RAVE: Clinic with a Parelli Professional!!

What I learnt from Ron Pyne yesterday . . .

Focus. Focus. Focus. So apparently I am lacking in the focus department (which I knew because seeing as earlier in the day when Anna, Beth and myself were all sitting around looking at various Parelli material I mentioned that my focus needed some work!). When I want my horse to move his feet I need to focus my energy to where I want to go, not where I am or where I’ve been. So bring up the energy, take a deep breath and project that energy. I need to use my body language and energy first, my tools second.

Lightness. I need to be very light when asking my horses anything, always start off asking very quietly, having a long phase one buy just touching the hair. But I also need to make sure that I follow though and move quickly to phase four, and not stay stuck in phase two or three. I baby Blue a bit and don’t like going to phase four, but I really have to get over it and go to phase four to help him become lighter and more responsive.

Having a plan and setting goals. They don’t have to be a “got to” as in I don’t “got to do it now”, but they should be a “get to” as in I should work on “getting to it eventually”. It might take two minutes, it might take two days, it might take two weeks or maybe even two months but I need to set a goal and work on “getting to it”. I need to establish my goal, figure out what it is I want to achieve and then focus on it!

When I play with my horses I need to know what we are going to work on, how long we are going to work on it, when I’m going to stop etc . . . so when playing the circling game I need to know which direction I’m going to send my horse, at what gait and how many times I want them to go around. I should then count the amount of corrections needed to reach my goal, and work on it over the next few play sessions to see if I can make the number of corrections less and less.

He was pretty impressed with the repour and the relationship that I have with Blue, but said that Blue is trying to tell me now that he wants me to ask softer, and if I ask softer he will see me as a better leader. I’ve come to rely too much on my tools and not enough on me, I have confidence that my tools will get the job done, but not the confidence that I can get the job done. He was also impressed with the fact that everything that I have accomplished thus far has pretty much been self taught, learning from the DVDs and reading articles. Said that all of us certainly was on the right road to bettering ourselves.

Oh he also LOVED Tru and offered to buy her. He was VERY impressed with how well she is put together, that she was extremely chunky and I think he also got a kick out of her when she went over to the large Parelli Ball in the field and started paying and chewing at it lol. I’m thinking I might need to breed Kallie again lol, her babies appear to be in high demand!

tHAT MUST HAVE BEEN QUITE AMAZING..........

WOW, how did all this come about?? did you do a clinic with him ??? and if so is he doing any more, i have recently started dabbling in Parelli, just the basic's ..... but quite like it.

Sounds like you had a good time and learnt some usefull info

Yes Ron came down for a clinic at my place for myself, as well as my friends Anna and Beth. It was amazing! He is in NS for three days of clinics (done as of today) then is going to PEI for 3 days of clinics. He has been down the past two years and we will for sure be getting him back again next year!

It sounds as though you had a ton of fun! Ron is a hoot, such a nice guy! I have a picture of him somewhere around him on Belle. I took the first clinic he did on the Island a couple of years ago, and the second day when I went out to the barn, I found him sitting on Belle teaching the morning lesson :D He also took her on a trail ride the night before with the barn gang (with my permission, of course) and he just loved her! Glad to hear you had fun!

It sounds like you learned alot from your clinic. It's nice to have a trained pair of eye watch you and be able to pick up on the things you need to work on. Good for you!