Okay, I am posting out of order because I have two other posts in queue about practicing Parelli Level 1 Natural Horsemanship with Violet. But I wanted to make this entry, so am going to post backwards.I had to leave to work for the National Institute of Health on Wednesday and was going to be gone through Friday. So, I stopped off to visit Violet on Wednesday morning and do a Parelli lesson. She was awesome. She really enjoys the games and enjoys trying to figure out what to do. She is playing hard! And what I really like about the games is that I'm getting a chance to really see how intelligent, responsive and witty she is. She's so clever and bright and sweet. I enjoy doing Parelli just for that lesson alone. It helps me see her as she sees herself -- as a horse!
Anyway, we had a perfect lesson. We played the Friendly, Porcupine, Driving, and Yo-Yo games and she was outstanding. She stood still. She let me approach. She was quiet and attentive. She generally responded at levels 1 or 2 and rarely needed 3 or 4. I was determined just to play lightly because I hadn't had a chance to really work with her over the past few days, but she was so into it that we moved along. She turned full circles on the fore and hindquarters with the lightest of touches. And she was even good about giving way without me touching her. And as usual, she was brilliant at the Yo-Yo game. I left for the airport thrilled.
And now this morning, I just returned from a riding lesson. She was terrific. I think we are learning to respect each other through Parelli. She was quiet and eager to work. She had a nice big bold trot without being pushy. She had energy and vitality and was nice and quiet off my aids. It was lots of fun. And I could actually feel myself riding differently too. I was definitely using my seat more and trying to ask for things through my seat bones first before anywhere else. I could feel her get bigger and floatier through my seat right before asking for the trot. We were very good. We even worked on serpentines, circles, and center-line X stops, and you could tell, she was trying to work as a team with me.
We are having lots of fun. And I've had a terrific batch of days with her. A great Parelli lesson before I left and a lovely cool sunny Saturday morning ride on my return! Namaste!