Buckaroo Texan Blog

I have two roan geldings that live  in the west pasture. They  have been turned out for the last 4 years.  They come into the water lot everyday and get a handout and are around just long enough to know they are ok.  One is 11 years old, the other is 8 years old.   The 11 year old was ridden alot by me during his three, four and 5 year old years and then  ridden a few times the next 2 years.   The 8 year old was started and ridden about 4 or 5 times  as a three year old and then turned out. 

 I got the two boys up yesterday afternoon to work with them and check them out.   Due to the drought, I may need to find a different home for them.  They both came right to me and I had no trouble approaching them with halter to be caught.  I lead the 11 year old into a big pen and checked him out with my flag and lariat rope.   He was big eyed and looking alot but let down real quick.  His backup was super soft, he remembered his leadbys, rope around his middle to prepare for the cinch, changing eyes.   I could see some areas in him that with a little work will be better. His balance and movement with better direction from me got better as we went along.  With the improvement of my technique over the years, I could spot these little things that I overlooked years ago.  I could see what I settled for years ago, but even in this first session I could start to improve upon his balance and placing of his feet and do less to get more.   The 8 year old, was the same,  he showed me what he knew from years ago, areas in him were better than the 11 year old, here again  I had a better technique when I started him, but we could improve on it, today, after all these years.   I was so proud of the boys, it was such a fantastic moment,  I had tears in my eyes.  It was so heart warming to  see that  horsemanship with quality, really, really does last.     That is all these two horses have known.

The other afternoon I was bringing in the fillies.  A three year old, a two year old and a yearling, all sorrels.  I call them the “red ladies”.   The yearling, Summer, saw me coming to call them into their pen for the night from the pasture.  She was the first to come up to me.  We met at the gate and an opportunity presented itself to work on a little confidence between the two of us.   I reached out to pet and scratch her, which she reached for me, to accept.  I needed her to go on through the gate and come with me.  I suggested she rock back on her hind and get balanced by touching her chest and having my hand every so slightly on her nose to discourage forward movement.  As she started to balanced herself and lifted throughout her body to send energy unto her hindquarters, I took my hand from her chest.  I moved my hand from her nose and directed at her eye to cross over a step to her right.   I could see that she was a bit confused so I stepped in front of her and she followed me to the right with the nicest easiest cross over step you could ask for.  I had to smile to myself, for a change I set it up and let the horse find it, just let it happen.   I catch myself supporting and directing a horse entirely through a maneuver.  Forgetting to let go and let it happen, until it has happened.   It is before what happens, happens, as Ray Hunt would say, that makes all the difference to the horse.   You can never really get a feel of a horse until you begin to know why things happened for the good or for the bad.   Release is so important, but that timing makes the release mean something to the horse.  But before a release will mean something, the horse needs to be in balance within himself so that he is prepared to make a step or maneuver that has some quality to it.  It is when you feel the horse about to make a move in the direction you asked that you release.  It may be right, it may be sort of right, or it may not be anything like you had in mind but it was a try.  That timed release allows him do it on his own, search and learn, and it means something to him and helps him to connect with you more and more each time that happens.  You can develop a feel with a foal or yearling, long before you think about riding.  Always keeping in mind balance, timing and feel, in very short sessions with these youngsters, can help them have the confidence to go on their first ride like it was their tenth ride.

The 2012 Legacy of Legends event is being planned and the dates are set.  Mark you calendars and start making plans to attend this fantastic event.  The next event will be held February 3-5, 2012 at the South Point Arena & Equestrian Center in las Vegas, Nevada.     Go to www.alegacyoflegends.com for more information and details as they come available.   I attended last years’ event and I have made my plans to attend this event.        Photo by: Heather Hafleigh

 This year at the Belton, Texas,  Buck Brannaman Clinic,  I rode Button in the Horsemanship 2 Class.   It is always fun to work on the advanced manuvers and learn new skills in getting these better.  The roping and cow work are just more ways to advance your skill level and give your horse real jobs to do.  It’s a real test on how well you and your horse are working together.   We spent a lot of time over the four days working on the soft feel at all gaits.  I was working in a hackamore.  I felt I had advanced to a ½ inch hackamore  with the idea of getting ready to more on to the two rein.  As the work in the class advanced with more loping, Buck pointed out to me that Button was really pushing back on me, so I changed back into our 5/8ths hackamore.   I had a better communication with him then and we were able to get some better feel between us.   I realized from the discussions in the morning,foundation class, on the flexions and soft feel, that these were not as good as they needed to be at the level Button was at in the advanced class.   The flexions and soft feel are ways of working to get the horses to engage his hind end and to be more balanced on all four corners.   These last few weeks after the class, Button and I have really gotten more balance between us,  I am being more assertive in asking for him to move in balance at all gaits, forward and backwards,  two tracking, side passing and during haunches in.  I am constantly thinking about my position in relation to where all four feet are of my horse.  Its getting to be a true feel between us so that when I ask for a change we change together, most every time, as it should be.   Photo by:  Jenny Hasz

