The Tail End of the Externship

Well, you know what they say! Better late than never!

The Externship just over two months ago and now that I'm back home the last two years feel like a strange, wonderful dream!

I left my last blog post with us about to spectate in the Colt Start course. It was better than that, we got to participate, at least in the start. Rob McCauliff explained that a horse is not really started until it accepts humans in it's life to the point where it entirely turn itself over to the human. Our job was to give the horses a puzzle to work out that humans are a positive contribution to their lives and that they can solve all their problems by looking to humans. This meant catching their minds. It was a deep insight into how the levels program is in fact a colt start program but that most humans miss a lot of the finer points.

We need to become better at reading the horse, green lights, amber and red (red lights are rarely hard to read!). We need to understand that the friendly game is your demeanor, it is about causing yourself to be a source of comfort for the horse, the answer to all his problems. It is not something you do one seventh of the time.

Following our involvement with the colts, we had a lesson of the Elements of Man, the psychological system that caused Linda to formulate horsenalities and, later, humanalities. It was so cool to see how this relatively simple system could explain inherent differences between people that affect how they interact with each other. We then used this information to assess student teacher relationships and work out the best strategies to teach different people.

We also had the privilege of auditing Pat's Western Performance Course. This was probably one of the most profound things I got from the externship. Watching Pat in action was a real eye opener. I realised that I was not putting enough purpose to my principles and not expecting enough from my horse! After one afternoon of watching Pat I had a riding session with Boaz and had him turning on the haunches like a real horse. Suddenly his potential as a sport horse came out and he wasn't just the "nice little trail pony" people kept describing him as.

Toward the end of the Externship, we were asked to put on a demonstration at the local county fair. We took a field trip to the Rodeo ground where we mentally brainstormed some ideas and thought about logistical considerations. The Externs were split into two groups. One team would perform on the first day wth the second team as their ground crew, and then we would swap on the following day.

I was in the ground crew on the first day and helped Samantha with the sound system and looking after our mascot, Susan and Maurice's dog, Summer.

The next day it was time for me and Boaz to do our bit! The first team had done a stirling job and were going to be a tough act to follow. We had made the decision to use our savvy spot light teams from earlier in the externship and to run two acts on each day. Rather than have one team go first and then the other we combined our teams in order to emphasise our strengths.

Aurelie plaited Boaz so he was looking very smart and I had cleaned his tack. I was borrowing Shirley's dressage saddle as I was meant to be showing finesse.

When we got to the showground, after a perfectly uneventful transportation of eight horses (how many people can say that?) I realised that I had left the girth to the saddle behind.

Jeannie kindly leant me her bareback pad and Adency headed back to the barn. I got on Boaz to warm up and found a much more jazzed up equine than I was used to. He quickly accepted the new environment, as I had proudly expected him to. I had left his saddle on the rail and got ready to come in behind the others, closing the gate as we began our routine. We all ran in on foot and played a little online. I did a little stick to me and then quickly climbed onto the rail and began the bridling and unbridling routine. I had a small bit to do then I had to move aside for a few minutes before riding into the centre of the arena to begin my pas de deux with Kari. I saw that Adency had returned with the girth and I had to remove the barback pad and saddle Boaz with as much savvy and speed as I could. I didn't have time to ensure that the stirrups were the right length so I played on the short side, as I only have little legs. When I mounted Boaz and put my feet in the stirrups I felt like a jockey. We headed straight for the question box and began our routine. Kari and I were turning about each other, and then we both trotted and cantered circles. Kari was bridleless and I was riding with finesse. as we returned into the question box Kari began to spin and Boaz and I took off circling them as if we were moving each other. I could feel my saddle move as I had not been able to tighten my saddle girth enough. I used my balance to keep things steady and amazingly no one noticed that I was riding with stirrups too short and girth to lose. In fact Maurice said it was the best he'd seen me ride.

As Kari and I finished the others stepped forward to shine. They were focusing on different ways to circle, online and at liberty. I kept Boaz in the corner and had him turn on the haunches  and when Samantha was standing on a barrel with her horse circling around it and Anne and her horse riding under the line I stepped forward and joined hem as they changed direction and had the horses go backwards. Two horses backing under the line as the online horse also backs up in a circle. It was pretty darned cool! Next me and Anne took off together and jumped the jump as a pair before turning back onto the center line to face the audience.

I was so proud of Boaz, and so pumped from our show that I took off Boaz's bridle and galloped a lap of honour before exiting the arena.

The Externship ended with our theory assessments. I got 100% in the theory, which involved general horsemanship, colt starting and policies.

On the second to last day we each had a meeting with our instructors, Maurice and Susan, to discuss our overall grades. I was disappointed to learn that my efforts had not been enough to earn a 2* Professional Aptitude, but a strong one star. I asked where I had gone wrong and was told that they felt like sometimes I wasn't taking their advice. I went away and thought about it, but this comment still made no sense to me. through out the externship I had done my best to take on every piece of advice they had given me, to practice the exercises. I was the only extern almost religiously practicing her roping skills after Maurice's demo. I went back and asked to talk to them because I figured I would not be able to make the necessary changes if I didn't know what I was really doing wrong. When we spoke about it I got the feeling like I had been scored on a judgment that had been made about me. It seemed that they only had a couple of examples of me doing different things to what they had asked and I was able to explain it. I regret that they had not come to me and addressed those particular moments at the time but had instead held on to them and disregarded everything else at the moment of scoring.

The result meant that I would have to be a one star professional for a year and then look to apply to have my aptitude recognised for an application for two star.

I still have to get my level four online to become an instructor, and after the recent instructor conference it was announced that all professionals would be required to be level four in all four savvies.

The final farewell on the last day was a hard one. I made some wonderful friends in America, people I will never forget, and many that I intend to keep in touch with and see again in the future.

Now that I'm home the final score doesn't seem so harsh. My journey isn't about comparing myself to others and coming out best in class, my journey is about developing myself to be the best horsewoman I can be. I am lucky to be where I am, to have the love and support I have and I wouldn't change a thing.

The Midway Point

Time is flying by and before I know it it’s time to fill you all in on the fun and learning that I have been having!

On the Thursday morning I got plenty of opportunity to practice Pat’s advice to “blow out the carbon” on my little horse as we practiced the ingredients for freestyle flying changes – getting speed and responsive turns. We took the horses out to the 160 acre pasture and rode with two carrot sticks. Accelerating Boaz was a lot of fun but he wasn’t really going very fast at all and when I asked him to turn he would slow right down to keep his balance, rather than use more athleticism. Soon he was starting to get tired of pointlessly running from one part of the field to the other and I felt I was running out of psychology and just getting on at him. My knee was aching again and the session was getting a bit long for the both of us. Once again I found myself unsatisfied with my ability to motivate an introverted horse.

In the afternoon Maurice and Susan began giving the midterm reports, starting with those externs that would be leaving Friday to go to the Denver Horse and Soul Tour. It took Boaz for some grazing time together and played online.

