Fourteen Years Ago

Marti Szczur



 March 18, 2022

Fourteen years ago, I got a new horse, whom I named Toblerone ... Toby for short. He was a youngster ... an enthusiastic 4 year old. Full of spunk and ideas of his own.

I had just retired, and Toby was to become my old lady horse. My horse objectives were evolving from wanting a horse with whom to compete to wanting a safe horse to enjoy whatever kind of riding I wanted to do. While I had ridden since a 6 year old and had been fearless with my own spunk in my younger days, I was now a young 62 and brand new to being a student of the “natural horsemanship” approach to training and riding horses (versus the more traditional, frequently rigid, Calvary-originated approach.) In the first decade of  the 21st century, “Natural Horsemen”, who had always been around, but viewed as mystical “horse whisperers,” became more available to the general horse community. They began to created easy-to-follow programs and took their philosophy and program on the road.

There are lots of definitions of what natural horsemanship is, but to me, following a natural approach is about developing a relationship and partnership with your horse, such that both you and your horse are happy and trust one another. 

So, in Fall of 2008, Toby and I spent a month at Pat and Linda Parelli’s campus in FL, immersing ourselves with their Natural Horse Program . Even had a lesson from Linda. The whole experience put me on the path of following natural horsemanship philosophy and techniques. Over the years, I have studied with many Parelli instructors and had the opportunity to participate in several of Linda’s  Master Classes.

When Linda Parelli started her own program last year,  which she calls Happy Horse Happy Life, she offered an opportunity to train one-on-one with her for a month. I’ve got some ambitious goals I’d like to achieve with Toby Horse, while we are both healthy and still feeling a bit of spunk. So, Toby and I are about to set off  to spend the month of April studying with Linda. Very excited for this learning opportunity!

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