It will only hurt... for a few months!

Some pills are hard to swallow...


Especially, when you could have avoided taking them...

So here is the scoop...

Monday last week I was kicking off a new regime.  I was going to ride in the morning, and hit the gym in the afternoon....

So I get the barn at 7am, get Miss M saddled up and am riding by 8ish...

I was running a bit late, so I only had the halter on her, and when I started moving around the round pen, I felt the saddle was a little sloppy... Well

I figured since I had not a ton of time, and I was just going to dink around anyway, there was no sense in jumping off .. She was doing pretty good anyways...

So I remember, asking her to move into trot, and I felt the saddle slip to the right... I remember trying to shift my weight so I could correct the saddle..

Now remember, Miss M was the horse where the saddle slipped under her belly...

So I figure when she felt me moving the saddle around, she spooked a little.. I dont remember her bucking, I just remember starting to fall and I tried to grab her neck to stay on...

It the next think I knew I was landing.. I dont remember actually falling..

I landed right in the corner of my neck and shoulder..

I remember the neck hitting and bending, and I remember thinking...

This is it..

I mean, IT.. as in the end.. Because I knew to land on my neck at that angle was not good.
All my body weight came down on that delicate apex...

Then then I didnt die...

Instead white hot burning flaming pain engulfed my shoulder, neck and back...

Ok, maybe I just paralyzed myself..

But I was able to stand up..

I knew, I mean I didnt even thinking about it, I was going to have to call 911...

So I figured, first I had to take care of my horse..

Miss M was standing there, looking at me... the saddle was askew a little on her back. So somehow, I am not sure how, I was able to get the saddle off her back.  I walked her out of the round pen and to the tie rack and tied her out...

I then got in my car, got my cell phone, and called 911...

I then called the Stable Office, and told them I just called 911, and to see if they could send someone down..

Then I called Mac...

Then I sat down...

At  that point.. I knew something was really, really wrong.. The pain, started to build.. It is interesting to note that pain can increase...

I have to say the EMT (fire department) arrived first, then the EMT... and my usually sunny disposition was gone...

Once in the EMT they provided Morphine... which I will tell you when you are in that much pain, does very little...

The crutch of the matter is I have 2 broken ribs, and god only knows the damage I have done to my shoulder...

Considering I can not lift my arm, rest on my arm, move my arm to much... Who knows...
For you medical types it is the Thoracic 1 & 2....

So the golden nugget... Tighten your cinch!!!

The other part is that I have come off my horses alot... and I figure this is the worst fall..
At the hospital they said some where around 23% of people who land this way just die, broken neck... there is another 14% who are paralyzed in some way... I guess I have to take that into consideration...

Hi Ho!
L

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

I shared this with a friend of mine, but thought, you know.  This is really how I feel..  So here you go..


In discussing people who ride, and talk everything they have read out of book, or seen in a video, but have not yet started down the journey, but pontificate on their expansive knowledge...



Well, the issue here is the same thing I see when we go the Buck Clinics or up to Montana, people spending money on the saddle, the hat, the chaps, the bit, the bridle the blanket,a and even in some rare occasions a well trained horse. And then they sit on them, and ride them, just the way you would think.. Without any feeling or appreciation for the heritage, time and effort that goes into earning that gear... honestly, if I was a true cowgirl, I would feel angered and upset, because to me, it is a mocking of the history, and the humanity that has and is dedicating their life to the journey...


 To me, you can watch all the videos you want, you can learn Buck-Speak, or Ray-Speak or even Bonnie-Speak... But unless you know how to tie those words...

softness...

    feel...   timing .... release.... forward motion ....

Unity .... direction .... motion .... pressure ....

then you know what... it does not mean a thing...

You will still look to a practiced eye  green and inept ...

Earning the respect of your horse should be first, and I could care less if you were wearing shorts and flip flops...

There is a story in one of Ray's books about a young rider and it goes something like this..

" This young girl was riding around on her horse, and you could tell she didn't have much feel. The horse was bouncing around, the saddle did not fit right... you name it.. yet, wherever she wanted to go, the horse went, without any fuss, and they both looked like they were moving together, with a sense of eagerness and happiness... "

Now my friends, that is the essence of everything we are doing... So that your idea becomes your horses idea... and you are working from where the horse is, and you are moving together... with ease and respect...

Silly rabbits..

HiHo
L

Now that was easy!

Bonnies Link

This reflection is based on 6 years of having Bonnie as my teacher.  It is a culmination of trials, tribulations, exhilarations and defeats all seasoned with good measure of self doubt. Bonnie has provided me  a mirror that reflects with the utmost precision exactly that which needed tuning in my horsemanship.  I am not commenting on this to praise Bonnie but to highlight where I think as my teacher, she has provided me the greatest value. 

