Back in the UK.. Catch up Colt Start ...Lots to do!

Hello again, and I have to start this entry in the same way I started the last one, by apologising for being away so long...... a whole month since I last 'blogged', is that the correct term?
Yep, well, I'm back at home, I actually spent a few days in Kansas, with Sharon. We had lots of plans but in fact didn't really do much... which was GREAT! Thanks Sharon, for letting me really chill out and get my head together before the trip home. Which I might add , was pretty uneventful, unlike my trip into the US. Immigration don't make quite such a fuss about you leaving the country!!! And I even managed to get my beautiful new western saddle back home, yes guys, I bought a Natural Performer, and I love it! And Socks appears happy with it too.

Ok, before I whizz off with telling you whats happening back here in glorious sunny Devon, I think I promised a few more details about the Colt Start, and of course riding with Pat!

Colt starting is about Horse Development as opposed to Horsemanship which is about the human learning to be with the horse. The Parelli levels programme is about Horsemanship. However, the basis of colt starting is Level 1 with excellence. Putting Principles before goals and timelines. And the route to that first ride is for the colt to accept the human, as a friend then a leader, then to accept the saddle, the placement then the cinch, then to accept the rider as a passenger, then a guider/leader and finally accept the bit, wearing it and then communicating through it.....
This was the first time I had ever experienced starting a horse in a herd environment, but I soon understood how effective it could be. The first objective was to 'catch' the herd, and then the individual. Catch the mind, not just the feet. In order to achieve that we had to cause the herd to stand still, and then cause the individual to stand still. Friendly game really. Then we were looking for motion, i.e., asking the colt to move in a particular direction, as opposed to commotion, the colt moving us in all directions.So thats the next 6 games..... nose , neck , maybe the feet. Then action towards a goal, which really means providing purpose. Simple really !!!
We had 3 different herds of colts, and by the way, I should maybe explain that in the US a 'colt' is just a young unstarted horse, male or female...................
There were a group of colts from the Attwood Ranch, 2 & 3 year olds who had been handled some, then there was another group of 2 & 3 year olds from a local breeder, with a couple of yearlings thrown in, and lastly a large group of yearlings , also from a local breeder and these two herds had not had much if any handling.
In total we spent 12 days with the colts, (they did get some time off), There was a taming period, and some needed more taming than others, specifically Spirit and Donkey, a couple of yearlings who were sure they were on the menu for dinner.
I was given them as a project, basically lots of friendly game. Then we played online, 7 games, with obstacles and trailer loading , swimming in the pond. Riding bareback, even sitting on the yearlings, before bareback pads and saddles and eventullay riding. First as a passenger, in the herd, then as individuals and on our third ride, first ride outside the arena we went and drove the cattle! The yearlings were not saddled or really ridden, but lots of ground skills, including farrier prep, cliipng prep, trailer loading. And the 2 guys I was given to tame actually went up in the trailer first when the were taken back home.
I also started a bay colt, not too much commotion, just a couple of bucks with the saddle but then he really began enjoying himself, especially when he was given a job rounding up the cows.(I called him 'Little Star', cos he was).

As you know, during the colt start Rob became ill, which was a shock for everyone and he was sorely missed. But he's a great guy and he set us up so fantastically well that we were able to just move right along and keep things going,even though we were all quaking at the knees when we heard that Pat was going to take over! Everybody wants to get the chance to ride with Pat, thats for sure,but it would of been better under differnt circumstances. Nevertheless, I am thrilled that I got the chance to ride with Pat, and I'm really glad I had my cowboy gear on cos it certainly gave me advantages..... I got to go bring down the cows.... i mean cattle! It was kinda scary, not the cattle, just the Pat factor thing, but I survived !!!

Ok enough of colts,and i guess i should tell you about the conference. BUT I'm not going to, cos if you weren't at either the US or the UK conference, you should have been, but you will get to see highlights on Savvy Club dvds or TV. Now I just want to post some more pics, of some of the great friends I made during this uni course.
There's Mira and I, on our last trip to the laundry..... Oh dear, we had such fun.
THen there's Feliz, Maude and my cabin mate, Sally, who I shall be seeing in a couple of days time at HOYS...
And Terri, who will also be on the stand at HOYS next weekend..... not sure who's in the background, think it's Berrin...


and of course.... Ben. Who is Swiss, but also speaks italiano!


