Bushwacked!

My neighbor, Tyler, and I ride horses for hours almost every afternoon when he gets home from school.  I take turns riding Ladd and my sister’s horse, Dolly.  We ride all over our ranch and even in surrounding pastures and woods with permission of course.

Last Saturday I was riding Dolly and Tyler was riding the horse that he is getting paid to train.  We rode into the pasture with my PawPaw’s cattle herd.  We rode up a dam and Dolly turned to the right.  She began running.  She ran through bushes and under tree limbs.

I did not have time to react.  I was only worried about staying on the saddle.  I hung on for dear life as limbs and leaves began hitting me.  They stung my face, but I kept my eyes closed.

It happened so fast that I did not have time to think.  I heard myself thinking, “Pull back.  Make her stop.  She can’t run away with me.”  I immediately pulled back on the reins and said, “Whoa!” in a calm, but commanding voice.  She responded instantly.

I looked around me and realized that we had only traveled about 10 feet.  Man, time sure passes slowly when your adrenaline kicks in.  Everything had been in slow motion.

Tyler encouraged me.  He praised me for taking back control.  He praised me for staying on Dolly.  He also persuaded me to ride back to the barn and tie Dolly to a patience post.  Then we walked home together.  I wanted to make sure that my eye was okay.

When I walked in the door, my mom immediately saw my eye.  “What happened to you?” she asked.  She thought Tyler and I had gotten into a fist fight.  I laughed and said with a smile, “I was bushwhacked!”

Tyler and I stayed for lunch and told the story.  Then we walked back to the barn, untied our horses, let them get a drink of water, and rode out again.  Dolly did fine the second time out.

Neither one of us know why she bolted.  I guess she was tired and wanted to go home.  Maybe the patience post was what she needed after all.  She sure behaved that afternoon.

Clayton riding Commander.

Watching nature is very interesting.  The behavior of horses is one thing that I have been watching lately.

I told you about our horse, Commander.  Since he has been here on our ranch, he has been at the bottom of the totem pole with the other horses.  They kicked at him, bit at him, etc.

As far as a riding horse, Commander was great.  He would do anything that you asked him to do.  He was a pleasure to ride.

But something has changed.  Commander is asserting himself with the other horses and with us.  He has earned himself the title, “Boss Man of the Herd.”  When all the horses are out of their pens and together in the big pasture, Commander is telling the mares when they can move, where they can go, etc.  He is also driving the other gelding away from the mares.  Angus has to graze alone on the other side of the pasture.

Commander is using his body language to control his newly-claimed herd.  With a turn of his ear, the mares will obey him.  He has fought Angus and apparently won as top horse.

I do not care which horse is in control of the herd; however, I do care when a horse asserts itself on one of us.  Now that Commander is numero uno, he is being difficult with any rider.  Regardless if it is PawPaw or my brother, Clayton, riding him, Commander has been rearing up and bucking.  He is no longer a pleasure to ride.

What to do with a misbehaving horse?  Clearly, show him who is boss!  PawPaw has taken Commander back to school.  Several days a week PawPaw works Commander hard in the round pen.  Commander is slowly realizing that PawPaw is still the boss of him.

Neck reining is when you direct a horse by the feel of the reins on its neck.  Well-trained horses are very responsive.  You can easily control where they go.  You can rein with one hand.

On a colt, you have to use two hands.  When you want to turn to the right, slide your right hand down the reins closer to the horse’s head.  Then with both of your hands at the same time, you pull the reins over to the right.  To turn to the left, you do the exact opposite motion.  You slide your left hand down the rein and pull with both hands.  The most important part is moving your hands together in one smooth motion.

You do not have to be riding a horse to practice this movement.  You can stand up or sit down anywhere and pretend you are riding a colt.  Practicing the movement so that your hands move together will help your horsemanship skills.

He is a tall, brown gelding.  He is only three years old.  After a few days of being with him, my brother and I named his Spur.  My friend and fellow cowboy, Steve Prewitt found the horse for us.