An example of this type of value would be something that happened to me this week.  One of my current horses is a challenge for me.  While the other two horses I have started personally, this one, I had only worked with some in order to get her ready for another rider to start in Bucks clinic.  She has over the course of the last 7 years, maybe not had the best handling.  She had a 2 bad starts, one where she bucked her rider off, and one where she spooked, and spun the saddle under her.  She lacks confidence that the human will look out for her.  She has found, she can think for herself, and in the case of anything that looks suspicious she will “check out”. 

There were two things that cropped up this last week.  One is anytime I went to pick up the bit she would get busy in her mouth and get her tongue over the bit piece. This of course was noticed by Bonnie during our lesson.  The other is, we have recently started to go to some cattle working clinics.  Her instinct is to run and spook at almost everything in the new arena with me.  Its less about riding and more about damage control. Yet I knew I had seen Bonnie ride her, and she appeared to me to move with some confidence.  What oh what was I missing??  


     A couple of weeks ago, dinking around at the stable I played a game with her (Emma). I placed my hands behind my back, and put a piece of carrot in one.  Then I held both hands up to her and waited until she tapped a hand with her nose.  If she tapped the correct hand, she received a piece of carrot.  Over the course of about 2 minutes, I soon found that by emotion alone, I could direct her.  If she started to go for the wrong hand, I would think “ no, go for the other one “, and she would!  This opened a very big door in my mind.  The horse could sense, without me even being on her, my feelings.  Now what if I was on her, and I was feeling tense, unsure or on edge.  Even through I was trying to fake it by trying to relax my body and doing mantras,  I realized then she would know the difference.  If there was going to be any hope for me, I would have to “Be” relaxed. 

The question is how does one become relaxed on a rocket? A rocket that has spun out from under you and has caused you to land in the hard-pack resulting in bruised body and shaken ego? This is where Bonnie expertise and encouragement helped me learn in my own ability.  By being able to ride your horse, at whatever gait they give you, by having experience at them twisting and turning under you, at speed is what builds your confidence.  This confidence is translated through the rider to the horse.  Bonnie spent one entire lesson teaching me to trust myself. To face that demon of speed where you ride the edge of chaos and control. 


     At the cattle clinic I had to give Emma the opportunity to make the right decision, which was to hang out and be relaxed. I had to trust in my ability to ride her in case she made the wrong decision.  So while we were waiting our turn to cut the calves, I let the reins go loose and I sat low in the saddle. Everything about me was saying, " Hey Emma, just hang out, and enjoy the sun, there is nothing to worry about".  If she decided she could not be let down and relaxed and she needed to check out, I would be there to close that door.  Yet I had to trust her, and let her make decisions. That was the key, letting the horse decided and not forcing anything. I was making the right thing easy by having everything about me say  : "We are cool, we are super cool", instead of being uptight, and concerned.  In this way I was helping her build her confidence in me.  There were several times where she would start to snort, or get erect and concerned. When she did this I just ignored her, not in the negative sense, but I did not let my attention get focused on her, or on what she was worried about.  We rode the entire day, with no blow ups.  She was able to take in the world, and stay between my hands and legs. Anyone watching us, would have no idea of our past, they would see only this solid cowpony.

The other issue I had was with her getting her tongue over the bit.  Bonnie recommended that I tie the bit up, yet I wanted to figure out what I was doing that was causing the issue.  So over the course of the day riding her, I worked on my feel. How much pressure I was putting on her to get the soft feel, before I released, and before she started moving her mouth.  I know, its about the release, and the timing in the release. Once I knew I was able to get the soft feel without any brace in her, then I knew I had to work on my timing. The question of how soft is soft. A butterflies wing, a breeze, this is how much pressure I was applying. In a few moments I was able to find out that if I applied to much pressure, she started working her mouth.  I was able to get to a point where I could get the soft feel, without her getting busy in her mouth.  These were the eyes and the sense of timing that Bonnie has helped me develop.  Bonnie was able to notice the problem, and she has taught me to learn how to work from where the horse needs me to be in order to find a solution. 

This is an ongoing journey for me.  I am thankful that I have people like  Bonnie  and her teacher Buck in my life to help me learn. Bonnie is not only my teacher but my inspiration.  It is through her that I am learning to communicate with the horse on a level that goes beyond the aids.  To develop a partnership and a willingness in the horse to a point that their feet become my feet, and their will becomes an extension of my own. This is the Unity and the beautiful dance between horse and human. 

You know I want to talk about horses..

Not the horses we think we have, but the horses we have...

The other day I was playing a game with Emma, I call it the cookie game. In the cookie game, I hide a piece of carrot in one of my hands, and show her both my hands.

I then wait for her, to touch one of my hands with her nose. Then I open my hand.  If she "wins" she gets a carrot, if not, she gets to try again.