It is I have to say, strange to be home. For a while there I thought it had all been a dream, but then I went up to a demo the other day with Alison Jones, and met up with Sally again which was wonderful. We just sort of looked at each other and grinned..... all those shared memories......... We had a busy productive weekend, helping Alison with the demo , then putting on a tournament on the Sunday. Actually, I kinda of got off the plane and hit the ground running... lots of plans and reorganisation.
But before I tell you any of that, I just have to say a HUGE, MASSIVE, thanks to everybody who looked after things for me while I was away. I'm so sorry that you all had such a wet and soggy time, but I do thank you so so much. Jim , of course in charge of things,with Annie as second in command, Rose and Kay and Sybil,who looked after Socks and Russet. Tashy who tried hard to de-flea dogs and cats.... Tom and Sarah Widdicombe, who kept an eye on Solo, up there on the moor.... Mum and Dad, who emailed me lots and were actually at home when I called.... and everyone who wished me well, read this blog and posted comments.... Thank you all xxxxxxx

So ,whats next.... well, I'm not absolutely sure..... apart from looking after my horsemanship so that it takes care of me... Briefly, I have another horse to play with and hopefully bring up through to level 3, which is the first requirment for attaining my 2*. She's is a sweet little 4 year old mare, watch this space to find out more in the future. I have students to teach, but would love to have more, I have Solo, a yearling with lots of attitude who needs my attention. I am on the stand next week at Horse of the Year Show, look forward to seeing you there, will also be at Your Horse , Stoneleigh next month and Olympia at Christmas. And of course, the most important person who has barely had a mention, I have Socks, and together we will just keep journeying on...... til next time...x

Graduation Day and Savvy Conference!

Excited???? You Bet!!!

Have you missed me????? Sorry its been a while since my last entry, but life on the ranch has been VERY busy...... I will at some point bring you all up to date with the past couple of weeks, especially more details about the Colt Start, which was so brilliant.

Unfortunately, Rob McAuliffe who was our very excellent leader on the Colt Start was taken ill before the end of the course. Thankfully he is recovering now in hospital, and we all look forward to him being back to full health. This did mean however that we spent the last 4 days riding with Pat, and well, you'll have to wait a while to hear more about that...................

In the mean time, I have some very good news for you all, at least I hope you think its good news........ yesterday, Wednesday 3 September 2008, I graduated from the University module as a 1 Star Instructor, with 1 Star Colt Start. So I'm very excited and can't wait to get back to see you all, especially, Vicki and Ice, thanks for all your emails, Sue and Ted, Kay, Sarah, Lily and everybody who has kept in touch.

I have to rush now because I have a few last minute preparations for tomorrow and the first day of the Savvy Conference. We start very early, Smokie has to be tacked up ready to ride by 5.00am as we are on Car Parking duty.... gonna be a busy but very exciting day...
Will have lots of news for you all...
Keep it Natural !!!!!!

Seven weeks down and into the Colt Start !

Yep.... its been seven weeks of Uni and this weekend we meet Rob and begin our three weeks of Colt Start. The ranch is strangely quiet as this morning saw the last remaining students drive away. Once again we have the place to ourselves, which is kinda nice, but it was sad to say goodbye to all the friends we had made over the past weeks. I'm sure we'll be meeting many of them again though, sometime in the future.

I've got loads of photos to show you this week, most of them were taken on Friday afternoon, which was when John led us through a seven week recap and we talked about personal highlights. We also had some fun and tested our balancing skills, and I have to admit that I have some work to do on that score!

We went back to the spiders web, this time there was alot less discussion but loads more laughter!

We sort of remembered who went through where from the first time, and Christine and Mike popped through quick.
Then it was me and like before I was the first one to ring the bell, not that I had much say in the matter as I was manhandled through!

Does my bum look big from that angle????

