Plans and Resolutions

The other day at work [my un-fun work, not teaching or pony related] I was doing some pondering. I was pondering about life, and the usual order of things. Get born, grow up a few years at home, go to school... more school, get a job, retire at 65 when you can finally focus on doing what you love. Humf.

I have always been really driven and focused on doing what I love - horsey stuff! Most people/society/cultural norms seem to think that 'horsey stuff' doesnt qualify as a real job, and therefore you must contain said passion to a hobby. Obviously, I never really agreed with that, or allowed it to guide me in any way. I have followed my passion and desire for excellence with horses into Parelli, and continue to do so.

The advent of gaining possesion of my dream farm seem to have necesitated the extra income gained from a 'real job'. Said 'real job' being a boring position as a cashier in a local shop. Yes, its a regular pay cheque, but do I really gain any fulfillment or enjoyment out of the experience? Well, at first, yes. I did. I was learning things and meeting new people, but now that I have settled into my role and the learning has slowed considerably, my left brain extrovert mind is BORED. As much as idle hooves are the devils workshop, so is my idle mind.

And so was born my RESOLUTION! It isnt really your typical new years resolution, more a drive and goal for my life. My five-year-plan if you will. My five-year-plan stands thusly : Within five years, I will no longer be doing things I dont absolutely love to do. Eg: No un-fun cashier job, but lots and lots of teaching!

There are plenty of things I love to do. I just need to figure out how to cause those things to earn my living. I love to teach, I love to train horses, start young horses, I love to take pictures, I love to provide a natual boarding facility to horse owners. I plan to build an indoor arena in five years, to facilitate the year-roundness of said endeavour.

So many people are of the 'I'll do it when I retire' variety - and there is nothing wrong with that! Its just not for me. Why should I wait so many years, when I can do what I am passionate about now? What could I possibly gain from years and years of negative mental torment? Especially when I could have years and years of positive JOY doing what I love and being with people who love it too.

Such is my five year plan. I will spend my time doing what I love. I think its a great plan. I cant wait!  This summer is going to be such a great start to this plan!

:D
S

Life..

Such a sad sorry state of neglect I have left my blog in... terrible! I shall try to rectify that post-haste!

Summer has finally come to the great northland that is my home. Sunshine and warm temperatures make S a happy camper. Mo too. I think. Maybe not. The flies bug her a lot. Mo has moved into a quaint paddock created from step in posts in my back yard so that I can have her close, as her being forty five minutes away was causing me to struggle with sanity. Its not fun partaking in your primary addiction in life only once in two entire weeks!

Needless to say, that situation has been remedied nicely and now I can see Mo any time I want, simply by looking out a window. Her Royal Higness, Miss Indy is still enjoying the pleasure of Rocky's company out at Dad's. Mostly because I dont think she would respect a little fence that would hardly come past her tall knees. Although, my dearling left brain ami finally [after three weeks] figured out the wire wasnt hot and decided walking through it was the best answer she could come up with to get the grass on the other side. Oh, and also, that the gravel on the road is the most curiously entertaining thing in the world, that she just MUST explore! *sigh* After three near heart attacks and a newly charged fence, m'dear Mo has stayed safely behind bars... er... fence. Thank goodness!

Since being at Dad's, Indy seems to have started a war with the trees. To tell the truth, I am really not sure why, they seem to be aimiable towards her, providing shade and relief from the bugs, but nonetheless, she seemed to feel the need to provoke their ire. Twice. I went to visit my spotty ami one day a few weeks ago, only to find her entire upper leg and knee swollen pretty extremely. Part and parcel with a twig sticking out of a tidy puncture wound. I tried to pull it out, but most was broken off, so I did what I could with the limited [aka none] supplies I had and headed home to re-stock. When I came the next day, it had mostly scabbed over but was still swollen. The teeny tiny wound looked to be nothing, but I still re-opened it to pull out the rest of the debris and disinfect it. Indy was a total pro for this, I must admit, I was VERY pleased and proud of her. She stood stock still, inspected my work and approved. She was a rock star.

