General purpose

I've already told a bit about attitude, now it's time to define our purpose. A purpose is inherent all the time- a main one, valid always and a very little one just for this one meeting. We have to have a purpose, because only then our actions have effects.
The most important thing is to care 'bout self improvement. To be a better human, better partner for our horse, to learn all the time and perfect what we already have. To find what we still can't do and don't think you're such a fool, simply start working hard and be happy with this great opportunity to learn! It's a thing we can work on without a horse, it would be perfect if we made such habit before first contact with horses. It's necessary to see the mistake, think about the reason and how to change it. And constantly put into effect.
We hear it everywhere- from musicians, sportsmen, artists. "This made possible such an amazing development. The truth is it all isn't about who sings best or run fastest. It's about selfimprovement." It may seem they just babble like this 'cause they have to say something wise. What the hell connects a sprinter with a painter? 
Well our whole world is connected, everything is interlaced. All the good that works here works also there. 
And the purpose our life is exactly to become a better version of ourselves. To be the best me that've ever walked on Earth.
Working with horses is really demanding, because we are fully responsible for another living being- a very vulnerable creature, on which our every fault leaves a sign.
If you forget the lyrics on a concert it may be bad, but happens, life goes on. Next time you'll do better. 
And what with horses? Unfortunatelly it isn't so easy. You get mad once and hit the horse and you may emotionally collapse him or even make him dangerous 'cause he'll just try to avoid the pain he experienced from you.
It takes a lot knowledge, respect and experience to become a great horse trainer. And this is the goal of all of us. 
With animals we can't stay just ok, we have to be awesome. Only then it will work- partnership strong and both sides happy.
Fortunatelly horses forgive us everything if we don't make the same mistakes. But it doesn't mean they forget. People rather forget than firgive. That's one of many things we can learn from horses. They don't think one thing over and over- experiences don't appear in their minds untill something simillar happens. That's why they may react unpredictable.
 Still everything is possible to fix, don't be afraid to move. We all make mistakes, but to grow we have to go out our comfort zone. Do something new. Sometimes you'll not succeed. Happens, next time you'll do it other way and it'll be better. We all are humans and God it's so wonderful! We do same things, feel the same, like the same, doesn't matter if we're just a beggining girl or Pat Parelli himself, Rihanna or Johnny Depp.
The way our life looks depends only on us! Do your best all the time, do what you love and the world's gonna hear about you for sure. Who knows who you may become if you don't give up now?
What are things we should work on to get profits with horses? For sure inner peace and self-control. Horses easily take over our emotions, our energy to be precised. Only clenching hands can seriously stress them. Train calming down in difficult moments, controlling emotions, body awareness. If there're tenses and stiffenings in our body it in a flash moves on the horse so we have to be carefull 'bout such things. And take care of our health.
Let's pay attention to signals we are sending all the time. Horses are very sensitive and receive them all. With body language and energy we tell everything about us- our mood, our feelings at the moment, if we know what to do or not, if we have some hidden stress and horses read us like an opened book.
With horses we need a lot of confidence. Not a screaming and trampling one 'cause it's a sing of a confidence lack. A calm, controlling, consistent one. Sometimes we have to show the horse we are smarter and if there's need we can kick. But we do it without emotions. Just add energy, not anger. When horses teach each other it often happens they get kicked because they didn't reacted as they should. That's the way they learn, they won't do it again. After such lesson everything returns to normal, no one's offended, no one's mad. Lesson's ended. That's another thing we have to learn to be effective with horses.
Its worthy to cultivate our sensitivity and emphathy, carefull observation and conclusion finding skill. With horses we have to pay attention to every detail- by a blink or tail waving the horse may want to tell us something. We have to notice it, understand and respond right.
Leaving self-improvement let's move to the relationship with a horse. That's what's on the first place. Not how high the horse can jump, if it'll lay down on a command or if it'll go inside a trailer. Not how one game looks like. Games give us the language. Thanks to it we can ask horse for many things, but it's not just do to it best, even not to do it at all. It's all to improve our relationship. The horse should see a good leader in us, one that it can trust, a friend who'll help and love but at the same time will set clear limits and keep them all the time. That's the key to happiness. It seems a horse will be unhappy with consequences, but it's not like that. Horses (dogs and people too) want us to be honest and fair. If we say to horse "if you don't move, youll get hit" and then we don't the horse feels cheated. Knows you're not a good leader, 'cause you're not consistent and change your mind all the time. They like to have an organized, clear world. You're not allowed to do this, but for that you'll get scratching. If it works like this always horse trusts us and is happy with us.
Working with horses brings unceasing development, giving benefits to us and the whole world.
We should remember the future of those magnificent animals is in our hands. Never stop tending to be a better version of yourself.
Be a human the horse will love to be with. To whom will run from the pasture seeing him in the distance. That one it'll thank for being with it. One it'll feel safe enough to lay down and even allow you to lay on it's back.




