The Horseman’s Attitude

There’s a phrase in Parelli land that I’ve noticed being used lately, I’m sure its always been there and I haven’t noticed it that much, or perhaps I’ve just gotten a fresh revelation of it … its about how your attitude in your horsemanship needs to be ‘positive, progressive and natural’ and how it needs to be all three, not just one or two.

I feel this is the question I need to ask myself daily if I want to be the best horseman I can be, have I been positive, progressive and natural in my horsemanship today?  It goes without saying there will be days where a bit of grace will need to be peppered in here and there, but I have goals I want to achieve in this lifetime and I won’t see them happen at the rate I’m going.  More than that my horses are just waiting for me to step up in my horsemanship.  Also, there are other horses and humans are out there that the longer I take to get my act together, the longer they go without my help.  Some might say its chauvinistic to think that, but I think its selfish not to.

Here’s one (just one!) of my favourite things I’ve read about the Horseman’s Attitude where Pat talks about the sixth quality of a horseman, ‘Feel’:

“Horses have to go by feel in order to understand us, especially when we’re riding. So the feel we give them, whether we’re fluid or stiff, is how they are going to respond. But what gives you feel? In any sport or endeavour, there is usually something you need to focus on to become more natural. People who are training to jump hurdles are taught to look at a spot on the horizon, not the hurdle, and feel going over the hurdles. For us, it’s being positive, progressive and natural that will give you feel.”

I remember reading this and thinking it is SO cool that Pat’s given us the key to Feel!   

A few things I feel I need to focus on in each area are:

Positive: I’ve found since licking and chewing on this even in the last few day, that when I’m feeling emotionally unfit about how my horses respond to me, I’ve had to deliberately think about the success I want and choose to think positively.  If choosing to think positively is a choice, then staying in a negative state must be too.

Progressive: I have a full time job and my best chance at having regular play sessions with my boys is to get up early before work.  I set my alarm most mornings with every intention of getting up, but I hit that dang snooze button and before long I’ve run out of time to play and I have to get ready for work.  I need to just roll out of bed (have literally done so before!) and put legs on being progressive.

Natural: I am a student of the best horsemanship program in the world, I need to commit myself to learning more theory about the why’s, how’s and what’s of natural horsemanship, to be able be the best horseman I can be naturally.  Theory and details is not something that naturally pushes my buttons, I’m more of a bit picture and creative person.

To finish with, here’s an excerpt from a Savvy Times article where Pat talks about the tenth quality of a horseman, ‘Experience’.  While not directly mentioning the word attitude, I believe it can be heard in the very heartbeat of what he’s saying.

If your heart and desire are to get to a certain savvy level, and you start putting huge effort into real mastery, this is the point where it becomes addictive. That’s when it’s way beyond a physical thing—way more than riding. Your experience after you get to a certain level will reveal productive results ten times faster than all the hours you put in before that, making hoof prints in the sand and wearing out riding pants and saddles.

Master these qualities (10 Qualities of a Horseman), learn to apply them in your relationship and you’ll see a big difference in what you can achieve.

My Horsemanship Growth Curve - 2011

I’ve sent in and passed 3 auditions in one year. Compared to having owned my dear Tas for about 7 years now and being in the Parelli program on and off, but never really getting anywhere. I guess it will really sink in at some stage that I’m a Level 2 graduate, now a Level 3 student. Here’s a little of my story…

When I was younger, due to the lack of horse programs on tv for this horse starved kid, I would soak up anything and everything that was on to do with horses. So when Pat was on the Burke’s Backyard program I would watch and soak it all in, keen to have my own horse and succeed in the Parelli program.

I finally got my first horse after I married and I fell in love with Tas’ sweet face when I first saw him. Love at first sight! I was a very green and had an experienced horse friend along with me, she asked if I wanted her to lead Tas while I rode as the only place to ride was on the road in front of the little house where he lived. He seemed calm enough so I was fine to ride just by ourselves, but she just walked beside us. A car went past and he barely flinched. My mounting up was fairly brilliant to how it is now, too!! Needless to say, he became mine.

