About UK based Licensed Parelli Professional™ and 3 Star Instructor
Sharon Crabbe
I don’t really know where my love of horses comes from; I only know that it has always been there, ever since I can remember. A passion inherited from my mother, who loves them too and rode as a teenager, but was firmly steered into a more sensible career.
I, on the other hand knew exactly what I was going to do with my life and nothing would persuade me otherwise. Fortunately for me my parents were supportive, ferrying me around the local riding schools for a few years then buying me my first pony when I was about 10. One pony became two, then three, and four, as my younger siblings joined in. Mucking out before school, Pony Club rallies, local gymkhanas, all fond childhood memories.
After leaving school I spent a year as a working pupil, training for British Horse Society exams, at Porlock Vale Equitation Centre.
Since then I have worked in practically every type of yard that you can imagine; show jumping, hunting, eventing, dressage, studs, showing, livery and teaching yards and even driving horses, in the UK and Italy, France, Germany and Holland.
Sounds like a pretty traditional story………………… Yes, I guess it is. But then, back in 2001, a very special horse came into my life. At the time, I didn’t know he was special, in fact for quite a long time I thought Rocky was anything but special!
By the time Rocky found his way to me I think I was probably his last chance. He certainly had a very low opinion of humans, me included. But ever the optimist, I was confident that given time and with all my experience I could make some thing of him… But I was wrong.
Eventually, desperate for answers I took Rocky to a Natural Horsemanship clinic, as a ‘problem horse’. Amazingly I saw improvements almost immediately but it took me a while to understand that I what I had seen was way more than just different tools and techniques. However, that clinic was my first step towards finding Pat and Linda.
It was a huge step too, after many years of doing what everyone else was doing, because everyone else was doing it, I decided that if I was to continue teaching and working with horses it had to be as a Parelli Professional. So I joined the Savvy Club, started studying the levels program and made plans for my first trip out to Colorado.
In September 2008, after my second summer at the International Parelli Centre in Pagosa Springs I graduated the 10 week university with a 1 Star Instructor and 1 Star Colt Start rating. Returning to the UK, I supported the team on the Parelli Stand at Horse of the Year Show and ‘Your Horse Live’ where I was also part of the UK Savvy Demo Team. During the winter I assisted at the Horseless Workshops at the UK centre in Stoneleigh Park, then in the spring 2009 at The Parelli Zone at the British Open I was awarded my 2 Star instructor rating by Neil Pye. Then followed an exciting summer teaching at the UK Parelli Centre, before setting off once more across the pond to begin my Internship in the Mastery Program. Not only did I spend time studying under Pat and Linda, but also spent time working with Kalley Krickeberg, John and Kathy Baar, Kristi Smith and Berin Macfarlane, to name but a few. In March 2011, whilst teaching on the Fast Track in Florida, Pat awarded me my 3 star Instructor rating.
