Using "Horsenality" As A Tool Rather Than An Excuse

Ok, we've all been there...A quick login on the computer to check email suddenly turns into hours of watching Parelli and other horse related Youtube videos. Along with these videos comes feelings of inspiration, encouragement, and sometimes jealousy and frustration. It doesn't have to be frustrating but sometimes it's hard to fight back that natural human emotion. In 2007, Linda Parelli brilliantly launched her new concept of "Horsenality" which gave her students the tools necessary to put their horses into categories that would allow them to tailor their horsemanship to meet the needs of their horse's specific "Horsenality" or innate social attributes. Horsenality seemed to be the missing link for Parelli students, and since learning about how to best provide incentive and reward for my Right Brained Introvert, our relationship and level of progress has soared!

Despite all the perks of knowing the theory behind Horsenality, lately I have found myself using it to make excuses. For example, when watching a video of a Parelli student who taught their horse a cool trick, I'll find myself saying "Rydel and I could never do that, especially since she's RBI", or "That seems like it would be only possible with a Left Brained horse." While I believe that LB horses might catch on to certain things more quickly than RB horses, simply because lack of confidence or trust is  not an issue, this is no reason for me to make excuses for myself or my horse! We may have to take things a lot more slowly but it doesn't mean we can't one day accomplish these higher level tasks and tricks. No more excuses! As long as I use Horsenality as a tool for success and not an excuse, I know we can do anything!

To get your mind going, here is a quick explanation of what each Horsenality needs from HorseChannel.com. 

The Right Brain Extrovert needs safety. Never push him past the threshold until he's calm. You will need to retreat and to interrupt the pattern. You must have a strong focus and must match the horse's high energy level. Give him a job to accomplish to replace his fear with something positive. He must think of you as his "safe place."

The Right Brain Introvert needs comfort. The worst thing you can do is push this horse before he's confident. You'll ruin his trust in you if you push him before he's ready. Taking your time is important because you'll need to wait on this horse to process things. He needs to believe in you.

The Left Brain Extrovert needs play. He craves creative, imaginative tasks and can't stand to be forced into anything. Because he hates to be bored, you'll need to speed things up, be enthusiastic and come up with variety in your lessons.

The Left Brain Introvert needs incentive. There are plenty of ways to offer incentive without "bribing" him. (Think rest, grazing, treats, scratches.) This horse needs to have a purpose and wants to go somewhere. Riding circles in an area with this horse will lead to resistance and defiance. Use reverse psychology for best results

Life Outside Your Comfort Zone.

We've heard it said in our levels DVDs and we have all probably experienced it; Learning happens outside your comfort zone. Being the introvert that I am, this is something that I often struggle with, especially when it comes to playing with my horse around other people. I feel really lucky to have Emily at my barn who understands and supports me in my Parelli journey, and with this support I have made more progress at this barn than I have anywhere else. But as the number of borders at our barn has increased significantly in the past few weeks I find myself having flashbacks to last year. I feel uncomfortable being in the arena with other "non-natural" horse owners, I feel awkward knowing that they are watching me (whether it be out of interest or confusion), and after a while I find myself waiting until everyone is gone before I play with my horse.

Well, the first step is recognizing the behavior, and I know for the sake of continuing to make progress that I need to accept that things are going to feel awkward for a while and learn to focus on just me and my horse and no one else. After all, my horse is an introvert and I ask her to step out of her comfort zone all the time!- Put your nose on this tractor, walk into this cage on wheels, go sideways not forward or backward, etc. And while it might seem like the sky is falling at first, eventually she calms down and learns to accept it until it becomes almost second nature and she is better off because of it. Notice, I did not say she aways begins to enjoy it (although, sometimes she does!) because some things that you are truly afraid of you will never really enjoy but you will be able to get over them enough that you can function and make progress, which is the overall goal.

So, instead of making it something I dread, I plan to focus on the positives of stepping out of my comfort zone. Rather than viewing it as stepping into my "discomfort zone" I will view it as an opportunity to learn something new and to get a little bit more savvy so that I will be able to handle more complex situations such as dealing with other horses and riders in the arena. Pretty soon, my comfort zone will get bigger as I absorb new and awkward situations into my realm of normalcy. At the end of the day, its about what's best for my horse and our relationship, and for Rydel, I would do anything!

Best Day Of The Year! (So Far...)

