My First Parelli Course!!

Well I went to my first Parelli course, on the 3rd/4th of November at Bankhead Farm. I have to admit I was quite nervous about going as I really didn't know what to expect or what people would think of me and Blossom. Well I shouldn't have bothered getting worried as all my worries went away as soon as Shelley greeted us!! She was so friendly and helpful and made me and Kathleen feel so welcome!!

That night me and Kathleen were invited into the house for a few drinks and to meet some of the other Students on the course, they were all so lovely and we had a good chat and got to know each other a bit better. Me and Kathleen were both Shattered so left a bit earlier than everyone else.

Well I'm glad I had an early night as Kathleen had me up at 6.30am!! I forgot how early she got up.. The good thing was Blossom got a nice early breakfast and I was able to spend some undemanding time with her, while I poo picked and gave her fresh hay and water.


The course started at 9 am and we had a quick introduction and met the other students that just arrived then we headed up to the school without horses. We started by playing the first 4 games with each other, instead of with horses. This really helped both me and Kathleen as we found out things our horses weren't able to tell us. Then we got the horses to play with.. Blossom had already got the first 3 games really good, so I worked on trying to get her to pivot more than just moving her feet away from the pressure. By the end she was really getting, she was better with HQ yields than the FQ but I'm sure that will improve with practice. Her yo yo game was also good and moved backwards with phase one or two - but still needs a bit of work on coming back in as she tends to fight this a bit more. I also found out that she doesn't come back in totally straight due to lack of confidence and doesn't want to show me both eyes, but its getting better every time we do it.

After lunch we started again without horses and worked with partners with the other games. By doing this I found my send to the right isn't as good as it is to the left. Which is very interesting as Blossom is less confident with me on her right side... We then got the horses and worked with the rest of the games. Blossom was very good at these ( but we have been working really hard with these at home) The only slight problem I have is Blossom comes in too close to me, so I now need to work on keeping her out of my space and only letting her in closer if I ask her in. I think this is going to be quite hard as I like getting cuddles from her - but its for the best for both of us so we will need to work on it. I knew from working with Blossom at home that she does tend to lose her confidence more with her saddle on, so Victoria said it was ok for me to put her saddle on her. I quickly worked through all seven games with her with the saddle on and found that she had the most problems with the squeeze game, so we set up two barrels and got her squeezing through them. She was quite confident in walk, but as soon as I asked her to go through in trot she lost her confidence and really rushed through. Victoria helped me with this by getting me to stop Blossom before she got to the barrels, get her to relax then squeeze through. This really seemed to work as by the end of the session she was much more confident and was squeezing through a very tight space in walk and trot in both directions. I was so happy with our progress!!

The next morning Shelley offered to take us into the play park with our horses to try a few of the obstacles before the course started, this meant me and Blossom had to be up and ready to go by 7.30am. But it was well worth every minute!! The play Park was amazing, there was so many obstacles I didn't know what to do when I first got in - there was just so much to choose from - logs, barrels, tyres, bridges, hills, drop jumps and so much more!! But luckily Kathleen was with me and started setting me and Blossom challenges, some more difficult than others.. We found that Blossom really enjoyed the hills and loved to be standing on the top above everyone, and also crossed the bridge by herself the turned and faced once she was over to wait for her next instruction!! I was so impressed with how confident she was and how curious she was becoming! The biggest challenge for us though was jumping.. We started very similar to what we had done yesterday with the barrel, using barrels and a tyre jump that were in the field. Once Blossom got the confidence to jump there was no stopping her and she loved ever minute of it. I didn't want to stop, but the course was due to begin in 15mins so I thought we better go and meet back up with the others. To my delight we got to come back out to the field again with Victoria. Since we had such a good morning I took Blossom's saddle with us and after working through the seven games and getting her confidence up - I saddled her in the three stages. The best bit was she didn't try and bite or walk away, which is a serious achievement as this was a serious problem before we started Parelli!! I found that she was less confident jumping with her saddle on so done a lot of approach and retreat, this really seemed to work as she was jumping amazing by the end. Still a bit of work needed to get her confidence up on the right side, but that will come with work.

The afternoon started with a saddling demo from Victoria, then I done the mounting demo for the others. Which was very embarrassing - I don't know how I can ride in front of thousands of people at World Championships, vaulting on in gallop but get embarrassed mounting in front of five other riders and spectators - I must be mad!! I then done some work on follow the rail only using one rein, which was good fun as it really made me use lateral flexion to stop. I then went into my natural hackamore and worked on direct and indirect reins, which was good as it really made me and Blossom think more! We then finished off with pushing passenger only in walk though and then an emergency dismount!

Overall I thought the weekend was worth every penny I spent, my only fault was it was over too quick. Hopefully there will be another course or play day organised soon!! I can't wait!!

The best bit is I passed my level One Assessment!! My red string should be with me soon!!
So I can start working on level two now with Blossom and really start having some fun!!

Would like to say a massive Thank You to everyone involved in the course, especially Sue, Shelley, Kris and of course Victoria!!