisites to riding going smoothly again! So today I rode! I played pushing passenger inside the round corral and then follow the rail outside (after practicing the one rein stop and disengagement lots!). I didn't have a saddle on him (as I didn't really believe we would get that far!) so only the bareback pad for our first ride! Unfortunately, I now have to wait until Monday to ride as we can't ride during conference for safety reasons ;-(

Wednesday Fluidity I Day Three

2007-09-06T03:33:00.002+01:00

Wednesday started differently with no Remuda (I think they are trying to keep us on our toes!). So it was straight into class for Saddling.

The first thing we did was to get everyone's saddles from the tack rooms onto the Savvy Park logs and try them all out for our balance point, leg and pedaling mobility. It was very interesting to sit in so many western style saddles - some were comfortable and some were rock hard! Some I could do all three of the tests, in others I struggled to do one!

We then discussed saddles, their design and how that best suits them to certain activities. For example, an english saddle is best used for dressage, jumping and racing; while a western saddle is good for trail riding and ranch work. We also discussed how to recognise an ill fitting saddle and to make positive changes to improve this. This involved 'shimming' spaces where the horse and saddle do not meet and raising the saddle's front end sufficiently to enable the full scapula movement. The result should be free moving scapula, the saddle's balance point centrally located on the horse and no 'dead space' under the saddle. It seems important to experiment with the shimming to find the best solution for a particular horse, but also to constantly monitor the situation and adapt as necessary.

Next was seat builder training, where we need to learn to sit on our balance point, have supple back, relaxed shoulders and legs in extreme positions - thank you Tracey for displaying the effect so well! This was great fun, but the anticipation of my turn caused my hands to get clammy!

Then before lunch was the Fear Makeover, where a horse and rider combination discuss their fear and then we learn how to move towards resolving the pattern so that we take control. Cici and Magic, who have the pen next to me, were the demonstration combination, which surprised a lot of people as they have a great relationship, can do loads of cool stuff and always seem so confident. Looks can be deceiving!

Anyway, the technique for overcoming the fear was simply closing your eyes and visualising the journey towards the fear and at the first sign opening your eyes. Then when your adrenaline had subsided trying again and perhaps taking two more imaginary steps then opening your eyes. Obviously the pattern continues until you can visualise the activity without fear. This is not necessarily achieved in one session!

Another powerful fear overcoming tool is visualisation of the best possible outcome (of success) - it is always far easier to follow your mind down the worst possible outcome avenue. Take control of your thoughts!

Pat Parelli says (regarding his fear): I get butterflies, but I make them fly in formation!

Today's task was to do the pre-saddle tests, saddle (using shims if necessary), to complete the pre-mounting tests and then, if you were confident, to go for a mosey on your horse's back. Well, since Roget and I had not managed to complete the pre-saddle tests yet (due to high levels of exuberance and play!), I was not in high hopes of achieving the mounting and riding today, so I set realistic expectations that we would work on the pre-saddle tests.

I do not know what happened, but we breezed through the pre-saddle tests and I found myself unprepared for the saddling! So we took a trip to the tack room and saddled on up! We then breezed through the pre-mounting tests and I was left with the option of do I leave it there or do I get on? I chose to leave it on a high note and simply spent undemanding time with him, chilling out, with no pressure or stress - it was great. Wow! Something really seems to have clicked with our relationship. I am hoping to repeat this success tomorrow, give him a break over the Conference weekend (Fri - Sun) and then mount on Monday (all going well). Keep your fingers crossed for me!

Tuesday Fluidity I Day Two

2007-09-05T02:51:00.000+01:00

This morning we limped the car over to the ranch having arranged to swap cars at lunch time. So, regardless of the screeching, squealing wheel we were on time for Remuda with Avery. Remuda was very short, just a quick overview of yesterday then straight into class for today's topic The Horses' Posture vs Conformation taken by Kathy.

Posture has the following attributes: learned, developed, body language, good or bad, emotions/attitude, energy and soft tissue positioning.

Conformation has the following attributes: innate, bones, angles, growth, physical structure and difficult to change.

So posture is pliable, whereas conformation is not. This leads into the physical aspects of level 3, but by taking care of the mental and emotional needs (levels 1 and 2) a start to posture correction will have taken place.

It is also important to consider external pressure which could have an effect upon posture, for example, an ill fitting saddle restricting the shoulder blades full rotation or strong hands on the reins. It is also worth considering where the rider's balance point is on the horse - it should be central to the trailing and leading feet.

The first thing to observe in posture is whether you have a good banana or bad banana. A good banana had smooth relaxed curves with equally developed muscles; while a bad banana has atrophied and over developed muscles with angular points. The horse should also have an equal length in front of the highest wither point to the poll and behind to the point of the rump.

Ways to improve posture include:

correctly fitting saddle, soft hands on reins and riding fluidly
ground work using hills, jumps, ditches, obstacles, etc
confidence - mental and emotional fitness, without this nothing else will change

We then went outside to practice flexion in our backs, so that we could promote flexion in our horse's backs. This involved sitting in the tradition style (see Boris' lovely example) and then rolling back onto our balance points (much much more comfortable). Other exercises were walking like a chicken up a hill feeling the way the lower spin moves and using a log to stretch our lower backs. It was important to stop when the physical feeling was good, so that we could imprint muscle memory.

Today's demonstration by Kathy was to observe horses' postures and to make "-" marks for areas of atrophy and "+" marks for areas of over development with a cattle marker. We were then turned loose to do this with our own horses - yes, Roget does look silly with lots of "-" and "+" in yellow all over him! No, I'm not going to publish an embarrassing picture of the lad - I am trying to form a strong partnership!

