Arrived Safely and Met "Roget"

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!