Well I guess I can say I have taken a 3 month break from my dedicated horsemanship.  It is clear from the fact that Idhave not posted in awhile.

Its not that I have not been riding, but I have not been riding with the dedication that I had prior to the Bucks Clinics.  Getting yourself and your horse ready for the level of activity that a in a Buck Clinic is tough. Especially when you are starting colts and riding horses that are not as solid as you would have wished.

If you have a horse that is solid, then at the clinic you can work on getting things going.  If you horse is spooky, unsure, or just unconnected to you, then you spend alot of time working on the basics.  Which is what happened to Miss M and I this year.

I can say though we have to some degree broken through that barrier, there is a little light on the other side.

This is not what I wanted to write about today.  Mac and I spent the weekend up at Gwen and Daves place in Orland that I have come.  When you have the ability to watch other people, you realize some of the issues they are having. If your sensitive enough, you can see where there timing is failing them, and where the cues are impacting how the horse responds.

This is a good learning platform because you can notice what is working and what is not, and apply this to your own riding.

As an example there was one rider, who had a horse from the same herd management area ( mustang ) as my gelding Marshal.  This gentleman was a nice guy, had a huge 4 horse trailer, with the pop out set up and everything. Just awesome.  Well him and his little mustang mare were having issues.  The issues were of course his issues.  His rein placement, and signals were not clear, and the horse was confused.  So since the gentleman did not know what he wanted to do with the horses feet, or how to execute the right leg, rein combination in order to get it, the horse just washed out this way and that.  You could tell he and the horse were not together.   It was a good little horse, and he was a very nice guy.  A few months of lessons with Bonnie or Kristi and he would have his issues sorted... But.. he seemed to be a bit of a stubborn guy.  I think I heard him say, or heard someone say he was going to sell the horse.. because she was not what he wanted... Hmmmm...

Another rider was having issues because she did not have confidence.. Her horse was learning how to take over, because she would get nervous if the horse moved to quick... She came off because the horse moved out while she was trying to mount, so instead of focusing on getting her seat, she focused on quitting riding...

One thing Dave said, which I take to heart, which in some essence is the same thing Buck said to me during the clinic is basically, if things fall apart, you only have to be Brave for 10 seconds... Just through that initial bolt of energy... then the horse, will find, that nothing was really going to hurt them.. and they will reach back to you.

So Dave was saying the rider can improve that by moving the horse through all the gears, getting the horse used to after that energy comes up to 120%, coming back down, then taking it back up to 120% and then coming back down... This way, the horse is used or conditioned and knows what to expect...

So when things do fall apart, and the horse soars off, the rider is fine, and the horse quickly realizes what the heck! and comes back down when the rider cues them...

Excellent!

The other thing is being precise in your riding and working with the horse to give you the amount of life needed when you ask for it.  This is hard for some people because horses can get lazy.  So sometimes if you ask you horse for something they may get cranky, and not want to respond. Then when you bring up your life to get them moving, they can get resentful.  Just like the 10 second rule, you have to push well beyond what you think is required in order to get the response. That way you can do less next time.  Now you might get more then you wanted, so you have to be ready but, so you may have to do alot at first, in order to get the change you were looking for.

Hi Ho.
L