Curiosity

My home office looks out on our backyard. I have an unobstructed view of our two horses all day long. They can also see me. In fact, some days they get as close as they can and just stare at me for what seems like hours. If it’s feeding time, I get the message. But this also happens at other times. I say “they” but, to be honest, I’m really talking about my Quarter Horse mare, Candy. Fidla, our Icelandic mare, has such a massive forelock and phlegmatic personality that you can hardly tell if she’s awake or asleep, let alone what’s going on in her brain. Not that there’s anything wrong with that …
 

Candy, on the other hand, is somewhat transparent. You can really tell when the wheels are turning. She watches me with bright eyes, ears forward, and head slightly lowered, even if I’m just typing on my computer. So, what’s going on here? Slow day in Horseville? Actually, I think that, for whatever reason, her curiosity is piqued.

 

In one of our first radio interviews many years ago, Pat Parelli told me that curiosity and fear are mutually exclusive states in a horse. If Candy is curious, she can’t be afraid. As Clinton Anderson would say, she’s in the thinking side of her brain. It’s a good state for a horse. I want my horse spending as much time as possible being calm, confident, and comfortable, thinking rather than reacting. Then when I inject myself into the situation, I just try to maintain that. There may be some health benefits, too. About 60% of domestic horses (and nearly all race horses) have ulcers and experts tell me that stress is the biggest cause. When curious, a horse is not feeling the harmful effects of stress.

 

I used to feel that I needed to do something when Candy was staring at me. Feed her, pet her, entertain her. Something. I don’t think that way anymore. A difficult lesson for most of us to learn is that smart horsekeeping often demands that we do nothing at all. Simply leave the horse alone. For me, this is one of those times. I’ll keep doing what I do at my desk and hopefully, Candy will continue to find that curious.

Aussies win RTTH 2012

Let’s see. If you count the two wins of native Australian Clinton Anderson, the three wins of Florida native Chris Cox, who grew up on an island off the coast of Australia, and add in this year’s two Aussie winners, Guy McLean and Dan James, you come up with seven Road to the Horse buckles that have been won by horsemen with ties to Australia. Crikey!

The Aussies of 2012 earned their buckles the hard way. Trailing Team USA at the end of Day One, they suffered a setback when Dan James, scheduled to step back into the round pen at the start of day two, fell ill. While Dan rested and received IV fluids, teammate Guy McLean took the first slot and Dan’s business partner, Dan Steers, advised and assisted from outside the pen. By the second session on day two, Dan James was back in the contest, still not 100% but determined to compete. On day three, the Aussies were the only team to take Tootie Bland’s offer of an extra 30 points each if they would switch horses for the test. Using the saddling pen as a training pen for more than half of the 40 minutes allotted for their tests, each Aussie was able to connect with the horse his teammate had trained and go on to produce a winning performance. The most memorable moment came when Guy McLean coaxed his mount into the optional water obstacle, stood on the horse’s back, cracked two stock whips as fast as machine gun fire, and followed it all up with an emotional bush (cowboy) poem written especially for the occasion.

Jonathan Field and Glenn Stewart of Team Canada got extra points before training began for switching the horses they had each chosen, and they made exceptional progress near the end of the event, but time worked against them in catching the Aussies.

Team USA was the leader at the end of day one, which was actually a bad omen; historically, the person or team who leads after round one does not prevail at Road to the Horse. Team USA faced an additional challenge when Pat Parelli’s colt was scratched for medical reasons after the first day. Per the rules, Pat had to pick a new colt, start over on day two and show up at 5:30 am on day three to get in his second training session. The fatigue factor aside – and it was a factor for all of us at this marathon event – Pat was under the continuous scrutiny of all six judges during that second session, something no other RTTH competitor has ever had to endure.

All in all, Road to the Horse International made a fitting farewell to the Tennessee Miller Coliseum in Murfreesboro, home to seven of the nine Road to the Horse contests thus far. For 2013, the event will be held in the Alltech Arena at Lexington’s Kentucky Horse Park. Tickets are already on sale. Get 'em early.

Other notes: Publisher Darrell Dodds presented the Western Horseman Award to Dr. Robert M. Miller in opening ceremonies on Saturday. Only a handful of other horsemen have received the award, including two other RTTH judges, Bob Moorhouse and Jack Brainard.

This was the first year that judges' scores were posted on the big video screen during the event. Everyone loved the added suspense.

Finally, I'd like to thank my good friend and 2009 RTTH champ, Richard Winters, for assisting me with the hosting of Road to the Horse 2012. I could not have done it without him and I hope he will share the duties with me again next year.

Mistakes

Irish author, James Joyce (1882-1941), noted that, “Mistakes are the portals of discovery.” As horsemen, we can learn a lot from mistakes, both our own and those of others.