Lying with Amber <3

Attitude comes first

Like Linda Parelli says Natural Horsemanship is an attitude not a technique.
Last time I told you what the games are for, now it's time for something more important. The truth is it doesn't matter what technique you use if you've got the right attitude, knowledge and understanding. We don't play to make a perfect standing on a pedestal or cantering always on the right leg. We play to develop our relationship, friendship, partnership, trust. To make the horse want to be with us and do many things for us. And to make us feel awesome together.
First thing to always keep it your mind is the horse's well-being. Doesn't matter what other people think, theri advices, their requests. If it's not good for your horse, don't. It's your horse. Yours. Always look for best options, learn all the time. You never can say you know everything. No one can. Even a world champion. Your horse will thank you. New knowledge may be uncomfortable because for example it'll come out that your saddle doesn't fit, wreck your horse's body and hurts a lot. And you have to buy another. So maybe it's better not to know? Judge yourself. Do you want to be responsible for that pain of a animal condemned to you, your whims, do you want it's injuries, degenerations, psychological problems, bad habits, do you want them to be unhappy?
Or maybe you prefer to try harder and give your horse everything they need even if it means loosing some of your pleasure and ignoring other people?
It's important to love your horse. Much and forever. Doesn't matter how they are.
Love is the foundation.
It's the most important one from 3L: Love, Language, Leadership which are basic elements of a good horsemanship. They should be with you all the time.

 

 

With Amber, the horse from video for the first year we simply went to the arena to stand there for and hour and hug. I wasn't ready for more then, but it gave us strong foundations returned ten times :D

My doggy taught me to love no matter what. One day when we both were so young we trained jumping. We both loved it but I was a child, getting bored easily. I wanted her to jump higher and higher, not knowing a thing about proper training so I spoiled her health a bit. Poor Nela couldn't jump like before. And I didn't want such a dog. I wanted a young one, healthy athlete. Border Collie. But I've never got it. Nothing happens without a reason. That was what I needed although I wasn't happy at all. In my life appeared horses, lots of books and knowledge. So we changed our training sessions- lots of poles, some low jumps. But finally I understood that's not the way. Dog is more important than my dreams. We stopped jumping. And it suddenly turend out I can enjoy my time with such a dog and do super interesting trainings.

Yesterday we had a very successful one. Trot is the best kind of movement so I want Nela to use it a lot. Because od spine degeneration she often ambles and that's really unhealthy.

I've taught her and can control it using only my voice what gait she uses. We still cant change pace in one gait, but it isn't so important. Nela usually during walks enters her own world and doesn't care about me at all so I'm extremely happy when she cooperates perfectly and with joy. Just like today. Even when she wasn't on leash. I love this fluff most in the world! <3

Never let ambition blind you. Your horse may not have talent, predispositions, preparation, desire, may have a bad day and not be in the mood for jumping of learning complicated evolutions in dressage. Horses also have their good and bad days, personalities and experiences. Some things that others even don't realize can be an unbearable obstacle. Give them time. Don't push. Develop your partnership, friendship and leadership and at some point problem may disappear itself. Take it easy. if not today, tommorow. Two steps instead of twenty? Great! That's how you achieve success!