Friday morning more reports were given. I rode Boaz before lunch and in the afternoon I did a short liberty session, where Boaz actually gave me a figure eight at the trot and then a zone 5 session before my own report.

The midterm report was mainly about our professional aptitude although Maurice and Susan told me I needed to work on getting my toes to point forward instead of out when I ride and to always remember to start with a quiet phase one before going up in my phases. I shared with them my awareness of these faults in my horsemanship and how difficult I found them. They expressed their understanding and said these things, particularly training our bodies, takes constant reminding and repetition and time to fix. With regard to my professional aptitude I scored highly on positivity, progressiveness, esprit de corps, aptitude for goals and social confidence. As I expected I got an average score for physical talent and natural athleticism. I got marked down for my appropriateness and professionalism because of my clothing, particularly that my tops sometimes rode up whilst I played with my horse showing some of my tummy. I felt a little embarrassed at this and listened to the advice that I get some vest tops to ensure no skin was ever on show.  I understand that Parelli Professionals have a look, an image. You can tell a Parelli Professional from among a bunch of students from a distance and I explained how it had been my plan to buy certain things before the externship but I hadn’t been able to find what I wanted in time. I wasn’t making excuses; I just wanted to reassure them that I was also not satisfied with my turn out. I haven’t had an income for over two years, having left my job to do the Fast Track and being in France up until the start of the externship, so my riding attire has diminished to whatever pants and tops I could get. Coupled with my short sturdy frame I am not the most elegant in appearance.

That night I went for a meal with some of the other externs and we discussed our plans to improve our scores. The purpose of the mid terms are to let us know in sufficient time where we are in relation to the standards set by Parelli for how they expect a Parelli Professional to conduct themselves. By knowing where we measure up we can make a plan to improve in our weaker areas.

Adency offered me to try her Wintec wide to see if it would help my riding by having a more secure saddle than the soft moveable treeless saddle I was riding in. I also arranged to go shopping with Shirley in Durango the next day so that we could go to Walmart to pick up some shirts and jeans.

I got up early on Saturday so that I could look after Boaz and also Lena and Amanda’s horses as they were in Denver for the Horse and Soul Tour. As soon as I was done I headed to Durango with Shirley. Our first stop was the Boot Barn. IT was full of gorgeous jeans and shirts far outside my budget range. I spent a long time looking at the hats but didn’t find one my size that suited me. I wanted a proper western hat to wear in place of the Parelli baseball cap that I have been wearing. My ears and neck needed more protection from the sun and baseball caps do not look good on me. On top of that, my cap is the one I got when we joined the Savvy Club in 2008 so it has seen better days!

We then headed into Downtown Durango and had lunch together before walking around a couple of shops. I picked up a couple of $2 pairs of earrings, one is a dangly pair of turquoise hearts, and the other a pair of turquoise horses.

The next store had a sale on and soon I saw a hat that just drew me to it. As soon as I placed it on my head Shirley said “yes, that’s the one”. I loved how it looked on me and fell in love with it immediately but of course when I looked at the tag it was not on sale. I tried to see if I could get a discount, as many places will offer discounts if you ask, but I was out of luck on this one. I couldn’t walk out of the shop without it so I handed over the last of the cash I had, feeling irresponsible but knowing the hat would already bring my score up.

We got to Walmart and I hoped I had enough money on my bank account as I tried on a few shirts from the limited range. The only shirts that I could get away with were white so I resigned myself to more laundry washing and ironing. I found some jeans that I would be able to wear with the shirts to ride in with my English half chaps.

When we got back to the ranch I cleaned, fed and watered my four legged friends before quickly returning to the condo to clean up ready for another dinner with friends, this was a kind treat from Lisa, a lovely woman on the externship. We went to The Alley House, an upmarket steak house with beautiful food. The company was great and it was an extremely enjoyable time. After dinner we decided to go dancing and saw that there was a live band playing music in the park. We had a dance there before heading to On the Rocks. As we were about to leave Jeannie, Samantha, Adency, Jeannie’s daughter and her friend all arrived so I joined them and we headed to Coyote Moon where we had an awesome time dancing and talking to people.

Sunday morning I headed to the ranch and met Adency who leant me her saddle. I rode Boaz in it and felt immediately more secure and comfortable, although I did have a difficult time to get the shimming right.

Monday morning I arrived at the ranch in my new black jeans, crisp white shirt and favourite new hat. I looked at the week’s schedule and the first thing was... a lesson with Linda Parelli!

Our lesson was awesome, Linda said we had all made so much progress that she was really excited and started to teach us the Game of Contact. I was struggling with Boaz and so Linda called us in and gave me some personal coaching, helping me to keep him forward and reward him whenever he pushed his poll forward without me having to use my legs to keep him going.

In the afternoon Maurice gave us a demonstration on zone 5 driving by showing how he introduces a horse to the concept for the first ime with his two year old Atwood quarter horse, Tarzan.

Tuesday morning we practised our zone five driving. The afternoon was great fun. We rode out onto the 200 acre pasture and practiced playing with our trot diagonals in groups and played follow the leader before setting up a pattern to take turns in pairs to ride leg yields and then practice ditch jumping. The idea was to get us to start loosening up and really riding out on varied terrain. Mel rode with a video camera mounted on his helmet and made a fun video of our morning. We ended the session with a short trail ride back round to the barn. We spotted three cows in a field they shouldn’t be in and Maurice co-ordinated us so we could participate in removing the cows from horseback. Ten riders on horses is a little overkill for three cows but it was an enjoyable end to a great day and Boaz was very confident walking toward the cows. I really think he would make a great ranch horse.

Wednesday we began a new exercise to move sideways in both directions and then to the fence before asking for a canter departure. The idea is that sideways shortens the horse, getting him to gather up and be more compact and put his weight back, this helps to engage him so that he can release the energy forward into a canter. The application was a little more difficult. Boaz would lift up but as soon as I released the pent up energy it felt like it just petered out on the floor rather than gushing forward. He did, however, start to give me much more forward and fast canter when I asked for it. At the end of our session I practiced an exercise Maurice had me do the day before. Maurice saw me and gave me a little more coaching as I came to a pole on a forward counter canter and, with my shoulders above my hips (rather than in front), changed my focus strongly one stride before the pole and as Boaz went over the pole he followed my new focus and rearrange his legs in a natural flying change. I felt like king of the world as I cantered across the arena with my fists in the air! Little Boaz, my adorable slow poke, could go fast enough to do flying changes! On Tuesday Maurice has promised I would be doing them by Friday, we had exceeded expectation by getting them the very next day!

I know one flying change doesn’t make us expert, but it certainly gives me hope and I know we are going in the right direction!