Then we moseyed on over to the honeycomb and John demonstrated our next challenge, which was all about focus and balance and I was rubbish. I could try to excuse my poor performance in many ways , not least in that I wasn't feeling too brilliant as there is a special uni student bugs that has made a few of us feel pretty rotten, but actually I was just rubbish! I think I'm going to sneak off and practise this one then post photos of me looking all wonderful later on!


You can probably see from my expression that I'm not too keen!On the other hand Terri and Sally were amazing and speed off at the speed of light. ( Slight exaggeration, but they were very good! )


There have been many highlights over these past few weeks, but for most of us the main ones were to do with the amazing relationships we were building, with our horses of course, but also with our fellow students. And I know John was right when he told us that no matter what happen after this course, we would take something away that would change us forever.

So, tomorrow we have our Colt Start orientation, and get to meet Rob who will be laeding us on this course. we have already got to meet our four-legged classmates, and I thought that you might like to see some pictures of them. Some of them have been here a while , but some only arrived this week and we have been getting to meet and greet them on a daily basis as we take them to water.


If you thinking that some of them look too small to back , please don't worry as there are some yearlings and two year olds that will only be handled from the ground.


The ones in these photos haven't been handled at all, just driven up into the trailer from the pasture, so they are pretty sensitive.


Its fun driving them down to the troughs as we have to pass between the horses in the other pastures and they like to stop and talk. We just try to keep them moving, slowly!
Ok I need to finish off now as we are all invited to a barbeque tonight, at Jerry's place. Jerry is a two star instructor who is joining us for the colt start and has ahouse in Pagosa. I need to go and clean up!
Before I go, thank you all for emailing me with your comments about the UkK Conference, I nknew you would have a great time. And While I'm thanking people, thank you Pam and Jamie for driving all the way down to bring me a saddle for the colt start, it was so good to see you and can't wait for you to come back for the Savvy Conference!

UK Savvy Conference!

This week my thoughts have been very much over the water with everyone in the UK. And as I write this I'm wondering just how you are all feeling, how did it go? I remember last year so well, driving back home, with my mum. In fact we didn't go home , we took a detour to Portsmouth to stay with my brother for a day or two. But the journey back flew by as we talked about the conference and what we'd seen and heard. I'd only been back from Colorado for a few weeks so I'd also been able to catch up with some of the people I'd met on the 6 weeks course. Time is strange, I remember it all like it was last week and yet when I think of all that has happened since then I can hardly beleieve it, including the fact that I'm here at The sSavvy Centre, on the Uni course.................
So I have a request, to all of you who attended the Conference, please let me know what you thought of it all, either by email or post a comment on here..... ok??

Regarding what has been happening here, well we are now half way through course 3, Fluidity II, the Finesse course, and the end of the 6 week course is in sight. We have been present at all the presentations and demos, but once more the emphasis has been on clearing trails in the afternoons. And I am very proud to announce that Smokie and I have been up to Condor Peak and Paradise Meadow.

It is no mean feat either, because the trails are in a dreadful state, badly blocked by fallen trees and overgrown with thick scrub. Tuesday we finally cleared the trail up to Condor Peak, then Friday John and Kathy led us all to Paradise Meadow. It was a long trek, we were actually out over 4 hours, as it took us a while longer than normal to find our way back down, but it was an absolutely brilliant ride. Smokie has totally captured my heart, she is awesome and I love her to bits, she was the best partner I could possibly of had. The first time we climbed to Condor Peak she was so funny, all the horses were grazing but she just stood staring out over the edge as if she could believe her eyes. We tried to take some photos of her, but they don't do her or the view justice.


I've posted some of her peeping through the trees and there a good one of Mira where you can get and idea of the view.


Another highlight of the week happened just yesterday evening, when Terri invited Sally and I back to her house for dinner, to watch a dvd and most importantly of all I was able to take a bath !!!! It was wonderful, bubbles and all. I have of course been showering daily but haven't had abath since I left the UK. I did try at Pams but the boiler was off....remember!
We had a very pleasent evening, it was also great to sit on a sofa again!

