The TTEAM training was held by Edie Jane Eaton (leftmost in this photo), a Tellington Touch trainer whom I've had the good fortune to learn from twice before for the TTOUCH companion animal work. Our group has about 15 women (why is it that men don't get involved with this challenging, peaceful, intuitive work?). TTEAM is equine based, although many of the principles transfer to work with other animals.
We spent the week alternating classroom time, demo time, and hands-on time with the many horses and two knee-high donkeys on the farm.
This course, I didn't take as many notes as I have in the past. My learning energy was more tuned to taking things in without trying extra hard to study and perfect them. As this is my fifth TT-related training, I was feeling anchored in the basics, and just soaked in the new stuff as introduction that I can build on later.
It feels different to not stress out as a student, not try to catch every word and to be perfect in everything from the get-go. I like this style of learning. I would have made a good Socratic student, I think. Certainly this trip is its own opportunity for peripatetic learning.
Sunny, sunny all week. Got a farmer's tan, plus a little bit of burn on my shoulders and neck when I jumped at the chance to wear a tank top for the first time in what feels like a year. Am glad I changed my TT training session from the week before to this one. The week before it was rain, rain, rain for all five days. They could barely go outside to do anything. This week has been sun, sun, sun, and everyone is in a very good mood.
Aside from actually working with the animals, the best parts of the training, as usual, were the hands-on demos, where we got to pair off and play the parts of the horses and people as we practiced things like quick-release knots, special leading and tying techniques with ropes and wands, and how pressure on bridles work.
For the latter, Edie Jane had each of us wear a bridle on our head and hold the bit in our hands while someone else worked the reins. I was astonished that the pressure was so much on the top of the head instead of the bit. Anyone watching from the outside would have thought we were into some bizarre form of S&M.
We also got some chances to ride before, during, and after we did TTouches on the horses. TTEAM helps horses become balanced emotionally, physically, and mentally, so they're more prepared to meet situations with less fear. Part of the work can be teaching the horse to be ridden without a bridle. Riders use a bit of stiff rope looped around the horse's neck at the chest to steer and halt the horse.
A few of the students had brought their own animals to work with. I was surprised at how little time it took to get the horses willing and able to respond to this kind of riding and direction. The horses loved the freedom of movement, and everything was easy and gentle and step-by-step for training both the animal and people in how to go bridleless.
As usual at these sessions, everyone I met there was delightful to get to know, and we all bonded in various ways over the five days. Several women invited me to drop in on them if my travels take me to their regions of the UK. Even if I don't make it to their areas, I feel happy that I actually know people here, and that could call on them for help or information in a pinch.
My plans for next week are to be in Cornwall for seven days. I booked a cabin on the Lizard Peninsula, which both Julie and Erica, TTEAM participants, highly recommended as The Place To Go in Cornwall. I used the Ramblers listing book that Norman loaned me to find a self-catering cabin in Mullion, which, it turns out, isn't very far from where Julie lives.
Friday night I had dinner with David and Lisa at The Butchers Arms. I started with drinks with a few of the TTEAM gals at the back grassy area of the pub, where we nearly tipped the picnic bench over when everyone on one side of the table got up at the same time and we on the other side were still sitting down. Drinks slid, we all screeched, and we barely saved the whole table from going over backwards. We were still laughing minutes afterward.
David and Lisa, self-proclaimed "Lord and Lady of Farmborough," treated me to supper at The Butchers Arms. We laughed and shared stories of Londoners with wacky haircuts who charge for photos, US travel and Los Angeles, American vs. British English, pets and horses, and Halloween costumes--especially the one Lisa once made from a bin liner (trash bag) that, she claims, is the foundation of every good halloween costume.
David and Lisa live in Farmborough which, yes, is large enough to have a small grocer that's also the post office. They're only a block or so from the pub, and they walked me to my B&B with their new yellow labrador puppy, Reggie, who made a point of checking every doggie mail stop on the way.
Our final TTEAM dinner was Saturday at The Hunters Rest. These evenings are always bittersweet for me--acknowledging new friends and a great week, and knowing we're going to say goodbye the next day. Learned some new Sudoku tricks from Edie Jane by playing the game on Perry over dessert, which was fun.
Our TTEAM week ended on Sunday, and Julie (the one being led through the labyrinth in the photo above) offered to drive me to Cornwall and have me stay overnight at her farm, then to take me to my cabin the next day. She's shearing alpacas on Monday, and I get to help.
