Where has the month of October gone. It does not seem that long ago that I was posting Septembers blog and here we are at the end of October. What has happened, well quite a lot.
Horses are now starting to go home to their owners, having been here for a month. I have had 8 head of horses in this month and all are going well.There has also been quite a bit of stock work going on as well with weaning and feeding of cattle. It is very dry in the state of Queensland and many other areas of Australia, my families property is like many in this area in need of rain.
This coming weekend I start travelling again, starting with a course in the Ayre district for the Qld Pony club. The Qld Pony Club has run many horsemanship courses over the years. They are to be congratulated for their foresight and in placing a high value on the importance of horsemanship.
I have a 3 day course in the Hunter Valley and then go to both Islands in New Zealand for 2 weeks. I will be running Horsemanship and Cow Working courses in New Zealand. I am in Western Australia in December. January 1 – 2014 sees me in Tamworth for the Legacy of Legends event, Buck Brannaman will be holding a course at the venue after the 3 days of LOL. I would encourage everyone to get behind and support this great event. More information is available on the website.
Experience is what you have after the fact, in this case I am speaking of house building. I can now say that I have a lot more experience now that I have nearly come to completion of this project than when I first started. It is very much the same with horses and horsemanship. There will be so many times where how could you know what you don’t know. It was in April 1986 when I first went to my first Ray Hunt clinic and at the end of the course I promised that I would work really hard at it. He smiled and said don’t work to hard. ( I am still working at it by the way. )You cannot make this happen you can keep putting one foot in front of the other and with time you gain experience and understanding. Many riders struggle with feel and timing, this is about much more than pulling on the end of the rein or kicking and prodding with our legs expecting the horse to respond. To be able to feel the horse soften not just on the outside but on the inside. This is then reflected on the outside. Of course if it was easy then everyone would want to do it. For those that hang in there the rewards and gratification will be very fulfilling.
The image above is from a few years ago at home and of an old friend who is now retired. The romel reins where a gift from Carolyn Hunt at Fort Worth. She said that Ray would want them to be used. They have now been used and are now hanging on the wall.
