Keeping it pure

We all have different goals and desires from our horsemanship journey.

kids that don’t have somone to strict helping them stay safe and learning probably have the best deal going. They don’t care about much but having fun. No ego, no fear and no agenda except have fun. You might read that again. I believe we should be learning as much from them as we are trying to teach them.

I see young kids that there parents or coaches want them to win and be perfect and they don’t enjoy the horse as much for a while. Then they either understand and get into the ego horsemanship and get satisfaction out of winning or making a horse that they can show off their skills with.

Many of the ranch kids I see have a little of both but really have fun doing the horseback work on the ranch, get by with the horsemanship and get better as they go. They can take it where they want and still enjoy it for the rest of their life.

When I see people get horses and the direction they take I sometimes wonder if they are not just adding to the stress in life by spending lots of money and frustration chasing the ego style of horsemanship that it takes to compete in today’s horse world.

I see others who just don’t get caught up in what everyone else is doing and what’s in style and just enjoy the horse no matter what they are doing. That’s where I want to be.

Ropes go on, guns go off

In the book “Trails Plowed Under” Charlie Russell spoke of cowboy danger and said the two big dangers were ropes and guns. Ropes go on, Guns go off. It’s a great book that I need to read again.

I had a little time today before lunch and decided this would be a good time to get John Grady Cole, the nice young horse I’ve been working with used to roping something, and this Yearling colt named Jonny Ringo needed roped a little so it was a good opportunity to rope two horses with one reata (kill two birds with one stone).

I was happy with my pressure and how it went. I think they were both better when I finished than when I started and it should be good next time by the way they learned.

If there was to much fear and panic in either horse at any time, even if it ends up good, it never carries through as good as keeping them on the thinking side of the brain rather than the reacting side.

I should have done some with my right hand, but it was past dinner time and I was getting hungry. I’ll get it next time.

like ol’ Charlie said, it’s easy to get in a jackpot with a rope and horses. The worst is when the animal you have roped is going one direction and the horse your riding is stopped or heading the other direction. Things get tight quick. The important thing for safety is most always “ride to the wreck” as it will keep the rope from coming tight and make things very dangerous.

At first keep a lot of forward movement and try to keep your rope of the ground to keep your horse from stepping over it. There is nothing that says you can’t throw your rope and coils at the wreck and just start over.

There gets to be lots of things to see and thing about when doing this, but it’s great learning opportunity for you, your horse and what you have rope, if it’s all done right.