After seeing the drastic improvement in my own horse (and also in my own emotional fitness), I became fascinated and started playing with as many horses as I could get my hands on. Luckily I was working on a large livery yard at the time and had plenty of opportunities to try out my new-found skills. I guess I wanted to make sure that it wasn't just a fluke, that this stuff really does work! I am privileged enough to have a large number of friends and aquaintances locally who were prepared to allow me to conduct my "experiments" on their horses too. Turns out, yes this stuff really does work! The more horses I played with the more fascinated I became and before I knew it the dream to become a Parelli Professional was well and truly established and there was no way I could even contemplate my life taking any other direction.
Around this time the new Fast Track courses were unveiled and I knew I just had to get there. So I picked the date of March 2010 and the location of Florida and paid my deposit. I should say at this point I had no idea of how I was going to finance the remainder of the course fee, all I knew was that I would find a way somehow. Then a few weeks later, I was dutifully mucking out something like my 20th stable of the morning, when my lovely friend Becca called with exciting news! A Fast Track course was to be run at the UK centre in August 2010! This was the chance to at least save a little money by not flying, and more importantly than that, a chance to take our own horses! It was a no-brainer really, I threw down my pitch fork and dashed home to apply for a transfer immediately. I am so glad I decided to take action straight away, as by the end of the day the course was fully booked, phew! So the plan had altered and now Becca and I would be attending the same Fast Track together in the UK with our own horses - now we could get REALLY excited!
I still had the slight problem of funding to think about..... Finally I decided that there was no way I could earn that much extra in the next few months and that the only option was to sell my beloved Esme. Yes she was old, yes she was a bit smelly and could sometimes be lazy - the classic LBI, but she was always there for me and we'd been through a lot together. We had attended clinics and courses with Jackie Chant, James Roberts and Alison Jones. We had been on fun rides and to shows together and yes even camped out together a few times. This was going to be tough but I was sure I could find a loving home for her, so reluctantly I drafted the advert. "For Sale to good home only, 1988 VW LT35, excellent runner, low milage for age, carries 2 large horses easily....." So it was done, Esme found a kind new owner and I was able to pay for the rest of my Fast Track.
The next dilemma then had to be addressed - which horse to take? Although Sirius had progressed in leaps and bounds I still had my concerns about how he would cope with the different environment, the pressure I would undoubtedly put on him and the fact that he would have no turnout for 4 weeks and he dislikes being stabled. I hadn't been playing with my Welsh Cob, The Pepmeister, for as long and I didn't consider him as far along in the program as Siri, however I did know that he would cope fantastically with the environment and thrive on the challenges of learning a lot of new things in a short space of time. As soon as I made the decision to take Pep it was as if he knew that something big was happening and doubled his level of try in everything I asked him to do (or maybe he was already trying that hard but I'd been so focussed on helping my RB horse that I had neglected to notice what my trusty LBE was offering me every day).
The excitement grew and grew until I wasn't even sleeping properly with all the anxieties running through my head - would I be good enough? Could I remember the 8 principles? Did I understand the ten qualities? I was pretty new to Parelli, did I deserve this opportunity so soon? Would Pep want to spend the whole time eating as we would be playing on grass and he has his grazing restricted at home? I had self-assessed to Level 3 but what if I had got it wrong? Would everyone be at a much higher level than me? These questions and more went round and round in my head until I though I would go crazy!
Then finally the big day dawned and it was sunny and warm (for about the last time until we came home again!) My dear friends Emma and Jacqui towed the horses with Becca in their truck, and I drove on ahead to get the stables ready and suss out where everything was before the horses arrived. As soon as I pulled into the car park I was greeted by the lovely smiling face of my now good friend Larisa, and I suddenly felt like this was exactly where we were meant to be. Becca, Katy, Pep and I would all do just fine....
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