To battle the swelling I cold hosed the leg for about 15 twice a day when I could, once when that was all I could manage for three or four days. I called the vet office to find out if there was anything I could or should be doing and they said I already was [which was a relief] other than getting her a tetanus shot. So off to the clinic I galavanted to fetch my pony a needle. Thank goodness for great ponies, because I just walked up to her at liberty in the pasture, poked her, rubbed her, gave her a cookie, and voila, sans drama, my pony was safe from the threat of tetanus for another year. Did I mention she was a rock star?

Slowly the swelling was going down, and I was getting quite pleased with my veterinary efforts until the fourth day. On the fourth day everything back slid. Silly pony. I walk over to check her out and all the swelling had moved down the leg to her knee and cannon bone.... huh? Running my hand down her leg, I found out why. My dearling had once again fought with the foliage, and this time had a thorn in her knee. Really now, can we yeild on the tree-wars please? Luckily this thorn plucked out easily, unlike the twig, but once again, I was back at square one dealing with swelling. Back on the bute my lovely went [she is pro at taking that to, even dad can do it! ] and mucho more cold hosing. Silly pony. At least she seemed to enjoy the hosing. There was a time, when I first got her, that the hose was the debil in disguise. She cut herself on the trailer ride home [OH so RBE that day] and I tried to hose it off... didnt work. At least now she stood rock solid, even trying to play with the hose and drink the water, and even give me a shower!

Finally [so far] a truce has been reached with our so-called enemies the trees. Its been two weeks, and there have been no further attacks. Hopefully, the truce holds, and further injury can be avoided. There is another Hunter Pace on the 10th of July that I would like to take Indy to, and as such, I'd very much like her to stay sans swollen limbs. At least she never got sore or lame.

Back to Mo. Mo has been a super pro here at home. We have been playing a lot, lots of online on the 45', getting our maintain gait at a canter better and better, playing with finding clean flying lead changes, and giving a focus on jumping lately, seeking the obstacle and jumping in a confident and rideable fashion. We had a great little liberty session a week ago too, complete with many canter laps and a few flying changes of direction! I was really proud! We have been playing with lots of finessey things while riding, getting back to stretching and using both of our bodies. Its so easy for me to get stuck in freestyle because its my favorite savvy. Bareback and bridless has always been my dream and what makes things fun and challenging for me. Finesse is fun to, and challenging in a different way, I just need to find the right motivation for it - other than just getting my L4 Audition taped. I dont have the excuse with freestyle anymore... since its already passed.

Either way, I have been playing much more with contact now, at all gaits, and Mo is getting better and better every day. Our latest focus has been jumping a course at a balanced rhythmical canter. Its going great. Maybe I will take her to the hunter pace... We have been playing a lot with patterns. I mowed a whole bunch into the grass where I ride so I have a follow the rail, a clover leaf, a circle [10m and 20m] a figure eight and a question box. I should make a weave... that would be nifty. Maybe next time. We are playing with breaking down the flying change, really building the pattern into the question box to change leads with a drop-to-trot change through the centre, and yesterday she offered me the first clean flying change in a while, which was fabulous.  Patterns patterns patterns!!! They work!

A few weeks ago now, me and Mo participated in the first Games and Demo day here. We had a big demo with seven local instructors and horses, and some tournament style games for students as well. It was a fabulous day, and a great way to see a lot of friends I hadnt seen in a while. Overall a great success and a pretty fabulous sum raised for the Parelli Horsemanship Foundation!  Mo was very tolerant during the demo. I hadnt been able to do much of anything with her for the two weeks previous, having just got back from Florida, and she still loaded up like a pro, got to the new place and helped me put on a great show for Parelli students of the area. What a great partner she is!

In other news, I will be moving to my new farm/house/home in just about a month now. I cant wait. I am terrified. I am excited beyond all reasoning. Seventy whole acres to turn into Parelli Paradise all to myself [well, I have to share with D, but same difference] I can finally have Indy and Mo at the same place again, I can leave stuff out to play with anywhere I want, I can make silly paddocks and mow patterns anywhere I want. I can have Play Days! Its going to be a great home and I really cant wait to live in it.