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The documentary by Cindy Meehl is now showing at the Sundance Fim Festival.  It will make you laugh one moment and cry the next.  It will make you sit back and rethink why you love horses.  Life and horses, all the same.  I was so honored to be invited by Cindy to see a pre-view of this film in December.   Thank you Cindy for all your hard work on this film.  Thank you Buck for your friendship and helping me with my horses and my life journey.   Jeannie

Photos by Cindy Meehl (from the film)

 I finally got a chance to take my ranch horse to a Ranch Horse Versatility Show this year.   My good friend, Kate, wanted to go and compete with her horse, Ranger, also.   I went with the emphasis in mind to just do the events as soft and as prepared as we were at the time.  I knew to complete the 5 events over the day I would need to conserve my horse due to our limited amount of riding and conditioning for the events.   We had five events to show in.

Ranch Cutting:   We cut out a nice cow that allowed me to show how quite my horse could be in the herd.   We had to wait and sort the 3 head that moved out from the herd and then drive the cow I wanted out from the herd  to show the judge we could hold the cow away from the herd.  It did not take but a few turns to have my cow hunting another spot to go since Button would not let her back into the herd.  We took her down the arena and had to bring her part way back to get her between  a cone and the fence.  This gave me the opportunity to show how my horse could rate and handle the cow.  We were then able to drive her down the fence and into the pen at the far end of the arena.  We won this class.

Working Ranch Horse:  This class started with a reining pattern that all the contestants performed.    We had to lope four lines with two rollbacks to the right and two to the left, a stop and  back.   I was able to get a fairly nice performance from Button on this section of the class.  He worked really soft for me.   I did not try to overdue the rollbacks or stop or back, just attempted to get the whole pattern to look correct and smooth.   I did not ask for more than I thought I could get, in other words I did not at this show ask for any extra than I would normally get in a workout.   I then asked for our cow.   We had to step up and really put some pressure on the cow to get her to move across the end of the arena to be boxed.  She tried to sull down so I did not spend much time before taking her down the fence and she turned on some gas then.   We turned her back a couple of times and then brought her off the fence and got her circled to the left and then to the right.  The right circle spiraled right down to a stop.  My horse and I both felt good about our ride in this event.  We placed 2^nd.

Ranch Trail:  This class had lots of loping, loping through a square of logs,  a change of leads, dragging a pumkin, roping a barrel,  and dismounting and picking up the left hind foot of my horse, then writing my name on a pumpkin on a barrel-  Most of the class was very smooth.  We placed 3^rd in this class.

Ranch Riding:   This class was shown as a group at a walk, tot, lope, extended trot and lope, stopping and reversing.   We had a few little bobbles in this class, I miss heard the announcer to come from a lope to a walk, and it was suppose to be a trot, and we missed taking off on the wrong lead once.  No biggy, we just slowed and restarted.   The judge did not see all our bobbles.  Button finds this class boring after doing a real job in the prior three classes, so it is a challenge mentally for both of us to keep him interested. We placed 3^rd.

Ranch Confirmation:  This class is not a strong point for my little cowhorse.  But knowing his confirmation, I set him up next to another small horse and knew how to show his strong point.   We pull the saddle off in class and the judge looks the class over without any primping.   We placed 2^nd in this class.  We generally do not place this high in the class.

The points are added up after the final class and Button and I had the high total to win the  Open Versatility Champion for the day.

I was well pleased with each class performance and knew where we needed more refinement.   We may be ready to start in our two-rein this spring to advance our refinement between horse and rider.

If you would like help in developing the try in you and your horse contact me. My training is in the Buckaroo Way and I offer consultation services to those who believe in partnership of horse and rider.  

I wanted to send Thanksgiving blessings and good wishes to all my friends out there in the horse world.  What other world is there?  Keep healthy, keep safe, give all your horses extra carrots for their contribution to your life.