Playing with horses we should always be positive and calm. Otherwise horse won't trust us and will put himself into the leader position. We have to see ourselves in that role. But not a tyrant one. A leader- friend and partner. It's important to be sure what we do and why. Confidence. Respect for the horse. And then everything works perfectly. And it's beautiful!

If you like what you read (or not) or want to add something comment please. It brings a lot of joy :D

Good basis

A dobra podstawa to dobry instruktor.
Obserwuję pewne niezbyt ciekawe zjawisko, pojawiające się we wszystkich dziedzinach życia, a zwłaszcza tam, gdzie zachodzi proces uczenia. Zdarza się w szkołach, domach, klubach sportowych i niestety bardzo często wśród koniarzy. W większości szkółek jeździeckich trafia się na instruktorów, którzy uczą za pomocą utartych sformułowań, bez zrozumienia, o co tak naprawdę w nich chodzi i przede wszystkim bez wytłumaczenia tego uczniom. "Palce na zewnątrz, plecy proste, koń ma mieć głowę w dole" i cała masa innych poleceń tak naprawdę wyrządza nam tylko szkody. Najlepsi jeźdźcy powiedzą ci, że trzymanie palców na siłę na zewnątrz utrudnia utrzymywanie prawidłowego dosiadu, przenosi ciężar ciała tam, gdzie go być nie powinno, zmienia jego ułożenie i pozbawia nas równowagi. Stopy trzymamy równolegle do boku konia lub trochę na zewnątrz, ale przede wszystkim swobodnie. Prawidłowe ułożenie stopy jest efektem rozluźnienia całej nogi. To samo z kręgosłupem. Niewyjasnianie o co chodzi w "prostych plecach" prowadzi do przeprostów, usztywnień, a wraz z nimi dużych problemów z dosiadem a nawet kontuzji. Pamiętam swój pierwszy galop- słyszałam ciągle, że mam odchylić plecy do tyłu i się rozluźnić, co samo w sobie nie było zła radą, tylko niedokladną, bo chodziło o to, by cofnąć część lędźwiową, a ja złapałam się z przodu siodła i odchyliłam owszem, ale górną część tułowia. Rezultatem był oczywiście totalny brak równowagi i gdyby nie to, że miałam spokojnego konia i trzymałam się siodła na pewno od razu bym zleciała...
Wiele osób w treningu dąży do tego, aby ich koń opuścił głowę, ponieważ wiedzą, że tak jest dobrze. Tyle że nie wiedzą dlaczego i o co tak naprawdę w tym chodzi. Więc używają wypinaczy i innych patentów, które sztucznie zmuszają konia do przybrania określonej pozycji. Nie o to chodzi. Koń ma znaleść swoją równowagę w ruchu, rozluźnić się i dopiero jak to zrobi, bez wątpienia sam z dużą przyjemnością opuści głowę i rozciągnie grzbiet. Równowaga konia jest niezwykle ważna. Zanim w ogóle pomyślimy o wsiadaniu, nawet jeśli na koniu już ktoś jeździł, musimy popracować nad tym z ziemi. Musimy pomóc koniowi odnaleść taką pozycję, w której jest mu wygodnie w każdym chodzie, w której jego mięśnie pracują z lekkością i radością. Poza tym potrzeba naprawdę wielu ćwiczeń, żeby koń rozbudował mięśnie na tyle, żeby był w stanie dźwigać jeźdźca bez szwanku. Duużo biegania w wydłużonej, niskiej pozycji, drążki, górki, skoki