In the afternoon we had a demonstration on flank roping. This is a high level concept because if you do it wrong you can create a bronc rather than cure one. Maurice played with Mel’s RBI arab who gave a perfect demonstration of violently exploding from seemingly out of nowhere. The rain came in and as Maurice ended the demonstration thunder and lightning and some hail joined the show. Feeling inspired I decided to be among the few crazy people who took their horses out and practiced the flank roping. Boaz was a little tense about the feel of the coiled lasso just touching his flank so I took my time, breaking it down and building his confidence. At this moment I was extremely grateful for the lessons I had had with Gabi in helping Seth. I also knew that if I had tried this at the beginning of my relationship with Boaz I would have got at least a few bucks. He can be so quick to go from left brain to right, and is so introverted with it I would have easily misread him and also we didn’t have the trust and connection between each other to help him want to stay with me and stay left brained. By taking the necessary time at the start I got to where I could have him do walk/trot and trot/walk transitions on phase one. I decided this was a good place to end our session, where he had made an big effort. Boaz seemed to actually appreciate doing something different online and was very connected when I took him back to his pen before heading up to the Wednesday night barbeque.

Thursday was July 4^th, Independence Day. Unfortunately we missed out on all the day time celebrations as it was business as usual. We again practised the sideways into canter departs. I still felt like I was missing something because, while I am not against being effective with your horse in phase four, I do not think it’s a good sign if you are hitting a horse hard repeatedly and things are not going better! A good phase four is supposed to make a good phase one but instead my horse was getting apprehensive and not finding understanding in the exercise. I spent the night thinking about it and the next morning I had a plan! We also had an awesome liberty demonstration by Kristi Smith. First she did a simulation with us to help us understand and think about swapping leadership and follower roles, then she displayed the warm up and psychology at work when playing with a RB horse at liberty, and then a left brained one.

Feeling inspired after Kristi’s show most people went to play at liberty, which meant the round pens were quickly full. I had a short online session with Boaz and did my chores, had a spontaneous skype session with Will and then headed up for dance lessons. I just got the hang of the two swing rhythms Paul taught us when Jeannie arrived to whisk me away and take me to Tequila’s where a group of us were gathered to celebrate fourth July. We had great conversation and I took a walk with Jeannie around the Carnival before having one last drink together at our regular hang out, Coyote Moon.

I was a little tired Friday morning but somehow, unusually, found an extra reserve of energy that got me through the day and all pumped up for a night out.

In the morning it was flash lessons and, as I had already had mine at the start of the week (Maurice had helped me use timing with the feet to improve the back-up online), I decided to try out a new little plan with my riding. I had been thinking about the way I use my phases and decided to put more of a playful intensity into my phase one, like when you threaten to tickle someone. I had noticed that he was much more responsive to the thought of a phase four than an actual phase four, it just seemed like we were missing the part where he realises he could do something about stopping the phase four from coming. So I would lift the stick and make circular motions with a “it’s going to get you!...” energy and if he did nothing I would touch him using the concept of four phases in four phases. The first phase four being just a touch, the second a firm hold with the stick, the third a fair thud and the fourth would be pretty darned big if necessary, but then it would all return to the original touch being phase four. Doing this helped me to keep my mind and emotions in the game, to be playful and not get to serious with my phases, and it really started to make a difference in Boaz’s mind. He didn’t feel like I was being unfair, there was enough consistency that he could get the pattern but the sliding scale of phase fours stopped him from just bracing and putting up with the “pebble in his shoe”. Before I even got to practice my phases I noticed his enthusiasm and connected attitude shift as soon as I saddled him. He had a “here we go again” energy about him and wanted to walk off. I took this feedback seriously. We have been doing a lot in the arena and I knew the last couple of riding sessions had not been so fun for him. So I surprised him. I took my time to get on, fiddling with things and taking him all over the place with me. When I did get on I turned around and headed for the savvy park and I didn’t ask him to spped up, I just used my four phases in four phases to remind him to follow my focus as we headed up the hill and around the outer edge of the field, through the forest. We had never ridden the back trails of the savvy park. It’s not very big but the terrain is very shrubby and there was a very steep decent that got him thinking about his feet. HE began asking me questions “which way will we go at this bush? Should we stop to rest here of go on up there?”  As we headed out of the forest I felt his walk was much more forward and positive and the energy flowing forward through him felt so good that I thought “maybe he will trot” and, as if reading my mind, he tipped up into a trot. Again I still went with the pace he offered, not asking him to speed up (for a change). I steered him up another hill with my seat and he offered to canter. I said “thank you” and we did a few simple changes on the hill before turning down it and opening up as we headed toward the gate. He did a beautiful job partnering with me as we opened and closed the gate and then we walked over to the arena and did the gate there. Once in the arena I asked Boaz to do a simple follow the rail pattern at the walk. He was expecting me to push him so instead I used my seat to slow his walk down, add in halt transitions and ask him to walk again. Many horses will want to start going forward if you hold them back but Boaz seemed to accept my smaller movements and be happy to walk slowly. What we did achieve, however, is that he discovered it was more comfortable for him to match me rather than go against me. When I used my seat more normally and even had a bigger walk in the life of my riding, he matched it. I used the four phases in four phases not to speed him up but to correct him on the follow the rail. Te pattern had become broken because we were constantly having to come off the rail to get around other riders normally and when we were on the rail I had been quite demanding of him and so he did not associate being on the rail with comfort. I wanted to make sure I corrected this because a good follow the rail is basic foundation and without it your life will be very much more difficult. When I felt that we had made an improvement, walking a much greater distance with no corrections, I asked Boaz to trot. It took a long time for Boaz to make an effort to stay on the rail. The whole time I did not ask him to speed up unless he broke gait. His trot was becoming more and more forward as he thought about following the rail straight rather than turning off of it, and he began moving in a more efficient way, stretching his top line and lifting his back. It felt great and was real confirmation that if left in a gait for long enough, horse’s will find the most comfortable way to move, which is usually more correct.

We did this on both reins. I decided to do it at the canter also. We would pick up the canter in the bottom right corner and follow the rail all the way around, for the most part Boaz was good with this only needing a couple of corrections on the first couple of laps, but when we reached the bottom left corner h would start cutting in. He wanted to stop at the gate and when I told him to canter he decided to veer off of the rail. My correction with the carrot stick was ineffective as he pushed harder and took off faster than I’ve ever known him to go. I just went with the speed, keeping the same game in mind and said “you can speed up but we’re going back to the rail” and I would steer him back out again. On the fourth time I decided to use the reins to bring him back to the rail at the gate. This was much more effective and again he tried to stop. The next lap he did it perfectly, following my seat to stay on the rail at a good forward canter. I stopped him halfway up the long side and jumped off. He was sweated up, the only time I’ve seen him with so much sweat was the day he did the flying change. It really felt like he had worked as hard as me for a change. And I had not asked him to speed up once! He enjoyed a quick shower and a long drink before settling down to a large pile of hay. In the afternoon we had a long meeting about how to plan and organise Savvy Team displays. We were put into groups and assigned individual savvys. Each team has four or five people doing. Each savvy is represented and we have 3 songs to put on an inspirational show. I picked my savvy out of the bowl... finesse! My team mates are Shirley, Kari and Aurelie. We had only an hour left of the day to play with horses so I took Boaz to the round pen for some liberty. He was so connected that he came with me to the pen at liberty and we didn’t need to play Susan’s connection game. I did some stick to me with him and then I started to turn away and run from him as fast as I could. His life came up and he started trying to head me up and we were almost doing cutting together. When I asked him to back up he got so excited that he shot off onto the circle. Again I surprised him by asking him to slow down rather than speed up. Soon he was offering to canter circles around me. I asked him for a change of direction at the trot and his life came up and he popped into canter then changed direction with a flying change. I ran backwards to draw him and he leapt in the air, bucked out dived left then right and then came to me with an exuberant trot. I gave him a moment with me before doing yoyos with him. When I sent him on a circle again I still had some of that playful energy but apparently he had spent all of his because he went right brain introverted. I brought my energy down and gave him more time standing at peace with me and went back to stick to me until he was willing and able to make an effort to trot to stay with me. We also indulged in a spot of mutual grooming. It would have been nice to have ended our session on the extroversion but I am happy that I was able to adjust to meet his needs and we accomplished exuberance and play together.