While I was playing, when she started to go for the hand that did not have a carrot I had a different body language and feeling then when she went for the carrot hand, I changed my feeling to her... I felt excitement for her.. and I could tell by watching her, that she was sensing me and she was thinking...
LOL it was so awesome.. I could see her, changing her mind, based on what she was sensing from me..

And then I thought, wow.. And she can feel that when I am riding...She knows what is going on...

So when riding your horse, and lets say you see something, like today when riding Miss M there are two huge manure piles, like 300 feet long and about 10 feet high, we ride between them, and then on one side there are all the horse trailers and a wood chipper.

Now she gets a little concerned when we ride through there, so I figure the ground is soft ( i.e. all that manure ) and we go for it. Well at this time someone is unloading debris and brush from the back of the truck into the pile.  Emma kinda panics a little bit, and I just ease her over, start talking to the person and we ride by... Perfect.

What I realize is I need to find those moments, when Emma is thinking its time to take an escape route, and help her go forward with me, and not using one of those exits.  I need to shut those down, and support her with my energy, forward, the direction I want to go...

Perfect, another layer...

Hi Ho.

L

Joe Wolters Clinic - Eaton Ranch 2012

The Joe Wolters clinic is being held at a beautiful ranch nestled far back into the Carmel Valley Hillside.  Green rolling hills, dotted with furry oaks it’s a idyllic setting for such a renowed horseman.

The clinic started early Saturday morning with 5 colts working diligently with their riders.

Joe commented frequency on releasing for the try, and doing enough as it takes to get a change and then letting it go.  It is a difference in style from Buck, Peter or Shanyne.

His style is more open, letting the riders find out what to do instread of repeating over again the basics.  While some of the structure was the same the deployment is handled differently.

Interesting things were mentioned in the colt class which I had not heard of before but which were the same as we had spoken about with buck.

Hetting to the feet through feel….

He had said something along the lines of getting the horse to livin up before it bottled up… That when the horse started feeling bottled or otherwise to get it moving…

The other thing he did was to get the horse moving by following its ears.  This is something I had not though about before, but which made sense.   And when the ears went forward he release to let the horse find it.  That eas beautiful.   If the horses ear picked up left, then he picked up the rein left, and right and back and forth again until both ears went forward and then he let the riens drop…. And the horse walked forward.. I mention this as he was working to get the horse to go through a tight space…. And the horse was struggling to find it… so the ears were bouncing back and forth until he did find and and both ears were forward.

Then he worked on getting off the horse… It was worthwhile to note that as his weight shifted to get off the little horses started to move.  So then he just started shiffing his weight in the get off motion, the little horse started to move and he continued until the little horse could handle that and stop… then he got off…

Right on!

Now on to cattle.!

He was mentioning something about the horse bumping into his leg… Now that was interesting… Because he was riding the little horse forward and the horse was trotting and then the little horse bumped into him…. Not sure.. still got to figure that part out…

When working the cow, when the cow stops and looks to you, you just wait until the cow looks back straight, then push to the shoulder and that will drive it straight.

If they go round the pen coolected pretty soon they are thinking about being collected, and pretty soon enough they are stopping with feel.

When working with the cow don’t step to them when they are looking at you with both eyes.

Then when you ride to the cow ride at the same speed, and to the neck…

Cow turning away from you is the same as asking the horse to stop.

What I am trying to get from my horse is that he is on the teter, that he is waiting to ask what is my question?

There has got to be something in it for the horse.  I think they think, I get to stop, I get more work then I was getting.. The stop is work!  The stop should be pleasure.

How can I get what I want to feel good to him.

I want to do less not more..

There all kinds of ways to do it, it may be appropriate that way one time.. but it needs to fit.

Get the life up, that may help shy or when they are afraid of something.

Grass eaters, if I can bring the life up in him. If I can not get those feet moving, he will be eating grass.

If his head goes down, and I am riding out here,  In order for him to eat his feet have to slow. When his head goes down my legs come in.  If his feet are going somewhere.

I would be wrong to keep hin to straight,  I turn him loose to so I can see what his opinion is..

You got to work on the problem before it happens, you have to study what the horse is doing and then fix it up.

If the cow is on my right, I want the horse on the left lead.

He got relief coming out, not going in.

Let our idea become their idea!

L

Left lead

Nose to the left, shoulder to the right, hind to the left… depart.

Notes from Bucks Clinic :

One of the interesting things I remember is getting down to the horses feet, trying to get the horse to remember. 

Buck Brannaman Clinic - The Box...

One thing I wanted to remember was the discuss the concept of the box.
The box concept is the space the you mentally put around your horse in which you manage corrections, rate and life.

Now on a horse that spooks and takes off they have access to all exit points, when they should not.  The rider needs to catch that and shut down that exit pathway, and then center the horse within the riders box.

The box concept was something we had talked about before, but not something I had internalized.

L