Halfway There

I can’t believe we are halfway through this Fast-Track course. I have learned so much that I feel like I am constantly licking and chewing! Thank goodness for my weekends. They give me time to reflect on all my new knowledge and plan my focus for my free time with Ranger.

This week the focus has been Freestyle. I have had many “oh boy” and “how interesting” moments! We had an outstanding class about shimming, which I needed desperately! I really like the way the instructors teach here at Parelli, which is different than anywhere else. They do not micromanage you! They give you lots of information and send you off to be a puzzle solver. I spent a few hours playing with different shimming patterns and finally found my answer! Finding the answer yourself is much more satisfying than having someone tell you what to do.

We were also introduced to the seat builder! I had a blast on that thing. I had a huge “how interesting” moment on the seat builder. When I am focusing on moving my upper body separately from my lower body, I grip with my knees! WOW!

John Baar taught an outstanding class about the 3 Laws of Parelli. The first being “Put the Relationship First”. I learned several life lessons about having truth, transparency and trust, and how your horse can teach you to have this in all your relationships. I mentioned in an earlier blog that I tend to get caught up in emotions. John gave me some great strategies to help me live in the moment and think logically to improve my leadership. What is he….psychic?!?!?

Later in the week we watched two trailer loading demonstrations. One with a Right-Brained horse and one with a Left-Brained horse. One of my focuses for this week has been trailer loading. I have been working on Ranger’s confidence all week with different obstacles. After this demo, we were ready for the trailer! More on this in a minute….

One of my personal focuses for the course is horsenality. When I was first assigned Ranger as my primary police mount, I was told he was a Right-Brained Extrovert. But lately, Ranger has been playing some very clever Left-Brained games with me! Hum….How Interesting! I am beginning to question if Right-Brain Extrovert is his true, innate horsenality.

Now….back to trailer loading. I began to notice that some of Rangers tries to go in the trailer were very Right-Brained reactive tries. While other tries were Left-Brained thinking tries. Holy Smokes! I am glad the demonstration was with two horsenalities cause I got em both! One step closer to my answer. I also noticed that if I gave more retreat after a Right-Brained try, I got more try the next time we tried. On the flip side, when Ranger went in with a Left-Brained attitude, just a slight more push and MORE CARROTS got a great improvement the next time we tried! Big lick and chew for me folks!

By the end of our session, I sat on the fender of the trailer, pointed to the trailer and Ranger confidently got all four feet in! Anything for more CARROTS!

So my horsenality quandary continues. I am going to apply what I learned to everything we do. More retreat for Right-Brained situations and more push for Left-Brained moments. I think Ranger goes Right-Brained when I push to quickly when teaching something new that he doesn’t understand, or when he gets confused. I think most of the time, my beloved Right-Brained Extrovert may just be on the opposite side of the quadrant!

Till next week!!

Julie

A smile is a curve that can get a lot of things straight!

We are on our way!

For the past month the weather has been outstanding here in Texas. Highs in the 80′s and lows in the mid 50′s. Perfect weather for traveling to Reddick, Florida!

This morning we woke up to a crisp 38 degrees…and Ranger was feeling it! Thank goodness for my trailer loading knowledge from Pat and Linda Parelli. Pat says one of the mistakes that us humans make with trailer loading is that we try and load when we are already late for the show. I got up extra early anticipating an issue with loading. My lovely Right-Brain Extrovert definitely needed to move his feet. So I said, “Great! Let me help you!” Not long afterward, Ranger loaded like a champ. How interesting!

Day one of travel was extremely stressful for Ranger. It seemed at times during the first few hours that he was scared stiff! He has never been a big fan of big trucks with their hissing brakes. Now he is surrounded by them in a big metal cave! He finally began to relax enough to start eating around 4pm. He still didn’t want water.

When we arrived at our halfway point both Ranger and I were tired of traveling. I am blessed to know a wonderful savvy club member and Parelli Ambassador, Bill Frisbee, who provided us with outstanding accommodations at the Hancock County Arena in Kiln, Mississippi. I turned Ranger out in the arena and all he could think about was trot, Trot, TROT! Then he rolled for a long time! Once Ranger was in his stall with hay and fresh shavings, he drank lots of water. WHEW! Goodnight!!

Day two of traveling has been much better for Ranger. He has found that he prefers to ride backwards in the trailer. I have a three horse trailer, but I asked my husband to take out the divider that separates the second and last stall so he could move around as he likes. I once heard Pat say that if a horse was given his choice, most would prefer to ride backwards at a slant. That is definitely Ranger’s choice! He is relaxed and eating hay and has drank water at every stop. He is becoming an old pro at this traveling thing!

