Early days!

I’m in Colorado!! I’m an Extern!

So I guess I should let you all know the most important thing... my shepherd’s pie was a success! Well, it was a success but it already feels like an age ago when I was sitting in Lynette’s kitchen chatting to her friends as we enjoyed my cooking followed by a yummy apple crumble pie with cream and ice-cream. I never got to play with Jazzy again, but I expect I will when I go back to Lynette’s after the externship.

Saturday morning I fed the horses with Shirley and we went out on a last trail ride together. We had fun cantering and just enjoying our wonderful horses! When we returned Lynette was already busy organising things for our packing. We un-tacked the horses and gathered our equipment and washed and cleaned and brushed and polished everything in the hopes of making the best first impression we could. We had to mark everything so we would be able to identify it and then pack it into crates and load up the trailer. We enjoyed our last evening together eating pizza watching a movie documentary about the West and ranch life. I packed the last of my belongings and set my alarm ready to get up early.

Sunday morning, instead of doing my usual hay feeding task, I lead Boaz’s herd out to Breezes herd. I let Breeze and Boaz out to eat grass and put all the other horses together so that they would have access to the automatic water and larger pasture while Rick and Lynette were away taking me and Shirley to Colorado. We had breakfast and loaded the last bags and were on the road by 7.15 am. We averaged about 2 or 3 hours between fuel stops and would offer water to the horses and every second stop we unloaded the horses and gave them 10-30 minutes to stretch their legs. We were fortunate with the traffic and, despite some patches of rather wet weather, we made good time and arrived at Pagosa Springs 3 hours ahead of our estimated arrival time.

Lynette had arranged for horseboard and accommodation for us for the night so that we could be as ready as possible. The horses had a rest and we could shower and smarten up. I did manage to get some sleep around the worst bouts of Shirley’s snoring and got up Monday morning, keen and eager to get started. The horses had relaxed and were pooping, eating and drinking normally so the signs were good that they had not suffered stress or dehydration from the journey. We cleaned out their pens and loaded them up and made our way to the campus, stopping at the Parelli sign for a quick photoshoot.

At the check in I was met by George and Sue Nelson. George directed me around and Susan took Boaz’s temperature and gave me the ok to unload him. After giving Boaz water and food in his pen, putting my equipment away and signing the relevant paperwork, I headed to the Lodge for our induction. Mark Weiler introduced himself and was telling us all kinds of stories, he was very funny actually. Then Anne Kiser introduced herself and the facility staff and spoke about the course a little and handed over to our instructors Maurice Thibault and Susan Nelson. We played the name game and were told which parts of the facility were off limits and where we could be before we had lunch. Apparently, Pat and Linda Parelli will be here in a couple of weeks and we will definitely meet them. After lunch we went to the extern barn (where we checked in) and learned a bit more about the place and the course and then we played me and my shadow with the horses to get them used to the place. Boaz and Breeze were very confident and even rolled whilst we had them out, showing how comfortable they felt. Boaz was happy to see me whenever I visited his pen and has handled the new environment so well that he has boosted my confidence for the Externship. Maurice also commented on what a nice looking horse Boaz is which put a little swagger in my step!

So it wasn't a particularly taxing day but a lot of logistical information to absorb. Then I went back to the condo with Graham and Lena and I had to wait for Anne to arrive because she had first dibs over me in choosing which room to have and she opted for one of the upstairs bedrooms, which means I have basically got a whole apartment to myself! I have the "basement" room which has a kitchen, living room, bathroom, spare room, broom cupboard and a patio area! I really can't believe how good the condo is. Also it is closer to the ranch than I had thought.

I walked to the supermarket, which was a nice walk in the sunset. As I walked around I thought I should not buy too much because I had to carry it all back but it didn’t take long for me to start filling the trolley with bargains. I considered borrowing the trolley to et the shopping home, but the thought of the classy area I was in out me off the idea and I picked up all the bags. Before long, my arms were aching and I was losing the circulation in my fingers. I had to keep putting the bags down. The bag with tins split and I began picking them up thinking how clever I was to be out alone at night in bear country carrying bags of food. I suddenly had the idea to put the tins in my pockets and, as I tried to stuff one in the inside pocket of my coat, I figured it would be easier if I could carry everything on different parts of me so I tied the heaviest bags to my jeans and began walking homeward with milk and fruit bashing my legs, the weight pulling my jeans down my hips. It really lightened the load in my hands though and it took a bit longer for things to feel heavy and even then it was bearable... until the bag of fruit split pouring apples, oranges and bananas all over the road. I picked the least full bag and spread its contents among the others and then used that bag to hold the fruit, which I just carried in my hands this time. I was now on the home stretch, one long road past the gold course, up a hill around the bend and a little further and I would be home! I saw the golf course foot path that would enable me to cut a corner off of my journey and just as I got on the path I saw the sprinklers turn on ahead of me going right across my path. I sighed and headed back for the road and leapt out of my skin as a loud hissing close behind me announced that another sprinkler had come on just where I had been standing! I was very lucky not to be soaked. As I walked on I thought about all the warnings we had been given about bears and again questioned my own sanity. I found myself wondering if bears were afraid of sprinklers. Finally, after what felt like an eternity, I got to the house. The bag of frozen goods attached to my jeans was full of holes and I guess was just mere moments away from splitting. I put everything away and headed to bed, too tired to unpack but feeling satisfied that I had made it all the way here.