So lunch time arrived and I go to swap cars and Avis has supplied me with the most enormous pickup truck I have ever seen! Although the size did come as a shock, it actually drives very lightly. The only problem now is that we have no boot for all our luggage when we return to the airport for our return home! So we may need to do another swap before then!

Play with Roget went very well today. We achieved very sensible, relaxed and rhythmical walk, trot and canter - I even thought he might be ridable for once!!!!!! Then the cheeky left brain extrovert came out and we had some "fun and games" of Roget's making! I did manage to regain the leadership though and finished on a good note. He is such a great character and so much fun, but at times I definitely feel my play drive no where near matches his! He's a challenge!

Monday Fluidity I Day One

2007-09-04T03:30:00.001+01:00

Course 2, otherwise known as Fluidity I, started today with Kathy and Kristy leading our Remuda. We played 'Name Volleyball' so everyone learned everyone else's name and then had an overview of knots. Kristy told a very scary story of how she tied a claustrophobic horse using a hard knot and that the horse panicked and nearly strangled itself. Luckily she was carrying a knife and could cut it free, but it was a close one! Moral of this story, well two actually - always tie an unknown horse with soft loops and always carry a knife (need to go buy one asap).

Class was led by Jon and began by discussing individual's course goals. Mine included releasing old habits and replacing them with new reflexes, understanding what the horse is feeling and therefore what it needs from the rider, and the obligatory bareback and bridless riding experience!

Riding With Success was the theme for today's class finding out how to set ourselves up for success. Attributes such as attitude, perseverance, visualisation, effort and taking one small step at a time are key to achieving your goals. Things that might hold us back included time, fear, lack of knowledge, money and mental attitude. Bearing these positive and negative attributes in mind, one should be capable of staying on track to Riding With Success.....

The 3Cs - Control, Competance and Confidence (both horse and rider) are essentials for setting yourself up for riding with success. It is also worth remembering that dreams and excuses can be very powerful also (one positively, the other negatively).

Once the 3Cs are achieved you are ready for Freestyle riding, which could include, trail riding, pushing passenger, carrot stick riding and savvy string around the neck. Freestyle is all about unwinding the spring - relaxation and turning loose.

We then experienced our first Seat Builder or Bucking Bronc ride! This was great fun, although getting on was a little daunting, but went fine! We simply needed to feel the motion and move with it to see if we had any stiff areas in our body. I felt my shoulders tighten and needed to move and rotate them to release the tension.

After lunch we had a very interesting demonstration of the 3Cs and Saddling by Jon with a right brain introvert. Although the horse was not safe to ride or should I say ready to be ridden by the end of the session, Jon had made huge leaps with the 3Cs. The horse had begun literally fearing for it's life, but by the time it was saddled, it was jumping fences, getting up on the pedestal and driving through a slalom. It was interesting to notice that the horse tolerated the friendly game and the saddling and did not accept either. Until the acceptance comes, then it is not ready to be ridden.

When playing on the ground Jon simulated riding by trying to do things from zone 3 and treating the rope as it were the rein; for example, asking for lateral flexion then a disengage (one rein stop) or leading using a direct rein. He also detailed the requirements that should be achieved before mounting:

Play games going up and down the gaits in a relaxed fashion.
Saddling should occur without movement of the feet and with acceptance.
Number 1 should be repeated with the saddle on.
Pop a log or jump in a relaxed fashion.

Now you may consider mounting......

I played Me and My Shadow with Roget this afternoon - this went very well, he took me for a grand tour of every feed bucket on the ranch! If you don't learn lots about your horse's horsenality playing this, you will learn a lot of patience! He-he! We then tried playing in a round pen again - Roget's least favourite place and consequently I avoid like the plague! It went surprisingly well, we had some barrel rolling around the circumference, a reasonable circling game in all 3 gaits and good yo-yo and driving games. So I left it on a good note and gave him an early dinner!

Interesting aside - Beth has a friend who leased Roget and apparently for the first 3 weeks she thought he was trying to kill her! This gives me lots of hope that we are on the right track and that his immense capacity for playfulness, which could be very dominant, is under some level of control!

Oh no! Driving home this evening there was a gritty noise coming from one of the front wheels of our hire car, well this got worse when we cornered and it became a screech when we breaked! So we limped home and are now waiting for a response from the rescue assistance team. Hopefully we can get it fixed tonight, or a replacement, as we need to leave at 6:30 tomorrow morning - it could be a long night.........................

Weekend Two

2007-09-03T03:10:00.000+01:00

Saturday is the first lie in I have had in the past 2 weeks - bliss! Only my body thought 07:30 was enough and wanted to get up (I suppose that's at least 1.5hrs more than usual). So Beth very kindly got up and mucked out and fed Roget, leaving me to have a self indulgent morning - catching up on washing, emails, sleep and blogs.

We spent the afternoon shopping, so check out your mail boxes as there are postcards on the way...... We also visited a 1950s style ice cream parlour and indulged ourselves - it was amazing, the huge scoops we had were only £1.00 each!

The evening saw us take a trip to a saloon for a beer and some pool. This was much like going to a 'rough' pub and proved quite entertaining with a very loud band drowning out all chance of conversation! It was lovely to spend time away from horses with some of my fellow students.

Well Sunday came around all too quickly and it was Beth's turn for the lie in, so up I got at 06:00 to do the horses' morning feeds and muck outs. On the ranch driveway, I had the pleasure of waiting for a herd of deer to jump the fence, cross the driveway and then gather in the pasture opposite - very special sight (getting up early seemed worthwhile then!).

I spent a lovely morning with Roget playing in the Savvy Park and spending undemanding time (otherwise known as grazing!). Thankfully we avoided any right brain behaviour and had a thoroughly enjoyable time. It was interesting to find out that 2 other horses had behaved in exactly the same way as Roget on Friday Apparently there was a large buck (8 prongs) sighted up on that hill and this could be the reason for the fear. I then returned to the house and fell asleep for two wonderful hours of unconsciousness - more tired than I thought! I did finally get up again at midday.

