We arrived for our UK Gold Summit on a cold but blue-sky morning. Somewhat better than the previous week had been! But it was still too cold to be outside and we decided to make this an indoor event. Pat and I had been talking about it and felt we should start with a debrief of the Celebration on the weekend. We asked for highlights – and there were plenty! Then questions regarding the event itself.
After that we took a break and then Pat held the next session. He focused questions on the Levels, elements of performance and then we showed the outtakes reel which featured Pat making noises and pulling faces during the making of the new Levels 1 – 4 DVD set. It was hilarious! Actually, I forgot to tell you that he started the session with a very funny sketch from that fantastic comedy duo, French and Saunders. You might want to look at it too, just search Youtube.com for French and Saunders horse sketch. It might bring back some memories or at least give you a good laugh and make you appreciate the horse savvy we now have thanks to Parelli!
Next was a nice lunch and then a forum where we asked members to contribute to the development of the club. Lots of great ideas were shared from students all over the UK and Europe.
After lunch it was my turn and I wanted to focus on the subjects that are my main areas – Fluidity and Horsenality, plus any questions on the Mastery Manuals. There were some really great questions and then we ended up focused on the newest developments around Fluidity for Finesse. Luckily I had my laptop with me and a bunch of photos I took for manual #12, so we all had a sneaky peek at that and talked about difficulties with riding with contact and how to solve them naturally.
As an aside, I was asked a good question at the VIP seminar on Saturday night of the Celebration which was really interesting, “What maneuver do you find the most challenging to ride in your dressage pursuits?” I replied “All of them!” Which at first made everyone laugh, but I explained that when you try to do everything at that level of concentration and engagement, it’s hard! After all, the definition of mastery is simple things done well – it’s not just the fancy stuff.
On that note, think about that every time you do something with your horse, whether it’s putting his halter on, saddling, bridling, riding, rope handling, any little maneuver from picking up your reins or applying your leg… how would a master do it?
Hop you are having great weekend 
Linda
