The post you've been waiting for! The continuation of my conventional past and the valuable lesson I learned...
In 2004, I witnessed the most beautiful equestrian event of life; Freestyle Dressage. Anky Van Grunsven won gold during the Olympics in Athens aboard her warmblood, Salinero. I was instantly hooked. Before I graduated from high school I started taking Dressage lessons from a local trainer and I had dreams of becoming an Olympic champion like Anky.
I continued taking Dressage lessons through college and felt excited about the future. I was still riding difficult horses and continuing to fight for the confidence I saw in riders better then me. Five years after seeing Anky and Salinero perform, I bought my first horse.
My idea was to re-train him, show him, and possibly sell him a year or two later. What could be a better way to improve my riding abilities?
Rocky came with his name and I kept it. The first day I had him I groomed his coat until it shined and fed him carrots all while imagining his gleaming coat trotting down center line. For the next several months I taught him how to trot Caveletti, pick up his correct leads, and improve his topline. Progress was slow and I began doubting whether or not this horse was ever going to compete. Rocky would freak out about the littlest things and his idea of a trail ride was me holding on for dear life while he shied and spooked at every little rock that moved (of course the rocks would never move, but he sure thought they did). I would tell myself that he was going to be a show horse not a trail horse and him spooking and shying outside of the arena meant nothing.
A year after I bought him I felt comfortable enough to enter a local competition with some friends of mine. The day was not fun and by the end of it my pride was hurt and I couldn't believe Rocky had embarrassed me in front of everyone I knew. I needed to find a better horse and Rocky needed to be sold. While I was trying to piece together my broken pride I noticed a woman with two young Mustang geldings. They were perfect gentlemen! I asked her how long she had been working with them and it turned out to be the same amount of time I had been working with Rocky. Wow! Two wild horses tamed and being ridden (in a competition) in a year? I asked her what her secret was and she said one word, "Parelli". Parelli? A million responses were going through my head and none of them were positive. In my mind, Parelli was for middle-aged people who had never ridden before. I was a seasoned rider and did not need Parelli to show me how to ride.
More months passed and I was still trying to sell Rocky. After many failed attempts to find him a new owner I threw up my hands and said, "Screw it! I have nothing to lose!". I got in touch with the woman from the competition and asked to borrow her Level One kit. Muttering to myself that Anky didn't get to the Olympics using Parelli I put in the first DVD and sat down with my arms folded. Little did I know, my world was about to be turned upside down...
Stay tuned for Part III!
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