Today has been a nice quiet day too, took Eclipse out to play this morning and for a short trail ride, hung out with Smokie so that she could graze then spent the afternoon reading and snoozing in the cabin. Its not quite so hot which I have to say is rather nice. So I'm feeling pretty well rested and ready for what ever this week brings...... I think we have some fencing to do, there is a group of colts arriving, only 1 week til colt start..........
So don't forget to let me know all about the UK Conference, can't wait to hear from you.... til next time......

Trail Riding in the beautiful Rocky Mountains

Well, we have reached the middle of the course, the 10 week course that is... I can't believe it, the weeks go by so quickly. Today was check-in day for Course 3, Fluidity II course and it looks as though it is going to be very interesting as there are eight or nine field instructors who have come in to take the course, some of the names are familiar and it will be a great chance to get to know them better.

So whilst new people have been arriving, others have been leaving, Pat and Linda left for the UK yesterday, the horses have been over there a week already, and the rest of the Tour Team left today. I would love to be able to go to the NEC again this year, last year was fantastic, so those of you who haven't yet bought a ticket.... WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR !!!!! ( By the way, did I mention that I will be at the Savvy Conference here in Pagosa this year......)

Let me tell you about my week, which has been incredibly hot, no rain at all this week and temperatures up in the nineties, really hot. I think you guys in the UK have had all the rain. I still have two horses to play with, Smokie of course and Eclipse, so I have been getting up even earlier to play and ride before breakfast. It is a struggle to get out of bed, but definitely worth it, its beautiful and much cooler. John has given us several things to work on, riding patterns mainly, but also getting our younger horses used to dragging things, on line first then riding. This second week of the Freestyle Fluidity course is mainly to do with trail riding and being safe, and it was great to get out in the mountains with the horses. Tuesday was the first trail ride for the Fluidity I course, and a lot of preparation went into making sure everybody who wanted to go was safe to go. For some people it was maybe the first time they had actually ridden their horse out of the arena, so it was a big deal. I think there were about 40 people who went, it was a pretty impressive sight.
As Smokie and I had already been on the trails a few times it was time for Eclipse to strut his stuff! He was great and even helped in the preparation games with the students, so I was really pleased with him. He’s not the most motivated horse when in the arena but out on the trail he perks up, definitely a Left introvert who needs a purpose Having said that our canter /walk transitions in the Big Top this week weren’t bad, we had a couple of pretty snappy departures at one point! And he loves pushing the big green ball.


Wednesday was more trail riding, but then there was a big surprise in store for Thursday, which we knew would be Tournament day, but what a Tournament! Uni students were summoned to the office for a meeting and asked to get the Big Top ready, so we went and set up 5 online tasks and 5 freestyles tasks. The tasks were level 3 or 4 so we guessed that the faculty were going to put on a demo tournament. This was half right, because what actually happened was a proper tournament between a faculty team and Pat’s Super Savvy team! Pat rode around supervising and making sure that the scoring was done correctly, and faculty members John, Avery and Julia competed against the Savvy team, Amy, Emily and Lilan. Then Pat talked about his plans for taking the Tournaments worldwide, demonstrated other games, and explained the scoring system. I’m not going to tell you any more because very soon you will hear all about it in great detail and I promise you that you’re gonna love it!
Later in the afternoon, everybody had a chance to play in a tournament, Uni students were enthusiastically scoring and there was loads of vocal encouragement from the sidelines. Pat drove around with Zeus in the carriage, which probably put the poor guys who were actually doing the tasks in a flutter, but it was fun, although incredibly hot in the sand and the dust.

Friday was Finale Day, but slightly different from the usual format as Pat’s tournament ran way over time Thursday morning. So Friday saw every one up bright and early for yet another trail ride, going higher up the mountain. It was so nice to be out riding in the morning and it was such a beautiful morning too. Lots of laughter and happy faces. A great way to finish a course. Then Friday afternoon and Saturday morning lots of goodbyes to make way for all the hellos that arrived today!

