Buck Brannaman Clinic 2010 - Colt Starting Thoughts 1

So I rode in the colt starting clinic with Komet and I learned a lot. I guess that if you had to boil it down that was what it was, but it was more then that. It was so much more.
I know I talked about day 1, the ground work, and some of the basic about horsemanship, some of the basics I have heard a million times before. Yet Day two it was more, it was learning about the eyes, learning how horses are balanced. Learning how drive and impulsion come not from the horse but from the request.

Funny world.

You would think horses are pretty straight forward, but they are as complex as any other animal on the planet. And when we think about getting on their backs to ride them, we need to be able to get what we request from them. Get all the way down to the feet.

There is a lot to go through to get down to the feet. I mean sure it starts in our head, the thought, right we are thinking I want the horse to turn on the hind. So we start to prep our bodies to get the horse to move. We hold the lead rope differently, we straighten up with direction, we know what we want, and we know what foot we want it on. In doing this we are communicating to the horse, our focus, body and language has changed, the horse knows a change is coming; they should be prepping for it, instead of locking us out. Then there’s the feel down the rein, the change in our body, the physical request. The horse should be prepped for this, executing to this, instead of finding ways to get out of it.
Get down to the feet, but through the rein or the lead rope we have to move through the horses head, through his mind, and that mind should be open, clear for us to go through.
It does not stop with just his mind, though, we have our own baggage to move through, is he going to kick me, buck me, bite me… We have to move through our fear, to our confidence.

I know Buck told me : Your confident on the ground, now get it in the saddle..
Yes, instead of wasting my time trying to hold on, maybe I should be riding, maybe I should be forward. Don’t anticipate it, move beyond it..

Yes..

Its like Art to me, learning this type of horsemanship. Learning how to hold a brush, is like using the mecate. How to hold it correctly, how to apply the paint, how to move it to create, circles, squares… With the horse, circle, square, stop.

It has to be from muscle memory alone, because there are other things you need to remember when riding, feet, body centered.. am I pulling to much with one rein then the other, is my seat correct, did I ask before I told….is it soft enough, hard enough… remember, remember…