This horse has made me cry… a lot! So much so that my ever supportive husband wondered if it was worth it, and I agreed on more than one occasion. What’s the point of having horses if they don’t love me??? I remember one of our very first rides, looking back on it now I had taken him beyond his thresholds and he just did a quick 180. Without me! I remember thinking that as far as falls go, it was felt pretty good for a first fall.

There’s been a few falls since then, including some where I fell of pretty hard twice in one session and ended up on his neck once, finishing the day with a slight concussion I think. All the times I’ve fallen off he’s just stood there. Except for the last time. I got up and he saw my crabby face! I couldn’t change my expression fast enough, he took off!! Oh and catching?? Yes, we’ve had serious issues with that. I have an even greater understanding now that this was all just feedback.

I’ve advertised him a few times, even sent him up to my friend for her to retrain him and sell him on. But alas he’s managed to hang around and I’m so very glad he did. My confidence was shaken a lot in our first few years, and if it wasn’t for the support of a very savvy horse friend, I wouldn’t be where I am now.

I had a hiatus from Parelli for a little while, I just wasn’t happy with the results I was getting. Then I saw a photo of Linda and Westy on the Parelli site and I thought, well maybe there is something to this stuff… So a bit over a year ago I rejoined and I’m absolutely head over heels hooked. I feel like I ‘get it’ a bit more now. I really don’t have the words for why right now, but maybe that’s another blog for later.

The day I sent in my Level 2 Freestyle Audition I was thinking about how I’d sent in 3 this year and wondered why I hadn’t done this before? Then I remembered all of the above. We’ve come such a long way. Did I mention that we’ve done a few on purpose canters this year, which is also huge for us!?

I heard something on a Christian radio station in the last week or so that just absolutely encouraged me for where I’m at. It was just a short segment, but the guy was talking about the growth of a certain bamboo. It doesn’t do anything for about 5 years, but in the last 9 months it shoots up very quickly. It’s a similar principal with people. It may not seem like there’s much growth for awhile, but then all of a sudden there’ll be a lot of growth and this is called a growth curve. I was listening to this thinking, that’s me!!!!

So don’t despair if you feel you’re taking too long in your horsemanship journey, your time to shine is coming. If it hurts right now, that’s okay because they are the birth pains of something beautiful coming.

Bless you heaps on your horsemanship journey. I pray that this next year for you and me is more than we could ask or imagine xx

Further Focus Shift: Do I Retire The Old Boy...

Some definitions of Focus from dictionary.com:

1. the state of maximum distinctness or clarity of such an image.
2. the clear and sharply defined condition of an image.
3. a central point, as of attraction, attention, or activity:
4. to bring to a focus or into focus: to focus the lens of a camera.
5. the state of an optical image when it is distinct and clearly defined
6. a point upon which attention, activity, etc, is directed or concentrate

 

 

Tas was originally going to be my Parelli Levels horse, but since I've gotten Monty, I've realised that I've needed to make him my Levels horse instead...  Was a hard choice to make cause I'd dreamed of doing some pretty cool things with Tas.  I was surprised how hard a choice it was actually...

 

Now I'm wondering if I need to shift my focus even more.  At the moment I'm wanting to do Levels with Monty, but still thinking I need to and want to do things with Tas, and that's hard with my full time job and other commitments.  Tonight came the thought of retiring the old boy, and even that's surprisingly hard...

 

 

Tas is my first horse, he'll be turning 18 this year which isn't really that old and there's still a lot I could do with him, but for how much longer and how much more could I do with this older horse... 

 

The thought of retiring him makes me think that I wouldn't have to ride him or try to focus on doing a lot with him. He'd still be valuable to keep on though and to be honest, he'd probably love doing nothing!  Obviously I'll still give him attention he needs, and the part where he'd be most valuable as...  Monty's paddock mate.  Horses were born herd animals and need that companionship in the paddock with them, its so important for their mental, emotional and physical health.

 

With this further focus shift with Tas, I feel like that alone will give me the thought space to be able to focus with excellence on Monty being my levels horse, and having that journey be more than I can ask or imagine...  I'll be forever grateful for everything Tas has taught me and will continue to teach me xx