Sunday afternoon was spent firstly doing Roget and then having lunch before the induction for course 2 - Fluidity I at 3pm. It was great to find out what to expect in the next course and to meet the new course instructors Jon and Kathy who will be leading this course. There were also some surprising onlookers, Sue Shoemark, Neil Pye and David Lichman were all in attendance, early arrivals for the conference next weekend (getting excited!).

So this evening I am finishing off my blog and now off to bed to catch up on some much needed sleep.....ZZzzzzzZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Friday L&HB Day Ten

2007-09-01T17:44:00.000+01:00

Today was the last day of the Liberty & Horse Behaviour course, which gives me mixed emotions. I am sad to be saying goodbye to those who are leaving, like Lynn. Yet excited that next week we begin riding in the Fluidity I course.

The day started with Remuda taken by Jesse covering the necessary preparation for the next course. This involved getting your horse ready for saddling, saddling and then preparing for mounting (but not).

Since saddling is a squeeze and friendly games activity, Jesse began by playing all 7 games, with an emphasis on these two games. The desired outcome was a horse that was relaxed in their gaits, asking questions and sensitive to suggestions.

The demo horse was my house mate Christine's mare Sierra, who is usually very dominant and typically a left brain introvert, but the horse that showed up was right brain extrovert - how interesting! So Jesse interrupted the right brain behaviour and gained the respect necessary to start communicating. He then played the 7 games and Sierra even jumped her first ever barrels! Christine was a very proud Mum!

After establishing a rapport and achieving the required relaxation, attention and respect, Jesse moved on to the saddling. Did he just go and put the saddle on now? No, he played the friendly game with the pad in zone 3 first and then tried unexpected things like pulling it all the way over her head or butt (using rhythm, relaxation and retreat). When Sierra was happy with this he then put the saddle on. He emphasised the importance that the cinching (girthing for us English riders) was done quickly so that you don't end up in a situation where the horse goes right brain extrovert and is running around with the saddle under the belly BUT this does not mean you forget to be relaxed!

With the saddle now on, Jesse replayed the 7 games with Sierra, including jumping the barrels, until the relaxed gaits, the questions and the sensitivity was there. It was interesting that this took a fraction of the time, as the effort already put in had set this up to be successful! Now the positioning the horse for mounting practice. Simply sit on the fence and play friendly/squeeze with all the zones passing and stopping by you, without the feet needing to move or the back end swinging out. When this is really good, do not mount, simply walk away and play in the Playground or Savvy Park with the saddle on (as if it isn't there). This not mounting seemed to blow Sierra's mind - I think she had the assumption that the saddle on equal human rides. Remember the 8 Principles number 2 - Don't make or teach assumptions!

Apparently Pat Parelli has this saying for saddling: Always saddle a colt (young horse) as if it has been saddled a thousand times, and a riding horse, as if it is the first time!

Today's background card was very apt: Attitude. The 3 attitudes that make a good horseman are:

Positive
Progressive
Natural

Day Ten of Liberty & Horse Behaviour (Finale)

The last day or Finale to Liberty & Horse Behaviour started with some predator 'praise, recognition and pork chops'! We all received our course certificate and t-shirt! I didn't know we got a certificate (oh what a predator I am)! Then we had an overview, looking at clips and footage we had watched on Day 1 and realised how our 'eyes' or perspective had changed in the past 2 weeks. We noticed different things, we understood more and we were less judgmental - very interesting. We also discussed the major principles in partners and what they meant to us today vs. last monday. We all have learned so much and become better horsemen as a result - not perfect, but better!

I decided to have a quality, undemanding time session with Roget this afternoon, so we went to the hill in the Playground and chilled - he grazed and I dozed. Things were all going great, then I saw Roget grow about 2 hands and fixate on something out towards the forest. So while I turned to look, thinking 'I wonder what Roget is looking at', he decided that perhaps his life was in danger and turned and galloped back to his pen, where I am reliably informed, he did a slide stop and calmed down immediately!

I lazily walked back to the pen thinking 'what a missed chance to show Roget what a good leader I am' but how I could use this as a lesson learned. I acted like a predator and became interested in what he was looking at, when I should have been a leader and removed Roget from the situation of fear, before he felt the need to leg it! I could always have a had a look afterwards! It seems that controlling my natural human instincts requires more effort!!!!!!

Well tomorrow is another day and we get another '1000 new starts' so hopefully I can be a better leader for him then.

Thursday L&HB Day Nine

2007-08-31T04:29:00.003+01:00

This morning I was greeted at the doorstep by three young deer, and I am unsure who was more surprised, them or me! This gave me a really good feeling for today and then I remembered it was Linda Parelli's demo day and it certainly felt as if Christmas and my birthday had arrived at the same time! This was a rumour still at this stage however!

The day started in the usual fashion with Remuda with Tina and Megan. They confirmed the Linda rumour and then we simulated how pressure can encourage an increase or decrease in motion and we practiced change of direction on a circle in conga-horses.

Day Nine of Liberty and Horse Behaviour

The demonstrations today were Sideways Game and the Squeeze Game (the last two games). Carmen did the demonstration and then Jesse took a student's horse to show problem solving techniques. I gleaned the following important points:

Sideways Game: Level 1 is from zones 1 and 3, using a fence to stop forwards motion and the windscreen wiper technique in zones 1 and 4. Level 2 would be without the fence, the 22ft line and over/beside obstacles. Level 3 is moving up to the 45ft line, at liberty, with your feet still and both towards and away from you. It seems that the most powerful tool for the Sideways Game is to create a positive pattern, for example, sideways to a barrel then stop, then sideways to another barrel and stop - repeat. The biggest problem seems to be drifting forwards - simply stop, ask for back up to original position, then re-ask. If the problem is drifting backwards - simply continue until one sideways step is made, then release.