Saturday, Anne, Lisa and I were going to a Buddhist Retreat Open Day but when we got there it had been cancelled at the last minute “due to unforeseen circumstances”. Instead we went back to Pagosa and I picked up a cheap phone so I will no longer be unable to contact people and bought a nice belt to finish my professional look (I hope!).

After finishing Boaz’ care in the afternoon I chilled out at the condo for a few hours waiting for Jeannie and the others to pick me up for our night at Coyote Moon. When we finally got there it was still dead so we went to On the Rocks instead, where Tim Sullivan’s band were playing. We had a lot of fun dancing.

Tom met the next morning and came with me to the ranch and met Boaz. He liked him and stood by as I rasped Boaz’s front feet. We were going to round up cattle together but Tom felt too tired and wanted to chill out. He dropped me home so I could Skype with Will and have lunch and we planned to hang out later in the afternoon, but he got called out to work on a big bush fire. So my Sunday has turned into a day of rest after all. I have finally updated my blog and I watched Unknown with Graham who made me a delicious treat of strawberries and ice-cream.  

Next week the Colt starting course begins and we will be auditing it and doing our riding in the evenings. It goes over the weekend too so we will be kept busy! There should be plenty to write about!

Catching Up! weeks four through six

So it’s been three weeks since I last blogged! Week 4 was my team’s turn to do the notes for the group which meant I was on my lap top every night typing up my notes and some nights compiling the notes of others, so I ran out of energy for my blog. Unfortunately, with so much happening, knowing you have so much to write about just makes the prospect more tiring and so I have finally reached the point where I’d better update my blog or else I will never do it! Which I think would be a shame.... So, I’m going to wrack my memory and do my best to recap everything, if I do a good job of it then this will be a very long post! If not... well then you won’t have to read so much!

Ok, stepping into the time machine and transporting us back three weeks ago, to where I last left you ...

I was hoping that after a very undemanding weekend for Boaz he might be a little less disenchanted with me. I was wrong. Maurice began the week by demonstrating another method for developing connection on the circling game but, when I played with it, it didn’t really work.  We reached the same point as always, and then he began squealing and turning and leaping to the end of the line and at one point he took off and I let go of the rope because the memory of Friday’s learn burns were still fresh. I had prepared for this eventuality by playing with Boaz in a small area. Maurice saw me struggling and he took Boaz and played with him whilst I held his horse. The other students played until they made a little bit of progress and then saddled up to practice opening gates. Boaz was being equally difficult for Maurice and he said that he would help me with Boaz. By the time Boaz gave one fairly ok lap he was mentally tired, blinking slowly. I spent a little undemanding time with him whilst the others finished up, before heading to lunch.

In the afternoon, Maurice and Susan were finishing the goal setting interviews and so I could not get any help with Boaz. I was still tired from the weekend and when I clipped the 45 ft line onto Boaz I felt my emotions come up. This was not going to go well. So I decided to play a short liberty session of the connection game and then sat on Boaz and took him to grass for the rest of the afternoon. If I wasn’t able to fix things I certainly didn’t want to make them worse. That night I forced myself to have an early night to recharge my batteries, which I know has a very clear link to my mental and emotional fitness!

The next morning I just rode Boaz. We were looking at the bowtie pattern, making sure we really understood it and were able to ride and teach it as Pat would like. I was grateful for all the time I had spent with Marie-Claire and Riva on this pattern because it was much easier to take in the finer details when the basics were already there. I don’t know why but the bowtie pattern is not in the Freestyle Patterns DVD. It really is a very useful pattern and Maurice explained how to vary it to make it suitable and useful for under and over impulsive horses.

The afternoon disappeared in a haze of theory lessons and presentations. Maurice had said he wanted to help me with Boaz online, so I didn’t want to do anything with that until he was able to help me, I was worried about reinforcing a negative pattern and doing more damage to my relationship with Boaz. It was very un-nerving to know I was doing my absolute best and it just wasn’t working, and now I was starting to feel a barrier when I thought of paying online with Boaz.

Wednesday morning was a reminder of everything we had already learned, plus we focused on trot and canter with a light seat, and getting canter departures using just our energy and weight. It was a very cool session and we took the horses out into the 160 acre pasture so it was a nice change from the arena.

In the afternoon, after some theory about the bosal, the class was allowed to focus on their own horse development. Maurice came to my rescue and played with Boaz. In the end, most of the class were perched on the rails of the arena watching. They had all seen my online audition wth him, and knew he had started to run off with the rope. Some people already had horses with similar issues, others just wanted to know, just in case they came across it. Maurice is obviously more skilled with the techniques he has been teaching us, and knows a fair few more, but as he played with Boaz I was reassured that whilst there were differences I had been mostly thinking on the same track as Maurice. He said that Boaz was very difficult because he felt no need to connect with people at all, he would stay as far away as he could, he was also extremely smart and worked out your new strategy within a few minutes and found a new way to out smart it. In the end Maurice had Boaz close to him and had to end the session after just one lap of a walk circle because it was the most connection he was able to get from Boaz. The whole time Boaz had been flitting from left brain punk to insecure and even fearful. Maurice likened him to the playground bully that got scared when someone finally stood up to him. I decided, whilst watching, that I would remove the water from Boaz’ pen and start a program of giving him his dinner, water and grass only when I was with him. I needed to become important to him. 

Thursday morning we went back to the 160 pasture for our light seat and canter depart exercises and then trail rode up the big hills and took turns making our way down Scootch Hill, a pretty steep slope where the horses really have to get under themselves and focus to make their way down. I love this kind of thing and had a grin from ear to ear the whole way down. 

