How NOT to do the Parelli Natural Horsemanship Program
I remember studying logic in Philosophy in college. I loved the clinical, clean, analytical structure of stripping away all emotion and prejudice from thought and getting down to the bare bones of TRUTH.
Of course then I'd walk out into the light of day from that ivory tower of the classroom and be faced with the reality of life, teeming with chaos, unpredictable patterns and concepts that don't fall into the 'neat' and the 'tidy'.
I wish I would have held on a bit more tightly to that respect that I had for the proper sequence of things, for logical progression and for linear movement. I lost that somewhere along the way. I now understand that all that chaos really does rest on predictable patterns.
When I first was exposed to Parelli more than a decade ago, I used the 'smorgasboard' approach, or as a friend of mine recently described it: treating it as a buffet. Perfect terminology.
That's precisely what I did with pretty much all the horsemanship programs I ventured upon....I'll take a little of this, oh no, I don't want to do that, skip over that, that step doesn't make sense, oh my horse doesn't need that, just go on.
Buffet style.
NOT the way to embarq on a PROGRESSIVE program that has a natural learning curve and SELF-DEVELOPMENT paradigm built into it.
It's like the drunk driver that thinks they can drive but alcohol has empaired the judgment they are using to draw that conclusion. They don't know what they don't know.
Horsemanship is a tricky thing like that. Probably, it needs to be taught backwards with us needing to know at the beginning what we will come to learn at the more advanced levels. But we don't know what we don't know yet and we have to learn, step by step. We have to earn it. We have to grow into it.
Feel is something that can't be taught but can only be learned the Dorrances and Ray Hunt suggested.
So how do you learn something that can't be taught?
By circling the drain of it and hitting up against that which is missing in you as you try to achieve greater and greater connections with the best teacher in the world: the horse.
As you hit your walls of frustration and areas of inadequacy and learn to manage your own emotions and develop patience and lightness of touch you begin to glimpse the prize. The harder you grasp at it, the more it feels like trying to grip water as it is flowing thru your hands.
You learn to respect the process and to pay the dues.
No, this is not a prize easily won....it's hours and hours of dedication and persistence and looking into the dark areas of your own weaknesses.
It's making your way slowly through the steps, one after the other, and not skipping ahead to the dessert.
It's knowing the dessert will come....if you just follow the program.
The good news is that you only have to do THE.NEXT.STEP. The bad news is that you should only do THE.NEXT.STEP.
Of course, with the Parelli program, there is so much variety inherent in the program that one will not get bored, but still that antsy, I WANT IT NOW, part of us emerges every now and then stirring up restlessness.
Part of my journey, will be to learn to stay on the course, to move forward systematically and to work the program. This tendency of mine to flit around is not restricted just to horsemanship; I tend to do that in other areas of my life too. Practicing getting more focused in those areas is helping my horsemanship and vice versa.
Learning to be content with where I am has been one of my biggest challenges. Interestingly, it also gives immense joy....to just be....and to be thankful for the process.
Sue, still on the appetizers, in Ohio
Of course then I'd walk out into the light of day from that ivory tower of the classroom and be faced with the reality of life, teeming with chaos, unpredictable patterns and concepts that don't fall into the 'neat' and the 'tidy'.
I wish I would have held on a bit more tightly to that respect that I had for the proper sequence of things, for logical progression and for linear movement. I lost that somewhere along the way. I now understand that all that chaos really does rest on predictable patterns.
When I first was exposed to Parelli more than a decade ago, I used the 'smorgasboard' approach, or as a friend of mine recently described it: treating it as a buffet. Perfect terminology.
That's precisely what I did with pretty much all the horsemanship programs I ventured upon....I'll take a little of this, oh no, I don't want to do that, skip over that, that step doesn't make sense, oh my horse doesn't need that, just go on.
Buffet style.
NOT the way to embarq on a PROGRESSIVE program that has a natural learning curve and SELF-DEVELOPMENT paradigm built into it.
It's like the drunk driver that thinks they can drive but alcohol has empaired the judgment they are using to draw that conclusion. They don't know what they don't know.
Horsemanship is a tricky thing like that. Probably, it needs to be taught backwards with us needing to know at the beginning what we will come to learn at the more advanced levels. But we don't know what we don't know yet and we have to learn, step by step. We have to earn it. We have to grow into it.
Feel is something that can't be taught but can only be learned the Dorrances and Ray Hunt suggested.
So how do you learn something that can't be taught?
By circling the drain of it and hitting up against that which is missing in you as you try to achieve greater and greater connections with the best teacher in the world: the horse.
As you hit your walls of frustration and areas of inadequacy and learn to manage your own emotions and develop patience and lightness of touch you begin to glimpse the prize. The harder you grasp at it, the more it feels like trying to grip water as it is flowing thru your hands.
You learn to respect the process and to pay the dues.
No, this is not a prize easily won....it's hours and hours of dedication and persistence and looking into the dark areas of your own weaknesses.
It's making your way slowly through the steps, one after the other, and not skipping ahead to the dessert.
It's knowing the dessert will come....if you just follow the program.
The good news is that you only have to do THE.NEXT.STEP. The bad news is that you should only do THE.NEXT.STEP.
Of course, with the Parelli program, there is so much variety inherent in the program that one will not get bored, but still that antsy, I WANT IT NOW, part of us emerges every now and then stirring up restlessness.
Part of my journey, will be to learn to stay on the course, to move forward systematically and to work the program. This tendency of mine to flit around is not restricted just to horsemanship; I tend to do that in other areas of my life too. Practicing getting more focused in those areas is helping my horsemanship and vice versa.
Learning to be content with where I am has been one of my biggest challenges. Interestingly, it also gives immense joy....to just be....and to be thankful for the process.
Sue, still on the appetizers, in Ohio
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