Squeeze Game: Level 1 is between me and a fence, over a log or through a gate. Level 2 could be through water, under a tarp or trailer loading. Level 3 could be jumping or trailer loading from a distance and at speed. The ultimate squeeze game is riding - a predator in zone 3 on top and on both sides! Perhaps the squeexe game should be really good at zone 3 before mounting?!?! The squeeze game differs from the circling game in that it is 'invite, turn and wait' not 'send, allow and bring back'. It is best to be progressive with the squeeze game to encourage confidence and by using markers for your turn and wait phases, your horse will understand the pattern better.

In the afternoon we had the Linda Parelli demonstration which was fabulous. There are loads of photos for you to view if you are interested. She was very playful and the whole session had an enormous sense of fun. Remmer and her were definitely playing and not working. It was a masterful display of how to engage the mind of a left brained introvert and get energy and effort willingly offered. Linda then did a Q&A session where we could ask anything. There were lots of questions about her horses, her journey, her recent lessons with Walter Zettl and whether Pat Parelli had ever ridden her horses. Her answers were entertaining and the insight was very interesting. We may have this treat repeated in the other courses coming up, which I am really looking forward to.

Play with Roget went very well. I am learning how to meet his play needs without allowing him to go too far! It seems to require great control over the amount of energy I project, especially in the circling game, when he is very sensitive. We do have the most amazing bring back however, he turns and comes running with a look of 'didn't I do good?' on his face - which can only make you grin back!

Wednesday L&HB Day Eight

2007-08-31T04:29:00.001+01:00

Today was the circling game day. Carmen took the demonstration and did a fantastic job with her mare, Miss Lukie, showing how to make the circling game interesting for both horse and human. Level 1 circling could be on a 12ft line, slow speed using the 'lead it, lift it, swing it, touch it' method. Level 2 could be on a longer line, at a faster speed with the requirement of the horse to maintain gait. The change of direction and long phase 1....... quick 2,3 and 4 could also be used. Level 3 is the refinement of all the above and then spins at liberty also.

There were a number of interesting points to consider when playing circling and the most important is a thing called 'positional truth'. This is where your body does the same things every time it makes the same request and the movement is different for different requests. For example, for the disengage tilt the head and shoulders to the side; for the turn draw stand tall and lean/walk backwards. This will stop confusion in the horse as to whether the request is 'game over' (disengage) or 'please make the turn' (draw). Another useful tool is dividing the circle into quadrants and measuring progress by quadrants.

Jesse then covered some common problems with some student's horses:

My horse won't go - play the 'Get out of my Quadrant' Game by hitting the same spot hard and rhythmically.
My horse stops - say thank you and then change direction.
My horse changes gait - resend or change direction.
My horse goes too fast - go slowly and reinforce the slowness and use change of direction.
My horse won't turn - take your time, set it up and wait.

Playing the circling game with Roget had some 'how interesting' moments today! He has been a closet extrovert all along! He lulled me into believing he was left brain introvert requiring incentive, i.e. carrots, when really he is the extrovert type needing lots of play! The circling game seems to be the game for him where his playfulness really comes out and as such his sensitivity increases enormously. I think that of all the games, the circling game he finds the least interesting and therefore makes up his own games! He is such fun! I was challenged however, I need to locate the playful extrovert in me without turning the energy up - easier said than done - practice required here!

In the evening I went to dinner with Beth (my house mate) and Lynn (see photo), as Lynn is only staying for course 1 and will be leaving on Friday :-( We have got on really well with Lynn and had a wonderful night out at Pagosa Springs' best restaurant. I drove, but Beth and Lynn got a little tipsy and we all had a really good evening. Hopefully we will stay in touch in the future.

Tuesday L&HB Day Seven

2007-08-29T00:13:00.000+01:00

After a beautiful start to the morning where from my doorstep I could see Lake Pagosa was covered in mist (see photo), Remuda with Carmen and Megan covered 2 rein driving in the 'conga-horse'. A conga-horse is a line of people holding onto each other's belt loops pretending to be different parts of the horse. This sounds really silly and did challenge my confort zone somewhat, but proved to be highly powerful. You really can feel people's intent and how heavy the feel on the rope can be.

It highlights how important the friendly game is and the need for thinking time.

The background card for today was the 3 Systems of the Horse and how they relate to the Parelli levels:

Level 1 Partnership - respect - the mental system
Level 2 Harmony - impulsion - the emotional system
Level 3 Refinement - flexion - the physical system

Day Seven of Liberty & Horse Behaviour

Today's game is the Yo-Yo Game. Yo-yo is exactly as it sounds - foward and back, to and fro, north and south or even, approach and retreat. It is the game of equilibrium - equal motion in opposing directions.

The yo-yo game should always have a purpose to help the horse understand, i.e. back up and put a hind foot on a cone, rather than just back up! It is also important to uise the appropriate amount of pressue for the response required - make the right thing easy and the wrong thing difficult.

If straightness is an issue, then be creative and instead of micro-managing and constantly correcting, use a fence! To encourage confidence and a 'yes - I can do that' attitude in your horse, break tasks down. For example, playing with a line in the sand, then your rope, next a pole will enable you one day to yo-yo a log. Use an obstacle to help identify when you are going to change your yo from yo-- to --yo. By being consistent and making the change at the same obstacle your horse will be looking for the change and may even begin to offer!

Level 3 yo-yos could be up/down a hill or around a slalom, while level 4 are piaffe, passage, the slide stop and cow cutting! Yo-yo can be as interesting (or dull) as you make it - so be creative!