I think that about catches up things since my last less than timely post. I shall endeavor to post more often. Parelli Connect is sort of stealing blog-thunder at the moment, as I am keeping up with that instead of blogging here. Ill work on it. Try and be more exciting and all, so I have things to post.

:-)
S

Intern Life!!

So! Life is pretty awesome right now. Week one as an Intern is almost complete - tomorrow is Sunday, our day off. Today was pretty much a day off too, there were Parelli Games on campus this morning that I wanted to take Mo to, but since there were so many incoming students we opted out.

Instead we saddled up and moseyed around taking it easy and eating grass. This week has been fabulous. Check in was on Monday, which I was MAJORLY right brain about. I didnt even really realize just *how* right brain I was going, but it was pretty extreme, because the let down after I got here was huge. Giant adrenaline release to go with my extreme tension! Good thing I could recognize it for what it was, yey Parelli.

We got checkin in all great, Mo got her pen, next to Hank and Spalshy. She has turnout now, but was in a pen for the first few days. She has been a total rockstar, I am really proud of her. Coming from J's she loaded up perfectly. I couldnt have asked for better. Brought her out of the pasture and over to the trailer, intending to play a little but she opted right onto it, and looked at me all proud of herself, telling me to shut the door and hit the road already! Go Mo :-D


Monday was a settle in day, we just got our pen assignments and room locations and unpacked and such. I did some groceries and got myself fed and crashed pretty early! Day one started bright and shiny, we had horsemanship all morning after starting with a name game and a pretty fun game of soccer. Do keep in mind though that I have never in my life played team sports. Not a one. I even skipped out in gym class if in any way possible because my coordination is .... completely lacking in every way! Goodness only knows how I ride a horse... but I do. SO! Day one and team sports. I tried really hard, failed miserably, but had fun. We have played every day since then, and I think I have improved, I feel like I have anyways. I am definately more confident to go after the ball, and have the bruises to prove it. I try to remind people that soccer isnt a contact sport, but I am not sure they all believe me.... either way, its a lot of fun, and a great way to ramp up our energy in the mornings.

Generally we have morning meetings at 8:30, soccer time after that, then horsemanship with our ponies til lunch time. After lunch we have either done hay, auditions, or had horse development time with Kalley so far. Its been really great. Lots of learning and fun. We combine [or have so far] our horsemanship time with the Extern lessons, so that has been really good for Mo - learning how to be in a GIANT arena with about 25 other horses. She was quite emotional the first day, speeding around and glaring at everyone who dared come into her bubble. She is a bit more controlled now in her glaring, and her gait has evened out almost completely, depending on where we are. For the most part she has returned to her introverted self, though I had a few days of FUN extroversion!!

I have been having a blast being able to be here at Parelli Land, meeting new people, seeing old friends and learning new things. Its only the first week, so I cant wait to see what will come! ...Apparently we are going to be having a soccer game of Intern/Extern VS Apprentices/Protogees.... so that should be super fun!!

:-)
S

Its My Life

Not only is it my semi-motto de jour but it is also a fairly catchy tune by Bon Jovi, circa 2004/2005. Interesting side fact: This song was the first song I really really liked and bought an album for. It really touched on something important to me - the desire to live and grow and be my own person. Sure I went through the whole BSB/Spice Girls thing when I was younger, but right about the time I really started to figure myself out, this song came out and caught my attention.

Before Parelli, in a hunter world full of perfect brown TB, appendix or lean quarter horses, I had a BIG CHUNKY PALOMINO Belgain x QH. I also loved and still love purple. So when I went to little shows, everyone else was there in their perfectly shined boots and boring jackets and white pads on their spectacularly uninteresting brown horses. Nothing against brown horses, it just cracked me up that every single [or nearly] hunter horse in the arena was brown. Chestnut. Boring. No or little white. They all looked the same. Perfectly braided, looking totally bored, cookie cutter little show horses. And then I walk in on my light palomino beefcake, decked out in purple. Purple saddle pad, purple polos, purple helmet, gloves, the whole she-bang. Obviously I stood out. Whether it was good or not, I dont know, but I was there to have FUN. Everyone else seemed to have forgotten that simple fact. The shows were even titled FUN Shows, there were no rules on attire - other than obvious safety guidelines - there was nothing stopping them from showing off a little fun personality other than their own lack of imagination.

