Growth

December 2010: the year is almost over. I love endings; I love the feeling of accomplishing something; I love looking back at the progress that's been made.

I've been teaching out in the field as a Parelli Professional for just over a year now, and what a year it has been. I've had my fair share of highs and lows, successes and lessons learned. I've kept "positive, progressive and natural" on loop in my mind. It's a wonderful motto that has helped me keep myself in check.

With those two things in mind, I take a look at the last year of my life: I became a Parelli Professional (a dream of mine since I started Parelli 7 years ago), my mother unexpectedly passed away, I got engaged to be married, my success as an instructor grew, my fiance left for deployment for a year, I progressed in the Parelli program professionally, and I encountered lesson after lesson in personal development. And as Linda quoted her mentor, Glynn Braddy in her blog this past summer,“personal growth is rarely comfortable or convenient,” I see the hardships, but I also see the growth.

Interestingly enough, I felt the uncomfortable feelings, and I knew I was growing from them, but not until I really began to reflect on the year did I really see any changes. So imagine how it felt for someone who likes results to not feel or see any growth? But look what I learned...by reflecting back on where I used to be, comparing it to where I am now, while continuing to live in the present, I can see and feel the growth! "Observe, remember, compare and adjust," when did I hear that the first time? 2006. I just learned it at a deeper level this year, and became more aware of what it means.

Now that I can see how far I've come, the distance I have to go has become clearer. Never-ending self-improvement, right?

So most of the personal development that I've had this year has come with uncomfortable situations, which I am now thankful for.  It has all only made me a better instructor, and it has caused me to want to be even better!

Thank you to all of you who have impacted my year, and thank you for your understanding, patience and acceptance of me and my journey. Thank you to all my students, all my friends, other Parelli Professionals, my family, my horses and Steve. What a lucky person I am to have you all in my life.

Time!

Where has the time gone?! How could I have not written anything in a whole week?! WOW!

It has been a great one...

I had the wonderful opportunity this week to be a coach on the Fast Track course here at the center. It was their first week, and in just one week is has been amazing to watch the students develop.  On Monday, I helped with Check-in and saw some very right-brained people and horses arrive.  I remember when I first came to the center here in Colorado with my horse in 2006. Ok, well actually I don't remember all of it. I honestly was so right brained that I do not remember arriving here, unloading my tack and horse and getting settled. It's finny because a couple people since that day have told me they remembered meeting me and talking to me that day, and I have no recollection of it at all. How interesting. It's great to see now that I have the tools and savvy to stay in the moment enough to remember right-brained moments. All it takes is time...surprise, surprise. And being aware of it I guess! 

But watching the students over the course of the week, testing them, teaching them and just talking with them has been a phenomenal opportunity. I can see how ridiculously brilliant the fast track curriculum is and can't wait to take some of the concepts from it and apply them to teaching at home. What I'm seeing from this week, in personal life and here at the ranch, that anything you want to accomplish, you must first be ready to accept the time-line. Whether it's something you want to accomplish with your horse, or something else, it's not usually on your time-line, no matter how much we'd like it to be. It's hard for us as humans to live with things we can't change and to try not to force things to happen. But with horses, we have to, and I believe, with ourselves and our own progress we have to be patient and not force results too. Ah yes, the wonderful Parelli saying, "take the time it takes and it takes less time." I've seen a lot of that this week.

All in all, obviously a great week here on campus. Learning tons and meeting awesome people. I love getting to know new students, feel their enthusiasm, and be part of their journey! Thanks everyone for allowing me to be part of your horsemanship journey. :)

Day 5 and 6

Hello all!

Yesterday, our final day of the instructor course was filled with logistical information and congratulations for those of us who passed the course (which, it turns out, is everyone who was in the course). So we are excited to say, that there are a lot of new 1 and 2 star instructors out there all over the world! There were a couple in a countries in Europe who are the first ones there, so it's pretty cool to see the program growing like it is! After the course was over we had a dinner with Pat and Linda and had a campfire. Campfires in the mountains are one of the most beautiful things one can see, or feel. The ranch has the most amazing view I've ever seen, and if you've seen it on videos, it's about 1000 times better in person.

Today was a great day, we spent the day with Linda doing a saddle fit and shimming demonstration. She had 4 students in the arena and did a saddle fit transformation on the horses. It was really great to see the change in the horses and to watch them relax, start using their bodies and moving more freely. Very educational also. I also got to sit in the New Cruiser saddle that is the English and Western hybrid. It's very comfortable to sit in and one of the girls who rode in it today loved it. It made her feel safe, but at the same time was not as big and heavy as the western.