Saturday night was pretty special too, as it was the County Fair in Pagosa Springs and it was dance night. I normally hate dances, (just ask Jim) but this one was perfect. Tim Sullivan, who sings every week at our campfire was there with his band, and most of Pagosa was there, all ages, little kids to great grandparents, practically everyone in jeans, and the girls that did wear ‘frocks’ still had on cowboy boots. I did go and have a look around the shops during the afternoon, while we were waiting for the laundry to launder and absolutely had to buy some cowboy boots too. It was so funny, but we had a couple of beers and danced our socks off! I might even find a photo to post !
Ok I better go,its almost dark, another awesome suset. Early start tomorrow, I'm so looking forward to this course. Have a wonderful time at the UK Conference, I'll be thinking of you! Until next week..........

Busy week...... Farrier Prep and Trail Riding....

Well..... hi everybody, sorry I've been rather quiet this week but it has been so busy! I'm not complaining, in fact up until now I've probably had less of a workload than some of the others, but john gave me another horse to play with this week.... Eclipse. Some of you who are reading this will remember him from last year. He belongs to Tori, who was on our 6 week course and who never actually went home! She stayed on to work in the office and is now on the Tour Team, getting ready right now for her first visit to the UK for the Conference next month.

He's a very smart little bay horse, only 5 years old and only really has about a month worths of rides on him, so we have been having some fun. I started playing with him on Thursday and had my first ride on him yesterday, up in the Big Top. We are still getting to know each other, and as yet I don't have any photos of him but hopefully I will soon.

This week has absolutely flown by, we have been riding much more and out on the mountain, trail riding. Smokie is a star, she's such a fun horse and growing in confidence alll the time. John has had us riding up and down short but fairly steep slopes, in preparation for some longer rides in the mountains and Thursday had us all splashing about in a pretty merky looking pond, which had some surprisingly deep spots!!!
We have also had the farrier here all week and were each given a horse to prepare for shoeing, which meant playing with him to help him stand quietly but also actually remove the shoes. I have removed shoes before, but only 1 or 2 at a time and generally when they are nearly coming off any way. This time the 4 shoes were on tight, with plastic shims or wedges on the fores. It was an interesting test, my horse Vegas was first on the list Friday morning, so I was up bright and early to have him ready for the farrier by 8.30am. Vegas is not the most helpful horse when it comes to holding his feet up , but he wasn't too bad and by the time Brandon ,the farrier arrived the front shoes were off. Thankfully, he went off to have his breakfast so I had a little more time, and the hind shoes actually turned out to be easier. Having the right tools makes the job a whole lot simpler, but I take my hat off to all farries and trimmers, it's bloody hard work !!!
You'll remember that I was hoping to find some photos of the rope handling session, and we are pooling photos, so thanks to Maude and Mira for letting me have theirs.... I love this one of Maude in action......
It's getting late so I'll finish off for now, will try and tell you more news tomorrow and post some more photos...... Until then......

Trailer Loading, Freestyle Riding and Batman !

I can hardly believe it is the weekend again, the days go by so quickly. It is a check-in check-out weekend, we said goodbye to the students who left at the end of the Liberty & Horse Behaviour course and today is the start of the Fluidity I course.
Yesterday was a busy end of a really busy week, as uni students we had the honour of scrubbing buckets and generally tidying up the pens, arenas and play areas. Then we were able to watch trailer loading for real, which is always interesting. The faculty were on hand to offer advice and step in if necesscary, but for the most part students loaded their own horses. Trailer loading is an excellent indicator of the human/horse relationship, illustrating levels of confidence and trust and true partnership. We were treated to a wonderful demonstration of trailer loading excellence by Avery and her two horses, 'A Hug' and 'A Kiss' earlier in the week. So good to see how smoothly things can go when you cause your idea to become your horse's idea!
The L & HB course is actually a non riding course, but we (uni students) had our first group riding session on Thursday afternoon in the Big Top. Nearly everyone is riding a horse that they have only been playing with for a short time, and really know nothing about as they are not the usual lease horses. So we have been playing with strategies designed to find out or diagnose where our horse is at, so that there are no surpries when you finally put your foot in the stirrup and mount up. We had all played with our horses on line during the morning and the first 1/2 hour in the Big Top was a continuation of ground skills but with the idea of riding. So lots of cofidence building. We rode with the halter, 12' line and bareback pad, 14 students and John and Kathy supervising, also mounted. It was a first for me in that most of my freestyle riding has been done at home alone, or in a very small group of 3 or 4, and everybody very at home on their own horse.
It was set up very well, probably how I imagine the colt start will be set up. There were no major upsets and the energy in the the arena felt very positive, everybody seemed to have a really good time and we were all eager to repeat the experience on Friday. Which we did, the only difference being that this time we introduced saddles and we hadn't had the chance to play as long on line. But, although there were a couple of exciting moments, again everybody came out at the end of the session still smiling !!!
So today is a quiet day, laundry is all done and when I finished this I shall get my shirts ironed for the week. Smokie is having a quiet day too, just hanging out snoozing in her pen, I'll take her for a mosey around later and to eat some grass. Orientation for Course 2 is at 3 pm, which will take about an hour, read through my notes, feed horses, dinner then it will be an early night ready for Monday morning. We did get out for some R & R last night, saw Batman in The Dark Knight at the local cinema. It was packed, even had kids sat in the aisles! So an early night is due as you can see from the photo of Mira and I snatching 40 winks on the porch of the classsroom!

