Dear Thumberly

Last Sunday I hurt my thumb playing soccer, so I wasn't able to do much with Moose that week. Before that I was having a good time riding. Still trying to get that circle pattern Farrah so graciously put us on almost 6 months ago. And am job scouting as usual. Hopefully I find something soon! And I hope my thumb gets back to normal this week, although it's doing much better now.

"The Writing is on the Wall"

I'd like to give a super huge girly squeal of delight. *EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK!!!!!* So why all the shouting?? Ha ha ha I have finally figured out this bugger called "Erica's Future." To be honest with you, it's probably been nagging at me since the day I was born. . . the eternal question "What to do when I get older?" Well, I've answered that question, but then it came again in another form. . ."Ok, so how do I get there?"

3 Options were nagging at me for some time now:

1. Go to college
2. Go to Parelli
3. Go back to Heartland

See, this college thing has been really really bugging me, because 'everyone' says "go to college, you make more money, you meet friends, you earn a living." Well, that's all fine and dandy, so I'll go look up colleges. But I don't know what I want to go for. I'd go for Spanish, but what am I going to do with that? I want to be with horses, and there aren't any horse colleges out there that are feasible/what I'm looking for.

So I thought about it. . . and came up with something. . . horses aren't exactly 'everyone'. That's not exactly a typical job. So maybe I need a not so typical career path? Maybe my life is different than yours and that's ok. Am I a little worried about it right now? Yeah. But I could always go back. If my goal is to keep learning, I could always go back. But right now, college would do nothing for me besides putting me in debt. Would I meet some cool people? Sure! But am I going to meet cool people in "Parelli-land" as well? Definitely :)

But then, as well, there's this issue called price. . . . And hey, a friend of mine just made me have a BFO. Like "hey you remember that thing called the working student program?!?!?! Um, well you could do that!!!!!" Oh my god, duh! :D

Sorry for all the childishness, but I'm pretty much ecstatic! I forgot all about this program, and it's basically going to save my life! Yay to the future!

But oh, the title! The title to this post is dedicated to my dear old mother for the advice she would always give me when I would bang my head against the table struggling with this. With this in mind, it is only fitting that I end with my response, which is

"Not helpful."

(except it helped)

30 Day Blog Challenge

Yeah, sorry I must have turned into a real LBE because I just find these questions fairly dull. They're not thought-provoking enough for me. I got bored haha. So I wanted to say I renounce this challenge, because yes, I have failed. But that is ok, because it still has gotten me somewhere. I am blogging, aren't I? :)

Just Awesome

I was playing with Moose yesterday, just decided to pop out by him to have a little fun. Didn't have a halter or anything, so we just did some liberty stuff. There was either a tiny stick or a thick piece of hay on the ground, so I picked it up to use as my carrot stick. Oh goodness, did this make me realize how sensitive he is!!! I used it to Porcupine him around, using the 'stick' as the pressure, and it was spectacular how well he moved to it. I never knew he was that sensitive to Porcupine before!

And our communication just flowed as well. . . I asked him to squeeze between the fence and sideways a step (because he couldn't do much with the snow we just got), and he did just as I asked which was awesome! Even when he was at a funny angle, I just tried to to think what I'd do if he was on line and did it, and he responded perfectly!

T'was very very nice for a quick 10-20 mins. Just next time I think I'd be much better off not wearing soccer cleats in the snow :D

Day 9 - Moment

What is one moment you have had with your horse that would not have been possible if not for Parelli?

Well, besides our whole relationship. . . honestly I remember one day that I decided I didn't want to ride. The whole last sessions had focused on riding and I just felt it wasn't fair to him to keep pushing him, so I decided to do a day of ground play. Man it was FANTASTIC. We just flew over the ground, he listened and tried his heart out for me. It was just amazing to think he listens that well. And I am so thankful that Parelli has given me the keys to communicate with him on the ground like this. If not for Parelli, I would probably be dead frustrated with riding, but instead you learn to think positively. It's amazing.

Day 8 - Horsenality

What is your horsenality, your partner's horsenality, and how do you make them work together?

Well, to be honest I'm not sure what personality I am. I think I am a LBI/RBI but I have also been accused of being a LBE and I can see that too at times. (I say accused very lightly). But around Moose, I could say I'm probably more of a LBE because I have high expectations, and Moose himself will switch like me. Honestly, we're probably quite similar. He'll have days where he's completely RBI and I will myself. I'd be willing to be that we mirror each other pretty well, it's just I can never see it at the time.

Day 7 - "How interesting"

When have you turned a time of frustration into a "how interesting" moment?

Well, honestly I tend to have trouble with this strategy, because I never remember to use it when I'm out by my horse. But I do try to step back from the situation when I'm getting frustrated. And I've done that a lot. Probably about every session, I'll have to step back, say "hmmm what isn't working here?" but I'm not always frustrated. Sorry I can't think of a specific time recently.