Photo by Margaret Chant and edited by Jessica Metropulos

Tuesday, January 6, 2009

We're On Our Way...

Everything is packed. Clothes and tack all stuffed into plastic storage bins, neatly placed (okay, who am I kidding? They're "hastily strewn") by the front door. All that's left to do is load up and hit the road. Farrah is supposed to be here in a couple hours.

I'm left to sit here and contemplate my feelings, thoughts, etc, of the journey ahead of me. I'm so jumbled and mixed, it's driving me nuts. I'm thoroughly excited and enthralled, to begin with. I've lived for this day for 5 years, in a sense, dreaming of the time I could attend a course at the Parelli Center. I'm anxious, too. My horse and I have never traveled this far, this long, together. I've never driven across the country with anyone but my parents. The longest I've been away from home is two and a half weeks.

Then of course, there's the endless list of "Who? Where? What? How? Why? What if?" that keeps running through my head about the actual curriculum. Who'll be in class with me? What's the new format like? What will I learn? How will Prin benefit? How will Prin respond? All these QUESTIONS! All will be answered in due time, I'm sure.

Anyway, when the student is ready, the teacher will come. Opportunity has presented itself, now it's time to take the plunge. We'll be on the road for 3 days, arriving Thursday afternoon sometime. I'll blog again when I get there, and get things figured out. There will be massive amounts of pictures, too! I PROMISE :)

Savvy on, Savvy out. From now on, all blog entries will be on my parelli course blog: www.fransparellicourse.blogspot.com. Talk to you soon, and for those of you with my cell phone number, call or text any time. Later!

Saturday, January 3, 2009

Pissy Mare...

I didn't do too much out at the farm today. I did go out and trim feet, though, and also had a great time observing herd behavior.

We moved the herd into the West Paddock today. We've been having windmill troubles, and therefore don't have much water to spare. We put them in that paddock so that they'd have more space to eat, but also fresh snow to eat on top of (Thus making them less thirsty). Anyway, watching the herd dynamics in the new space was fascinating, especially when it came to feeding time. Everyone was pushing eachother around (not the usual herd order) and there was mass chaos for a few minutes.

The one thing that really shocked me, however, was watching Prin. She's usually middle of the order, Dominant over the smaller ones and Crest, (they interchange, actually), and also over Clue. Today, she was just on the war path. ANYONE who got in her way, she charged and bit. She actually chased Clue around with her teeth clamped on his withers. She chased Cricket the entire perimeter of the fence, and kicked Crest once. It was rather amusing. Guess she was cranky eh?

Well I'm off to shower and go to bed uber early. I'm SO done with this mental exhaustion. Course countdown 3 days. EEK.

Savvy on!

New Year, New Goals

Hi all,

Apologies for the belated post, It's been a really weird few days. I just wanted to quickly review my 2009 goals before I leave for my course :)

Equine Goals:

*Make the most of the course experience (learn all possible, stay open to suggestion, etc)
*Pass L3 no later than April (You've put this off LONG ENOUGH, Fran!)
*Perform in the Savvy Spotlight at Madison
*Attend several clinics--Nita Jo? Dave Ellis? Karen Rohlf?
*Delve father into L3 with Crest
*Buy truck and possibly trailer (haha, that's a stretch!)
*Continue studies with Farrah
*Begin some jumping lessons with Prin (Otter Creek?)
*Go to Pagosa for a week with Crest? ($$ permitting)
*Develop and learn more about Natural Trimming


Personal Goals:

*Lose some weight (Yes, this is EVERYONE'S goal...but I'm actually gonna do it!)
*Don't sweat the small stuff (And Remember, Franny, it's ALL small stuff!)
*Figure out what I'm doing with my life (Furthering my education)
*Become a better teacher
*Learn to address that 10% (Katie would get this, not many others)
*Continue to develop as a centered (and edgeless, LOL Linda!) individual.
*"Que Cera, Cera"
*Manage my finances better (ACK! WHERE IS MY CHECKBOOK THESE DAYS?!)


This is what i can think of off hand. More to come I'm sure. But for now, Off to find my checkbook. Which I KNOW still exists!