To Become a Horseman

Here is a little something I wrote for a group at the Share Parelli Website... 

  Going from "Cowgirl" to "Horsewoman" in a matter of just a couple of years is a major change. I recently earned my green string, an automatic symbol of respect to a horseman that has dedicated his life to becoming the best he or she can be.

     I remember sitting listening to Pat Parelli in 2005, for the first time and writing down my goals and dreams right there sitting in the stands. I remember telling myself, that I would be who I wanted to be when I get my green string. I would be an amazing horsewoman that could change the world. But now as I look at who I am now, I still feel like that person sitting in the stands listening to Pat Parelli. I am still that young eager-to-learn woman sitting in the stands, wanting to just squeeze the juice out of the Parelli sponge. I admit, I am into Level 4 and ready to pass most of it, I feel at one with my horse, I feel we are a part of each other... yet, I still feel I have so much to learn. I have a lot under my belt, yet there is so much more to add! This journey, I realize, will NEVER end. No matter how advanced we may get, we still will have endless wonderful things to learn and absorb.

As I look back, the journey itself is what is most gratifying. Hearing that I passed Level 3 of course brought tears to my eyes, because the fruits of my labor, almost 3 years of hard work, had been rewarded and recognized. But that is not what I will remember the most. We will remember things such as, playing Stick to Me for the first time at Liberty, the first time your horse asks you, 'What can we do today?!', the first time your horse runs to you in the pasture, or the first time you and your horse trust each other enough to take that first brave step of taking the bridle off, and riding bareback and bridless.

Do not rate yourself because of what level you are at, every little step of the journey is just as important, valuable and memorable as the other. If all of us have that true and passionate desire to become the best horseman we can be, there is no difference in the Level you are at, the age you are, the horse you ride or the discipline you choose; we are all the same.

 

Come join all the passionate horsemen and women at http://www.shareparelli.com/.