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The Final Straw, Charlotte and PNH

Everyone comes to a breaking point in a treasured relationship from time to time. Sometimes those relationships can be salvaged, sometimes not. My relationship with PNH has been a roller coaster of emotions. My last physical and verbal contact with Pat was in Feb 2009 when he sat down and asked me to calm down, lay low and not cause any waves for 10 months. In Jan of 2010 there would be new programs/positions/certifications within PNH that would be a great fit for me. I suppose I almost made it, but on Dec 3, 2009 something came out that really shook my faith. In and of itself it must seem trivial, but for those who have walked this journey step by step with me, it was a glowing neon sign that our time of waiting for PNH to go forward with us is done. We need to go forward on our own 2 feet, not against PNH, I still believe in the program wholeheartedly, but we need the freedom that not being 'branded' by them gives. I know so many fabulous people who have so much to offer but don't fit neatly in the PNH mold (much like myself), we will go forward drawing from all the excellence we see around us - just as Pat gathers mentors - so shall we. Pat has been such a pivotal person in my life. He has given me wonderful direction and tools for both my life and my horsemanship. I will always give him credit and respect for the gifts he has bestowed upon me, including a thicker thin. Here is the tale of the Final Straw:

I had a big surprise yesterday from PNH. As many of you know, we had come up with a huge, fabulous concept for the Savvy Spotlights in Lakeview, FL in October. After we were in the Spotlights in Franklin, TN last winter, Pat had made some great suggestions to make our performance more easily understood and appreciated by 'his' audience. I took his suggestions to heart and had every intention of going back and really blowing the doors off the building with our performance.

I was feeling a creative block through the summer, not really 'feeling' the excitement I had felt the first time we applied. The negative emotions and feedback that a few people expressed really hurt my feelings. I had gone there feeling on top of the world and super important to Parelli Natural Horsemanship; and left there feeling completely unappreciated and rudely disrespected. Re-establishing the excitement I needed to create our next big production was proving to be extremely difficult.

My big inspiration came from a Lynrd Skyrd (sp)/Kid Rock concert Tommy and I attended in July. I sat there and saw the lights, heard the music, felt the pyrotechnics and was deeply moved by the message and visual imagery I saw. Granted, not classic Wakefield-style imagery, but it was exactly what I needed. My head was spinning with ideas when we left the concert (that was all, by the way, I rushed home, drove 10 hrs to be there - we had no alcohol, etc) and I was determined to create a visual and auditory spectacle that was so tight and so slick nobody could deny us our due praise.

I went home and presented it to the most talented group of people I know - the group formerly know as the Parelli Kids - and they loved the idea but were hesitant to put themselves out there again too. Actually very few of our original group even thought about going again, after the way they felt when we drove away from Franklin; but we have a veritable well of talent and I reached out to the younger girls who were game for the challenge. Before we proceeded to create this amazing show I felt I needed to touch base with PNH to make sure we would be considered with the other entries for a Spotlight.

It was to be an expensive vast undertaking, but a show to die for. I sent 7 letters to the people with whom I had corresponded  for Franklin. I know Pat and Linda are very busy, but I thought one of their people could give me some sort of response so I knew whether to proceed with building this dream. NOBODY in PNH responded! Jim Crew was the only other person I sent the letter to, and he responded enthusiastically immediately offering any and all support he could give. He was excited about the proposal!

I proposed a big deal. It was 2 songs. The first was 'for Linda', 'Man I feel like a Woman' by Shania Twain; except my dear friend Laura (a national country music recording artist) would sing it 'live'. Laura has a big arch scaffolding that she uses in her shows to mount lights and a huge flag, I thought we could put the scaffolding over/across the entrance to the arena and hang the lights from it. It is very tall and one could safely ride under it. The lights hanging on the scaffold would be pointed in different directions (like a concert) and easily hook up to the sound equipment to 'dance' and flash with the beat of the music.  We would come in on the ground, dressed like the video, top hats, tails but instead of the black stick she held (sorry the name of that stick escapes me) we would swing and twirl our carrot sticks as our horses went through a detailed choreography of on-line and liberty work. Mid song Skip, Holly and I would leave for our next number.

