Hello! I am 31, married with two young children and I have a 11 yr old fleabitten gray arabian mare named Sasha. I had a horse years ago when I was a youngster (from age 8-16), a bay Arabian mare I called Donna who was bombproof and well trained.

I got Sasha in Dec of 2006 by a series of unlikely circumstances. I was 'just browsing' horse ads, not thinking I'd find a horse that was exactly what I wanted, but saw an ad which fit ALL the criteria (breed, color, age, sex, training, personality, health, AND price!). I went to try her out several times and she was it. Had I not been browsing the ads that week, she would have gone off to auction since the old man selling all his horses was just not able to keep them all anymore. So, I brought her home.

We have RFDTV so I'd watch the horse programming; I used to think all those silly games Parelli played with his horses was for people who are bored with their horses and just need something to do. (But now, knowing a bit more, I realize you learn a lot about horses, their language, how to get their respect, compliance and affection; not in that order!)

Anyways, BP (before Parelli), in early October 2007, Sasha spooked at some dogs barking; I fell off and severely bruised my tailbone, which is when I realized my leadership and her confidence needed some work. After all, I am older now so I realize I am not immortal or invincible (which apparently I believed when I was in my youth). I was recommended by the girls at the Yahoo group Hill Country Cowgirls to work with a lady in Leander named Julie Eskoff; she worked with me three times and was a great help. She introduced me to some Parelli concepts and strategies and loaned me her old Level 1 pack. She's too far away so I am not able to go for lessons very often, but I have joined the Savvy Club.

I also bought the trailer loading video and the Fluidity video from the Success Series. They have helped tremendously. I used to need two extra people and use a butt rope and after much struggling, get her loaded into the trailer. Now, after only three sessions, I can get Sasha to load most of the way into the trailer, willingly and confidently. We're slowly working on getting those hind legs in though! After the holidays I am going to save for my level one pack, but I've heard that you can spend too much time on level one stuff; you apparently are supposed to work on it diligently and get to level two within a month or two so your horse doesn't get bored. We are pretty good at seven games; sideways game is tough for us. But already our communication and partnership has improved significantly.

I am so grateful to have found these tools to enable my horse and I to have a consistent language both of us understand and to build our confidence in each other so we can have a real relationship and partnership. I really want Sasha to be a reliable trail horse. Maybe one day in the future I can do competitive trail with her.

 

 

PS-Here is the site of the lady Julie, mentioned above, who I have worked with.

http://www.homehorsemanship.com/