Earlier tonight I posted on AND's forum regarding Parelli's Horsenality and how I used the chart.
Before writing this post, I had never really put a voice to my beliefs and when I finally did, I really liked it and so I'm sharing with you guys.
Check it out! :)

"My personal view of the horsenality chart is that it's not a complete, detailed set of step-by-step instructions and it isn't going to explain every horse, every day.
On it's own, that is.
( Which is where the Parellis and their instructors *AND* [big and!] personal experience come into play.)
It is more of a general guideline meant to introduce people to the idea that there is more to the horse that meets the eye.
A key to unlock the door of horse psychology.
If a person has this key to refer to, it makes the the subject of eq. psych. notably easier to comprehend. It gives people something to look for when reading body language and it makes this vast and difficult subject a little more approachable. In other words; I see it as a starting place; a 3D explanation to add on to, develop inside your mind and add more and more details to as you progress and learn as a horse(wo)man.
That is how I have seen it and it really did help me understand Lady and open my mind up to take note of when her behaviors changed.
When I first got her, I wasn't overwhelmed. The horsenality chart helped me to not overreact.
Stephanie Burns says something in a Parelli Level 1 DVD along the lines of
" When you have an experience that you don't know how to respond to because you haven't been exposed to the particular situation before, or have never been taught what to think, feel or do when said situation occurs, you usually feel tense, scared, upset, angry, frustrated. etc."

The chart helped me mentally prepare myself and so when we ( Lady and I) had our first "incident", I automatically went to the chart in my mind, Classified it as what I thought it was and I knew to respond in a calm, cool and collected manner.
It wasn't just an act either! I was calm and I felt comfort.
Because I was prepared for that experience!

Now of course, my understanding has deepened and I don't look to the chart as much anymore and hardly use labels.
It's all just learning what she as a unique being responds to at any given moment.
But the chart itself and the theory of horsenality taught me how to take the time to LOOK for how she was seeing the world at that point in time.

I am no longer just going out there and assuming that she's 'the usual'.

Pat Parelli says that the Horsenality is made of four things: Innate characteristics, Learned behaviors, Environment and spirit.

I look for that in Lady every time I see her.

I am constantly gaining a deeper understanding of her innate characteristics as she shows me more and more of her 'true self', if you will.

I'm also gaining a deeper understanding of her learned behaviors, deducing where they came from to as best I can and how to tell them apart from her innate chars.

I watch her to see how she's reacting to her environment, if anything is spooking her or has caught her interest, if there is anything around that might explain for how she's acting ( For ex. sometimes there are people in the corn-field beside her pasture and when they are, she'll trot beside the fence line back and forth and just tree them until they leave, or until I come out there.)

And lastly I look to see if she's feeling good! (spirit) And if she's in a "let's go" kind of mood I go back to environment and look for something there that might be causing her spirit level to be up or down from her "normal".
If nothing is worrying her then I move on to other factors like health, weather, socialization, etc. Or maybe she just feels good! Or some days she's just lazy as all get-out.

My point: I know what I'm looking for now and I know how to respond accordingly. And it all started with that simple chart. Did I make any sense at all? Sometimes it is difficult to explain what's going on inside my head! I hope I did an okay job of it. Hahaha! Thanks for reading my NOVEL. Sorry! "

What do you guys think? Well explained? Makes sense? Agree or disagree? Feedback, lovies!

Thanks!

Naturally,

Katie Hufton