A case in point is Pat Parelli’s "Road to the Horse" buckoff, one of many memorable RTTH moments shown in this week’s TV show. For those who don’t know what I’m talking about, Pat failed to properly prepare his colt from both sides before mounting – that’s his analysis of what happened – and the colt bucked him off. It made a good lesson for us all. However, an even more important lesson came after. As we pointed out on TV, Pat got right back to work and had his colt coming along beautifully by the end of the event. He didn’t win – Chris Cox chalked up #3 – but Pat deserves big kudos for how he handled himself in a difficult situation.

Seeing mistakes as learning opportunities is not license to be careless or unprincipled in our actions, but it does put a positive spin on the honest misstep.

By the way, Pat teams with 2010 champ, Craig Cameron, to take on Canadians, Jonathan Field and Glenn Stewart, and Aussies, Dan James and Guy McLean, in the first ever International Road to the Horse. Dates are March 9-11, 2012. Get your tickets early, my friends.

Watch Road to the Horse Retrospective on The Horse Show
Get tickets to Road to the Horse International

Chris Cox Wins #3

Chris Cox made history Sunday as the first horseman to win Road to the Horse three times. All things considered, this colt-starting contest between Cox, Clinton Anderson, and Pat Parelli was the hardest-fought of the eight held so far. Each of the three young horses, sired by different stallions and pasture raised on the famous 6666 ranch, tried hard to unseat his rider. Only Parelli’s horse was successful, and the buckoff in round one, although graceful, may have cost Parelli the win.

Once again, I had the pleasure of hosting the event. This time, two past RTTH winners, Stacy Westfall and Richard Winters, assisted with commentary from a perch high above the arena. Our running analysis aimed to make the action easier to understand for viewers in the stands and on the web. Judging from the comments I received, we were successful.

Road to the Horse just might be the most highly anticipated event of the year for American horse lovers. Although it is a celebration of the methods and philosophies of natural horsemanship, the competition does seem to fly in the face of one very important NH principle: Allowing the horse to set the pace for training. Fine trainers such as Cox, Anderson, and Parelli have the skill to negotiate those treacherous waters. Most of the rest of us don’t. Bottom line: Don’t try this at home, kids.

Congrats once again to Chris Cox.

Road to the Horse Webcast

Oh, boy. This time next week I’ll be hosting Road to the Horse, the granddaddy of colt-starting events. Billed as a meeting of legends (Pat Parelli, Chris Cox, and Clinton Anderson), this year promises to be more exciting, more educational, and more entertaining than ever before. Maybe I’ll see you there … if you are one of the 6,000 lucky souls who snagged a ticket before they sold out. If you were a bit slow with your mouse, don’t despair. For $29.99, you can watch the three-day webcast on your computer. Follow the link for complete details. One way or another, I hope to see you next week. Woo hoo!
More on Road to the Horse
More on RTTH webcast

Touching a horse

This week’s radio show features my interview with Sivia Gold, who describes a technique she calls the BIG Eraser. This is a way of touching a horse that triggers relaxation (my term) or erasing of negative memories at the cellular level (her term). In my opinion, this is one more example of the positive benefits that come from body-to-body contact with a horse done in a particular way. But let’s back up. Horses read your intentions and any potential threat you pose to them by reading your body language. When you touch them, they get an even stronger reading of you. The photo shown is one of Clinton Anderson using the Jeffrey Method in starting a young horse. After getting control of the horse’s feet and establishing a level of respect, Clinton lays across the horse’s topline and rubs its barrel, as did Australian Kell Jeffery in the past century. This calms a horse for reasons no one completely understands. My theory is that the more of your body a horse can feel, the quicker it learns to trust you and relax. Of course you need to be in the right mental state when you do this; if you are distracted or impatient, it may magnify the horse’s concern and make matters worse. There are a number of things we can do that nearly always help when we’re working with horses: Backing the horse, slowing down, lightening pressure, and increasing body-to-body contact. Even just touching the horse with your hand spread wide – “with your heart in your hand” as Pat Parelli might put it – nearly always helps. This is one of the easiest prescriptions for the horseman. After all, who doesn’t want to touch a horse? I can hardly keep my hands off of them. Listen to interview with Sivia Gold.

Giving Mentors Their Due

If you teach horsemanship, you face a dilemma. How do you carve out your own niche while still giving credit where it is due? Pat Parelli has done both pretty well for nearly 30 years, and these days he’s more determined than ever to recognize his mentors. This week and next, he does so on my TV show. Yup, it’s a two-parter, a first for us, and the most engaging I’ve ever seen Pat, which is saying a lot. I’ve picked his brain countless times, both for public consumption and private enlightenment. So I guess his mentors would be my grand-mentors? Mentors once removed? Whatever you call them, it’s good to hear Pat share how these great horsemen (and one very important horsewoman) influenced him. This is a piece of history, my friends. Don’t miss it.