These last few days have been jammed packed full of everything Parelli, and this is an experience worth blogging about. It was a 5 day ‘Parelli Experience’ Clinic in Thorsby, Alberta instructed by Don Halladay and John Barr. Also there as instructors were Randee Halladay, Davanee Cardinal and Amy Dorland. And let me tell you they pushed all my buttons. They stretched me right out of my comfort zone and right into my learning brain. However as a RBE (right brain extrovert) there was no emotion I didn’t feel during these 5 days.

I learned .. that everything you want out of your horse you need in yourself first. If my horse was missing it- so was I.

Have a focus and a purpose- set a goal, learn a task, but have a reason for it. A purpose gives you so much more focus and intention on doing it.

Respect- horses are drawn to leaders. They have respect for their leader and will follow their lead with confidence. If you do not have confidence, are not the leader and do not have respect from your horse, your horse is apt to not connect with you.

Make sure you have a solid foundation before you move on. Build that communication solid and strong and then the rest will just fall into place as you continue to learn together.

And I also learned the importance of phases, and how much difference there is between each phase, and how much better it works when you use them!

And I learned to stay left brained! Think it through. I love being a Right Brain Extrovert, and I will always hold dear my talents and what truly makes me-me… but it is very important to become a more balanced individual. If I focus on my wonderful RBE attributes I’m likely to become more RBE, and that’s not necessarily what I want. I want to become more centered and more balanced.

Mental, emotional, and then physical collection. Me then the horse- If its not right in my head, emotions and body how can I expect the horse to understand?

And most of all I loved the feeling of playing at liberty… this is what I live for! Liberty and bareback riding…. IT’S SO MUCH FUN!

I very much enjoyed meeting a lot of new Parelli friends, the amazing instructors and both me and my horse had a blast…. and I know she did because she didn’t want to get in the trailer to leave (maybe we’ll work on that before the next clinic). Or maybe we’ll invite one of the instructors to come play with us here in Saskatchewan!