Blog

I don't know where folks would be these days without the internet to get all the answers to their horse questions. "My horse just blinked at me with its head up and turned to the left...what does it mean??" "My horse just turned its butt to me and walked away...what is it trying to communicate?"

Lately I've been offering lessons on horsemanship/ problem solving, helping folks figure out and get partnered with their horses. Troubleshooting those areas where people run into sticky spots with their beloved equine partners. I have to say I see a reoccurring theme here.

Life is tough and keeps moving on, sometimes blind folding you just for spite and then rearranging the furniture so to speak, every time you just get to knowing the lay of the room. It's a contact sport, if you are going to live it to the fullest and get the most of everything you can out of it. That's how I perceive it anyway.

If you find yourself going through a rough patch, my best advice is just keep going. Everything ends eventually. The good times only roll for a while, and the bad times are the same. It's like that in all aspects of life, horse training and team roping.

I was at a roping yesterday…how many of my stories start that way? …and old Hombre was working like clock work, making catching and handling steers pretty easy. A fellow came up to me about sixteen steers in and said, “Ma’am, that’s an awful nice horse you got there. He’s surely a keeper, but if he ain’t, I got some of my pension check burning a hole in my pocket.”

Well, I guess our winter is drawing to an end here in Wickenburg, Arizona and we are beginning to caste our eyes to the north. Perhaps Thursday or Friday will see Richard and I loading up our ponies and road hammering it back into the snow and cold. We are not that excited.

The horse world revolves around trends...I guess maybe the whole world does as well, but I only pay attention to the horse world. For instance; bits, bloodlines, bronc stompers...if you aren't using the right name brand, riding the right name brand, or getting those youngsters started by the right name brand, you are somehow less worthy.

These are all good habits I adopted after I spent years doing it wrong...I learn best by trial and error. Mostly error. So I thought I'd put it out there and maybe save somebody a little time and mistakes made. It's just a bit of common common sense advice I wish someone had given me when I was younger.

The world of selling horses has become insane. In fact, the entire equine business on all levels has changed in ways that leave me (almost) speechless. I am trying to keep up. Trying hard. In some ways, anyway. In other ways, I will always be what I've always been; an admirer of good horses, and when you admire and seek to own good horses, you have to sell some to buy some. Pretty simple.

Women take a lot of flak for being soft on a horse. Kissing and pampering, treat giving and cooing, it all comes under the dismissive term 'woman broke.' The other day I was at a roping, and I had entered on the heel end for the first time on my grey horse, Hombre.

Things haven't been going my way in the team roping pen lately and I've been feeling the frustration. After all, at 54 I only have so much time to become a champion so the stars have got to start lining up! () Somebody suggested I go breakaway roping. They're like, "You're catchy as heck, just go rope them calves, then it's just you and your horse."

He's natural in his actions, and like stallions, he's war-torn to his core... Restless in his movements, living up to horsemen's lore. His station in the scheme of things, is to feed and fight and baby make. And win respect not freely given for the herd's safety's sake.