gimnastyczne... Jeśli naprawdę dbamy o naszego konia nie możemy o tym zapomnieć. Nawet jeśli regularnie jeździmy to praca z ziemi bez siodła i obciążenia świetnie zrobi naszemu partnerowi. Jest jeszcze jedna niezwykle istotna rzecz, której nie możemy pominąć-kwestia rozłożenia ciężaru konia (i jeźdźca). Koń, aby nie nabawić się kontuzji i móc bez problemu i z łatwością wykonywać swoje zadania powinien nauczyć się przenosić swój ciężar na tylne nogi. Są one bardzo silne i w przeciwieństwie do przednich poradzą sobie z ciężarem tak konia, jak i jeźdźca. U dobrze zrównoważonego konia tylne nogi wchodzą głęboko pod brzuch, płynnie przejmując ciężar, a dzięki temu uaktywnia się wiele mięśni, odblokowują się przednie nogi- mogą być podniesione wyżej i wysunięte dalej i co najważniejsze kiedy koń jest zaokrąglony, z podstawionym zadem możliwy jest przepływ energii z zadu (motoru konia) przez jego ciało, do samego przodu. Jak widać podstawienie tylnych nóg jest naprawdę istotne, a naszym zadaniem, jako przyjacieli naszych koni jest pomóc im zrozumieć, jakie korzyści daje taka pozycja i jak mają ją przyjąć, bo one tego nie wiedzą, a na pewno będą za to wdzięczne. Tak naprawdę przeczytać o tym można w każdej dobrej książce, a jednak bardzo często, zwłaszcza w stajniach rekreacyjnych i wiejskich można zobaczyć wręcz koszmarny obrazek konia, z zadartą głową, opuszczonym brzuchem, tylnymi nogami wlokącymi się gdzieś daleko z tyłu... Taki koń sam nie potrafi znaleść równowagi, a co dopiero z jeźdźcem! Niestety nikt tego nie zauważa, na takich koniach się jeździ, skacze, a jak nie są w stanie czegoś zrobić z powodu braku balansu to zaraz się myśli, że po prostu im się nie chce/są nieposłuszne... Jakież to niesprawiedliwe, prawda? Bądźmy świadomymi koniarzami. Tak wiele możemy zrobić dla naszych koni!
Wracając do kwestii instruktorów. Dlaczego ciągle wydają nam techniczne polecenia, której nie dość, że są niedokładne, to w ogóle błędne? Mam wrażenie, że oni po prostu zbytnio nie zgłębiają danego tematu, nie interesuje ich, dlaczego głowa ma być w dole, a palce na zewnątrz. Nauczyli się tego i owego, wystarcza to, żeby poprowadzić lekcję, czy samemu pojeździć, więc więcej już się nie uczą. Nie obchodzi ich, jaka jest prawda, bo może ona być bolesna i zupełnie niezgodna z ich światopoglądem. Ale prawda jest prawdą i ma to do siebie, że niczyje poglądy nie są w stanie jej zmienić. Mało jest ludzi, którzy mają naprawdę dogłębne zrozumienie, czują to co robią i wiedzą, jak każdy szczegół wpływa na całą resztę. Ale oni są. Trzeba tylko dobrze poszukać, a szukać naprawdę warto, bo tylko taki instruktor będzie w stanie nauczyć cię tego, czego potrzebujesz i przede wszystkim tego, co jest prawdą. Dobry instruktor wyjaśnia nie tylko co robimy, ale też jak, po co i dlaczego. Musimy wiedzieć, po co wykonujemy dane ćwiczenie, musimy mieć w tym jasny cel.
Powodzenia kochani w szukaniu tego człowieka, który pomoże rozwijać wasze świadome jeździectwo!  :D

