Parelli Level 2 Online Audition - PASSED!

One of my favorite things about Parelli is they have a great system for setting goals and improving without any pressure!

The levels of dressage made it easy to set goals and identify where you're at, but there was so much pressure. I always felt the need to improve a half pass or a collected canter before a show. With Parelli, I don't feel any of that pressure.

Our trot Figure 8 isn't the greatest, but I have no deadline to make it better by. When auditioning to pass a level in Parelli, it is not the quality of the movement that matters, but more of your relationship with your horse. You can't find that in any other sport.

The audition works like this: You send in a tape of you and you horse playing for 10 minutes. The video must include a few things depending on the level and the savvy. For level 2 online you must show a leg massage, figure 8, trot to back up, and touch it! As long as you do all of those things, the rest of the time is yours.

Then a Parelli Professional will watch your video, fill out a score sheet, let you know what level you're at and give a bit of feedback! The score sheet is set up so that there is a column for each level and they can check of what level you are for each criteria. Here is our score sheet that we got back:

As you can see, we passed 2++ which means we did the best we could for level 2! On to level 3 it is!!!

The goal is you help you identify where you are, what you're good at and what needs work. For the most part I knew everything beforehand, but it is really reassuring to have it there on paper from a Parelli Professional! AND, if you pass all savvys for that level, you get a colored savvy string and a certificate!

So here is our very first audition, level 2 online!

Too Many S's

I haven't posted on here lately because I have been:

-Sick
-at School
-Studying
-buying a new Saddle
-Shopping for Supplements

I got sick the first day of school. Seriously, immune system? Just because I took the summer off school doesn't mean you get a vacation too. (I am FINALLY getting better!)

School has been okay so far. It is going to be a really tough quarter. LOTS of work; more than I would ever want. I am really going to have to break down and study my butt off to just get these classes behind me.

I got a new saddle for Sonny! Yay! There will be much more on that later...

The vet came out last Tuesday and recommended I put Sonny on a joint supplement. He will be 13 soon and I want to prolong arthritis for as long as I can. The problem is...there are about 3 billion choices. I have got it narrowed down to the 4 main ingredients I want, but then there are so many things you have to take into consideration along with that. The big issue is can the horse absorb it into his blood stream for the supplement to really work? So...my search continues!

I have a couple posts coming soon so stay tuned!

Hello, College

School started back up yesterday. It is going to be a really tough quarter. I am taking my last general Chemistry class (almost failed the second to last one), a molecular bio chemistry class, and an art history class (which I know nothing about!). This isn't going to be easy.

So, if you don't hear from me for a while, I will probably be up to my eyeballs in homework/studying. :(

Goodbye, Stormy

Stormwatch left for his new home in Australia yesterday morning! I am so sad to let him go :(. He has the most adorable face. Who couldn't love that lip?

Although he is gone, I can assure you I feel better tonight. With all that has been going on, the timing couldn't have been more perfect.

Along with everything, I had the vet out today. Sonny had to have some major chiropratic work done, along with getting his sheath cleaned. On top of that, I found out that his pasterns are so upright he is going to have arthritis when he is older. Considering I want to have him for forever, I have to put him on a joint supplement now to help prolong it. Oh, well. It will be worth it in the end!

Another Foal Halter

Thanks to an excellent customer, I have another foal halter under my belt!

This time it is a regular halter, unlike the foal slip halter I made previously.

First of all, this halter is NOT made for Amber, which is why it doesn't fit her properly. The halter was made for the foal resin, Elizabeth.

I used 3/32" lace and classic scale hardware. I am really pleased with how it turned out; I think the scale works perfectly.

We had a really hard time fitting the halter correctly, so I am really anxious to see how it looks on Elizabeth!

100th Post

I always thought that my 100th post would be something fancy and exciting! But now that it comes down to it, I've got nothing.

I couldn't think of a single neat thing to do for my 100th post. Apparently my creativity has gone with summer.

Even though it is not that exciting, I thought it would be interesting to look back at my stats from my first 100 posts.

During May I was working really hard to pass chemistry and June was my first month of summer. Other than those two crazy months, everything seems pretty consistent. It will be fun to see how the stats mature over time.

Finally: Something Tack Related

With summer being so busy, I haven't had half the time I wanted to work on tack. Things are slowing down around here so I hope that will change.

For now, here is what's on the workbench!

Stormwatch For Sale

Please pass along the link if you know anyone that might be interested!

Stormwatch on MH$P