I never really showed a lot, I can count on two hands how many shows I have been to, but each time I go, I try to add a little bit of uniqueness. My helmet is purple, so that's a given, but I also try to add other things, a purple saddle pad, purple ribbon in the braids, *something* that shows who *I* am, as ME, not as a drone who goes along with the crowd.

To be honest, my whole drive to be unique is part of why Indy's name is what it is - Individuality. To remind me to always be myself, not fit into some cutout pre-determined version of what someone thinks I should be.

Mostly I think that suits, there are times when it suits to conform somewhat, to keep peace and because I want to, to be able to grow and be better at being me. Being an individual doesn't mean I cant do things other people do, I just get to do them with my own flair. Live outside the box as it were. My life seems to generally lead down the outside-the-box path. Out of high school, University wasn't on my menu because I was to introverted to be confident enough to go.  I went to a small trade college instead, and also found Parelli around that time.

Even growing up, I never had the same sort of life plan that everyone else seemed to have - go to school, get a desk job, get married, have kids, live happily ever after. No, while other girls my age were planning their weddings and naming their not-even-yet-conceived children, I was planning my farm layout and picking out future horse names. Funny how life works out, isn't it?

In school I usually felt out of sorts. During Careers class the pressure was on to pick a career/job path that you would then study towards the rest of your high school career.   The only thing I ever wanted to do was be with horses. Other things weren't an option. Maybe that makes me narrow minded, but I prefer to think of it as having a goal and striving to reach it.

Post trade school [ten month program] I 'lucked' into an office job. I wasn't looking for it, I didn't particularly care to have it, but it was money, which I sorely needed at the time. Two years I spent in that office. Most of which time was just spent counting the minutes until I could get home to my horses to put the wind back in the sails of my passion. The up side of the office job was that it allowed me to save enough money to get myself to Florida and undertake the journey that has FINALLY brought me to the portion of my life that sees me sharing my passion with horsey people and Parelli students all around me.

I guess all this rambling could really be condensed down to a simple fact or two. Don't be afraid to make something of your passion. Hold onto your dreams and make them your reality. Anything can happen when you act your own person and break the mold.


When I started this post I wasn't really sure where it was going. I didn't think it would end up as a diatribe about my life... it was supposed to be a re-cap on my Florida planning - which is well underway, for those curious. I leave in three weeks. Horsey paperwork is on its way, blood drawn and just awaiting results. My trailer is living at my dad's - he is getting it all road worthy and such, and Goliath is getting an extra inspection or two before being asked to undertake a 1200km journey hauling such precious cargo.

Also, I have found two extremely nice people who will be leasing Indy for the Fast Track 1 and 2. I am thrilled about that. I was a bit worried about her sitting bored in a pasture for twelve weeks.I think she will have a blast, and certainly the people who get to play with her will as well, she is such a treat to be with.

Otherwise not to much has been happening here. We have and continue to have some very deep freezes. Temperatures haven't been above -15C in at least a week. Projections are more in the -20 range for the next while, with a delightful breeze making it feel much more frigid. I am not sure I can adequately express my excitement for warmth and sunshine, and the lacking need for seventeen layers, while still feeling cold.

So far, I am very proud of how I have lived my life. It is mine to live, and I refuse to live it to anyone's standards but my own - which are high, let me assure you. There are those around me who wonder and wish for me to just 'let go of this horsey thing' and 'get a real job' and settle down, but that would be a betrayal to myself and who I am, so I plan to continue on this journey, keep on keeping on with my horses, and getting my good better and my better best!

 :-)
S