I am also happy to say that we made it through both (yes two!) Florida Agricultural Inspection Stations. The correct paperwork is a must, since Florida is very strict about letting horses into the state.

More to come on my first week at Fast-Track!

Julie

A smile is a curve that can get a lot of things straight:)

The Start of a Journey

As many of you know, some who don’t, and some who are following me just to find out…I am starting a journey. This is a physical journey to Reddick, Florida, the home of one of the few Parelli Natural Horsemanship Study Centers. This journey is challenging, over a thousand miles pulling a horse trailer. Not to mention it is my first long distance trip with my horse, and his first too! So it is OUR journey!

I have spent the last five days physically preparing. Cleaning the horse trailer, gathering, washing and labeling all my Parelli Equipment, packing and cleaning house. For all you Right-Brained Extroverts like me out there, you know the house HAS to be clean before you leave! I am sure my house sitting, horse feeding, cat feeding friend will appreciate the cleanliness too! (a million thanks Dawn!)

I have also spent the last three years physically preparing. Injuries acquired at work caused huge weight fluctuations for me. Being thin without working at it most of my life, gaining weight was a huge disappointment for me. At my worst, I was 30 pounds over my normal weight. Pat Parelli says that for me to be a good leader to my horse, I should be calmer, smarter, braver and more athletic. I knew I needed to lose the weight to be more athletic. I have lost 20 pounds so far and I am hoping to make a dent in the last 10 pounds during the Fast-Track!

Now, Pat also says that we should not only exercise our horse physically, we should also exercise our horse mentally and emotionally! I think this should go for the human, ME, as well.

Over the past several months I have been preparing myself mentally. I have re-watched Levels 1-4, patterns and read Pat’s books front to back. I have so many “Patisms” in my head! I just hope they will all come spilling out in the correct order on test day!

Preparing myself emotionally has been the most challenging part of this journey, and I wonder if I have done enough. I wear my heart on my sleeves. The bright side of this is you will always know how I feel at any given time. The down side is that often I take things too personal. To compensate for that, I also try to cover my emotions with humor. While this causes me to fit in and and be pretty cool to hang around, it holds me back from being seen as a leader. I hope to grow emotionally during the Fast-Track so there will never be any doubt that I am a great leader!

Tomorrow holds more packing and cleaning. I will send pictures and blogs from the road!

Julie

“A smile is a curve that can get a lot of things straight!”

A Day in the Life of a Mounted Patrol Officer

People often ask me, “Where does your mounted patrol unit find your bombproof horses?”  My answer to them is, “Anywhere! We now have Parelli!” 

My name is Julie Payne and I work for the Austin Police Mounted Patrol unit in Austin, Texas.  I have been an officer for 14 years, and 8 of those years I have been on mounted patrol.  I have been practicing Parelli for 3 years.  It is my goal to become a Parelli Instructor so I can share Natural Horsemanship to other mounted police units.  The first step on my journey to becoming a Parelli Professional is to complete the Fast-Track Course.  I start this challenging course November 1^st, 2010 at the Florida Parelli Campus and I have been asked to share my experiences with everyone!  Please follow me on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000238389742), Twitter (JulieDPayne) and my personal blog at juliedpayne.wordpress.com.  

As you can guess, my first five years on mounted patrol was full of Force, Fear and Intimidation!  I was trained to saddle up and get on, kick the horse to go, pull the horse to stop and treat the horse like an inanimate object. I was told never to fall in love with my horse or show my horse any affection because I may need to use the horse for cover during a shooting incident. I never let anyone see me pet my horse or give my horse a treat for fear of being made fun of or yelled at. I was even taught to knee my horse in his belly so I could tighten the cinch as tight as it needed to be on the first try. Most training days my horse was stiff and impulsive, I was afraid of falling off but never would I get off! I was told to cowgirl up! Working in the crowds, my horse was unconfident and spooky, but somehow I learned to get the job done.

In 2006 I was told by my Sergeant that I would be the new rider trainer. I had been looking into different natural trainers, watching RFDTV, and I really liked what I saw, but I was confused about which trainer to follow, which trainer was right. Then one day I was reading an article in a horse magazine about Linda and Pat Parelli. The article inspired me!

“When the human learns to see life from a horse’s point of view and build a horse-human relationship with equal doses of love, language and leadership, true partnership is possible and problems melt away. There is nothing you cannot do when your horse becomes a part of you. The beauty of the Parelli program is that it enables people to achieve true success with their horsemanship while still allowing the horse to have the dignity he deserves.”

