Do You Have Enough Handle to Savvy Your Horse?

Something to lick and chew about:

Do you have enough handle to savvy your horse? This has to be one of my favorite sayings, and I've been saying it for a WHILE. The idea came to me after I once saw an otherwise very savvy person lose their cool and do an unsavvy thing. We've all done it. It usually ends with a confused horse and a person in frustrated tears, either publicly or at home where no one is around.

I find myself wondering about my own physical, emotional and mental fitness.

Mentally, I feel pretty good, I read a lot, I save lives for a living, I'm an active learner every day. I am forever grateful for the Savvy Club and the numerous resources that it provides, and I'm glad to have my Parelli Levels and Patterns. I am also a Left Brained Extrovert/Right Brained Extrovert, very much like George, and I know that I can be interesting enough for him and be the leader that he needs.

Emotionally, well, lately I've been a roller coaster. I sat down to watch the online Patterns while on a break in a 24 hour shift a few weeks ago, and I found myself shutting off my laptop and putting it away...in tears. I was suddenly just overwhelmed with missing Stewie. It would just be too easy, I thought, I could be a Level 5 student right now and be on my way to the life I always wanted. Then I thought about how long before George and I were there. That's when I shut off the DVD, I was so sad and frustrated with myself for having been so direct line! That, I felt, was NOT fair to George. He didn't need me thinking like that, he needed me to be his partner, not his slave driver. We will get there when we get there, I've decided. I've also considered re-assessing Level 1, as it is the only Level I official assessed, because it has changed so much since the last time I did it. Not really sure what I'm going to do there.

Physically...I'm working on it. I lost 20lbs when I moved to Texas from Korea, then I hit a plateau. A 3 month plateau. I want to lose another 60lbs. And frankly, I have to lose the weight to keep my job. Yes it is a requirement. I've been running and lifting weights daily(and doing a minimum of 300 situps per day), and although I feel physically stronger, and my clothes fit better, I still haven't lost any actual weight. So I'm over-hauling my diet, writing down everything I eat and how much I work out. I've quit drinking energy drinks and smoking cigarettes, my two biggest vices, and I don't drink and party anyways so it's not like I need to cut that out. I've always been a "big" gal, but I've never let it affect my emotional fitness until I came to Texas, but it is time to make a change. I am also, rather violently, aware that I haven't really ridden in years, so I am slowly working my way back into it. George is as athletic as any horse I've ever seen and as agile as a cat with an extrovert personality. I want to be in shape not only for myself or my husband, not for my job, but for George, so I can be a good enough riding to stay on him, while simultaneously not inhibiting his movement or frustrating him.

Savvy I have, Savvy I'm not worried about. I know that George is going to require a ton of Savvy, and I relish the personal challenge.

However, "Do you have enough Savvy to handle your horse?" was never the question at hand.
:)