All I Wanted for Christmas

The journey I am on learning how to be a natural horsewoman can be measured. When you study Parelli Natural Horse-Man-Ship™ progress is measured in levels in four areas. Those areas are on-line, where you are working on the ground with your horse on a lead line; freestyle, where you are riding using a lose or relaxed rein; liberty, where you are working on the ground and your hoses is free and finesse, where your are riding using more contact with the bit. The measurement tool is a ten minute performance or audition where certain skills must be demonstrated and is usually performed to music.
This fall I passed my level 2 freestyle audition and I set a goal to achieve level 3 on line, freestyle and at liberty during 2010. So all I really wanted for Christmas was the new Parelli levels program and a 45 foot line. When the package arrived I couldn’t wait to get started. I watched the section where Pat introduces the use of the 45 foot line. He made it look easy to toss and coil the line but he suggested that it would be a good idea to practice before getting into the round pen with your horse. I can’t tell you how right he was because it isn’t nearly as easy as he makes it look.
I was eager to practice with the line but the weather here in Delaware wasn’t being very cooperative. First we had 18 inches of snow. That was followed in quick succession by frigid weather, several inches of rain and more frigid weather. I took to tossing the line down the hallway from my kitchen to the hall closet door. I got pretty good at hitting the door but I quickly managed to terrorize all three of my cats and the line always ended up in a tangle.
Coiling the line isn’t easy. Unlike the heavier marine nylon 12 and 22 foot lines, the 45 foot line has a ‘shape memory” and it wants to coil in a particular way. Coiling this line is like coiling a garden hose that is still charged with water. I would toss the line and then start to coil it but the line wouldn’t cooperate. By the time I had most of it back in my hand, it wasn’t a nice series of concentric coils. It was more like an unruly boa constrictor fighting to get free. I was grateful I had guests in the house for Christmas because more than once I needed help getting the line back in shape.
By the time the weather had cleared enough to take the rope outdoors, I could toss it pretty accurately but I was still having trouble coiling without having it end up in a tangle. Frustrated but not discouraged, I called my local Parelli professional and asked for a lesson. She was able to show me a little trick for handling the line. Apparently the key is in the wrist action, a bit of a reach with a flip of the hand so the knuckles twist upward. What a relief to learn that I am not a complete rope klutz after all.
Years ago, before the digital revolution, I became interested in photography. I was in graduate school and had access to a darkroom so I wanted to learn how to develop my own film. Film had to be removed from the camera and loaded into a developer reel in total darkness. For weeks I walked around in the evening loading a role film onto that reel until I could do it by feel, without looking at my hands.
Now I am taking the same approach with my 45 foot line. Before I started writing this, I was waking around the house, separating the coils of my 45 foot line without looking at them. I am still getting them tangled a bit but it is getting easier and I am confident that before long, I will be able to handle this line with as much feel and confidence that I had with the film and developer reel.