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My 101 Guide to Parelli Natural Horsemanship!

This is an article I wrote at the invitation of my goddaughter Verena.  Verena is passionate about dog training and has recently graduated f...

Wednesday 9 March 2011

WE are...


Has anyone noticed that Parelli has a new slogan with their logo?
WE ARE PARELLI WORLDWIDE

Simple, but not easy. Just like the program. As human beings, we operate as I, as Individuals. Companies and businesses spend tons of money trying to learn how to operate as a team, attempting to motivate their employees to act in a unified manner towards achieving objectives. It's just not natural to us.

But for the horse, WE is all there is. The herd thinks, feels, plays, and acts as a unit, it's essential to survival in the wild. Ever see a herd of horses take off at a dead run without any visible signal from any horse? Ever feel you horse wanting to take off with another group of horses, connecting to their emotions and thoughts, while you were still wondering what happened? WE is natural to horses, wild or not.

We can use this natural ability to get the horse to connect with us, read our intent and synchronize with us. But only if we can first learn to synchronize with them!

WE ARE PARELLI. What does that mean?

Parelli the community - a worldwide community of like-minded horse lovers who share a passion for building a relationship with their horse in a natural way.

Parelli the team - the staff and professionals that work hard around the clock to share the message and bring understanding of the program to the students out there.

Parelli the ranch - a collection of employees, externs, interns, working students and professionals who are not only there to learn, but to maintain and keep the wheels turning so Pat and Linda can continue to advance their horsemanship and teach a whole lot more of us how to become horsemen.

Parelli on the Web - there is a highly powerful way of reaching out and networking and Parelli has certainly created a huge social media buzz on the Net, inspiring and connecting with thousands of Parelli students everywhere. It's the new WE.

In my own business, this year, I have been putting a lot of effort into building something that resembles a team. I partnered up with regional coordinators so that I would no longer be alone trying to reach out to the student body and organize events while trying to get everything else done. They are my eyes and ears in their respective areas, they can go where I cannot, meet you and talk to you when I cannot. We are all very different, but we all share a passion for horses and for the Parelli program, and that is the common thread that keeps us thinking, feeling, playing and acting as a team. First we needed to find a way to synchronize with one another!

In the past, the Canadian instructors have been notorious for feuding and for acting as individuals and competing against each other. So this year, a few of us are trying to start over and working on building a team. We are trying to synchronize. We have discussed joining forces to participate at promotional events, and are designing a team jacket. It's not much yet, but it's a start. The European instructor team is way ahead of us, they have been doing this for years. There is a model we can be inspired by. Distances set aside, several of us feel we can all benefit from acting in a more unified way, and increase our chances of survival. Hey, we want more, we want to thrive!

If learning to understand and live WE is just as important for us as it is for our horses, we sure have to work harder at it! Simple, not easy. However, the results and the connection it provides can only inspire us to try harder!

What are you doing everyday to learn to synchronize more easily? And what does it mean to you?

2 comments:

  1. Great blog post! I am crossing fingers for the Canadian Instructor Team. I had tried to gather support for a CO instructor team previously without much success, maybe I should revive my efforts instead of giving up?!
    We are Parelli after all...

    Petra Christensen
    Parelli 2Star Junior Instructor
    Parelli Central

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  2. Well, it does take two to Tango, so building a team requires at least a few people willing to put in some effort. We don't have everyone on board, but we do have a small core trying to build on small successes. It's not easy because Canada is a large country with not that many people, so distances and competing for customers do stand in the way of teammanship if you let it.

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