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!
1 comment:
very jealous, you never dance with me!
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