The following two days have been about us getting to know our horses and our instructors, getting to know where we’re at. Tuesday was focused on our online and freestyle. I played with Boaz on the circling game and just generally keeping a connection. He is a very smart horse and learns very quickly but he also has his own agenda and as soon as he thinks you’re finished he gets back to his own ideas, like eating grass, sniffing poop, answering the neighs of other horses... He has a very confident energy and I can tell that he will improve my leadership skills massively. Simply “tagging” him doesn’t help and I don’t want to have to be getting on at him all the time. So I have been flexing my mental muscles finding ways to get his attention. It is already better than when I first met him and I am very optimistic that with Maurice and Susan’s help we will be achieving great things in the next eleven and a half weeks.

With the freestyle Boaz was a little unsettled at first. I guess he hasn’t been in such a big arena with so many strange horses before and there was a lot of activity and energy from every direction. I used transitions on the follow the rail and threw in circles to bring relaxation. We were soon settled enough to maintain a more rhythmic trot and we did some excellent canter and canter halt transitions and I was happy to discover I could steer him to canter a circle too. We have done a lot of trail riding but I had not tested the steering at canter to that extent. Maurice commented that I had a good mount for the 12 weeks which confirmed my own opinion but still came as a relief to hear.

I was ready for an early night!

And today was about liberty and finesse. We had already done a bit of liberty, mostly stick to me, at Lynette’s, but I now had 7 minutes to show the seven games in the round pen. As we waited our turn I hung out with Boaz in his pen and we enjoyed some mutual grooming and Boaz was very interested in me. I did a small warm up online and he gave me some nice stick to me, lead by the tail, perfect friendly game, sideways from zone one and squeeze game.... the only thing left was the circling game. I guessed that he would not be so enthusiastic and boy was I right! I sent him out and he trotted over to the panel, put his head out and said “everything out here is way more interesting than you and your silly circles”. I snuck up on him and tagged him, I walked circles, I tried several strategies to engage his mind but again and again he did the same thing. Finally he trotted a whole lap and I disengaged him and said “wow! You did a whole lap, good boy!” and he came in looking surprised that I had stopped him so soon. Susan told me I could finish and suddenly he made a squealing noise and leapt into the air and took off in canter. I laughed and drew him to me... we had found his play drive! I was happy to end on that note and took him to graze whilst the others took their turns.

The afternoon’s finesse session was interesting. I did not have high expectations as I had not ever really focused on my own finesse and I’m pretty sure Boaz hasn’t done any. Lynette had ridden him with a bit but I think purely freestyle so I had no idea how he would respond. I was delighted to find out that he had not learnt that the bit means stop! I rode him freestyle first, making huge efforts to keep out of his mouth. When he was giving me all the transitions I asked with my seat I picked up the reins and started playing the friendly game by combing the reins rhythmically with my fingers. He relaxed and did not have any negative reactions so I picked up the reins and took a gentle feel on his mouth and continued to ride my freestyle follow the rail with transitions, using my seat just with short moments of holding the reins mixed in. I wanted to pepper in the finesse rather than overload him and I wanted him to be sure that I did not expect him to change his responses because of the reins. I must add that when I took up the reins I started at halt and waited for him to find some vertical flexion before I released the reins. I did this at walk and trot too and soon found that he used himself very well at the trot and we had moments where he was in self carriage. We were both light on the rein and when I released he did not fall on his forehand, but rather maintained his position for a few more strides. I asked for a few steps of shoulder in here and there and did leg-yield in both directions as well as the nine-step back up. Susan told me she was surprised at how much better he moved than when he was purely freestyle and then I felt things deteriorate a little. I think he was becoming bored of all the effort and he started to get slower and less responsive. Maybe it was because I suddenly felt pressure to maintain what we had achieved but whatever it was, Boaz was quitting on me. I immediately dropped the reins and went to freestyle and cantered the entire arena in the hope that opening him up would help him think forward. But as soon as I went back to the walk and trot he was like a snail again. I had already got rid of my carrot stick so I took the neck string off and tied it around my wrist and used it as a whipwhop, spanking the myself then his butt on both sides and asking him to just Go! I felt him make a microscopic bit more effort and I decided to do one last leg yield and then call it a day. He had covered a lot of new stuff, we had had a much better ride than the day before and he had made me happy so I didn’t need to keep going until he hated me. As I got off Maurice asked me how it had gone. I told him that with finesse we were both feeling around in the dark. He commented that my saddle encouraging me to sit forward, which I agreed with. At the de-brief I shared that I felt that I had hit the end of my knowledge but was pleased to discover that I felt both Boaz and I were ready to learn more. Maurice said that it was funny because he and Susan had said to each other how nice Boaz and I had looked!

I have enjoyed the last couple of days of getting to know Boaz and myself a little better! What I mean is that I have surprised myself that I have managed to keep calm and relaxed and truly put the relationship with Boaz first, ahead of trying to show the instructors what i thought they wanted to see or feeling like I was being assessed. In part that is because Maurice and Susan have done such a good job of helping us to feel relaxed and not judged, but even so I know what my tendencies are and I am overcoming them. I certainly feel like I have as much right as anyone to be here and I can tell from the snippets I’ve had from the instructors that I will learn so much more.

Tomorrow our first day of official teaching begins and I can’t wait!