By Angela Moody – Instructor and Trainer
At Courage Reins Equine Therapy, Highland, Utah we have been extremely fortunate to be a recipient of the Parelli Foundation grant for training. We are seeing some huge changes.
Firstly, our clients are already benefiting from a much happier herd both horses and humans! Staff and horses are definitely feeling the results of having quality training invested in them. Volunteers are now more skilled and taught to understand why horses behave the way they do and therefore are being more successful as lead walkers in classes. We have gone now to almost zero negative horse behaviors; horses are lighter off the 
lead line in lessons, lining up for ramps easier and physically looking improved. We have also been fortunate to have a great teacher in Lillan Roquet, 3 Star Parelli Professional. Her natural talent to teach has given us all a great example from which to learn. We have all taken many of her phrases and methods for presenting learning material into our own lessons at Courage Reins, clearly benefiting our mission.
The Natural Horsemanship team also has a growing skill level, but more than that, we feel appreciated and have higher levels of confidence in our own abilities. Working with horses and our clients with physical and mental challenges is rewarding, yet it doesn’t come without obstacles. The Parelli Foundation grant has given us the confidence and a growing tool kit to deal with obstacles in our pathway to wanting to be the best center for equine therapy we can be. Thank you, Parelli Foundation.