Monday L&HB Day Six

2007-08-28T23:28:00.000+01:00

This morning's remuda started by reviewing the previous week and discussing the trailer loading demonstration we had seen on Friday. We covered Pat's four savvys for trailer loading, which really rang a bell with me! Here they are:

1. Don't wait until you're late for the show!
2. Don't take him to the trailer to see if he won't load!
3. Don't ask a trying horse to try!
4. Don't hurry and shut the gate!

The background card for today, The 4 Savvys (Online, Liberty, Freestyle and Finesse), had a interesting definition of what Savvy means...... Knowing when to be, where to be, how to be and what to do when you get there!

Day Six of Liberty & Horse Behaviour

So day six is all about the Principle Games, Friendly, Porcupine and Driving, and how to take them to another level from the standard.

The Friendly Game is also known as the Confidence Game. This game is all about Rhythm, Relaxation and Retreat. It could be simply walking past something, hanging out, desensitising the ears and mouth or flicking with the carrot stick or rope. More advanced games could be in motion or doing the Jack Daniels (staggering) and Happy Cowboy (skipping) tests. Find out whether there are any 'Yeh - but.....' spots that need attention and use approach and retreat, feel and timing. This game should sandwich everything you do, i.e. friendly - squeeze - friendly.

The Porcupine Game involves steady pressure, including follow a feel and yield to a feel. When phase four fails to have the desired result, it is effective to use angles instead of more force/pressure. Remember: nose, neck, maybe feet. Always sandwich with the friendly game: friendly - porcupine - friendly to a stop (this will help stop your horse).

The Driving Game should be a balance of the drive and draw using the power of focus. More advanced simulations could involve two rein driving, however, to avoid micro-managing your horse, you need to be a master of one rein driving first. Increasing distances, changing zones and varying speeds will all make the driving game more interesting for the horse.

Before the end of class, John did a fabulous inspirational demonstration of high level driving. He entered on a golf buggy and played with obstacles from zone 5, even following over the bridge. He then left the buggy and did some flashy half passes at the canter - it was really impressive.

After class, Beth, Lynn and I decided to go to Goodman's to do some shopping. So we drove into Pagosa and tried on a multitude of hats and boots (cowboy). I finally decided on a pair of Ariat cowboy boots and a 100% wool crushable stetson, so you're all forewarned!

We then returned to the ranch where the heavens opened and a lightning storm blew in off the rockies, putting a stop to intentions of playing with our horses. This did provide the perfect test for my new purchases however, both of which passed with flying colours!

Weekend One

2007-08-28T23:17:00.000+01:00

Saturday was declared human day and as such the bare minimum was done with the horses; mucking out , feeding and watering. I spent the day visiting a local western tack shop and cathcing up on emails, my blog entries and photographs.

The western tack shop was so not my style and even made me feel vaguely uncomfortable with so many 'predator' items and dead animals hanging around the walls. I don't think I'll be visiting any more in a hurry!

Sunday was declared human and horse day, so I spent the whole morning with Roget practicing stuff we covered last week and bonding. This morning was really successful and I think we made alot of progress with our communication. My signals need only be subtle and soft to gain a response (I think the carrot incentives are proving very powerful!).

After lunch, I went back to bed to read and rest. I was more exhausted than I had realised and needed to reenergise ready for the next week.

Photographs.......

2007-08-26T00:49:00.001+01:00

I have uploaded some photographs onto flickr and will continue to do so, as and when I get the time.

I have also updated some of the blog entries with a photograph for those of you who prefer picture books! To date, the head shot of Roget is my favourite, but hopefully there are better ones to come.......

Now I'm off to the centre to take more photos so hopefully by the end of this weekend you will have a really good visual impression of where I am and what it's like!

Friday L&HB Day Five

2007-08-26T00:06:00.001+01:00

Remuda with Avery concentrated on the 45' line and I came to the stark realisation that I am very dangerous with this tool! Thank God I have never been near a horse with one yet! I was hitting myself in the face, my throw could go anywhere - left, right, up or down and at one point I managed to lasso someone's leg (maybe a future career at the rodeo?). This is a tool I need to practice with before I start using it!

I also found out that Roget is the son of Casper (Pat's top top horse) and one of his mares, MayDay! This explains some of the behaviour I witnessed yesterday - how interesting!

Day Five of Liberty & Horse Behaviour

Leadership in the Human was today's topic and how to empower yourself to be a good leader. Remember that 'You don't know what you don't know, until you know it!' so don't beat yourself up for lack of knowledge, just continue pushing yourself as a learner. We covered an interesting cycle:

Unconscious Incompetence -> Conscious Incompetence -> Conscious Competence -> Unconscious Competence -> Unconscious Incompetence -> Conscious Incom.......

An interesting exercise was to complete the horsenality chart on myself. It turns out that I am quadrapolar! I think many of you already knew that though!

The practical demonstration for the leadership day was none other than the ultimate leadership test of trailer loading. And thankfully the demo horse was a left brain introvert, so I used it as a great example of how to communicate with Roget in a positive manner and get results.

So Roget and I had a fantastic time this afternoon: playing, cuddling (see photo) and generally enjoying each other's company and achieving tasks. Why did today go so much better than yesterday? Incentive in the shape of carrot chunks, rest and rubs! If there was a carrot chunk in it for Roget, he gave me effort, attention, affection and a wonderful look on his face (you know the one when the dog knows you have a biscuit for him). We achieved everything I asked for (no more 'telling' notice) and he did it willingly - if only this was always the way between horse and human.

Thursday L&HB Day Four

2007-08-25T19:06:00.002+01:00

Remuda with Avery was great fun this morning. Carrot stick, 22' rope and phases practice.

