This isn’t one of my usual rants about judgement – please don’t worry! 
We all judge and we all get judged…deal with it; it’s life. I have talked a great deal before about the lives of our ancestors having a hell of a lot to do with judgement – they had to judge whether someone or something was friend or foe pretty much instantaneously…or else risk getting killed or eaten! I guess the modern day version would be considering the role of a policeman, or a soldier – their skill and ability to judge literally saves lives.
But some take that a step too far…eyeing other people up and criticising the way they look, dress, speak…whatever – I am over the whole issue of judgement I guess. You have no idea of the story of the individual you are judging, and neither do I. I judge…it’s in our nature and core being to do this…we can’t help it…but I try and keep it to an absolute minimum and scold myself when I notice that I am doing it!
Other things get judged too. As I said, this isn’t one of my usual rants about judgement. This is an account of my horsey day! 
I woke up early to head to a demo at the stable yard that my Mum keeps her horse at. My Mum has been tied up this week with her foster placement and the new baby she is looking after, so I have been keeping an eye on her mare…even though there is no need as the yard is fabulous and take very good care of her for us! When I visited the other day, I was told about an event this morning…an event involving a Parelli instructor.
Now, I haven’t got all night to go into the ins and outs of the horse world and all of the styles and methods and training programmes out there…there are hundreds of the buggers! Plus, it would probably bore the heck out of you.
When I bought my Welsh Cob, I was of the mind that I wanted to train him nice and slowly – nothing too dramatic, not too much pressure…I wanted to develop a great relationship with him. As he was a baby, I knew that I had plenty of time to work with him, but wanted to get started with some basic groundwork. There are lots of ‘natural horsemanship’ methods out there that support this groundwork, and I had a look into a few of these in order to see what I thought of it all. I also looked into – and still very much am part of – the classical methods of riding and training horses, with Phillipe Karl being a particular favourite of mine.
So I had loads of reading and research to do in all sorts of horsey related activities. Some of it I liked, some of it I didn’t.
Once method that I saw was the Parelli programme. I liked some of it. But when I saw it in practice…well, it didn’t quite add up for me. A lot of the horses looked dull and bored…and I like my horses to look lively and as if they enjoy their job. I did a bit of reading, watched a few DVDs, saw it in the flesh too…and then started to get a little jaded.
I am chuckling to myself now. Reading the above reminds me of the world of weight loss…so many bloody methods, all trying to achieve the same thing, but giving conflicting advice at times!
The Parelli method was not for me. I didn’t want a dull horse. Plus, they are quite a marketing force and the ‘special’ equipment that you need to use costs a bloody fortune. As with all things – Marmite for example! – there are lovers and haters. I wasn’t either really. I could see the merits, but decided that it wasn’t for me. I would describe it as a training programme for people, rather than a training programme for horses…and I suppose that I didn’t think that I need that particular type of training.
This mornings demo had me rolling my eyes initially. Yet I was very pleasantly surprised by the time it concluded.
You see, I had judged Parelli. I had decided that it was not for me and my horses. Yet what I saw this morning was nice to watch. The horse was loving his job – well, I guess that’s a bit of anthropomorphic talk there – he seemed to be at ease, looked lively yet content, did a beautiful job, and stood waiting for a bit of attention at the end. There were no visible signs of distress that I had seen in other horses…nor the dull or dead behind the eyes look.
I guess what I liked was the explanation of how it all translates…so why the groundwork games are good for situations like trailer loading, opening gates on hacks, riding through small spaces, controlling paces…the list was long!
For me, I have to see the rationality I think. If someone tells me something then I like to question it…I don’t tend to do as instructed unless I ‘get’ it. What I think happens in the horse world is that some people see something done, don’t question it, try and replicate it, and something gets lost in translation…they don’t really look into the method to any great degree…it’s the hype they go for.
Today I saw the rationality. And I liked what I saw. So my judgement was floored I suppose…or maybe it wasn’t…maybe it was good for me not to adopt nor totally shun a method that I hadn’t really seen all aspects of. I guess I think of my Welsh Cob – he’s a lively and clever chap…’sharp’ some would say. Considering the use of a method that would dull this spirit just freaked me out. But seeing this old and cheeky Welsh Cob today has made me reconsider.
So I hold my hands up – I judged…and perhaps I got it wrong!
I am going to have a look into it all again and think that I might get my Mum started with some of the basic stuff and see how her horse responds. It’s all well and good me reconsidering this method…but the horses are the important ones, so their views counts!
I hope that I haven’t bored you with my horsey talk tonight. It’s just so great for me to be out there again chatting to horsey people with the knowledge that I will be back in the saddle at some point…it’s exciting! It makes me proud of what I have achieved so far…and makes me want to achieve even more. I do get a little maudlin at times…I want to be doing what everyone else can I guess. But my time will come…and when it does, I will be nice and fit and healthy so that I can take full advantage of it all!
The rest of the day has been good too. Apart from my one of my poor coaching clients who was poorly and has had to re-schedule – I hope you feel better very soon! So that gave me an hour that I hadn’t planned on having. I saw my niece and nephew, and he came back home with me for a bit…he wants a sleepover and so wanted to inspect where he might sleep! So we watched a bit of TV, had some music playing and had a bit of a dance, and then we hassled Mr WLB who was watching the football. Tonight will be a quiet one – as ever…I have a Rebus novel that I am trying to finish!
Breakfast: Boiled eggs and a banana.
Lunch: Burger in a bowl (2 x HEA and 3 syns).
Dinner: Vietnamese beef broth.
Snacks: Trek flapjack (11 syns).
A lovely food day. My new usual brekkie was followed by the ‘burger in a bowl’ in the Fakeaway book…but I had tried it once before. It’s a good one…Google will give you the recipe if you fancy trying it. I then made a beef broth using all sorts of random bits from my spice cupboard, some steak, and a bag of stir fry veggies…it was rather tasty!
Exercise: Not much today really!
Thank you for reading,
Weight Loss Bitch xxx
WeightLossBitch
On a health and fitness driven journey to lose over 32st / 448lbs / 203kgs – yes, it is a considerable amount – I am committed to losing my excess weight without the aid of weight loss surgery, diet pills, or quick fixes…as there aren’t any! Changing my eating habits and building up my fitness levels, along with addressing the ‘head issues’ will be crucial in order for me to achieve my goal. Living in England as a 31 year old super morbidly obese woman can be challenging to say the least. I have been shouted at in the street and verbally abused far too many times to mention; hence the name ‘Weight Loss Bitch’…the day I am just called a ‘bitch’ instead of a ‘fat bitch’ will be the day that I know I have cracked my weight loss! With many reasons to lose this weight I am documenting my journey for a number of reasons. Firstly, I would like to keep a record of the ups and downs, the highs and lows, and the challenges I face with such an enormous task to tackle. Secondly, I would also like to inspire and encourage other people who are in a similar situation and to show them that significant amounts of weight can be lost naturally…with a bit of motivation, hard work, dedication and will power. Thirdly, all of the blogging, Facebook-ing, Tweet-ing, Pinterest-ing and YouTube-ing keeps me occupied and keeps my fingers out of the fridge!
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