For the past two days, my family and I  have worked with him.  We have found out that he is desensitized.  In fact, he is the most desensitized horse my mom has ever seen.  Spur stands still while I swing ropes.  With my stick and string, I have made the string like a helicopter over his ears.  I have wrapped the lead rope around his head.  I have wrapped it around his body and tightened it like the girth on a saddle.  I have even tried to spook him, but he does not even flinch.  It is truly incredible.

However, Spur is also as stubborn as a mule.  As much as he is desensitized, he will not go when you ask him to.  The first day we worked with him, my older brother rode him first.  Or I should say, tried to ride him.  Clayton did everything he could think of to get the horse to walk.  It was like being on a mechanical horse in front of the grocery store that was out of order.  He just stood there!

So my mom climbed up into the saddle.  She tried everything to get him to go, too.  She even used spurs, but he stubbornly did not want to respond.  This is why we named him Spur.  We had never seen a horse so cold-blooded that he was frozen in time.  Finally my dad got the stick and string and hobbled into the center of the pen.  He hobbled because his leg is still hurt from an accident last week.

Anyway, he tried to round pen the horse while my mom rode the horse.  My mom was leaning forward in the saddle, spurring him in his ribs, and clicking with her mouth.  My dad was pointing in the direction he wanted the horse to move and popping the string on the ground behind the horse.  Together my parents were able to get the horse to walk.  Then with even more pressure, they got him to trot.  After a few rounds around the pen in both directions, we decided to call it a day.

The second day we went out to work with him, we took turns trying to longe and round pen the horse.  Spur flat out refused to move.  I tried for a very long time, which is why I know how desensitized he is because no matter how hard I tried he would not consistently respond to the pressure.  He might walk twelve feet and then stop.  He might trot for 4 feet and refuse to move again.

It was very frustrating.  I kept my cool and did not lose my patience.  Finally my dad decided to try.  He limped into the pen with the stick and string.  After watching us try to get the horse to move his feet, my dad saw how much pressure we applied.  He applied even more.  Finally Spur responded.  He walked and trotted around and around and around the pen in both directions.

When Spur thought he was done for the day, my dad attached the lead rope and with a lot of pressure longed Spur.  Then I did, too.  Spur did well for me round penning and longeing.  We stopped after I was done.  It is alway good to end on a good note.

Steve and Me

Last Friday morning Steve Prewitt came to our ranch to work with our horses. Steve is a horse trainer in the Tomball area. We have bought horses from him and like the way he trains.

That morning we rode around our ranch trying to get the horses to respect us, used to going through creeks and walking over logs.  We also did ground work. I rode Ladd, Steve rode Angus and my Dad rode Cheyenne.  The horses acted good.

Later that day I learned how to hobble a horse.  We hobbled Commander.  We took Commander into our arena and put hobbles on his front feet.  We did this because we want Commander to stand still.

Commander acted fine.  He stood for 15 minutes.  Somehow the hobbles got loose and he slipped his feet out.  Because Commander had been so good we put him back in his pen.  Steve had to leave, but he will be back again tomorrow.  I cannot wait!

They selected some mustangs to take to a prison.  The prisoners work with the horses.  They do not call it breaking a horse; they call it gentling a horse.  The inmates learn to trust horses.  They also learn patience.  The horses learn a lot, too.  They go from being touched by a human for the first time to being ridden and being adopted in a relatively short amount of time.  The inmates really enjoy the work.  It gives them something to look forward to and a sense of accomplishment.

After adoption, some of the horses go to a home for troubled teens.  Young people who have problems and/or are heading in the direction of jail.  They take the trained horses and gentle them even more.  The goal is to have gentle, desensitized horses that can work in rehabilitating the disabled.  The stories were touching.

I love working with horses.  As a young boy, I usually bounce off the walls.  I have a lot of energy.  You cannot be that way around horses.  So, I have learned some self-control.  I have learned to stay calm, talk sweetly, and have patience.  Working with horses is great for me and apparently other people.  I am glad that I am not alone.  I am glad that horses have the ability to help people.