WRANGLING ON THE RANGE #13
It was Sunday May 10th - Mother's Day, and the Ranch was
busy, about 50 riders from children to adults out to trail ride.
The first guided ride was 1 p.m. - about 20 people on the
ride. I led the way on Goldie. About a mile from home she started
to get upset. I knew what it was, she does not like having to
walk so slow. She's telling me, "I've had enough of this slow
pace, just let me walk my natural speed, and even let me run." I
had to tell her "No!" quite firmly a few times. She did finally
settle again. "I know girl you do not like this very slow pace,
but we are nearly home," I tell her. She doesn't understand that
whole sentence but I think she gets what I mean by the tone of my
voice. If she's acting up too much I yes "No" in a much harder
tone of voice.
One lady was especially nervous when we were mounting up. I
helped her and told her she had a very calm quiet horse, and she
would be fine on that horse, one of those very dependable, always
calm, just plod along horses. I helped the lady down after we
arrived back at the barn. She had a big smile and I knew she had
enjoyed it all.
The next guided trail ride, about 10 of them, came early, so
we were away early. Mainly ladies, and the out-riders were young
ladies, so they talked about this and that all the way around. I
did not lead but held back to kinda overwatch everything. One of
the young out-ride ladies was the girlfriend of Bob's brother.
She told me that Tom and Bob wanted him to join them in the
business venture of running the Trail Riding Ranch. He
likes horses but did not want to make a career of it. Moreen was
the young ladies name. Now we have two "Moreen" - Bob's
girlfriend is also Moreen, but much taller, about 6 foot plus I would
say. I joking said well if you are together I'll have to say
"Tall Moreen" and "Shorter Moreen." She laughed and said, "Yes I
guess you can do that."
We have many black clouds in the sky, but the rain missed
us, so we very fortunate for the day.
The boys had harrowed the outdoor arena and it is looking
very good for the summer activities it is used for, namely, first
it is my show jumping arena, then July and August to becomes the
summer camp for kids arena. I then have to move my jumps to
another section close by, good soil but un-fenced. It all works
out.
A couple of ladies came in from riding the trails. I helped
one lady off her horse; she saw Goldie off in the corner and
asked about her, wondering if she was one of the Ranch's horses.
"She's mine," I told her.
"Oh a mare, not for me, they can be difficult at times," she
answered me, meaning a mare's monthly cycle.
"Well that's not always true," I replied, "some mares are
the same each day of the month, all year round. Way back in time,
in Saskatoon, the fellow who owned the Riding Stable, when I was
a young guy of 18, 19 and 20, had a roping horse that was a mare,
and I discovered she was the best "trick-riding" horse in those
parts. I could do any riding trick on her, and she would not bat
an eye. She had the same easy faithful disposition every day of
the year.
And that Stable had some other mares with super dispositions, we
used them for trail riding, any day of the year."
It is true some mares can be difficult at that time of the
month, but to brand ALL mares being that way, is just simply
wrong. It just is not so, I've seen it being not so.
There was another lesson taught today as we were un-tying
the horses in the barn to let them out on the range. But I have
to back up some, to explain it fully.
When I came to the Ranch 6 years ago, Dan was
managing the trial riding side. He had worked for the owner for
17 years, and was asked when the owner decided to retire, if he
wanted to take over the trail riding. Dan did and had done it
for a year before I arrived. Dan had a right hand man by the name
of Tim. Now Tim had not been around horses that much, and I was
surprised how so many of the horses were nervous and what is
called "pull-backs." Now a pull-back is one that when you go to
saddle or un-saddle, they will fly backwards like a scared
rabbit, pulling backwards on their halter lead rope. The horses
in this barn are tied to an iron rail that goes down the full
length of the barn wall, so the horses then face a wall. It can
be dangerous if you go doing something with a horse and it pulls-
back and you are there at the wall, for the horse can then jump
forward back to the wall and smash into you.
I indeed did see this happen with a few young ladies that
were new to horses or new to this set-up in the barn at the
this Ranch.
I was somewhat bewildered by all this as it seemed there
were way too many horses on this Ranch that "pulled-back."
After the second summer year that I was associated with the
Ranch, Dan decided to lay Tim off - to fire him in blunt
words. It was not until about three months after Tim was gone,
that Dan told me one of the main reasons he had fired Tim was
because he made the horses too nervous. Dan asked me if I had
noticed how calm the horses were now that Tim was not handling
them. I had to admit that the difference was like night and day.
From that time on we had no pull-backs. Some of the most
severe pull-back horses were now no problem to saddle or un-
saddle etc. I worked with Dan and the other young people Dan
hired during the busy summer months. We were all slow and careful
and gentle in working around the horses. All the horses came to
look upon us without any fear, the peace and calm that came over
the herd was really quite something to behold. All now worked the
way I had always worked around horses, which is on the whole, be
gentle, kind, and have the horses liking you, so they do not have
to be nervous and scared when you come to work with them.
I will say I had never experienced quite that, with one
person making such a difference; the Tim that worked for Dan
had a bad effect on the attitude of a herd of horses. With Tim
gone and others working correctly with the horses ... well it was
quite the change in many of those horses, a change for the good.
Now back to today. Dan left last November to start his own
trail riding business. As I've told you Tom (the owner's son)
and Bob his cousin, took over. They are really nice young men,
very polite and mannerly with no bad language at all, no
profanity, no foul words. They have many family members and
friends that come out to give a helping hand, and so far, they
have all been very nice, just like Tom and Bob.
That said, they have grown up under Tom's dad and grandfather who were hot tempered men from what Dan has told me, and Jim another cousin. So a certain amount of "roughness" in working with and around horses has been in-bred so to speak. They are not mean or abusive at all to the horses, but they just have a rough type of working manner as they un-tie or un-saddle ... sooooo the horses that were bad pull-backs when Tim was working here, are back once more to pulling-back.
Just this one day we had at least four pull-backs that I
counted; two during the day and two with Tom at the end of the
day. I say very little about it right now, if it keeps going this way
I probably will have to have a talk about it with Tom and Bob.
.......................
To be continued
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