Firstly we had to find phase 1 (as gentle as possible) and phase 4 (effective last resort) by hitting a barrel with a carrot stick without emotion. My phase 1 was was excellent, but my phase 4 was described as a 'limp kipper'! Next was phases 1 through 4 along the 22' rope to the halter, again without emotion. It was very interesting that I realised my phases with a horse have unconscious emotion - it is very difficult to be emotional with a post! Lastly, carrot stick/savvy string practice - hit the same spot 3 times with both hands, then 'quick draw McGraw' - hold the end of your string and lay the stick on the floor; close your eyes, pull the string and the stick handle should land in your hand...... try this, it's difficult!

Day Four of Liberty & Horse Behaviour

Today we covered the 7 games. These are the 7 games horses play with each other and therefore the best language for humans and horses to communicate with.

There are 3 principle games: friendly; porcupine and driving.
There are 4 purpose games: yo-yo, circling, sideways and squeeze.

The principle games are the ABC and the purpose games are the words, sentences, paragraphs and hopefully one day a story!

To improve the draw - naturally attracting the horse towards you - use the friendly, squeeze and yo-yo games, the hindquarter disengage and S-patterns.

To improve the drive - naturally sending the horse away from you - use the driving, circling, sideways and yo-yo games, the forehand disengage and falling leaf patterns.

Interesting thought: When we put a halter on a horse's head, we are really putting it on their feet!

Next we looked at the four types of horses and the difficulties they may have with certain games due to their horsenalities. For example, moving the forehand is difficult for a left brain horse as it is yielding the dominance. Or a right brain may find disengaging the hind quarters difficult, as this is yielding it's ability to flee.

A demonstration of the seven games with student's horses by the faculty members and an inspirational session with their own, highlighted the following:

1. Set it up for success - nose, neck, maybe feet.
2. Slow and right beats fast and wrong - play the 'Hot and Cold' game.
3. Make a plan and visualise the end result before starting.
4. Suggest - Ask - Tell - Promise (then check friendly game).

Win the 7 Games, but win for both of you..... try to think of the human winning, but the horse winning the prize!

Roget and I had an interesting session - meaning I had some 'How interesting!' moments! In hind sight I was acting the predator and telling, rather than communicating. Arrghhhhh! It is sometimes very difficult to stop being a predator, especially when you have an agenda! He definitely is left brained introvert and I will have to change my ways to get us singing from the same hymn sheet.

Remember: left brain introverts require incentive - I'd better go buy some carrots for tomorrow!

We had a lovely surprise today - it was like Christmas! All the 6 weekers were given goody bags (really good stuff - confidence snaffle, level 3 pack, finesse reins, etc...) and an opportunity to win a private lesson with Linda Parelli at the end of our course! How exciting is that!?! Keep all your fingers and toes crossed for me!

Wednesday L&HB Day Three

2007-08-24T04:33:00.000+01:00

Wednesday morning started with Remuda taken by Jesse. We covered communication and body (or universal) language by playing a game where you ask the horse (your human partner) to do something, i.e. put a foot on a chair, by using the universal language only. You then swap and have a go at being the 'horse'. This proved incredibly powerful and highlighted the need to be gentle, to allow thinking time, the power of focus and to reward with rests or by being friendly. The answer is to break the task into 100 small steps and to look after every step!

Great tip: Play with your 'best' horse first, then take that feeling to the next best and so on....

Day Three of Liberty&HorseBehaviour

We put human emotions onto horses (anthropomorphism); horses do not miss us, require praise, fell jealousy, etc - these are human emotions. The horse's heirachy of needs are.... Safety, Comfort, Play and then Incentive (Food). These needs are directly linked to their horsenality.
RB Extrovert - Safety - Bonnie and Whinney
RB Introvert - Comfort - Dillon
LB Extrovert - Play - Whinney
LB Introvert - Incentive - Dillon and Bonnie

Respect is the horse giving the appropriate response to pressure and the human, the appropriate application of pressure.

Strategies to deal with RB or safety/comfort issues are 'rhythm, relaxation and retreat', consistency, good friendly game and remember you have 1000 fresh starts.

Strategies to deal with LB or play/incentive issues are variety, to keep moving on and doing, incentives such as food, scratches and rest, and the power of reverse psychology.

Roget and I had an assignment to teach something new, which proved difficult as he is a Parelli lease horse and therefore has already done most things! So I took the attitude that everything is new for our partnership, regardless of either of our pasts and went and experimented. Firstly I simply requested he place his foot on the log and this went smoothly, so we quickly moved on to jumping a bank. Again, this went smoothly, so I looked for something more challenging and chose an enormous tractor tyre and suggested he walked through it......

Well he happily placed his two front feet in, then paused and asked for direction. I told him he was on the right tracks and encouraged him to place his hind legs in also. He lifted them and pawed at the tyre, but could not put them inside. He then asked another question and I told him he was on the right track. This time he moved his front feet further forwards to make room for the hinds. I then suggested he try the hinds again, but this he found too claustrophobic and continued merely to lift them up and rub the tyre. I accepted this as a try and called it game over. Remember - it's not about the tyre - it's about the relationship! And with the relationship building, I think we succeeded!

Wednesday evening was spent singing songs around the camp fire (see photo) with Pat and Caton Parelli and a country western singer (who is well known in America, but not to me!). This proved just a little surreal! It was very interesting to see Pat as a learner guitarist when I am used to observing his mastery of natural horsemanship, when he is very much the teacher/expert.

I also saw Linda Parelli today driving a bright yellow convertible jeep - surprised at her choice of car! She waved pleasantly as we drove past, which was nice.

The 8 Responsibilities Between Horse and Human

2007-08-23T04:41:00.000+01:00

Human
1. Don't act like a predator.
2. Have an independant seat.
3. Think like a horse-man.
4. Use the natural power of focus.

