Thanksgiving -

Spending Thanksgiving away from family and friends so I can ride and learn... sounds strange.. not really....

My last post was about coming up to McGinnis Meadows Ranch to spend a week learning horsemanship and roping.... Well I learned something... some things kinda fit together...

Then I realized I wanted to learn more, but with vacation time short.. and money being what it is... I asked the family running the place if I could come up over the Thanksgiving week since I already had the time off... well they agreed !

So there are no guest up here except me, which in some ways is kinda lonely and in some ways just perfect...

Perfect because I don't have to listen to silly stories from people who I am really not interested in... ( not everyone just some... ). I can focus on the riding, focus on the feel and get to experience good horses and be around people who I think are just as dedicated as I am and for many of them more experienced.

So far it has been great, since there is a snow on the ground and it has been cold and rainy we have done most of the riding in the covered arena...

One of the fundamental things I am learning is there is a different approach, a different feel and in some ways I am building on the foundation I have already put together, just taking it to the next level.. Trying to understand the next way point...

I think horsemanship is a learning experiance no doubt...

But there are things we have to get out of our system, things we have to unlearn...

Like letting the horse make a mistake, not forcing the horse to do something.

Let the horse find it... let them search for it, set it up and let them find it.

You can not force it... You can not....

That is something I am going to have to unlearn, something that I am going to have to unprogram from me....

That I need the horse to think.. I need the horse to want to search for something..

I need the horse thinking about what the solution is.. I can not force them to find it..

That... that is the key.....

Setting the horse to be right on.. letting the horse go so they can find it..

being confiedent enough that I have to push it so the horse falls apart so they can put them selves back together again to be there...

Set it up, and let them find it..

Release for the smallest try...

Ride Smart...

So much I am learning... So much is like sand, just flowing through my fingers.. I never touched it...

So much....

Listening to Shayne and Randy talk today I would catch bits and pieces but so much was upper level math... I never got it...

Even watching Randy work the colts on the ground... Sometimes maybe 25% of the time I could see what was going on, see how things were shaping up..

The rest...

Wash out... Washed out...

But you know you get hungry for it... You want to spend all the time you can in the saddle, your driven, driving for it... You like a addict unable to control yourself..

You want to feel the horse, feel what is right and then feel what is wrong..

Learn and grow...

Understand how to break it apart, understand what is correct and what is not...

Hi Ho!

LW