Elena 06/12/13

The days are really busy here right now! ;-)
On Monday the students of the Level 3/4 class arrived, as Klaudia has already posted.

Check-In time!

My job for the Check-In was, to show all the 32 students their pens for their horses and to give them a quick set up about the tack rooms, the water and everything else they need for their four-legged partners.
It really liked my job, because I had the chance to meet everybody with his horse at the first moment. That made it easier for me to remember the names. ;-)

Students horses in their pens

After the Check-In and the Orientation, we've played a name-game with all the students. That helped us to remember at least half of the names!
So the last three days have been full of great demos with Nita-Jo, Erin and students from the level 3/4 class. We had many different topics, for example "Calm, Connected and Responsive", "Rein positions", "Hunting an Obstacle", "Horsenalities" and "Refining Phase 1".
After each demo the students had their "guided experimenting" time. That means, they can play or ride with their horses all over the Parelli Campus (except for Pat's barn ;-) ) and ask us instructors whenever they need help.

Linda, Pat and Caton Parelli!

Today our instructor group has been split into two groups. In my group are Tammy and Shelley.
In the morning we were around during the guided experimenting to help the students and in the afternoon we got a horsemanship session with Nita-Jo. The other group did the other way round.
The guided experimenting is very interesting, because we don't want to micromanage the students, we want to set them up for becoming independent learners. They really have to experiment with what they've seen in the demos and, if they need help, ask us!
If we were micromanaging everybody, it would become a disaster when everybody is back home without that. ;-)
In our horsemanship session in the afternoon I asked Nita-Jo to teach me some Reining, especially Spins. Some of you might know that Mousey, my horse at home, is a "Reining Horse" and that I want to compete in Reining.
It was really fun, I learned a lot, Lily did very, very well and Nita-Jo is one of the best teachers I've ever had!!
From the first moment on, Lily did Spins from the right to the left, but not the other direction. So Nita-Jo helped me working on Lily's AND my balance! :-)
I'm so looking forward to try this out with Mousey!

During and after our horsemanship session the other group of us instructors had their focus stations. Klaudia was doing Bowties, Erin Rein Positions and Heather the Weave Pattern.
They all did very well and the students seemed to enjoy the afternoon!
Tomorrow it's my turn with the Bowtie focus station, Tammy is with the 45' rope and Shelley is doing a Liberty focus station.

We've also got another instructor here for the Level 3/4 class to help us: 1* Kirsi from Colorado!
She's doing a very good job!!

Kirsi and a chipmunk!

This morning we also had our first "Remudas": Every of us instructors had 5 or 6 students of the Level 3/4 class to talk with without the pressure of a big group with more than 30 people!
It was really nice to also let the introvert students get the opportunity to talk about things they've got in mind. Kirsi was joining my group.
At the end of our Remuda we even still had time to play the "Helium Stick Game" and the "Untangle Game", we had a lot of fun!

Deers joined us in the evening in the Savvy Park

Can you find both deers?