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Achieving Level 3 competencies in the Parelli system is no small feat. Desire, Dedication and Focus are only part of the qualities necessary to achieve such a lofty goal. This extraordinary achievement takes a global commitment to oneself.

It certainly is not easy to dedicate oneself to re-programming those innate predatory instincts of impatience, anger, fear and fight. The quest, the journey to Level 3, is to become kinder, gentler, and more patient and forgiving with ourselves and our horses. To not judge what the horse does as 'right' or 'wrong' but rather see and feel what we get back from our horse is the un-varnished TRUTH with no value judgment from the horse. It is truly, just, FEED-BACK. If we don't like that particular FEED-BACK, we learn how to become more behaviorally flexible. That is, we learn to change ourselves, or the way we present ourselves, or the way we present the information to that horse. Evaluate the new FEED-BACK from the horse, and if that is what we want, keep doing what we are doing. If the FEED-BACK is not what we want, we learn to do something different. While this process is occurring we learn to not create value judgments of ourselves or our horses, quelling our negative self talk, and replace it with the voice of kindness and appreciation for the effort put forth. In this process we learn to be more accepting of the little changes that ultimately lead to big changes in ourselves and in our horses.

Level 3 means to see any given situation from different perspectives. We learn to see challenges in our path as 'stepping stones' instead of stumbling blocks. We learn to become empowered by the development of the understanding that we would not have created those 'stepping stones' if they didn't have some learning in them for us. This learning most frequently has to do with developing our own behavioral flexibility. Horses help us understand the truth of the old adage, “He who has the most behavioral flexibility controls the situation”. As we increase our behavioral flexibility we, necessarily, will become more 'Centered' as a human. Only after we become more 'Centered' can we help our horse become 'Centered'.

In the achievement of Level 3 we become a calmer, braver, smarter, gentler, kinder, more centered, more behaviorally flexible, and a more accessible leader for ourselves. By doing this we can be what our horse needs us to be. As we create this 'new' self we learn not to not take 'things' so seriously, to lighten-up and have some fun on the journey.