DAY 3
Wednesday 11th

9am we had a chat with Neil Pye for 10 min discussing: How the horse is open, you see more than when they close down. We were asked, what do we know now about our horse that we did not know on Monday. Horses cause us to look at life differently, don't be direct line. With Carmen we had to name new and different aspects with our horse. Mine was easy, the bring back over the log and taking pressure off to get more. Others mentioned about needing more energy from themselves and needing to stop living in the moment.
We then watched a video of a confident horse, remember Patches, the grey pony that rides in the car, I have seen it hundreds of times but it still raises a smile. After a demo with horse playing the 7 games we then took our horse for a play till lunch time.

Back in the classroom, now this was different, what is the biggest NO NO in business when giving class talks etc. Never play a DVD straight after lunch. What did we do, sit down to watch an hour of Pat Parelli talking. Well you know how well Pat can talk and as interesting that it is after having lunch you're already feeling a bit tired. I recall trying so hard to keep my eyes open and at one point give up. I didn't look around as I thought I was the only one struggling to stay awake when suddenly "THE LIGHTS COME ON" and Rachel tells us to stand up. Stretch those arms, rub the shoulders of the person next to, then their lower leg. This was enough to wake us a little but not entirely as we sat back down to watch the remaining DVD footage.
At 3.25pm we headed to the play area without our horse but took out halters and 22ft lines. There we played with out halters tied to the posts and had to flick the halter over the post using one swift flick of our wrist and arm. I found it pretty easy but others didn't. This was because I had practised this while in Colorado .
We then headed back to the play area with our horse and there were 3 workshops to choose from. Each workshop was focused on the seven games and your level. This was great as then you never got in a position where you were doing more than you could manage or doing what you found too easy. The workshops were split as follows. I choose the 3rd one.

1)  Learning the 7 games
2)  7 Games with an obstacle
3)  7 games with a longer line

Here's two photo's of Kyle doing what he does best, he did have all four feet on the Pedestal but by the time I got my camera out he'd stepped off. Now the tree stump was a different story, I couldn't get him off it lol.

Kyle on Pedestal	TKyle on Tree Stump

Brenda asked a very good question regards time and your horse. "Why in level 2 does it say 7 games in 7 minutes" Can't remember what answer was given.. We then did some yoyo and circling to finish before taking our horse back to their stalls always remembering to mosey on back and offer water before heading to the stall. Back in class we talked more on horsenality concepts then watched an amazing video with Ron Pyne and his horse, the most amazing part was when he had placed feeding bowls containing feed in a line then one by one asked a horse to stand in front of a feed bowl until all five horses where lined up. They just stood there and not once made a grab for their feed, not until given permission from Ron Pyne. Once the okay was given all the horses started eating.
We then discussed about liberty and ways to improve on it, buy having the belly of the rope on the ground and thinking "Yes" yes I can jump that log for you etc. Then it was a simulation using 4 students. Larissa was sent out and then when she came back into the room she was guided by Beth, Annette and Sharon as to what she had to do by telling her she was hot or cold, no other words were allowed.. Now sounds simple doesn't it only.

Beth - give the correct aids all of the time
Annette - give the incorrect aids all of the time
Sharon - give random aids all of the time

Larissa at one point was about to just give up as she found it so frustrating but finally got there. Her goal was to be directed to sit in the chair.. Not quite finished as we are told to meet back at the play area to watch a demo with Rob and his Hanovarian horse. This horse had been given up on by 4 trainers and this was the 5th week it had been with Rob. The demo was brilliant as Rob showed his expert rope handling skills as he has the horse cantering circles, lead changes, over jumps, change of direction. rode bareback and stood up on its hind quarters before saddling up for a nice ride. The demo lasted for a while and though the rain stayed off albeit for 15min it was very cold. Standing at one point with our chairs over our heads to keep off the cold rain. Some of us had coats but others were clad only in their T-Shirts.. Brr! Sorry too wet to take a photo of that.