Initial Progress

Well this has been a big week for me. Without going into too many details……due to the car accident, surgery, putting a horse to sleep and some “home” issues, I havn’t played with my horses for basically a year. And to make matters worse, barely cared for them from jan-june. July was a pivotal month. I finally got the health & desire to play again, and this week to do even more than that. I think I am about to take my life back. I realized that my level 4 goals were a bit too much pressure for me and my horses at our current level of fitness and being so out of tune. If I can’t even make it from the couch to the tack room, how am I gonna go passing L4. Not to mention, when I did play with my horses I expected us to pick up right where we left off. I know better than that, but I couldn't help being frustrated that we both were so out of tune and sync and that the accident has caused my arms to be so weak and uncoordinated. It sucks to have the knowledge in your head, but you can’t make your body do it. What do I do now? I did some reflection of the last 6 weeks. It was the kick in the butt I needed to get started. I now own every educational piece of Parelli material…just missing mastery manuals 1-6, but those are not far away. I have no excuse to not to figure this out. So I pondered. “Take the time it takes…so it takes less time” Starting over will take less time, than to sit in this funky place, floundering around in the stink of mediocrity for the next few months.So I re-arranged my life so that I can “move closer and stay longer.” I re-structured some things that will facilitate success instead of setting my self up for failure. This blog is one of them. I hope that it will keep me accountable to myself for my time. Another is that I upgraded my Parelli Savvy Club membership to GOLD. Since my pathetic performance yielded a PASS for L1, I will tape my L2 online this weekend and see how that goes. And since it is “free” now to audition, I can just start from scratch and go one level, one savvy at a time and there is no pressure on me to “perform”. I realized that my fear this time was 'fear of failure". If I sit on my couch, I can live in my little fantasy world of how great I WAS. But if I played with my horses I would have to be faced with my current level of mediocrity. Fear of "whatever" is the single greatest crippling disability.I woke up Sunday and asked myself…what “CAN” I do Today?I can give the horses a bath….done. I can go to the store and buy new long lines…done. I can “try” the new long lines out on Rose…done. I can trim some feet…done. I can hop on bareback for a few min and play at the walk…done. I honestly feel like I have accomplished more in the last week than I have in the last six. With the herd smaller by one, I can also cater to Snookie’s special diet more easily. She can eat her special food without being bombarded on both sides. I hope her senior butt can recover the weight well. She has always been a hard keeper. So onward and upwards….Savvy On