fast track...the end exam at the beginning

A new blog, like a new notebook; a blank sheet infront of you, the possibilities of words to fill it are endless... so where to start?!
I am on a course called the Fast Track, run by Parelli Natural Horsemanship. I have chosen, along with 26 others, to spend a month here at Stoneleigh Park in Warwickshire. We and our horses are here to fast track our progress through the Parelli programme, so that we might either further our horsemanship or be admitted to the professionals programme, the opportunity to join the Parelli Professionals, spreading the message of Love Language and Leadership through the horse world. Its not as much like preaching as I make it sound, but it has some of the aspects, the wish to spread a message of a better way of 'life', greater messages to be understood in order to look at 'life' differently...
Today is Wednesday, day three of our course and I am sitting in the horsebox kindly lent to us by Michele, happily tired from a day's physical exertion with ponies and tools. Pat Parelli's ideal scenario for a course is that you get your final exam on the first day so that you then know what you have to do to achieve the high marks at the end of the course. A novel idea, but it does actually work! We have already been tested on online (on the ground using ropes), freestyle (ridden), liberty, finesse, theory and tools, and each task we have been given we have been set at the level of the final test and then asked to perform it to the best of our ability. It allows you the opportunity to find out what it is we will be doing over the course of the next weeks, but also allows you the opportunity to use your 'savvy' and work out what is the best approach for you and your horse based on a number of factors.
So - our experiences! 
I set off from home on Monday morning, having had a crazy weekend packing up. My alarm went off at 4.30am, but I hardly needed it, I hadn't slept a wink as I was so worried about missing the alarm! I headed out to load Jewel and was very pleased that I had made a large strong coffee to drink on the way. Sadly 'twas not to be, as I managed to spill the coffee within two minutes!! So, off we set at 5.30 and met Stu and Tracey in convoy up the road. The journey did take us quite a long time, we had a few stops for comfort breaks and ciggies for Stu, but I was glad as I was towing, although travelling in convoy tool a lot of the pressure off on the towing front as I could just follow the lorry!  We arrived at Stoneleigh at 10 ish and unloaded the horses. We had been allocated stables next to one another so unpacked our bits and pieces. People were arriving in dribs and drabs so we said hi to everyone as they arrived, and made sure the horses were settling in ok. Jewel was fairly chilled from the off, she is generally happy if there's food! We moved the lorry to the camping field that we are using this week and put up the teepee. Sadly the teepee is no longer with us (no David, if you are reading this, it has not died, but nearly blew away today so we have taken it down!!) so we are just a one horsebox family now. 
The course started with lunch, we chatted to lots of nice friendly faces and ate some bbq food. Following this we had an induction, where Carmen Smith our course leader talked us through what the course looked like logistically. We had a few exercises to get us chatting to each other and then a coffee break. A theory test was next up, thankfully I had had rather a lot of insight into this from previous course goers, so I knew most of the answers, but a few things I will be interested to learn. I realised quite how tired I was when I had a total mind blank about something on the test, and I did sit for about 20 minutes trying to remember it! Ah well, I got there in the end! We got the opportunity to play with the ponies after the test, which I was really pleased about, as it meant we could see how our horses were reacting to the new environment. Jewel was good, relaxed and eating grass happily, and actually did some things that I asked even better than at home, and I was happy to potter about with her just being "friendly" and soaking up the scene of 27 horses and students all at play. Heaven!
My bed in the horsebox is effectively in a cupboard, albeit a lovely snuggly one, as I am above the luton. It is so cosy and I slept very well that night after an evening filling in quite honest forms about ourselves for Parelli. They wanted to know everything, down to inside leg measurement!!
Day two involved online and freestyle testing. We were assigned groups and were to travel around as a herd to the different tasks. This has proven to be the most fantastic way of doing things as we got to know each other really well, support each other, and above all to laugh, even when things weren't going exactly as planned! Jewel was good, she was fairly extrovert but not crazy, and we did most of the tasks at a level that I thought would be achievable, i.e. I didn't push for things that I was unsure of, so although we will come out with lower marks in these tests I don't feel like I will have broken too much by pushing too hard. The afternoon was freestyle, and loads of fun too, I just love bring able to play with my pony all day!, we tried very hard on the tasks,but again, we played it safe and stuck to fairly simple versions. Had some hilarious moments, like trying to bridle from my knees, but not being able to get her head up off the ground (grass is too yummy!)! The group stuck together and bonded over the tasks and supporting one another. Evening time involved showering in disgusting flooded showers and eating pitta and houmous. Pretty great sleep after a physical day so felt pretty refreshed this morning.
Today was liberty, tools and finesse. The tools was our first task and I knew most of the tasks. Knots, putting together a bridle and tossing out and coiling a 45 foot line I had done before, but I nearly hit myself with the carrot stick trying to flick that about and was a bit sad I couldn't achieve catching the stick, but that's certainly something I will be practising!! Liberty is my favourite and I feel that we are usually quite strong at our liberty, but today was mixed. There were moments when I felt she was really with me - stick to me, yoyo, lead by the tail, but then she lost it on circle game (although I know I was a bit confused in my head about what I wanted so that's probably why!) and we had a bit of a disaster with squeeze. I think a lot of our problems stem from me not being clear, and she, bless her, offers so much! She will say, is it this is it this, is it this, and I end up stopping her, stifling her. Anyway, this afternoon was finesse and again, I loved every minute. Everything that hasn't gone as I had planned is just an opportunity to learn something about myself or our relationship and now I know where all our missing pieces are so I can go and fill them in with what I learn here. Our finesse was mostly ok, I felt, but we had a difference of opinion about her eating the grass, and we ended up with a little extrovert discussion about things. I think she also found it difficult being asked to work in an outline as we haven't for a long time. But she was still trying her heart out. What a horse!! Everyone has said how beautiful she is (of course!) and she has quite a few admirers I think! 
I cant wait to start the learning part tomorrow, and to hear the feedback on Friday. I really like all the instructors so can't wait to be mentored by them, and to hear the feedback from the test and general attitude day to day. I really want to try to be the best me I can be, so it is important to be to hear honest feedback, because its the only way I can change things that aren't for the best...
Right we are now off to the stables to water the ponies, so have to finish up. 
The future is pretty exciting when you are in an environment like this, I cant wait to see what it holds for us. Learning and pushing ourselves forwards is so important to me, and I think Jewel and I have it in us to reach the stars; let the journey continue!