The next number (Pat's song with a reining and reined cow horse theme) would start with the lights down low and the smoke machines billowing smoke across the floor. The performance arenas are set up sideways at the far end of the big event arenas (they are held in big horseshow arenas with a long path between 2 large shopping areas ending with a gate in side/center of the riding performance area). We would put 3 pairs of lights along that path/runway to light up one at a time at the beginning of our next song 'Greased Lightning' from the movie Grease. I would be on Dixon, Holly would be dressed in a cow suit on a 4-wheeler poised for the beginning of the song. The girls and I would dump our top hats and sticks and don shiny hot pink 50's jackets with 'Parelli Kids' (or whatever we were allowed to put) and fluff our hair out (costumes for this song) and mount our horses. When the song says 'Its Greased Lightning.....', Holly (in her cow suit) would fly up the runway/path into the center of the ring with me galloping hot on her heels; she would turn left and stop up in the corner as I did a sliding stop across the arena. Holly would jump off her 4-wheeler and start running back and forth at the top of the arena like a cow. We would line up, spaced evenly down the arena, and I would start 'cutting' her as everyone mirrored me all the way down the arena. The song has several distinct changes so when it changed, Holly would jump back on the 4-wheeler and start 'circling' with all of us following doing both fast and slow circles; she would fly thru the middle and circle at the other end with us hot on her heels doing a flying change and circling the other way. Another change of direction and flying change and we would start 'down the fence' with Holly leading us. She would turn around and come back up on the rail side of the horses with them turning and 'falling' like dominoes behind one another, we would do that again on the other side then everyone would run down the center and stop evenly spaced down and across  the arena. We would then start spinning right for 8 revolutions, then left for 8 revolutions. Then as the song ends we would back up 'hands free' shaking 'spirit fingers' as we back.

I don't know about you, but I thought it was a well developed concept that we could actually nail and make everyone, us, Pat, Linda, PNH - look smart, talented, creative and amazing! I GOT NO RESPONSE FROM ANYONE!!!! Then yesterday a thoughtful friend (who was also, like me, a Gold Member of the Savvy Club) sent me a scan of the back cover of the Savvy Times with Pat and Linda coming into a darkened arena through smoke under a scaffolding with lights hanging from it pointed different directions. You can see how I might be surprised ...... I know it seems like we have come up with many of the same ideas at the same time before. Actually it makes sense that multiple people following the same program would come up with similar ideas. I can see that even though we have for several years now, been on exactly the same page, nothing will ever come of it. I think its time for us to move forward.

Moving Forward....

I have decided to get together with positive, progressive, motivated horsemen and women to create a  PERFORMANCE NATURAL HORSEMANSHIP PROGRAM FOR KIDS of ALL AGES! I created a Vision and a Business Plan 2 years ago when Pat asked me to make one - well we need to do it ourselves! There are so many incredibly talented people out there wanting to change things - and its happening! Industry standards are changing! The practice pens and schooling areas are getting better! We all need to pay our bills, but nobody I know who trains horses and helps people every expects to become a multimillionaire or a rock star (outside of our little bubble). We are in this because we first love horses and truly want to see more horses be successful and appreciated! I love kids! I love the purity of their hearts and their love for the horses untainted, like ours once was. Now that its flooded/raining let's put our heads to coming up with some great ideas to get our message out there! I know Pat Parelli is a brilliant horseman and I will continue to support his program and its concepts, ideas and techniques. We use his work every day of our lives and I appreciate immeasurably the time and effort he has dedicated to bringing it to us. I do believe he has EARNED the financial success and status he has achieved. He has done things and opened doors nobody ever dreamed were possible before him. He has changed the horse business in a very positive way! I think we must continue to move forward and embrace all the exceptional talent we have before us today! There are great horseman around us, lets get together and support one another. Each of us has an amazing gift/talent, lets start sharing those so our next generation can be more open minded and well rounded than our generation.

If you would like to participate, contact me! I'm not asking for you to donate your time, we are all working to survive, but we can share ideas and teach kids (and adults) better ways to accomplish their goals! Aaron Ralston, from the RFD TV Show 'The Ride' contacted me, wanting to do a clinic here to share his idea of 'giving your horse a purpose for the maneuvers you ask him to do. Many horses today are drilled to death on maneuvers only and see no point (other than staying out of the line of fire) in doing what we ask.' Aaron has developed 'purposes' for our maneuvers, lets get together and learn from him! Rick Steed will be returning with his concepts of Simplifying Horsemanship by breaking everything we do into simple easy to follow Equations! He uses the same equations with the same answers over and over to build confidence in the horse, then strings those equations together to create advanced maneuvers. By building the advanced maneuvers with simple equations, even the most advanced maneuver on the toughest horse becomes simple! Cool idea! We would love to get Craig Johnson back again - he has brilliant drills to put softness and relaxation into lightning fast maneuvers. I'd love to have Mark Hauseman come and do despooking; Matt Gable come and present ways to get around problem horses' trigger points, etc. We have brilliant people all around us, we must recognize, celebrate and learn from them!