?Something Different?

When I purchased Spirit, the people I bought him from said that they had done some Parelli work with him. I of course did not know what Parelli was, and so I researched it out a little.

What I found out was that it seemed like it was a mostly western horse program of training, and so it did not interest me that much at the time, seeing as I enjoy riding English.

However I do have the philosophy that you can learn something from everyone whether good or bad.

So instead of totally ignoring what Parelli was all about I bought Pat Parelli's book "Natural Horse-man-ship." I have to say that although I did not agree with everything that was in the book, the majority of his philosophies, and principles I did agree with. I applied the general theories and principles to my riding with Spirit.

When I then purchased Bently as my second horse. He was a much more challenging horse for me then Spirit. Bently had much more "spirit" then Spirit had, and he was younger, and harder for me to control. I pushed forward though and read a lot of different horse training books, that gave me some good ideas, and things improved. I also got help from my instructor. Yet my horse always seemed to get to a certain point then back track then get to that point and back track again. I was having the hardest time trying to figure out the remaining difficulties I had with him. He bucked me off more then a few times, he was scared of jumping, and bolted and reared with me several times before. I was about ready to call it quits on him and jumping and just get a different horse for jumping. Then I decided to give him one more year for us to try to figure it out.

So I went and read more books, and that is when I again remembered Pat Parelli. I read his book thoroughly again, and then searched online and found out for the first time that he had a savvy club, and other materials (DVD's and Home Study Courses) that could help me. I realized that while I had still been following the basic principles--Parelli had more to offer that would help. Thus began my Parelli Journey!

*Bently in the Beginning*

Before I parted ways with my Spirit, I purchased my second horse. Bently--a then 4 year old Appendix Quarter Horse. (part Thoroughbred/part Quarter Horse) Bently was a much more challenging horse then Spirit. He definitely was not an easy ride for me. I had to spend quite a bit of time with him. I tried to keep them both for a time (about a year) but realized that I was not being fair to Spirit, as I was spending more time with Bently. Also I had outgrown Spirit and though it broke a piece of my heart I gave him to another girl for her to enjoy.

Things just never seemed to improve that much with Bently. He was okay just as long as nothing scared him, then he took over and you had no say. He would often run off in a panic at the slightest things. (Sometimes I never could figure out what spooked him.) It took a long time to even start making some progress with him. I read book upon book about horses, and training, and got help from instructors, and he improved, but he never seemed to improve past a certain point. He was manageable most of the time now, but he was unpredictable. He would be fine one moment and the next he would be tense ready to bolt. He bucked me off several times, bolted and reared with me, refused jumps, and was generally a hard horse to ride. Gradually the bad behaviors started getting less and less, but it never seemed to get better past a certain point. by this time Bently was about 6 years old, and I was debating on whether or not I should sell him and get a different horse, I decided to not give up on him just yet and decided to try something a little different....

Kindred Spirit

Kindred Spirit was the name I gave to my first horse. He was the perfect beginner horse for me. I am so grateful that I was able to have him in my life.

We had many happy memories, and adventures. I rode or spent time with him almost every single day. Below I will include some of the times we shared together.

When I first bought Spirit, he did not know much more then western trail riding. I slowly taught him about English riding (Dressage and Jumping) He seemed to enjoy it, although one of his and my favorite past-times were when we would go out hacking and gallop through the fields--racing against the wind.

Spirit although he was small in stature, was mighty in heart. He thought he was the fastest horse in the world. Every horse we ever raced against (for fun of course) he won. He was my little energizer bunny--my go-go machine. He had plenty of energy, but was still obedient enough to stop and calm down when asked.

I often would step back a couple of paces and run and jump on him bareback and we would go off with only a lead rope connected to his halter to make "reins." One time when jumping on bareback I put a little too much effort in, and gently sailed over him and landed on my feet on the other side--I stood there for a moment and tried to figure out what happened. LOL. I had just hurdled/jumped over my horse.

Another time while going over some jumps at a lesson, I did an unintentional emergency dismount while going over a jump and landed on my feet on the other side of the jump with Spirit. To this day I don't know what exactly happened, or why I did an emergency dismount type thing, and my instructor doesn't know either. I guess maybe I felt like I was falling, and did a dismount in mid jump. *Who Knows* LOL.

Another one of my favorite memories was going out in the middle of winter on a cloudless night to get on my horse bareback and ride in the moonlight on a white horse, with white all around me. It was so beautiful and peaceful. With his breath and my breath coming out in white clouds. I would often lean back and lay on him and stare at the stars.

He was a great horse. He is beyond description in his wonderfulness. I parted ways with him with great pain to my heart because I outgrew him. I gave him a home with a little girl, so he could teach another person the joy of having a wonderful horse. He is to come back to me if that girl ever decides to part ways with him. I secretly hope she does, so that I can have my Spirit back. Maybe someday he can be retired and returned to me to spend the rest of his days.

The Beginnings

"You don't know where you are going, until you know where you have been."--Unknown

I have had a fairly short but happy life. I came from a large family of 13 children, with well meaning parents. I was the baby of the family, and hence was "spoiled" in the opinion of my elder siblings. I of course think I was spoiled a little, but that I deserved most of what I was fortunate enough to receive.

As a child I longed for a horse. I pretended I was a horse for hours on end, as I thundered around on hands and knees. I read every book about horses that I could find. This included not only books such as the "Black Stallion," but also many equine how-to books, and riding books. I studied those books until I could do all the gaits just like a horse, including flying lead changes. I pestered and begged and tormented my parents to get me a horse. They finally decided to let me have riding lessons. They thought this might get the "bug" out of my system. But this "bug" was a passion, that I know I was born with. Riding lessons just let me know that horses where even more wonderful then I had previously thought (if that is possible) it renewed my vigor in trying to get a equine companion of my own. Finally through some miracle I managed to get that partner of my dreams.

He was not the fanciest horse, but he was heaven on earth to me. He was a lovely flea-bitten gray grade gelding about 14.2 hands high. I think he was a Quarter Horse and an Arabian cross.

He was the beginning of my Journey--before him I merely existed I did not live.