thanks to Parelli....

Ha! I figured out how to add a template to my blog! I'm not sure I'll keep it, but at least now I know how to do one. And it feels good to have some horses on the scene, don't ya think? (If anyone knows how to make your own custom template, please drop me a line!)

I haven't talked much lately about the horsie side of my life, and I haven't done much with my own horses for the last couple of months. I'm SO missing them, but at least I'm "forced" (poor me!) through my job, to play with horses a couple of times a week, no matter the weather, and I love my Sanctuary horses, too. I'm especially fond of Mr. Felix.

He is a horse who's trust level with people was extremely low when he came to us. I've never seen a horse who was more scared of whips than Felix was. He'd obviously been lunged a lot and ran completely blind or tried to give birth to himself whenever he was asked to circle or shown a whip. He also didn't want to be caught and didn't know how to respond appropriately to any kind of pressure. He was also very claustrophobic and had a special dislike for our little two horse straight load trailer.

Through Parelli, I came to understand that Felix is a Right Brain Extrovert. In other words, he's scared to death and not afraid to show it. He was especially afraid of anything behind him, or in Parelli-speak - zone 5. But through the Parelli program, Felix has continued to become braver, calmer and smarter. His trust level with me and with people in general has skyrocketed and he's offering me some incredible things these days. He is even backing into the horse trailer! He can also stand on a teeter totter (and teeter it himself), lead backward by his tail, run to me the second I ask him to and many other wonderful things. I'm so proud of Felix, and I'm so thankful for Parelli.

He's totally in love with going in backward now and will load himself at liberty. "Sheesh, I don't know why I never realized it before, but when you go in backward, you can see out!" (Felix)