Dignity?!? That is what I have been missing! Love, language and leadership?! None of the other natural trainers mention that! I was hooked.  I wanted to jump on the Parelli bandwagon, and so I did!

In 2007, the Austin Police Mounted Patrol Unit was given a new Sergeant. He took on the challenge of getting every officer on the same Parelli page. It was a bumpy road, some officers left the unit, some retired early, but our minds finally opened! With all these efforts, we are proud to say that the Austin Police Mounted Patrol Unit is one of the first all natural mounted units in the world!

Before Parelli, I would come to work, sit in the office and talk for an hour, drag my horse out of the stall, saddle him up, put him in the trailer, drive to downtown Austin, take my horse out of the trailer, get on my horse, go into a large crowd (sea of predators), kick him to go, pull him to stop and use the reins to turn.  I am truly amazed that during those pre-Parelli days I was not killed or seriously injured.  What saddens me the most is this is how 99% of mounted police units still operate!  They cannot, or will not, step away from the ingrained military style of riding.  Heels down!  Toes forward!  Arch your back! Close your hands!  I have been to many mounted schools around Texas where the focus is to try and scare the hair off your horse by using all of these impossible obstacles, flares, smoke, and gunshots, without any preparation to the horse or rider.  If you have not fallen off your horse by the end of the school, you pass!  WHAT!?!?

I don’t know about you guys, but I value my bones, tendons and skull very much!  I do not want them cracked or broken. 

A typical day at work for me now, during my Parelli journey, I come to work and spend undemanding time with my horse while he grazes, instead of wasted time in the office catching up on gossip.  I spend time playing with my horse using The Seven Games before I ever even think of saddling.  With just this small amount of preparation, saddling and trailering is a breeze!

After I arrive in downtown Austin, I spend much more time preparing my horse for what the night may hold.  We walk to a park and continue playing The Seven Games freestyle, setting up cloverleaf patterns, bulls-eyes, question boxes, and other patterns with small soccer cones.  Then, more undemanding time and grazing!  It is all about keeping my partner comfortable and trusting in my leadership.

From the park we begin walking through downtown Austin traffic.  We write parking tickets, conduct traffic stops and subject stops.  All of this is done without ever getting off our horse.  You really need to master the art of keeping your lower body separate to what your upper body is doing, and if you are not sure, try riding a 16.2 hand horse and putting a parking ticket on a Mazda Miata! 

Around 11pm, the entertainment district is barricaded off for pedestrians only.  Our primary duty now becomes crowd control.  On any given weekend, the entertainment district could have from ten thousand people to over one hundred thousand people.  Most of these people are intoxicated from visiting the many bars along the street.  Horses are valuable tools in a crowd.  One well trained officer on a horse equals ten officers on foot in crowd scenarios.  Most people have a natural respect for a horse, and will move out of the way.  Now I say “most” because when alcohol is in the mixture, things could get strange.  I have seen people wanting their picture made while standing behind the horse holding his back legs and some think it is okay to just haul off and hit the horse in the hindquarter.  I have even had someone hit my horse in the head with a full can of soda.  Fortunately, horses that serve are treated just like the officers that serve.  If someone hits them, they go to jail.  The funny thing is you actually get a higher charge for assaulting or injuring a horse verses doing the same to me!  I guess I am easier to replace. 

At the end of night, it is mounted patrol’s responsibility to suggest that pedestrians move to the sidewalk so the street can be reopened for cars.  Again, I use the word “suggest” with a grain of salt.  Mix alcohol and cell phones together and you have a pedestrian that is impossible to reach!  When is the last time you had a thousand pound prey animal sneak up on you? 

Our unit dedicates one day a week to train.  For the past three months we have had 4-Star Parelli Professional Instructor Christi Rains teach us and our horses!  During this time, three of our new officers completed Level 1 and another completed Level 2.  The remaining officers are Level 3 and 4.  Christi is so patient and we look forward to our time spent with her.  I recently had a private lesson with Christi to prepare for the Fast-Track course.  After the hour had passed, I ran to the office and spilled out all the new information in my brain to paper before I forgot any piece of it!  I loved getting positive feedback about how I could improve for my horse.  He is my true partner.  He takes care of me while we are working and I take care of him.  We stay true to each of our four responsibilities and many added responsibilities from the pressure of police work.

I hope you will follow along with me on my Parelli journey!

Officer Julie Payne

Your smile is a curve that can get a lot of things straight.