Well, I'm off to relax tonight. Tomorrow looks like a low key day.

Until next time...

Day 4

Good morning!

I'm trying to feel better and hopefully I do soon! I think I'm on the up-swing of my sickness.

Well, back to Wednesday...We gave presentations this morning to one of the managers/administrative staff. They were short and sweet, and it was easy. I have gotten a lot more comfortable in front of people now that I've been an Instructor for almost a year. Then we had a session with Jim Patterson who is not the author of the book "Play to Win" but teaches the concepts from the book.  If anyone wants a good book to read on self-development, read it! We spent the day learning some team-building tools, how our brains work and how much information we actually make up, how to problem solve in a relationship (with anyone you care about), tools and strategies to not mis-judge and make assumptions about others, and a few other wonderful concepts. If anyone wants to talk more about this I am more than happy to! It was a wonderful day and exactly what I needed. It's amazing to me how we are presented with exactly what we need just when we need it (even if we think it's the last thing we need).

Then on to Thursday....I was really sick all day and if I hadn't been here, I would have been in bed all day. We spent the morning with pat watching him give a lesson to some students and he spoke to us about the future of the program and expectation and such. We then spent the rest of the day with Linda learning some phenomenal teaching tools. She is such an amazing teacher and has a true talent for how to share information in such a way that you can really walk away understanding the idea.

That's about it for now, off to another day..not sure what it has to hold but I'm looking forward to it!

Day 3

Hmmm...think brain think! What did I do on Tuesday? Ah yes!

We were lucky enough to watch a lesson with John Barr (who is the Faculty Leader here on the ranch) and the externs studying here at the moment. It was great to watch John teach and see how he runs a lesson. One thing I was very impressed with was how he manages and teaches up to 15 people at one time.  He ended the lesson by adding a little purpose to it, and they used a cow simulator to play friendly game and create curiosity in the students horses. This is a great lesson (I have done it before) but safety is the most important thing the be aware of. And John did a wonderful job keeping students safe. A few of the horses would get scared with the simulator and John handled all of the situations with the best way to keep the students confident but help them learn to stay safe.

Then we did a lesson with Linda about mirroring and energy. I won't get into that now, but if anyone wants to talk about it when I get home, I'm game! Lastly for the morning, we worked with carol Coppinger, 5* Star Master Instructor, on riding simulations. I find these very beneficial and don't be surprised if they show up in your lessons when I get home. :)

We then spent the afternoon looking at the future of Parelli and the instructor pathway, along with learning about Photonic Light Therapy, or Red light therapy.  If you haven't heard of it, and might be interested, I'll share some later.

Ok...I'm off to watch Pat teach a lesson to the Mastery Students.

Until next time...

Days 1 and 2

Hello everyone!

Well, my flight to Colorado was uneventful, which I'm thankful for! I flew into Durango, and saw the amazing mountains out here. I have seen them once before when I was out here in 2006 for a 6 week course on the ranch, but they never cease to amaze me.  One of my students who is out here for the 1* course picked me up at the airport and informed me that there was a cutting event that Pat and some of his Mastery Students were at close by. So instead of heading to the ranch, we went to watch some cutting. I have some videos I will have to upload, but it was very educational and fun to watch.

Then, on to the ranch we went. It was pouring rain, as it does often in the afternoons out here this time of year. We arrived at the ranch and it was just as I remembered it.  I got settled into the cabin that I will be staying in for the duration of my trip. I am rooming with a couple of girls who were in my externship last fall, so it's nice to see them and catch up. It's such a breath-taking place, I walk out of my cabin and can see the whole ranch, and that day, it was busy full of students riding and playing, and I just stood there and watched. It was great to see the ranch from so far above, a wonderful view.

On to today! It was the first day of the 2* course, and we all headed to the corporate office in Pagosa Springs where we would be spending the day.  We got a lot of logistical information and did a lot of paperwork, and then Pat came in to give us all an introduction for the course. As usual, he was very inspiring and had some awesome philosophical concepts to talk about. In the afternoon, we took a theory test and then did a Q and A session about all of our previous teaching. Overall, it was a great day and I am looking forward to the rest of the week.

I'm sorry this is short, I am very tired and fighting being sick. I'll be going to bed early tonight and I'll feel better in the morning.

Until next time!

Welcome!

Hello! This will be a blog for you to follow my life as a horsewoman, Parelli Professional and a student of the world attempting to be positive, progressive and natural! Comments welcome, and enjoy!