In the afternoon Susan and Maurice were going around giving 30 minute private sessions to individuals. I decided to warm Boaz up with the connection game at liberty, as our issues seemed to be purely about connection. By the time Susan came over we were still very much into our liberty session so Susan gave me some tips to go even slower and break it down even more for Boaz as he was showing that he felt lost and bothered and didn’t know where to be. We spent a lot of time just standing together so that h could make the connection that being with me was a desirable and comfortable place to be. Boaz began investigating me, showing more interest than ever before and was licking and chewing loads. The session seemed to really make a big impact on his mind and he looked very tired so I ended the afternoon with undemanding time.

By Friday, the day we organised the Open House, Boaz was already starting to look for me so he could have water and get out f his pen for grass. I did feel bad that he only had hay and a salt block to entertain him when I wasn’t there but I had to change things. I found out that I was on the Savvy Team and had to ride freestyle in the following day’s Open House. Christie Smith gave us some advice, which included not doing anything new during the show. I decided to test Boaz out in the arena to see whether he already knew some cool things so that I could do them and they would not be technically new. I already knew he had great downward transitions, and fair upward ones. I tested my extreme friendly from the saddle and it was a real non-event for him, even at the trot, so I decided to include that. I tried to stand up on him but my saddle is so soft and moveable that I felt it was a bit too risky. I then reasoned that, when I was avoiding using the bit I had been riding him freestyle with only the neck string and carrot stick. I unclipped my reins and trotted some figure eight patterns and then cantered a cloverleaf. Boaz was awesome and I felt like, if everything lined up and went ok I might be able to take the bridle off during the Open House.

Needless to say, I played it sensible and stayed home Friday night so I would be in best mental and emotional shape for the Open House.

We were all up early Saturday morning to go get horses ready and set up obstacles for the day. I set about getting Boaz as clean as possible without getting him completely soaked. I am very conscious about the fact that water here is absolutely a finite resource and I don’t like bathing horses unnecessarily anyway. So I washed his white socks and groomed him until he sparkled. I then lead him up to the lodge so that I could tack him up and change into my nicest riding clothes. By the time we got there he already had black feet. I reassured myself that with the arena sand it would not be so obvious. Once ready, I mounted Boaz and we headed for the honeycomb to warm up out of the way of our awesome ground crew who were busy sorting out the obstacles in the arena and setting up the sound system. As I began to trot around the honeycomb I felt Boaz respond to my different energy. Boaz does not become particularly emotional when your energy changes, he become mentally bracey! So he started to jump sideways off of our track or into the rail, bashing my leg as he did. He would speed up then slow down and I felt that moment of “oh no! Why now?” My thoughts apparently escaped out my mouth because my fellow team members saif “maybe it’s your energy?!”

Hmmmm, how interesting?! Although this question was not reassuring (because I knew it was the case and I didn’t know what to do about it) I had to face the fact that we were about to be called into the arena to show what we could do.

We were then called over, the music started, Shirley, our MC, introduced each team member and we set off in our different directions. Immediately I felt myself change. I relaxed to the music, smiled at the audience, and felt like “we can ‘t change things now, let’s just make the most of it”. And funnily enough Boaz became my perfect partner. He had go and whoa, was steerable, would stand on the pedestal, jump the jumps, and was not bothered by the spectators and atmosphere.

The moment came sooner than I had thought that I decided we were ready to take off the bridle. I slid it off and threw it over the rail, did a turn on the hind end and headed off on a follow the rail. We did transitions, trotted the figure eight, cantered point to points and then did the jump a couple of times. Boaz was just as cool bridleless as with it and after the show I had a couple of spectators come and talk to me and tell me how impressed they were. Shirley had mentioned he is only 4 years old and I have been playing with him for one month so they were extra impressed by the relationship I had with him already. I smiled at the irony, in the saddle our relationship was going from strength to strength but our relationship on the ground had some serious catching up to do.

Pat always says Good Better Best, Never Let it Rest, Get Your Good Better and Your Better Best. So I have been putting time into improving our freestyle and finesse but I am also very careful to keep making progress on our ground savvies without burning the poor boy out.

The rest of the Open House was equally a booming success. My other team mates put in stirling performances, the Parelli Games ran smoothly and were a lot of fun, thanks to the hard work of the Games Team, and our Savvy Spotlights provided inspiration in all four savvies. Saturday night was a good night to go out with everyone and celebrate! We went to an Italian restaurant and then on to On the Rocks to dance and play table tennis!

Sunday was a recovery day, and I sat with Boaz in the sun for a long time, letting him eat grass. It didn’t feel so warm but the sun’s intensity got to me and I got a little burned on my back and neck.

I’m afraid I can’t remember exactly what classes we had in what order for last week, because I have already hacked up my notes. I have been making notes daily and then I am cutting and pasting them, with additional information, into one document so that rather than be in chronological order bouncing about from this tip to that, I have put information into topics and chapters. The idea is to have a kind of reference manual of everything I have learned from the externship by the end. My notes are pretty detailed and it’s taking a lot of effort! Some people have asked me to share my notes and I certainly am open to bribes! However, I want it made clear that these are my personal notes and they have not been endorsed or approved by Parelli.

We focused on two stick riding, haunches in and keeping soft touch and all the other lessons we had learned. Linda came and noticed that we had all made an effort to improve the forwardness of our horses and our soft touch. She gave us some exercises to focus on our rhythm which is crucial to good riding and the first step on the scale to collection. I also continued playing the connection game with Boaz at liberty and then played with him online as if we were at liberty, still playing the connection game and using the end of the rope as the wall of the round pen. It’s something we hear all the time in Parelli – “Play at liberty as if you’re online and online as if you’re at liberty” – and yet it felt like I was just really getting it. No matter how many times someone tells you the solution, there is nothing like working it out for yourself! I noticed at liberty that Boaz got insecure whenever I started doing the driving game because he wasn’t sure where he should be. This meant that all the following games were broken. The driving game is involved in all of them! I spent a lot of time in phase one, waiting for him to begin to feel for the right answer and then I would quit. I’d like to say that I quit everytime he felt for the right answer but honestly most times I only quit when he showed he was on the right track by shifting his weight or even his feet in the right direction. Technically this is too late if you want to be a master horseman. We had the privilege of watching Pat play with a problem horse and he was constantly quitting when we thought it was too soon. But Pat is a master at reading the horse, he sees the horse feeling the right answer, he sees when it goes into the horse’s mind. This is why he can get results so much faster than most of us! Pat says “mind, flexion, weight, feet”, I have some way to go to learn how to read the flexion, let alone the mind of the horse!

Anyway, by giving Boaz so much more time to think he started to get more confident and relaxed and was able to go onto a circle at a walk on phase one. If he wanted to come to me I would allow him in, make contact with him and them gently ask him back out in a friendly way with a smile on my face. This gave my energy a whole different feel, I was genuinely fascinated, not frustrated and I got immense satisfaction with every extra step he took on my phase one. I built this up and now we have managed to have 3 quarters of a truly connected circle at the canter on a 22 ft line. Before this I couldn’t get him to really canter on the 22 ft line, he would pull on it and constantly break gait.

