It’s like déjà vu all over again!

Watching the new Levels program has been a trip down memory lane in so many ways – taking me back to the days when I was a dressage rider with a horse so dangerous and out of control that I turned to a cowboy for advice!  I was desperate.  The things I learned in that first clinic with Pat were the answers I was looking for – and so much more.

As I watched the new product, I was struck anew by the way that Pat reacts when things go ‘wrong’ – he doesn’t!  I remember being amazed at that in my first clinic.  When my horse, Regalo, didn’t do what I wanted, Pat said, “So what?”  I couldn’t believe it!  I’d been taught to get firmer and punish my horse for “misbehaving,” and I’d never thought of being able to just let it go and try again.  Boy did I see a difference in my horse when I followed Pat’s advice.  I realized that the techniques I had been taught were only making Regalo worse – he was scared, and I was only scaring him more.  Punishment doesn’t work for prey animals, all it does is cause them to doubt your leadership.

There were so many pieces of Level 1 and 2 that reminded me of my first exposure to Parelli.  I remember what a revelation learning the Seven Games was – I had no idea that horses had a ‘language’ and that we could communicate with them so clearly.  And I had to laugh when Pat was tossing the rope over Vision’s back.  The first time I did that with Regalo, he thought I’d thrown a cobra at him!  Pat had tasked us to throw our lead ropes over our horses’ backs six times without the horses moving their feet – it took me HOURS to accomplish that, and I sure learned a lot about myself and my horse in the process!

The principles of Parelli haven’t changed over the years, but our ability to communicate them has.  It is so exciting to see the same information that changed my life forever become available to horse-lovers all over the world in the clearest, most elegantly simple way yet.

Naturally Yours,
Linda