Parelli HorseManShip

What really is Parelli Natural Horsemanship?
Many people knowing this program from Internet or stories come to wrong conclusion it's just seven games you play sometimes with your horse. Ok, you play (I'm pretty sure you won't, have tryed to learn it from Internet myself and it was horrible X'D But I know what I missed then so I'll try to complete it). But what happens next? You ride, use martingales, draw reins, two whips and other completely unnatural things and off you go! And what were those seven games for?
Others read a bit, get sad how bad they treat their horse but they still don't know what they should do, they do nothing. Just run around barn with a rope halter and shout at everybody they know nothing and torture their horses 'cause they ride tchem. Of course they know everything best, walking with horse is the only option, doesn't matter what some Pat Parelli said, who the hell is Monty Roberts? I know better, I've watched viedos and read such wise things! Who cares their horse completely doesn't respect them, trample and ignores them in general? They know better! And everybody must listen!
Others without any preparation throw away all bridles, rains, saddles, horseshoes and on a bare horse ride to woods to gallop like crazy. Who cares the horse's absolutely out of control? This is like nature made it so that's right!
Unfortunately there are many people behaving like that or even worse so many riders think this all "natural things" has no sense, only freaks do it, it's dangerous and if you simply want to ride they call you all the devil. The worst thing is beacuse of it people don't even want to know what those rope halters are all about and don't want to have anything in common.
Such a pity. Parelli brings benefits to everyone. A competitor, dressage rider, jumper, endurance runner, driver, TREC rider, western one, teacher, with difficult horses, young, old, calm, lazy, crazy, without any respect, scared to death of everything, ponies for children and hippotherapy, horses-actors, war horses, horses-friends- in brief everyone can achieve success with Parelli.
Attention please. For sure you've heard many times something is so great and works for everybody and likely thought then it's a total nonsense 'cause everybody's different and nothing can work for all. Why then do I say Parelli works?
Because this system is so extensive and for every problem you'll find many solutions, different so you'll be able to fit it to you and your horse. You do some things with a shy horse, other with dominant one. One thing with lazy, second with crazy. Always when you meet your horse look what he is right NOW and adjust training to it.
Doesn't matter how he behaved yesterday, or even an hour ago. Now everything may be different. Horses change. Sometimes a lot. That's why it's so important to be here and now with horses.
Let's go back to the essence of this post. What really is Parelli Natural HorseManShip? And what are seven games?
Seven games really are the basics of Parelli, but not as things you do from time to time. Those games build a language which is clear for you and your horse. And using this language you can communicate whatever you want. All games are connected, first ones give base to the next. When you master their basic version you start real playing.  Just like when you learn anything else. When you know what it's all about and control what you need you cal relax and and free your imagination.
Just imagine your horse running next to you without any rope, reads your mind, just a look on an obstacle is enough fot him to jump it. A horse that will gallop for you, lay down, defeat his fears, do everything. Wouldn't it be wonderful to have such a horse?
Of course it takes a lot of work but it's absolutely possible. Possible beacuse we made our language that works always and everywhere. We start from the ground, this way we give the horse time to trust us enough to invite us on his back. On a short one, longer, longer, finally without. And then we ride. And use exactly the same language, the same seven games from horse's back! Using that language we can ask our horse for most complicated dressage moves, both with a bit and just a cordeo!
Because Parelli Natural HorseManShip teaches people to communicate with horses and understand them. But first of all to create an amazing and lasting bond.

Horses will run faster and jump higher out of heart and desire ~Parelli




Julia Opawska Parelli Professional and Niko at Liberty

Welcome my dear!

Hello everybody! 
I'm here to tell you some stories 'bout horses- funny, scary, happy, but always teaching us something. I play with horses using Parelli Natural Horsemanship. I'll tell you many things about how it works and feels and why I do it.
I have a blog in polish- my original language, it's also about horses, but I think it's time to start something in English. I really looove this language and am so happy using it 😁 On my first blog I had many views from the whole world and some of my horsey friends are not talking Polish. I share with you many important things that may help becoming a better horseman/woman so it's necessary for you to understand what I'm writing 😉 
If you want to visit my first blog it's here:
 cowkonskiejduszygra.blogspot.com
I hope you'll enjoy reading my blog and learn something valuable. Stay positive! 
Yours 
Little Horsey Soul ❤