Horse
1. Don't act like a prey animal.
2. Don't change gait.
3. Don't change direction.
4. Look where you are going.

When you take over the horse's responsibilities, instead of teaching him to uphold them, and when you don't take care of your own, there can be no partnership.

Tuesday L&HB Day Two

2007-08-23T04:10:00.000+01:00

Well we started the day in the usual fashion - making our declaration of the 8 principles and then 100% extrovert participation in the Parelli "Good Morning" (it actually didnt feel quite so uncomfortable today)!

Oooops! I almost forgot to mention that I had breakfast with Mark Weiler! He is very much a people person and very entertaining. He was very interested in our experiences and extremely enthusiastic about ensuring everything was perfect, he demands perfection in everything Parelli! For those who don't know who Mark is, he is the Leadership in Parelli "Love, Language and Leadership" - that means the President. Pat Parelli is the Love (or passion) and Linda Parelli, the language (or teacher). So that's two down and one to go!

Day Two of Liberty&HorseBehaviour

Tuesday covered the characteristics of left and right brained horses and what attributes can be used to help label them. For example, left brains can be pushy, confident and curious; and right brains, spooky, reactive and nervous. It is worth noting that whilst mild left brain behaviour helps horses and humans get along, in the wild it would probably mean death. While all the right brains are running for their lives, a left brain is still curious to know what spooked them - and the lion would have lunch!

Interesting fact: Horses learn 4 times faster than humans and are exceptional "one time learners". A human example of this is a child being told not to touch the hot iron, but still does it, but will never do it again!

Right brain horses and extreme left brain horses (dominant) need bringing into the "centre ground" where a learning relationship can be formed. This is achieved through Love, Language and Leadership in equal doses.

Human decisions regarding the emotional state of the horse and therefore the strategy to use have a 50:50 chance of being right! And if you are wrong, you can always try the other thing! There are 1000 fresh starts every day.

There are five areas of confidence to the horse; their Leader, Themselves, their Herd, their Environment and themself as a Learner. If you protect these areas, the centre ground and therefore the learning relationship, will be easy to find. For example, if your horse is unconfident away from his herd, then do the things you want to do in his pasture - don't take him away and expect him to 'behave' as you just ignored of of his 5 confidence areas.

We also covered strategies for the twohorse types; left brain and right brain. Examples would be to be playful and provocative, to go somewhere and do something with a left brain. And with a right brain, retreat, be consistent and allow lots of time for thinking.

Roget and I played more "Me and My Shadow" but today intermittantly I reversed the balance of leadership to him 49% and me 51%. This allowed me to observe how he behaved faced with following me over obstacles and to provide a bit of variation and interest. Well he loved it, his energy and interest came up and I learned that he needs a provocative leader who can be creative and spontaneous, so I think I have a task on my hands! Today he was left brain introvert - but who knows what horsenality will show up tomorrow!

After dinner I attended Pat's sister's dance class (preparing for the dancing at the Conference) and learnt the "Swing"! "Slow, slow, quick, quick, slow, slow, quick, quick, slow........" Well there were 20 girls and 3 boys so we had to share and pretend to be boys! So I am learning new and unexpected skills - all part of the Parelli experience!

The 8 Principles of Horsemanship

2007-08-23T04:05:00.000+01:00

1. Horse-man-ship is natural.
2. Don't make or teach assumptions.
3. Communication is 2 or more individuals sharing and understanding an idea.
4. Horses and Humans have mutual responsibilties.
5. The attitude of justice is effective.
6. Body language is the universal language.
7. Horses teach Humans and Humans teach Horses.
8. Principles, purpose and time are the tools of teaching.

Monday L&HB Day One

2007-08-23T03:33:00.000+01:00

Apologies for the delay in writing - been busy! And before all the emails come in about photos - I'll do some at the weekend - been busy! Anyway, it will be worth the wait!

Day One of Liberty&HorseBehaviour

I learned the Parelli declaration of the 8 principles of horse-man-ship (a horse and a man on a journey) which I shall post separately for those that are interested.

And then I was plunged into the scary world of 100% participation American style! Dancing, clapping, yahooing! and that was just their way of saying 'Good Morning!' - so out of my comfort zone, we Brits are definitely more reserved!

Next was my responsibilities as a learner. 100% participation, knowing the power of empowering "how" questions, recognising their effect upon others and living through the question to find the answer myself. Also recognising those sneaky little voices in your head that say helpful things like "I already know that" and replying "thankyou for sharing that with me, but maybe I can learn something new anyway"!

"It's not about the........trailer, jump, piece of plastic, etc...." was then covered and what that really means. If the horse trusts your leadership then he will do anything for you. And to remember that, even today, the number one use for horses (even above recreation) is for food/meat and therefore it should not be suprising that the ultimate prey animal sees us as PREDATORS!

Interesting fact: EQUUS mean equal to us.

Wild horses live perfectly content lives. WE bring horses into OUR environment and provide for their needs - food, water, farrier, dentist - but all of these are physical needs. Like humans, horses have mental and emotional needs also- how do we cater for these? Mostly we don't.

A horse's horsenality consists of the following; innate characteristics, spirit, learned behaviour and environment. We have influence over the latter two only. Learned behaviour comes from the dam, herd and humans and can be both good AND bad! Horses are cowards, claustrophobics and panickaholics by varying degrees - it's their nature.

I played "Me and My Shadow" with Roget today. "Me" was Roget and "My Shadow" was me - basically I gave him 51% leadership and kept 49%, so he was the boss! He took me on a grand tour of all the feed buckets we could find, the best grazing spots to be had and the route out to the forest, where I can only assume he likes to go hacking. My job was to shadow, i.e. copy his behaviour and stance, try to feel what he was feeling and focus on the things he deemed important. This was a powerful exercise.

