Most of this hole thing we are doing here is checks and balances. I have been doing this for quite awhile now
and am still always having to check myself. I still learn so much from the horse. And still have so much to
learn, until I am truly the balanced horseman.
The balanced horsemen were truly the original vaqueros. They spent years getting to that balanced place. It
was a true art. They would start learning very young and may take all the way into their 40s before they were
considered true Vaquero horseman. People like Tom and Bill Dorrance and Ray Hunt were good examples of
balanced horsemen. Now we have the new generation of great horseman. The ones that are truly balanced.
They answer to know one but the horse. Weather you like them or not. I still have a way to go. But one day I
will be there.
How do you get there? From checking yourself all the time. To me it doesn't have a hole lot to do with time. I
hear all the time, "well he does it like this and he's been doing it for 20 years". If you do something wrong for
20 years, it doesn't make you an expert, it just makes you wrong for 20 years. If you have to use any kind of
controlling device like a stud chain, whip or even a crop to get your horse to go faster, tie down, martingale of
any type, or have to ride in a bit to have control of your horse, in my opinion you have allot still to learn. The
reason a lot of people never get there is because they have either been taught wrong, they lack patience, or
they loose the true love of the horse. Remember they are a prey animal. I will bet anyone 9 times out of
ten if I watch someone having trouble with a horse I can show them were they are the ones that are wrong,
but yet they still punish the horse.
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