I am very excited because his whole attitude to me is changing. He wants to be with me, even meeting me at the gate of the pasture when he is out loose at grass, cantering to me if I ask it. He calls to me whenever he sees me and when we’re together he is now asking me streams of questions, making contact with me, and making an effort to stay with me when I move. Sometimes he gets distracted and I disengage his hindquarters to get his two eyes back. This has really improved his disengagement. Before he had no disengagement, he would march forward and if you were lucky he would turn around his front end to come to you. When I first played with improving it, getting him to cross his legs he learned to pivot his hind end to stop you from tagging it but not actually come forward, because he lost trust in me and felt defensive. Now that we have done so much undemanding time, quiet time together when he finds me, he disengages with a different attitude and comes to me.  One of the other externs asked me if the water treatment was making a difference. I told her it had made a massive difference. She then said “it would be nice if he wanted to be with you without it being about the water”.  Now this is my view on it, if you control the water the horse knows you control his life. So you are important. You’re worth paying attention to. But does that make you someone he likes? Not necessarily. It could be a form of servitude and does nothing to stop the enslaved feeling contempt for their captor. But as well as controlling his water I have been offering him free time to be a horse, grazing time, play time, comfort, relaxation, treats, scratches, I am attentive to any need he might have. I have attempted to fill the role of loving parent (parents control the access of young children to water, food and anything else) rather than prison warden. I feel like by associating myself with so many positive things in his life it makes it easier for him to just feel positive emotions whenever he sees me. Our relationship is improving on a daily basis and today Boaz followed me everywhere at liberty. It was also today that he met me at the gate of the field. I expect that if I started allowing him to have water in his pen again but kept the other positives in our relationship things would not go so terribly wrong, but I actually enjoy our time at the “water hole” together. We have really bonded in the last couple of weeks and I want to keep that going!

I did have a hiccup early this week when I played with him at liberty. I was beginning to up to anti, asking him to actually go faster. This was before we got our cantering online. I sent Boaz out on the circle and he stopped. I followed through with my promise by putting pressure way out in zone 5 but as the string flew through the air he span around and it landed in zone 1, blocking him. Boaz felt like I was doing it to him because his immediate reaction was to turn away and leap out of the round pen. As soon as I knew he wasn’t hurt I set about making sure that he did not learn that as a pattern. Just like the pulling the rope out of your hand, jumping out of a round pen can be a serious problem. As soon as he found me again he was incredibly connected and we ended the session with a lovely connected circle on phase one. I realised that him jumping out had been the result of an error in timing and technique, not a loss of connection, and so I filed it in the “lesson learned” category. Be careful! Zone 5 can turn into zone 1 very quickly! He hasn’t done it again, and has made so much more progress that I am not panicking about it. I am of course very careful when we play at liberty in the round pen because I do not want to put the wrong pressure at the wrong time on to cause him to jump out, but this is not more likely to happen than with any other horse.

This week we have built a couple of precision pens to give us more focus in our finesse. We have been developing more feel and better technique with exercises like backward circles. In preparation for our future careers as Parelli Professionals we have been learning about emergency first aid procedures and saddle fitting too.  Saddle fitting has always made me right brained but Letitia of Parelli Saddles came out yesterday and made things so much more simple that I felt more able to give things a try. I bougt some of the new foam shims to optimise my saddle and pad combination for the duration of my externship and to take home and use on Paris as, after listening to Letitia, I am sure they will help him!

I plan to put Paris on a program of hill therapy and focus on our online and liberty when I get home to really build his topline. When the time comes to ride him I will see what I can do about my saddle situation. We got to look at the new Natural Rider saddle, which is a western saddle half the price of all the other Parelli saddles.  The difference is due to a slightly different material in the tree and thinner leather. I don’t ride western but having a western saddle will be great for trail rides, for Will playing silly buggers and for situations when I need to help someone feel more confident or get a horse used to a saddle. Obviously my dreams are not getting any less expensive so I better get a decent job when I get home – if anyone knows of anything let me know!

Pat dropped by for a visit today and explained to us just how good it is for a horse to be galloped out for a decent distance to “unclog the carbon”. I sent Boaz forward and got him really going much more than normal in the warm up for our afternoon session and he blew out loads and gave me a great session. I ended up finishing early because he was giving me everything I was asking for.

We have our mid-term reports at the end of this week, and some of the class are heading for Denver on the weekend to go to the Horse and Soul Tour. I would have loved to have gone, but I also enjoy being here so much and I decided to stay with Boaz instead.

We might have a lesson with Linda next week and things really seem to be continually gathering momentum! At least now I am caught up on my blog it should be easier for me to get back to my regular updates! Let’s see what next week as in store...!

Step Outside the Comfort Zone...

After our lesson with Linda Parelli on Tuesday we were all enthusiastic to practice what we had learned on Wednesday morning. Maurice introduced us to the colt starting skeleton, the steps to have a horse accepting the human, saddle, rider and bit. Since Maurice is one of the few licenced Colt Start Parelli Professionals he was full of interesting facts and stories and so we only got through half of the skeleton. We then tacked up our horses and had a ride. I had dropped one of my spurs on the way out of the house in the morning so I had to ride without them, and it was an eye opener! The spurs had been helping me with the porcupine but I was clearly not winning the game yet because without them Boaz was really not responsive. In the end I had to ride freestyle with te stick ready to back up my seat. I was happy when I was able to use my seat and rhythm to get more energy from Boaz at the trot, and once he was blowing out I was ready to quit. We all practiced our leg yield and showed a big improvement on the previous attempt, showing that we were all becoming more aware of where our horses legs were and what they were doing. I still don’t have that 100% but my awareness has greatly improved and I am thinking about how I correct my horse in a different way.

After lunch Maurice and Susan discussed the finer details of the falling leaf pattern, s pattern and rockslide. It was very useful to me because I hadn’t had clear instruction on these patterns since I was in level 2 and Maurice was able to giv us tips on how to handle the stick and rope in ways that I would not have been ready for back then. Now things are getting a lot more particular and precise.  The falling leaf and rockslide were particularly useful patterns with Boaz, who is mostly a confident horse and needs more drive than draw. With Boaz responding a little better online, I did my evening chores and headed up to the lodge for the first barbeque of the season. The food was great but my house mates and I were feeling rather tired after our night at the Springs, so we headed home fairly early, before the bonfire was really under way. Tim Sullivan was there singing and invited everyone to go hear him play at the Pagosa Pubworks on Friday night.