More News From From Pagosa.....

Tomorrow we have our first riding session all together in a group, so no disappearing off and hiding behind the Big Top ! As you can see from the picture, some of students decided to see what their horses were made As it is the Liberty & Horse Behaviour course we have been concentrating on ground skills. We had a brilliant demo from Tara and Trevor on Circling Game,with some very interesting student horses, then this afternoon there was a workshop in the Arena Grande. Looks pretty good doesn't it, all those students playing together.


Yesterday Trevor spent the morning introducing us to rope handling skills, which was was fun. I learnt how to build a loop and we tried forehand,backhand, sidehand throws. It took me a little while, but I eventually got going and i'm very proud to tell you that I have successfully roped several feed buckets and a couple of cones. I think Pat's cows are fairly safe for the minute but watch this space ! Haven't got any pics of us in action but may have later...

This is a short entry, it's campfire tonight, thought it was going to called off as we had a storm earlier, so I'll just leave you with a photo of a deserted Savvy Park after the rain .... I'm sorry if you're getting too much rain in the UK, but here we really need the dust dampened down!
And the rainbows are awesome!!!!

Way More Than Riding!

I hope by now that most of you realise than the Parelli program is about MUCH more than just riding... and never more so than on the 10 week course. We have been doing all kinds of things and the common theme that runs through all of it is the importance of teamwork. I spoke of my experience with the trust fall in an earlier entry, where my safety was quite literally in the hands of my team mates, but we have been doing some other things too, not quite so exciting but still working as a team.

During the first week we played alot of ball games, one in particular was a combination of rugby, football and british bulldog..... yeah, I know, you need to have good imagination for that one. We generally played games first thing after breakfast, which didn't do much for those of us trying to maintain a professional appearance, but it certainly set us up for the day.... One of the really fun things was walking on the wooden skies, in a team of 7. Took lots of focus and we competed against the clock in 2 teams. It was one of those times that slow and right beats fast and wrong........ Sam's team beat us on the last run by a few Another against the clock game was the spider web...... the web was made of bungees between two trees, with little bells hanging on it. The whole team had to move from one side to another, through the web, each person through a different opening. Each opening could only be used once, and if the bell rang we had to go back to the start. We had to work out who would fit through which part of the web, who need to go through first and last and so on.... there was plenty of dicussion but no arguements and we only rang the bell once and that was right at the beginning.
So... I guess you are all thinking that we are having a fun time.... and we are! But we are also getting down to some work, generally helping around the ranch, picking up rocks, poo picking, filling feed bins and water troughs, tidying and sweeping tack rooms. We also spent a while clearing the side of a hill of cut trees and shrubs, throwing it down to a load up on a big trailer. All teamwork, and it was amazing how much we achieved in a couple of hours, even in the midday
After all that, a few sessions on the seat builders..... which is probably one of the times that the teams can get a little carried away, though I must admit they were pretty good with me