Teaching a Giraffe to Fish

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Did you ever teach a giraffe how to fish?

No?

Me neither.

And yet when I really seriously think about the various things we expect to be able to get our horses to do, it's about as crazy a notion.

The difference is that we haven't grown up seeing John Wayne or the Lone Ranger out by a pond fishing with a giraffe. 

Now another big difference is that I don't think giraffes actually fish on their own and a lot of what we do with our horses, they can already do on their own....still, we have added the component of putting a predatorial species beside them, around them and even on top of them and asked them to give complete control of their bodies to us.

Pretty crazy.

And yet, people get sooooo frustrated with their horses.

Pat and Linda Parelli say:  "Don't get frustrated, get fascinated". 

I love this concept and have come to realize that the ONLY time I truly CAN be frustrated is when I am task-oriented.  I simply can't be frustrated if I am putting the relationship first.

It's very possible to go about teaching a task and still be in a relationship-first state of mind.  This is what I am learning in Level 2.  How to manage myself, how to be in that 'relationship-first' state of mind.  How to honestly be fascinated.

To accomplish this, I've had to up my emotional fitness and learn to focus on the positive.  Focus on what I want, be in the moment....all the good stuff that I have tried to do for so long.

And I have had to learn to let go, to accept the process, to respect the idea that it will take as long as it takes.

I have to earn my 'cantering off in the pasture with the butterflies' picture postcard.  There are no short cuts.

Somehow, within the steps of the Parelli system, it is all coming together naturally.

Fascination cures frustration. 

Becoming a puzzle-solver and learning to figure out what my horse needs (be it to be calmer, more trusting, more motivated, more willing) in order to accomplish what I want....breaking these out and building the horse's confidence remarkably builds MY confidence.

Who knows, by the time I get to Level 4, I might even be able to teach my horse to fish.  Oh wait, I don't eat fish.....never mind.

But there will be a ton of cool stuff I will have taught him by then!  Fascinating.

Sue, fascinated, truly.....in Ohio




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