Horsenality wise, I believe Roget to be Left Brained, but am unsure whether it is extrovert or introvert at the moment (he may be both?). Generally he is friendly, responsive, food orientated and a very nice chap!

Meet the Partner for My Journey - Roget

2007-08-20T13:28:00.001+01:00

For all those who requested a photo of Roget, well here is; handsome chap isn't he!

Will write more later - but I knew you couldn't wait to meet him in the 'flesh' as it were! And I'm sure there will be lots more to come!

Arrived Safely and Met "Roget"

2007-08-20T04:59:00.000+01:00

We finally arrived in Pagosa Springs on Saturday evening - exhausted and excited simultaneously. The journey along route 285 was beautiful - exactly how I imagined Colorado to be. Wide open spaces, incredibly flat; then mountains seem to emerge from nowhere, all rocky and covered in fir trees. We also saw some deer grazing by the roadside, completely oblivious to all the traffic passing by.

Pagosa Springs is a small town with beautiful scenery - I will be posting pictures online as soon as I can, so you can see for yourself. And the Parelli Centre is more than I imagined. Everything has been carefully designed to ensure imagination and success are inevitable - can't wait to get started tomorrow!

Most importantly I met my lease horse this afternoon. His name is "Roget" - a bay quarter horse, I would guess he is 16hh and he is a true middleweight (I have started him on a diet, as he has a round belly also!). It seems he is famous - quite a few people recognised him as we took a little stroll! Apparently he is on all the Parelli tour stop flyers jumping a buck fence, so I am going to try to track one down to keep for my memories.

It is too early for me to give you an idea of his horsenality as we have spent only a short time together mosying around, but I do know he likes his food LOTS and is VERY friendly, wanting to smell and touch all the people we came across (probably checking for more food!). He is also sensitive; light suggestion (phase 1) caused backing up and fore quarters disengagement. Obviously, I will learn more in the coming weeks - all 6 of them - and my journey with Roget will reveal his horsenality and much much more.

P.S. We saw Pat Parelli today! As we were driving back to our house this evening, we passed him on the track and got a friendly wave and of course, we waved back so enthusiastically we surely looked like maniacs! Exciting though - Pat Parelli in the flesh!

Only One Day To Go!

2007-08-15T16:41:00.001+01:00

Packing, washing and possibly a little panicking!

Tomorrow I will leave for Heathrow to spend the night in the Hilton over the road from Terminal 4. After seeing the climate change protesters on the News, I thought it prudent to travel the day before my flight, rather than risk travelling up on Friday morning.

I have spent today making last minute visits to say "Cheerio!" to friends and neighbours I will not see now until October. That seems ages away, I mean October is in Autumn! And having not experienced a summer yet in Wales, Autumn seems a long way off!

Next entry will probably be in Colorado after having flown to Denver and then driven to my home for six weeks in Pagosa Springs - so I'll catch up with you then. Take care.

UK Parelli Conference

2007-08-07T12:26:00.000+01:00

The UK Parelli Conference has come and gone. Unfortunately I could not attend, due to laminitic ponies needing lots of attention. However, I will be attending the US one whilst away - so don't feel too sad for me!

Gareth did go and had an absolutely fantastic time. He came home like a man possessed, ready to progress his relationship with Whinney - I am expecting great things from them when I return from Colorado!

Gareth brought pressies home too! I have a Savvy pen, two conference t-shirts and the new Success DVD Series - which I have already started to watch and looks great! I shall take them with me, to make the flight time pass more quickly.

Anyway, I am still stressing about packing and making more and more lists, so I'm going to sign off to get back to that!

Last thing - many thanks to my parents for the pocket money for the trip (thought I was getting too old for pocket money!). Anyway, it will be well spent! Thank you!

Prior and Proper Preparation.......

2007-07-24T14:33:00.000+01:00

Prevents Pee Poor Performance....... Pat Parelli

Well it only seems right that I use one of Pat Parelli's infamous sayings to approach my packing for this wonderful adventure I am about to embark on. That can only mean one thing....... lists!

And boy, do I like lists! I have a list for horse stuff I need to take and one for horse stuff to buy there. There are human lists also; hold luggage packing, cabin luggage packing, things to buy in UK to take and things to buy in US when I arrive. And I haven't even started on the 'While I'm gone...' list for Gareth!

The list is endless....... hee hee!

When, Where, Why and How

2007-07-21T09:17:00.000+01:00

When: Friday 17th August through Sunday 30th September 2007

Where: Parelli ISC, Pagosa Springs, Colorado, USA.

Why: Attending three Parelli courses.

How: Gareth will drive me from Wales to Heathrow, London, where after meeting up with new friend Beth from the Sussex, England, we shall fly to Denver, Colorado. After spending a night in Denver, we will drive the 6 hours southwest to Pagosa Springs, where our accomodation for the 6 weeks is Cloud Cap Guest House (thank you Aurora). We have one night to settle in and meet some of our fellow course mates at The Bear Creek Saloon.

The course officially begins on Sunday 19th August, when we will meet our lease horse for the first time. The lease horse will be our learning partner for the full 6 weeks, for all 3 courses.

Friday 28th September will be the final course day, where we will have to say goodbye to all the friends we have made, and of course, spend our final hours with our equine partner. I imagine we will have a final farewell that evening, before making the return journey to Denver and then the UK the following day.

Why I've become a Blogger......

2007-07-20T15:00:00.000+01:00

I am hoping to use this blog to keep my Parelli trip journal, but also to keep my family, who I will miss very much, up to date with my Colorado adventure.

Many thanks to Ninie and Mikkel for inspiring me to try to keep a journal of my trip in August. Your journal is giving me great insight and making me really excited about my trip! For anyone interested in Ninie and Mikkel's trip (they are currently there!) click here.

For more information on the courses I am attending please see the Parelli website.