Cult Parelli!!!

I found out I was part of a "Cult" today. I was googling some information about a Parelli supplement when I mistakenly opened up a forum that had been discussing barefoot trimming, and someone in that forum made a reference to Parelli. Of course that peaked my interest so, I read some more of the discussion, and one of the "members" referred to a woman at her barn as a "Parelli cult member." Whoa (excuse the pun)! Of course that got me thinking about whether or not I actually was in a cult because, typically, people who are in a cult emphatically deny the fact that they are in a cult. (Talk about "circular reference"!) So I asked Dave if he thought Parelli was a cult and he said , "Oh, hell yes, but it's more like a corporate cult." (again WTF?) This got me to thinking about what drew me to Parelli as opposed to any of the other trainers that I was watching on RFD TV, because let's face it, that's where I was getting my horse fix when I didn't have a horse. And of course that thought took me back to my little Puerto Rican pony, Leah. It was that year and a half that I got to spend with her that formed my image of the "Horse/Human relationship. When I got JJ and started working with a "normal" trainer, and competing in Gymkhana's I thought I was looking for the camaraderie I had with the people I did those things with in PR, but what I didn't understand UNTIL I found Parelli was, I wasn't looking to have relationships with people. I was looking for the relationship I had with that little horse. Parelli says I need to understand 6 keys which are; Attitude, Knowledge, Tools, Techniques, Time and Imagination, and the 8 responsibilities of natural horse-man ship. Of Knowledge he says "Humans teach horses, and horses teach humans." And that's what Leah did. She was a gem and I miss her everyday. She taught me that horses will love you and protect you and care for you. If you let them, they will partner with you, and form a bond that, to this day still holds strong and true. That is what I was looking for when got JJ. I just didn't know it. I thought it was all that other stuff. I knew when working with the trainer, and doing Gymkhana that "something" was missing. It just didn't feel right. When I found Parelli, and finally committed to the program, I knew that it would help me find my way back to that time when I was naive enough to just jump on any old horse and go for a ride. Parelli isn't a cult, it's just a grown-up way of trying to get you to be a kid again.