Cheers to all-  Jeannie

Buck Brannaman will be coming back to Texas for horsemanship clinics at the Bell County Expo Center March 25, 26, 27 & 28th, 2011.   We will be having Foundation Horsemanship and Horsemanship II.   The foundation class is for green horses and/or green riders.  We will work the horses each day, under saddle with emphasis on quality ground work  and then put these maneuvers to work with rider in the saddle.   The afternoon class will be Horsemanship II which is the advanced class for horses and riders.  The exercises learned in Foundation and Horsemanship I are taken to refined levels and new exercises added to advance the horse from the snaffle bit to the hackamore.   Introducing cattle work and ranch roping to the horses is part of this class.

The turnaround or spin was a real mystery to me for many years.   I tried to teach several of my horses how to turn around and was told by a cowhorse trainer that I had a nice coke bottle turn.  Imagine spinning a cola bottle around and that is how my horses’ turn looked.   The front end was going one direction and his hind end another.  Swapping ends is what the trainer called it.   I told him I guess I did not know what a proper turnaround felt like so I was having trouble knowing how to ask, train and ride one.

He put me on a horse named Joe who  knew how to spin in spite of the rider.   Once I felt how the footfalls felt under me,  I now had the idea  and I would know by feel if any horse I rode in the future was actually turning around properly. 

Two Kinds of Turnarounds

1.  Turnaround one:  the cowhorse turn.  This turn involves the horse  pivoting off the outside hind leg.  For example, a turn to the right, his outside hind leg, his left will be the pivot foot.  The horse will cross his leg front over his right front as he turns to the right.  The right foot will have to reach out and back each stride and the left follows over and in front of the right.  Some horses are just built or even trained that the horse kinda rocks back some in this turn and will step to the right and step behind the right front with his left front.   This is a type of turn cowhorses generally do to keep them in position just with or to beat a cow.  If you do lots of cow work with your horse this is a turn that is very advantageous for your horse. This turn is generally for one half of a turn up to a full turn.  If you do this turn really fast, most horses will appear to be hopping about every 1/3rd of the turn due to the large reach of the legs.  This turn allows the horse to be in good position at any point to jump right back with a cow in the opposite direction.

2. Turnaround two:  the reining horse turn.   This  turn around is generally the type of turn you see in horses that are strictly reining horses.  This type of turn looks a bit different than the cow horse turn when you study the footfalls and over all movement of the horse.   On a turn to the right,  the horse will step over and back with his right front foot and then bring the left across and in front of the right.  The inside hind foot, in this case, the right.  is the pivot foot.  This makes a very fluid turn that can become very fast, the footfalls are very even.  The horse develops with time and practice a very fluid rhythm and cadence.

When you start to train your horse to do a spin or turnaround, you need to know what type of spin you are training for.  You need to be able to feel where every foot is being placed and how to time your asking for the turn.  It is developed one or two steps at a time over several weeks or even months. Recognize the horse trys and reward them the moment they happen.

A common problem is having a horse suck back in his turns.   This is generally rider error of letting the horse do this early in his training.  It is not all bad if you just work cattle, but a horse that sucks back to much is actually backing up with his hind feet in a circle  and crossing over, back and behind with his opposite front leg.   A hind leg needs to be fairly stationary, for the horse to make a proper turn.  If you feel a horse backing instead of turning on a pivot foot, generally sending them forward and starting over is the answer.  Reposition the horse and ask for a step or two of turn.   For a horse that has made it a habit or his style to suck back in his turns and has a tendency to drop his shoulder into the turn, you might can remedy this by trotting very small circles in one direction until your horse feels rhythmic.  If he kinda drops his shoulder into the turn, that is a good time to ask him to stop and turn back to the left.  He should be able to set a pivot foot, step over smartly to the left and slightly back with his left foot and follow thru with his right front over his left front.  Ideally he should have his left hind as the pivot foot for this exercise.

Some people are handy enough to teach their horses both types of turns.  Not every horse or every rider is at the level to do this and to be able to ask for either turn at any particular time.   Having one of these types of turns in your bag of manuvers can come in handy.

My training is in the Buckaroo Way and I offer consultation services to those who believe in partnership of horse and rider.  

 Honoring the horse and horsemanship through the western buckaroo way.

Join us for what will become an annual celebration continuing the vision of Tom Dorrance and Ray Hunt for the next generation of horsemen and women. 

  $75/day, $200 for three days (in advance via the web site)

Schedule:  (New work each day)

9:00 AM- Colt Starting with Buck Brannaman and Martin Black

11:00 AM- Cattle working with Martin Black

1:00 PM -Show Jumping with Melanie Smith Taylor

2:00 PM- Cutting with Doug Jordan

3:00 PM- Reata Roping and Cattle handling with Buck Brannaman and Martin Black

Email: think.rayhunt@gmail.com    website: www.alegacyoflegends.com

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