Buckaroo Texan Blog

This past weekend, I got together with a few friends and we spent an afternoon with our horses.  We had discussions on lightness as compared to softness and what that really is.  A horse can be light but stiff and braced.  A horse with softness throughout can be directed in any direction without a brace.  Instead of just doing groundwork, or just riding, we discussed and worked on the ideas of refinement to get that softness throughout the horse.  The idea of a horse responding to me without a brace when I reach for him, really appeals to me from a horsemanship point of view.  This togetherness is something I am striving to get with all my horses, and it is an ongoing process.  The more I understand how to get this between the horse and I, the more I realize it is more work on my part.   Once I have a mental picture and physically know where to shape myself up so that I am not in my horses’ way, the horse comes thru willingly and with a good feeling about being with me. One of the hardest concepts, is that you have to be consistent day in and day out, no matter how you feel.   You have to have the presence about yourself to ask for quality from you horse all the time.  It has to be a habit for you and your horse or it will always be a hit or miss thing.  All our horses made some good changes as we got our techniques better.   It was a great weekend to study horsemanship and share ideas.