It has been a long week. Needless to say I am swamped. Everything went by so quickly, yet it was forever. I told you about Monday and the farrier, even though I didn't give you much detail. I feel that I need to commit myself more to this blog. For the long winter I have decided to expand my current limited knowledge by reading some to all of the books on the Parelli Externship Program Reading List. Join me and we can share our thoughts on them! Here they are.

~ Blink by Malcom Gladwell

~ Outliers by Malcom Gladwell

~ Psycho Cybernetics by Maxwell Maltz

~ Awaken the Giant Within by Anthony Robbins

~ If You Want to Be Rich and Happy, Don't Go to School by Robert Kiyosaki

~ Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki

~ The E-Myth Revisited by Micheal E. Gerber

~ True Unity by Tom Dorrance

~ Think Harmony with Horses by Ray Hunt

~ Raise Your Hand if You Love Horses by Pat Parelli

~ Natural Horsemanship by Pat Parelli

We already have Blink and I will start reading that right away :) .

Today was a very good day. It was the first time I've played with Sharlie since Monday. Also, Kara was with me. 

Now it has only been told to a couple of you that I have recently felt rather lost with Casper. I couldn't connect with him anymore. He was more scared and RB and I didn't have any focus. I didn't have goals set for short or long term. I was ... lost. There are no exact words I can use to explain it. Thats just the way it is. So that is one of the reasons why I was so happy for Kara to come over. She is very good with Right Brain horses, while I am stronger with Left Brain horses. I have a harder time grasping the terms 'slowing down' or 'repetition' or even 'approach and retreat'. As I have said before, when I am around Sharlie and Casper, I am usually Left Brain Extrovert. I am always moving onto new things and moving my feet. And with Casper...sometimes you just have to sit down and go into neutral. Which is exactly what Kara did. Don't worry, I have asked Kara for an extremely detailed step-by-step account on any and everything she did with Casper. All I can say is that Kara did something right because Casper went in one end of the tunnel Right Brain and turned inward, but came out bright and beautiful. Thank you Kara. :)

With Sharlie I had a very interesting play session. Online was the usual. Really. It was the usual. Circling game, sideways, friendly, driving. Usual. It was when I hopped on that it got interesting. I used the bareback one last time before returning it to Kara. (Nooooooo! *Reaches out into the darkness after a retreating bareback pad* Don't goooo!!!) Ah well. I guess I won't be riding for a while. :(

What happened when I began to ride is that Sharlie was spunky. Not exactly in a good way, but not too bad. The important thing is that I did not lose my confidence. Needless to say, I did a lot of trotting. That is what is so great about the bareback pad. I can trot and trot and trot and trot and trot and trot....etc. One thing that I suppose we will have to work on next time is our slowing down and stopping. Its very ungraceful and usually unbalances me. It can be all of a sudden, which throws me forward and it is usually a couple of short little skids that unbalance me. We attempted the bulls eye and it can safely be said it didn't work out today. Another thing I played with Sharlie is extending her trot. Relaxing it, extending it, whatever you want to call it. It was so choppy! 

After some failed attempts I decided to take a new approach. I took the 'dressage approach'. Don't be alarmed, I stayed natural. I tightened my reins a bit, sat up a bit straighter and asked her to trot while focusing on one specific spot. We did this a while. I played 'the dressage rider' and Sharlie did well. While it did not relax her gait, it did however get her more focused and in tune. Looking back this evening I realized that I was focusing, thus giving Sharlie a job and focusing her. When I wasn't the 'dressage rider', my focus was scattered. I know what to do now!

Now you  must see the two photos above and wonder  "What on earth?" Well Kara and I went to go take off some of the horses's blankets, and it was cold and if you add it all together....well you can see it for yourself. :)

Quote of the Day

" A good rider can hear his horse speak to him.

A great rider can hear his horse whisper.
But a bad rider won't hear his horse even if it screams at him!"

Bonus: "When in doubt, ask a horse."

How well do you know your Parelli-isms? Find out here! 

 http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=8JPtkc6Y1XxkD2Ri3dkvNg%3d%3d

Thats all for now guys!
Life is short! Hug your horse!

Julia