Like It Or Not, Progress.

In the past few months, a lot of things have changed in both my horsemanship and my life. I spent a lot of time just focusing on my relationship with Rydel and not worrying about having an agenda with her or worrying about how to translate our time together into blog posts. This was all pretty liberating for myself, but probably fairly boring for those of you who do (or did) follow my blog.

During this time off, however, I have been given the opportunity to reflect on my horsemanship journey, and more importantly, my attitude about my journey. First, I took some time to just slow down. In doing so, I learned that my horse has a lot to offer. From meeting me at the gate, to showing me where she wants to be scratched, to attempting to mutually groom with me (ouch!), to bucking and playing and jumping, it has been amazing to watch her grow into herself and open up more and more! This "slow down" period for us was relaxing and incredibly consistent. We ended up doing a lot of the same things everyday, practicing the things we were good at, and avoiding the things we are not. We are both Right Brain Introverts, after all, so it should not come as a surprise when I say we tended to stick within our comfort zone.

While we were progressing with our relationship and having some really great times together, it wasn't until a recent lesson with Parelli Professional, Jane Bartsch that i realized I wasn't being provocative enough. Jane challenged us with some zone 5 driving for our homework and taught us the beginning of long rein driving. I am excited to keep pushing our level of savvy to new heights! (Thanks, Jane!). In other exciting news, a few days after our lesson with Jane, we received word that Rydel and I passed our level 3 online audition! You can view the video Here. I intentionally waited to talk about it because I honestly thought we would fail on our circling game. I know it's not our absolute best, but I am pretty happy with the results.

Also during this time, I decided to apply for a demo spot at the Upper Marlboro, MD Horse and Soul Tour Stop. I wanted to challenge myself and provide some purpose for our play times. I decided to apply for the Psychology 101 demo with Linda, as I believe Rydel is a pretty classic RBI. Well, I finally finished the video, which I am excited to share with you all!. You can view it  on Youtube here!

So, what have I learned during this crazy adventure these last few months? I've learned that the phrase, never ending self improvement is not just a mantra on the days that we feel like it. Instead, we should be actively seeking out progress, in horsemanship and in life. This is not to say that we need to be constantly improving, per say. Maybe "progress" for you at this moment means having the savvy to know when to push yourself and when to take some reflective undemanding time. Whatever your action may be, it is progress as long as you are moving closer toward your goals. We owe it to ourselves and our horses to take an active role in achieving our goals and becoming the horsemen and women we want to be. My call to action for us all is this: Like it or not, progress!

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.

Taking The Time It Takes

I decided to video again today and things went much better this time! I kept reminding myself that my video did not have to be perfect and it would give me a good indication of the things I need to work on and change for my actual audition video. Im pleased to note that our figure 8 is so much better these days! At the walk, i really only have to use phase one and rarely phase two, at the trot, it is much more phase two and she is still learning how to maintain gait but at least she recognizes the pattern. I wish you could have seen our first attempt at this video because this one is loads better!

Things we do well:

• Friendly Game- as a means of retreat
• Friendly Game- Helicopter
• Obstacles- two feet on pedestal, walk over tarp, jumps (not seen in video)

Things to work on:

• Stick to Me- walk, trot, backup
• Sideways Game- without a fence
• Figure 8 Pattern- at the trot

The video is to music I am considering using for my audition... Here's to progress!

"You've Turned Into A Mom From Toddlers and Tiaras"

One of Pat Parelli's many sayings resonates in my head as I write this, "Horses are like computers, they don't always do what you want but they always do what you tell them to do." Well, this blog post is about surrendering myself to humility as I explain how last night I indeed "turned into a mom from Toddlers and Tiaras" and how my horse definitely did what I told her to.

As always, I started my night at the barn with good intentions. I was planning on taking a practice level 2 audition video. I mostly wanted to document my progress and was planning on sending in a real audition later. But for some reason, I went completely direct line and felt the need to have the video be exactly as it would in a real audition. I had planned out my tasks but spent nearly 40 minutes obsessing over the very first one- the figure eight! I was so aware of the fact that I was on camera that I felt determined to make it perfect, almost as if it were a performance. I understand now that this was the absolute wrong way of looking at it, but the worst thing is I didn't even realize I was doing it! Before long, it became a vicious cycle of me getting uptight causing Rydel to be uptight. I was completely emotional and the exact opposite of a good horsewoman. As the session went on, I rarely took time for retreat, I didn't always set myself up for success by slowing things down or going back to the friendly game when it was broken. I am totally and completely ashamed of how handled (or didn't handle) things. It was like my horse knew her responsibility, do the routine (pattern) to the best of her ability, and I knew my responsibility, reward the slightest try and don't worry about perfection. And yet, there I was, a crazed pageant mom jumping around the audience dancing the routine and urging my child to not forget to smile. Talk about embarrassing. 

When I finally decided to call it a night, put Rydel back in her stall so she could eat her dinner, I could feel my blood pressure slowly starting to go back down. I apologetically groomed and loved on Rydel but I still left the barn feeling like I completely let her down. 

Im going back tonight without an agenda this time. I plan to be a much better partner for her and am going to focus on our relationship. In time, I know all other things will fall into place. :)