I realize this is a little bit late but bear with me as I recap the beginning of my week and explain why Monday, January 16, 2012 was hands down the best day of the new year...

The day started off exceptionally well because despite my lack of sleep, we had no classes that day due to the MLK Day Holiday! So to celebrate, Emily came over early that morning and she, Evan, and I all went to Equus Now to look for new breeches and other fun horsey things to buy. After leaving with a brand new pair of black full seat breeches and a pink sparkly curry comb, we all went to Waffle House to eat and relax. After we were full of breakfast food we hurried home to change and head out to the barn, where once there we cleaned up our horses and prepared for the lesson we had schedule with Juli for the day. Well, our lesson really helped put the finishing touches on our games online and helped me progress into the basics of freestyle riding!

First Juli helped me fix our often crooked back-up during the yo-yo game, making it look crisp and clean. Next we worked on really getting the sideways game to click for Rydel by half-circling her to the wall and then using a forward motion with her carrot stick toward her hindquarters and balancing out the nose with my rope hand. Rydel really picked up on the whole concept very quickly and she also helped me learn a few things about her thresholds. You see, Juli helped me realize that Rydel has 3 types of hesitations- "I cant", "I'm confused," and "I wont". While sometimes these three hesitations may appear similar, upon closer inspection they are actually very different and need to be treated differently. This is a huge insight and I think I know it will improve my savvy when dealing with this situations. During the whole lesson up to this point Rydel was very relaxed and didn't feel the need to move her feet as much (like she had done so much in the past). In fact, she even offered to come up to Juli and stand by her confidently. With Rydel feeling so calm and focused we decided to saddle up and work on a few freestyle techniques, at which point another boarder brought her horse into the arena along with her trainer and both of her parents...Great! However, just when I thought Rydel would get nervous and distracted with another horse, riding in the arena, she did great by staying calm and keeping her attention on what I was asking her to do! We worked on getting into the power position for stopping, and "tromboning" the reins. We also learned how to do a hindquarter yield by using an indirect rein (my new favorite thing to practice)! Overall it was a great lesson and I though the day couldn't get any better...Boy was I wrong!

When I got home I got on my computer to catch up on Facebook and relax as usual and eventually I got around to checking my email. Much to my surprise, the Parelli Team had already processed and scored my level 2 online audition and I PASSED 2++!!!!

I was so ecstatic (and honestly shocked) to see that I had done so well! It is really a huge motivator to myself to keep going with the levels program and keep striving for the best- especially considering I didn't even want to send one in in the first place! I am so grateful to Pat, Linda, and everyone who supported and helped me so far! This really is a great start to the year!!

Feeling Accomplished.

I had mentioned on my Parelli Connect Page that one of my goals is to send in my level 2 online audition video by the end of the month...Well, it's not even close to the end of the month and I'm ready to submit a video! To be honest, I had been "ready" to send in a video for a long time, I even tried taking a few preliminary videos just for practice. But every time I went to actually do it, I would get really nervous and emotional and try to micromanage everything! (I wrote about it here). It took me a few months to have the confidence in myself in order to get to the point that I could relax and make a video worth sending in. The biggest thing I needed to realize is that my video doesn't have to be perfect and if I continued to spend time trying to perfect things I would probably never send in an audition and drive myself crazy in the process!

So, as I get ready to send in my first official audition ever I am feeling extremely accomplished. First of all, I am happy with the progress Rydel and I have made in the last year. I wish you could have seen the horse she was when I first got her, I swear you wouldn't even recognize her! I am so grateful she was patient with me through all my years of avoiding horsemanship and being too afraid to admit that I needed help and support. This brings me to point number two; I am so incredibly glad that I found loads and loads of support and help from Emily, Jesse, and Juli, without whose support and instruction I would have never been able to get to this point. Finally, I feel accomplished because no matter what score I receive on my audition, I can feel good about just sending in the video! I really don't think I ever would have sent one in had I not had the support from my fellow Parelli friends and in turn gained the confidence in myself to feel comfortable doing it. Now, I can't wait to start working toward sending in auditions for more levels and more savvys! It has become a motivator instead of something I fear.

So, without further adieu... Here is my not-so-perfect-and-I-don't-care Parelli Level 2 Online Audition video! Enjoy.

Holy Cow, My Boyfriend Has a Horse!