Thursday morning we completed the colt start skeleton before taking our horses up to the honeycomb (for those that don’t know this is a large circular pen with four smaller circular pens inside it. We split into three groups, one group would be playing liberty with each person in their own pen, another group practiced maintain gait at freestyle follow the rail in both directions along the rail of the large circle, and the third group were spending undemanding time grazing their horses, watching and learning from the others. I was in the riding group first and at first, although he would maintain gait, Boaz was not maintaining a rhythm. I would correct him when he really lost balance or dropped speed but tried to leave him alone as much as possible and have him find his most efficient trot, once he realised he was committed to the pattern. It didn’t take too long, maybe 7 or 8 laps for him to really start balancing. I then found a spot in one of the liberty pens. Susan had given us a demonstration on acting like the lead mare and gaining the horse’s connection in a way I had never seen before. The technique made do much sense that I was immediately excited and looking forward to practicing with Boaz. Basically the principle of game is based on watching dominant horses claim the hay piles other horses are eating from. So every time the horse stopped and did not have his eyes and ears on us we would walk up to the spot where he had halted and we would use our energy (at different levels depending on the horse) to claim the spot where the horse had stopped still, even if the horse was still there. The game was not about hitting the horse but about claiming every spot he stopped at. Some horses would stop and pivot, keeping their eyes and ears on the human, this still entitled the human to come in and claim the spot because the horse had to work out that the most comfortable place to stop was with the human. It took a little while with Boaz as I starting softly and built up the energy of my claiming. Soon enough Boaz was following me around and staying connected even after I allowed him to stand near me and graze for a while. I was happy with our session, and excited by what this would mean for our connection, as I took him over to the grazing area to relax and soak in all our learning.

After lunch Kristi Smith came and introduced herself to us as new campus manager. It was very interesting to learn about her journey, her role, and what she expected from us. I’m glad we had this opportunity because she’s an incredible horsewoman and I can learn a lot from her. I particularly find her drive inspirational; she won’t be a victim of life and hates excuses.

We then had individual appointments with Maurice and Susan to discuss our goals, in life and for the externship. I used the waiting time talking to other externs and practicing my roping skills. When it was finally my time I went into the office. We joked that about the “hot seat” because the foam on the arm rests had been ripped off in chunks, and it looked like people had been tortured. I laughed that they were about to strap me to a lie detector. Already laughing, and then sharing Worther’s Originals, it was easy to feel relaxed in what would normally be a stressful situation. Maurice and Susan are so warm, friendly and genuine that it is easy to trust them that they seriously do only want to help you achieve your goals. Maurice asked me what my long term goals were. I asked what he meant by long term, and he said life. I said that I want to have a family and be a Parelli Professional, that I am picturing myself being a 2 star whilst I raise my family but want to achieve at least 3 star status and keep pushing on as high as I can. He asked me what my goals were for the externship and I told him that the reason I had chosen to do the externship over the one star course was because I did not feel like I would be a good enough instructor to make a mark in a competitive market when I had completed the Fast Track. I had decided to be a working student and work my way up to the externship first. My idea had been to complete the externship with the professional aptitude scores for a 2** and necessary horsemanship, and would only need to do the required time as a one star before becoming a two star. I also confessed that when I formed this plan I had not anticipated that I would make it to the externship so soon. Now I still want to reach level four in online and freestyle so that I have the necessary horsemanship to be a 2 star, but I am also happy if I leave the externship with the skills and knowledge that I just need to apply a little more time and practice to get my level fours. Maurice asked me where I thought my online was. I said that I scored 3++ last summer and since then had focused on my freestyle and not much on online so I felt I was still 3++. I added that I can see the standard for level 4 and I use my stick and higher phases too much and do not have enough distance yet. Maurice told me that he felt that I was being very realistic and had good awareness. He added that he believed I would be able to get my online level four on the externship with Boaz, and even my freestyle if we could address my saddle issue. The saddle I had bought on Ebay is very high in the back and Boaz is built down-hill. I cannot shim the saddle enough to assist me to find my balance point and so I have to fight the saddle every time I ride. I explained why I had ended up with that saddle and agreed that it was not working. Maurice said we would find a solution and that Parelli Saddles would visit at some point and maybe something could be worked out. I left the meeting feeling very supported. I decided to play with Boaz for a short session, just four feet on the pedestal (he had been having trouble with it), connection on the circle and, if we had time, the liberty game in the round pen. He got all four feet on the pedestal within a few minutes and our online session was finished after just 15 minutes so I took him to the round pen and after I claimed his spot twice he was super connected to me and I took him back to his pen at liberty. I felt awesome!

After completing my chores I headed up to the lodge to join the other externs and instructors on the 3 star course for our first dance lesson with Paul. He taught us four simple” line dances. It was a real challenge to get the message to go from my brain, through my body and to my feet and I felt like a fish out of water but I had moments where the moves flowed through me and it felt great. I did have a lot of fun and am looking forward to next week’s class.

Friday was an intense day for me. We were all doing practice auditions in the savvy of our choice. I knew that I was not nearly ready for a real audition with Boaz but the purpose was for us to get specific feedback in the areas we needed to improve. I was the last person to do the online audition and would be at the end of the morning. I decided to spend time with Boaz and just sprinkle in a bit of playing in between grazing time until it was our turn to do our audition. Things were going well, Boaz was becoming more responsive (slowly) and when I allowed him to graze he would stand for a long time not eating, being really connected. I guess he felt like I still expected stuff from him or wouldn’t let him graze, I don’t know. We were both starting to be bothered by horse flies and our time was coming up. I had tested out the zone 5 driving and had decided just to show a little one rein zone five driving as we needed much more responsive transitions and more accurate steering. I still remembered the compulsories from my audition bonanza last summer so I planned to do zone 5 driving weave pattern, then circles with jump, pedestal, lead by the tail, and trailer. There was only one more person to be auditioned so I prepared to send Boaz on a circle. He wasn’t really backing up so I did a long phase one and then brought my energy right up and kind of ran toward him with a driving game. Instead of backing up he span around and took off ripping the 45 ft line through my hands. He tore across the playground past the “judges”, through the area where Anne was just finishing her audition. I sheepishly mimed sorry to the judges as I passed them to get him. He was happy enough when I reached him and popped the big log when I asked him as we returned to our end of the playground. I then backed him up and pointed in the direction I wanted him to go, putting the intensity into my phase one that I had mastered during my time in France and counting one, two, three before I channelled that intensity into a tagging of the spot where he was standing. Boaz had clearly had enough and was not on board for these kind of games because he again span around and tore off at full speed. I tried to let the rope slip a little and add little grips to slow him but within two sponges of my fingers I was at the end of the rope and in a last effort I tightened my grip, just enough to earn a, I guess deserved, learn burn. It’s at times like this I’m glad I have such calloused hands! Now my hands are beautifully smooth! But in that moment my hands were burning and panic set in. I knew a third escape would make a pattern of this and I had to stop him from pulling away from me. I also knew that there was a serious problem in our relationship and that I would not be able to do the plan I had intended for the audition. I caught Boaz and lead him out to one of the round pens. I did some porcupine and driving games before sending him on a circle and immediately he turned his butt on me but was unable to take off. I was able to maintain a feel and we had a big discussion, I guess it was more of an argument but as soon as he made a slight effort to try to be with me again I took all of the pressure off of him and we headed back to the playground. I was, by now, struggling to keep my emotions in control. I wanted to ask if I could not do the audition, or if it could wait until the afternoon, but I knew that I should be able to pull myself together enough to get out there and show something. As we headed into the playground Amanda was finishing an awesome audition and I used the falling leaf and rockslide pattern to get Boaz moving his feet. I was very aware of my energy and realised that it would not take too much from me to send him off again. I kept him at a much closer distance so that I could influence him with less energy and I felt myself concentrating over time. Kristi asked me whether I wanted energetic music or soft and sweet. I immediately replied “soft and sweet” and she said “good” and I wondered if she agreed with my decision to keep things soft. Boaz felt my insecurity, indecisiveness and lack of a plan, however we formed enough connection that he stayed with me and did complete most of the compulsory tasks within the ten minutes, including jumping the log, lead by the tail, four feet on the pedestal and trailer loading. He even game me one decent circle at the trot and I decided to quit the circling game there. I felt my emotional control begin to shake again as I listened to Maurice and Kristie’s comments. They agreed that Boaz was winning the porcupine game and that I needed to establish more leadership without getting harder on him. I was feeling shattered, I had tried my absolute best and felt like I had hit the end of my knowledge and couldn’t think how to do that. I took a few moments on my own to stop my emotional energy affecting others. I knew I would feel better once I had been able to process everything, but I really needed to be alone to do that. As soon as we were dismissed for lunch I took off up the track to the lodge so that I could walk alone. My thinking must have slowed me down because Graham and Kim caught up with me and expressed care and kindness to me. I appreciated it but it took a few more minutes before I could really discuss what had happened. I told Kim that I felt that this barrier had also been my limit in France and so I knew that Boaz was teaching me exactly what I needed to learn. And I am definitely in the best place to learn!

