I have been logging my hours at Parelli Central and discovered from last Thanksgiving to this one I have logged 300 hours. WOW.
My first thought is that the time went really quickly and what did I accomplish and what did I learn??
1. The biggest is that Try goes RBE--its mild and not dangerous to me BUT she won't be learning if she is not left brain and how could I be so uncaring as to cause/or not prevent her to experience negative emotion. I had thought she was LBI having a tantrum or LBE. NOPE. This has surely been a year long study. I see things a bit better here and there and perhaps I will get around to listing the improvement I see.
2. I have learned intellectually RBE means to match her energy and stay with her til she relaxes and sometimes have success in applying this. Previously I had tried to be calm and calm her as it frightened me. In fact, I have felt keenly, especially when riding, even the tiniest bit of emotion and it scared me so I avoided doing all sorts of things without even realizing it. I should list a bunch of these also.
3. I have learned that Try will also just be a bit RBI when she feels what she perceives as too much pressure or intensity. My bringing up my big RBE/LBE energy to ask her for something has its place in helping her relax in the face of intensity but I know that much energy can be scarey for her. She "cares" really easily.
4. I have learned that I settle for good enough--from being ok with asking 3-4 times before she does something to quitting with a sorta try on her part. (Again, good to go back and add examples.)
5. I loved this summer riding as I concentrated on my fitness and could do a solid mile of no stirrups posting trot or a mile of canter in the bareback pad. (Not both on the same day! GGG) I have an emotional need to be fit and am my happiest that way.
6. Also this summer Try and I concentrated on things that scare either or us and took baby steps and made progress. And yet there is more to do.
7. Try is more relaxed at the canter and we can halt and drop reins and she will be relaxed much more than in past years. The quality of the canter is improved with all the lateral stuff we have been doing--I call it isolations as that is what it was called in my dance background.
8. Liberty: I have learned that if I am fairly close I don't need a rope connection AT ALL! Most tasks I can do on line and just about as good at liberty. BUT caveat--perhaps we are not really progressing in taking on L4 tasks.
9. Bridleless riding: If I have a neck string or carrot stick and legs for cueing we are able to do a lot in the 200x300 ring tho patterns etc are not as precise as with reins.
10. This year I only used task to accomplish goals tho I do organize by "task" in planning a session. Whether we make progress with a task depends on attitude and relationship alone.
11. I learned I do not have a realistic end goal. I don't have an end goal like someone might have training a green horse. AND the hidden goal I had didn't apply to a horse--or both of us being free of thought and just jointly going with the moment improizationally with bodies so relaxed they don't really have boundaries. (Can't believe I just said this. I think this applies to a unicorn and wood sprite or something.) I did watch video of a bunch of the greats and they all look too muscular to me. I did like the energy of Rhett Fincher at the Wild Horse Taming and I think Annie Shank has a lot of this quality as well. It is comparable to the floaty/no muscle just skeleton relaxed look of ballet in my background.
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