From the time I was a little girl, I had ideas about how wonderful owning my own horse would be. I also had ideas about who my Prince Charming would be and what he would be like. Well, never in a million years did I expect that my Prince Charming would also be into horses, let alone actually own one! Much to my ultimate surprise, this past weekend the unthinkable came true...My boyfriend got a horse! This past  Sunday we made the 7 hour trip back from Tennessee to bring home Lilah Rose, Evan's one and a half year old American Bashkir Curly Horse!

I feel so lucky to be dating someone who is so accepting and supportive of my dream with horses. I am also especially lucky to have someone who has his own dream with horses! I am so excited to see how things progress with Lilah and Evan's relationship- they are already off to a fantastic start! And think how lucky that horse is to have a leader and a partner who has never known anything other than Parelli! I have great expectations and I'm sure I'll be posting lots of updates. :)

Back To Basics.

I have a feeling the first part of 2012 will be about mastering the fundamentals. I have big dreams, but I will never be able to do the fancy stuff without first having the basics down to a science. This is not to say that I will be starting completely over, as a lot of tasks are second nature by now. However, there are a few holes in my horsemanship that need to be patched before we can move on. In fact, I believe part of these holes developed because we have been working through the program and Rydel has gained confidence. For example, sometimes Rydel challenges me during the Porcupine Game- a game that I could easily win against my submissive Right Brain Introvert. Now that she has learned to be more confident she sometimes tries to be dominant and pushy and instead of getting frustrated with this I just smile and play the game right back until I am the winner. I never want to destroy the confidence she is gaining, I just want to ensure that she maintains respect.

As I mentioned before, another fundamental we have been working on is the passenger lesson. In a previous lesson, Juli pointed out that perhaps Rydel had been too introverted in the past to really express how she felt during riding and now that she is coming out of her shell more I have to deal with her opinions, both good and bad. This is why I am slowing things down and going back to passenger lessons before trying to do much more advanced freestyle riding. Not micromanaging our rides has really given her a much better impression of riding and this will pay off later when I start asking more from her.

My goal is to send in my Online Level 2 audition video by the end of the month. I have purposely been putting it off because I have been trying to really get the fundamentals down- isolating the patterns into component parts and trying to achieve tasks using the smallest phase possible. I'm hoping in the next few weeks our video looks far better than our first attempt both in technique and rapport. Only time will tell but I think taking the time it takes will really pay off!
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Natural New Years Resolution #4: The 5 Ingredient Rule. This is a difficult rule to follow (especially as a college student) but the idea is to eat the most pure foods possible. So, when you are in the grocery store, try not to buy anything that has more than 5 ingredients in it. This mostly applies to ingredients that aren't natural and are things you cant pronounce.

It's A Brand New Year.

Thinking back on 2011 has made me realize just how far Rydel and I have truly come. As I was going through old Facebook posts one day, I came across the date that I moved Rydel down to Columbus with me: September 14, 2010. It's amazing to think it has only been a little over a year that I have had her here with me, but what's even more amazing is the fact that my first lesson with Jesse was August 28, 2011- Almost an entire year since Rydel came to Columbus- and that was really where it all came together for us. From that day forward, the rest of 2011 had become a whirlwind adventure full of horsemanship, an incredible new friendship, and consistent improvement.

The Holidays flew by with a blur but were wonderful and relaxing as always (Ok, they were a little busy too considering I have not had a chance to update on here). Anyhow, I received a fantastic gift from Emily, an engraved leather bracelet that bears the phrase "live your dream", an incredibly symbolic and appropriate gift with which to start out the New Year.

As cheesy as it sounds, this bracelet reminds me that I have the ability to hold my dreams in my hand, to take charge of my life and stop making excuses for myself. My new years resolution is to never lose sight of my dream with natural horsemanship, to always strive to reach my goals and to never settle for less than better than best. I love that Emily has one too, reminding us that we are in this ride together as best friends, personal cheerleaders, and horse lovers.

I am so excited for whatever this year will bring, and I'm sure it will be full of surprises but it will also be a year of living my dream and building on that dream and making it bigger. I'm ready for some incredible transformations in my relationship with my horse and in my life in general! 2012, BRING IT ON!
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And of course, I didn't forget. Here is my Natural New Year's Resolution #3: Make the Switch! Whenever possible, switch to organic products. I have always used organic cleaning products such as Greenworks dish detergent, but I also just recently switched my makeup and makeup brush to all organic products. I recommend Physicians Formula Organic Wear and Covergirl Natureluxe products. Let me know what organic products you love!