Week 3

I have had another great week learning lots of new things. As well as the horsenalities I talked about in my previous post we have been learning about 'humanalities'- the human equivalent. I find it so interesting and I think that every time I meet someone now I'll be trying to work out their humanality! Like with the horses there are 4 different personalities. Right brain extroverts are very sociable, they love connecting with other people, are loud, emotional, like being the centre of attention, are always doing something and get distracted easily. Right brain introverts are quiet, cautious, diplomatic, want to do the right thing, often creative, avoid conflict, have to get to know people before they open up, and too much pressure can mean they freeze and can't think. They can occasionally 'explode' (!)- bottle up all their negative feelings about something and then let them all out at once. Left brain introverts are also quiet and are very organised- they love systems, structure and facts.  They might be seen by others as controlling. They know what they think, think their opinion is right and don't avoid conflict. Left brain extroverts are talkative, loud and (like left brain introverts) know their opinion and think they're right. They can be stubborn and don't like being told what to do, but can often be seen as bossy themselves.
People can be more or less extreme within their humanality, and can have traits from other humanalities. They can also have triggers that might change how they behave. In order to get along better with others (including horses) we have to be able to 'flex'- modify our behaviour to help the other person, for example an extrovert might want to talk all the time, but if they are with an introvert who needs some time and space to think, they could flex by being quiet for a bit.
I think I am a right brain introvert. Because everyone here knows about the humanalities and which one each other is, we end up analysing each other, saying things like 'all the introverts are being quiet!' I have started reading a book called 'Quiet: the power of the introvert in a world that can't stop talking' by Susan Cain. Its really good so far, I would definitely recommend it to anyone interested in this sort of thing.

A chart showing humanalities in relation to working with horses- only showing the negative points!

We were taught humanalities by Gen who, as I said before, is a Parelli instructor who was staying at Avalo for a bit to avoid the Canadian weather. On Monday she left to go back to Canada (via a week in New York state) so we all went out for a meal on Friday night to say goodbye. We went to the restaurant Emma waitresses at in Aiken and she had to work that night, but she served us! Gen has a really big trailer than can take her three horses and has a living area, so that's where she lived when at Avalo and it means she has somewhere to stay wherever she goes.

We (Emma, Anni and I) also went to Aiken another evening earlier in the week. We went shopping at Old Navy (I am going to need another suitcase to take everything home...) and then ate dinner at Applebee's (an American restaurant chain) with Emma's boyfriend and his friend who are both golf professionals at a local golf club (South Carolina is great for golf.)

On Sunday we went to a local schooling show (a CT- combined test- which is just the dressage and show jumping phases of eventing, these are very relaxed and are basically a practice for the more serious events.) I was stewarding for the show jumping- not an ideal job for a right brain introvert as it involves shouting across the warm up arena to tell people when its their turn to go into the ring: my voice isn't loud enough! Emma, Michelle and Michelle's friend Anna competed, and Emma and Michelle both came first in their classes! Anyone who volunteered at this show gets free cross country schooling at that farm's cross country course. We were going to do that yesterday but the weather forecast looked bad so we will do it another time. Yesterday was a really fun day anyway though, Michelle, Anni and I went on a long trail ride in the afternoon to a huge field where we practiced our cross country canters and then all cantered along together. It was so much fun!! I was riding Babe who is one of Michelle's competition horses (although he is now limited in what he can do as he head shakes- some horses get this and it is unclear what causes it but it can distract the horse a lot) and he was great, its so nice to be able to go fast in an open space but still have control! Michelle filmed us and I'll try and get the clips to post here. Sometimes when I go on Facebook and see pictures of friends who are relaxing on beaches, I do get a little jealous, especially at 7 in the morning when we're up feeding horses! But after rides like this I realise how much I like it here and I'm so glad I came to Avalo.

On Monday and yesterday morning I played on line with Teddy. She is probably my favourite, I have

Teddy

been doing a lot with her, and she is just so good! She knows how to do everything and because I have been working with her from the beginning of my stay, I can see how my communication with horses has improved through her reactions. Yesterday she was following me and walking backwards next to me without me touching the halter or holding the carrot stick, it was so cool and made me feel like we were really in sync! I was just watching a Parelli (the Natural Horsemanship programme that we do) DVD that said something like 'you want the horse to be connected to you mentally more than physically' and that's just how it felt. I could also lead her around by just softly holding her ear. Parelli has different levels that you can be assessed at. The assessments are done by video, and if I want to I can do the level 1 or 2 assessment. I think I will do it, it would be nice to know I have reached a certain level in my time here.

As well as learning new horsey things I am now able to (sort of) park the truck with the trailer attached! Its quite hard as you have to turn the car the opposite way to if you just wanted to reverse the car, so even if the trailer's in the right place the truck probably isn't... Emma taught me how to do it properly and I am getting better!

On Monday night we had a power cut. It only lasted for about an hour, but apparently earlier in the year they had one that lasted for a week during the ice storm that hit the US! It must have been so bad. There are tornadoes in the south east at the moment as you probably will have heard, but thankfully they never hit this part of South Carolina.

We have a new working student arriving this evening who is from France so I will no longer be the newbie. On Tuesday we might be going to Charleston which should be nice, lots of people both in England and America have told me to go there if I get the chance.