I spent the afternoon watching the other students do their freestyle and liberty auditions and learning from the comments they received. I did feel confident, after watching the auditions, that I am on a good track to getting my level four freestyle with Paris, I only need to get the flying changes. Of course there is always room to improve responsiveness and stuff too and I look forward to applying all that I’m learning here to my ultimate sacrificial lamb!

It was a timely experience as the previous afternoon Kristi had been telling us all about how we needed to have positive progressive attitudes and she had gone into what that really meant. We had also been discussing mental, emotional and physical fitness in the days before. On a side note, I guess I am really in need of having this all hammered into me right now because I spent hours yesterday writing up the notes on these topics and my computer didn’t save them despite the fact that I know I clicked save. So now I get to think deeply about it all over again, I will really know what these concepts mean by heart!

Needless to say my introversion was not helping me out and so I flipped over to the extrovert side of life and felt a determination to go out on the town and socialise! I got changed at the condo and ate salad and then Lena dropped me and Graham at the Pagosa Pubworks, where we were meeting Freda and several other externs had said they would come. Tim Sullivan was playing his guitar and singing and the pub had a nice atmosphere. As more externs arrived we chatted and danced. A few local were keen to teach us to dance and we all took a turn to two or three step with a man Jennifer has renamed “Gandolf”. It was a lot of fun but as the others started to head off home I felt like staying out. Fortunately I found a partner in crime. I think I should clarify something at this point. In my blog post “Level One with Excellence” I described my night out and mentioned that the girls were gone and so were a lot of guys. I want to make it clear that none of our girls left with guys from the bar. Apparently the bar is usually pretty quiet and our group had brought a lot of life to the place, so when they left a lot of locals also decided it was getting late and turned in. I want to be able to continue providing detailed blogs of my adventures but I do not want anyone to get in trouble over things I have said. I cannot write every little thing down, although you might notice I do try my best! If anyone is concerned about anything I write in my blog let me know!

Anyway, my dance partner and I headed over to Coyote Moon where it turned out to be reggae night. Neither of us had been to a reggae night before so it was a hilarious experience to join in with the dancing which ranged from gently swaying from side to side to having an epileptic fit. There was no need to worry about the rhythm of the music, in fact I felt out of place because I moved in time to the music! I had so much fun and got chatting to some people that had recently moved to Pagosa and were very proud of their new businesses. A couple of people were very keen to invite me and my buddy to the band’s after party but we had had a great night and declined their offer. I got home shortly after 2pm, just in time to Skype with Will who had just woken up.

I fell asleep at some point after four in the morning but kept waking up because we had to get to the ranch in time for Lena and Graham to give lessons. I cleaned out Boaz’s pen and spent hours typing notes (the ones that disappeared) whilst Boaz grazed. Graham and I then went shopping and I Skyped with Will again when we got home. I’m so glad we are managing to get so many opportunities to talk; I really had expected it to be more difficult. I got a Facebook message from Tom, the cowboy I had been talking to last week. We had been trying to come up with something to do on the weekend but he had ended up having to work. He invited me to a “bonfire party” at Lake Williams. I looked it up on Google and it was an hour north of where I’m living. Driving an hour to get to places is normal and commonplace in such a large open country. I accepted his invitation and gave his full name and details of where we were going to Graham. I had a really friendly, trusting feeling with Tom but my sensibility told me not to be too naive. When he arrived with his mate Adam to pick me up I was feeling a little nervous and quite excited about the evening. Tom (who I have told is now “my cowboy”) told me he had no idea how many people were going to be at the party. I told him that was fine but he was responsible for looking after me! He was very understanding of my precautions.

We climbed the mountains to 9,000 ft and parked up when we saw two cars near a campfire. A young woman, nicknamed Bucket, introduced herself and her dogs, including an adorable bull mastiff puppy called Monster. She was with a guy named Brian, Kyle had organised the party, and then it was me, Tom and Adam. Any awkwardness about my being a stranger among friends soon evaporated as Bucket asked me if English jokes were different to American ones. I started telling a long list of jokes at the expense of the Irish and blondes. We spent the night talking about everything from government and politics, religion, horsemanship, fishing, hunting and shooting and the finer details of how to toast marshmallows and eating smores! Each time the fire began to die I would worry that it was nearly the end of our party but we would always gather enough wood to keep it going. We played music from the various car stereos and I found myself wide awake on diet coke. At one point I was holding a big gun which had a flash light and using it to illuminate a fallen tree trunk which the guys were taking turns to chop into firewood using a chipping axe. I have been promised that I will be taught how to fire several different guns before I go home! By 3.30 am I felt like I had made some good friends and was extremely comfortable with my new companions. Adam was struggling to stay on his feet as he was falling asleep where he stood, and Tom asked me if I was tired. I was still wide awake but I could see Tom was getting tired and as he was driving I told him we should go. I know only too well the dangers of driving whilst tired.

I managed to get about four hours sleep before I dragged myself upstairs so that I was ready to go to the ranch when the others were. I have had a relaxed day grazing Boaz, typing more notes, blogging and chilling with my housemates. I’ll be hitting the pillow any minute now and expect I will sleep very well! Got to be fresh and ready for a new week of learning, which apparently is going to be more intense!