Buckaroo Texan Blog

I was reading  Tom Dorrances’ book the other evening.  I just picked it up, opened it and just starting reading where it had opened.  Tom was discussing about how you approach a horse, your presentation, whether you get a reaction or a response.  He was talking about really understanding the horse at that moment, and how each horse is different.  That is why he cannot say “do this for that”, all the time, for all horses.  It really is an art to be able to adjust to fit each horse, any horse, the same horse, each time you are around it.  Horsemanship is about feel, timing and balance. That’s all there is too it,  but there is so much to it!   Happy trails.   Have a wonderful Christmas season to all my friends.  See you soon riding and roping!!!         Jeannie

Photo by:  Carol Akers- riding colts with Buster McLaury

On September 10, 2011 I attended another Ranch Horse Versatility Show.  I took my trusty steed Mr. Qien Sabe 501, aka Button for my mount for the day.   We entered all five events.   It was a test to see how many skills were really honed between us, due to not getting to work any cattle since July, when I had to sell all my cows.  Also, the extremely hot weather had made our workouts very slow and easy paced. 

The day was to be a bit milder than the last show, only range in the mid 90’s for temperature highs.   The morning started out nice and the trailer ride was going good except about 30 miles from the show, I heard a big pop, looked in the rear view mirror and trailer tire was flying in all directions.  The force was with me as I was able to find a tire place and get back on the road in 30 minutes.  I got signed up and entered my first class Ranch Cutting without any warm up.   We placed 4^th.

 The next class was Working Ranch Horse and we had a really smooth run.  Button was really soft, really eyeing the cow and we ended up 2^nd.

The Ranch Trail class had 2 lead changes, dragging double post in a circle, roping a barrel, loping and trotting through a box, carrying a sack of leaves, dismounting and picking up the off fore foot and the near hind foot.  We placed 1^st.

The Ranch Riding class is generally Button’s least favorite.  After working cattle and going through obstacles I think he thinks, “What is the point of walking, trotting and loping around this arena some more”.  He was a trooper and was just right with me on all my cues.  I was able to stay very consistent and very easy to give subtle cues mostly with my body and legs.   We placed 1^st.

 The Halter class is not always a good class for my little bay, but our consistent work with being supple and working towards carrying collection more and more paid off.  His whole presence is a different horse than he was a year ago.   We placed 1st.  After the scores were tallied we were Ranch Horse Versatility Champion, this day.  

I was asked what I thought was contributing to our continued success at Ranch Horse Versatility.   I owe a lot of gratitude and thanks to my mentor Buck Brannaman for the continuing development of my horsemanship skills.  I appreciate the support and guidance from professional farriers Kate and Sam Gooding, also great friends.  My friend and holistic veterinarian Madalyn Ward, who had been a guiding force in directing my horses and myself to better health and well being.

Photos by Carol Akers.

The weekend of December 3, 4 and 5^th,    was an exciting, educational and entertaining packed three days.  Buck Brannaman, Martin Black, Doug Jordon and Melanie Taylor all did a terrific job of tying proper horsemanship, that is fitting to the horse, together in their different areas of horse handling expertise.

Buck and Martin started each day with working with 2 colts to get them started over the 3 days.   Buck and Martin each have a different style but you could see how the approach was fitting for the horse they each worked with.  All the horseman repeated many times over the weekend, how there are so many ways to approach the horse and you are not wrong, but it is in your presence, feel and understanding of the horse, if you are to be effective and fitting.  Buck and Martin took turns commenting on what was happening with each colt as they worked along. It was amazing what the colts were doing by day 3.  Again, for a lot of us, this work would take a few weeks or months, depending on our skill level and quality of time spent with the colt. Buck and Martin both commented on how that is all right.  Time is not an issue to the horse, but quality is.

Mid morning,  Martin worked a colt with high energy in a cow working situation he calls the A-pen.  The colt had 6 to 7 rides before this clinic.  Over the 3 days Martin, introduced this colt to a cow and used a little pressure and a lot of relief to teach the horse to look up the cow.  Martin explained about the flight zone and balance point of the cow and horse positions.   The quality of the overall movements and transitions of the colt  really changed over the 3 days as the colt learned the 3 basics in a situation that also taught him to think.  These basics being going, stopping and turning.

First session of the afternoon was jumping with Melaine Taylor.   Melaine had Mindy Bower commenting with her and they had two ladies on jumping horses working jumps as Melaine directed.     Melanie stressed how no matter your specialty, the basic training is the same.  Melaine had the riders remove the martingales, even though they are part of the dress code for show.  She  had the riders warm up with lateral work, then moved on to work over ground poles and jumps.  Over the 3 days the horses improved   in their quality, height and difficulty in the jumps.  It was amazing to see this progress.  Buck restarted the Red dun on day three then switched to the jumping saddle and got the red horse a lot more confident and jumping the jumps a lot more correct, without the need to refuse jumps and balk.   Doug Jordan and Martin Black joined in the fun of jumping their cutting horses and bridle horses as Melanie directed.  It was great fun for the horses to do something challenging and different and really entertaining and heartwarming to see the different disciplines jumping together.

 Doug Jordan had the next session over the 3 days working different levels of horses in training working the herd and cutting.   Doug was letting the horses build  confidence and develop their own thinking to work the cattle.

 The last session of each day,  Buck and Martin, did cattle work with a herd.  They showed different approaches to working the cattle for green horses and starting green horses roping.  They increased the difficulty level of the herd work and roping each day and Martin rode the last calf they tied down, up.   You had to be there to see that, what great fun.  Something the ground crew does in the Great Basin.

In the horse world you will hear people talking about “presence”.  This is something every human and every horse has.   To portray a positive “presence” that is confident and at peace with oneself, is not always easy.  

How do I portray a good “presence’?   A person who believes in himself, and his   abilities, is humble, is confident, is at peace with himself and the world around him, will have this good presence just flow off of him.   This is usually gained through lots of experience.  Experience can not be taught, it is lived. Experience is all the times that things went right and when things went wrong.   The combination of all these experiences helps you build confidence in many situations and to be able to make the split second decisions that help the moment turn out good.  Presence is something you earn as you learn.  Presence develops overtime and is a combination of your life experiences, not just the time around horses.   You need to be open to observe, remember and compare. 

Horses will react good and bad to your presence.   The better your presence portrays leadership, authority, respect and humility, the better a horse will respond to you, in other words, the horse will have a good presence.   Your presence must be an ability to adjust your actions and outlook to fit a given situation.  Now we are back to looking at your experiences.   To develop your relationship with your horse or any horse you are around you need to gather lots of experience and it does take effort on your part to observe, remember and compare. 

Study books and videos of riders you admire and get a sense of their presence and how it flows to the horses they work with. Also, study the presence of the horses you see and how their presence changes.  Go to as many events that you can to observe the masters in their fields of horsemanship, to get the presence of their relationships in person.  Now compare  your presence, the presence of your horse and the presence of your friends and acquaintances you come in contact with.   You can get an idea of how your presence influences your horses for good or bad and see where you need to make changes to improve your flow.  Getting lessons, participating in clinics and asking questions about presence will help you see yourself as you are now and help you adjust at a faster rate to make all your relationships with horses grow into a calm, healthy, self confident ability.

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