Step off the Path into Silly

How did I get here?  I don't know the exact moment I arrived ... here.   Three years ago, the thought of just walking into the barn would cause me to vomit.  Yep, I was that scared.   Fast forward three years through starting with Parelli, finding my dream horse and taking-the-time-it-takes.  I am now surprised to find I am riding bridleless, taking the first few tentative tries at Liberty spins and getting Tido measured up for his new cradle bridle as we venture into Finesse !  We are loading up and travelling out, considering clinics and seminars I never dreamed of being able to participate in, meeting the most amazing and wonderful people (and their horsey partners).  But the biggest and most prized accomplishment - we are having fun.  Everyday.  Lots and lots of fun. 




  Living in a time that is fast paced and high-tech, it is so easy to lose the fun - in working life and recreational pursuits.  It is easier to postpone fun to another day when you have more time, and less laundry.  But what if everyone decided to have fun everyday?  Even for just 5 minutes?  Just this morning, as I did my morning ritual of watering the plants, the dogs, the horses ... I suddenly dropped the hose and ran to the kid's trampoline for a 10 minute jump-fest!  You can imagine how surpised my 3 kids were, but they recovered quickly, picked up their jaws, and quickly came running to join in.  So we jumped and laughed and laughed.  And its funny how later (when my post-kids bladder started to stage a revolt to the jumping) picking dirty socks off my son's floor didn't seem quite so mundane. 

It is amazing what we can accomplish when we open the door and invite fun into our lives.  In my younger days - my time spent with horses was always fun.  As I venture further down the natural horsemanship path, it becomes easier and easier to recapture some of that silly fun with horses. 
~ its steamy hot out, fill some barn buckets and launch a full out water gun war.  
~ you are sitting on your horse bareback, relaxed and enjoying the day - lay back and put your head on his hindquarter and appreciate at the beautiful blue sky above you.  
~ practice dismounting off the right side, a clumsy landing will have you giggling for sure. 
~ take your horse swimming.  Or canter through the snow bareback!  
~ spectate a clinic, workshop or competition that you have never heard of before. 
~ maybe you have a secret wish to ride with cows - find a way to do it!! 
Whether a big fun goal or just a little bit of silly, how can you add fun into your horse time? For most of us, horses are a hobby.  Any hobby that you devote time, effort and money to - should be fun.  Sometimes all it takes is to step off  the path and just have some plain, old fashioned silly!

The sister to silly fun is the "fun" of acheiving your goals and realizing your dreams! Having goals is necessary to keeping us focused and progressing, but the journey and the acheivement should still be fun!! The other day, I slipped Tido's bridle off for our third official bridle-less ride.  I have gotten over the "holy crap" novelty of seeing my horse's naked face from a mounted perspective but this is still so new to us - I am constantly amazed!  After a short ride that included a considerable amount of trot segments - we headed to the big ball for Tido's favourite playtime.  For the next few minutes we trotted around playing ball - digging it out of corners, swinging his hindquarters around to line up behind it .... and forgot everything else in the exhuberance and enthusiasm of our game.  Like a lightening bolt, that tingly realization hit me - "he doesn't have a bridle on!!!!"   Wow. wow.   And I started to laugh.  How fun was that?!!!

I wish everyone the joy of finding your "fun" in your life and most especially, with your horses!  With it comes a deep satisfaction and a quiet peace that could only be defined as ... happiness.

Road to Walter Update: I have been making positive steps towards my future ride with Walter Zettl. Since arriving home from Parelli Experience camp on May 15th - I have lost 10 lb and am starting to see improvement in my fitness level. I have been focused on acheiving balance in the 4 savvys by improving our Freestyle riding and have tackled some of the early Finesse tasks taught to me by Don Halladay, with regular consistency.   In early August, I will have the opportunity to sit with Walter for one of his teaching days to become accustomed to his teaching style and learn to "hear" his instructions (mental preparedness).