The Rewards of Just Horsing Around

Mark and Sherri have been coming out for lessons and shared their experience with me this morning via e-mail. I wanted to share their comments to reassure anyone else out there who has had a fearful experience with horses. It is possible to overcome your fear and enjoy a safe, productive experience with horses.

Thanks again to you and the boys, for sharing such a wonderful experience with us. After having a very negative introduction years ago (being thrown and then having the horse fall on top of me), I had been very nervous around horses while still admiring and loving them from a distance. My intent for these lessons was to simply become more comfortable with horses, and hopefully to progress to the point of experiencing a Join Up. To have that dream come true today, both for me and my husband, was truly magical -- small pun intended since our first Join Ups were both with Magic!

Your training methods have been great, with a clear, consistent approach and a variety of horses that have allowed me to progress from initially being unable to even convince Jack to move, to working through my fear and building up my confidence, to now working in the round pen with Magic. There is obviously still a lot to learn, both about the horses and our role as humans, but this has been an incredible beginning.

I've included a few pics that Mark took with my iPhone. In case it doesn't show, I have to tell you that I LOOOOVE Magic! :-)

Thanks for taking Mark and I through this journey.

Regards,
Sherri

You are so welcome Sherri and Mark. It has been my absolute pleasure to share your love for horses and see your confidence restored.

p.s. Magic clearly loves you right back!

Clinton Anderson's Walkabout Tour

Today we are in beautiful Redmond, OR at the Eagle's Crest Resort. The sole reason for our trip was to attend Clinton Anderson's Walkbout Tour. Clinton Anderson is a world famous horseman and clincian. For two days, Clinton demonstrated his training methods on some very difficult horses. Gord and I have been fans of Clinton's, having watched him on RFDTV, so we were not surprised with the fantastic results Clinton achieved with the demo horses. What we didn't expect was the incredible humour with which he delivered his message.

Clinton reiterated my thinking that most new horse enthusiasts are in their early 50s. They now have the time and money to pursue their love of horses. These folks want to learn how to manage horses safely and effectively. Clinton's message dispelled a common belief that if you didn't grow up with horses or start early in life, it isn't possible to become a good horseman. One of the best statements I receive from students, after our lessons, is that they now believe that horse ownership is possible later in life.

We met some terrific folks (Leslie & Gary and Flat Stanley, and Victoria & Jim) in the stands, and were delighted to be invited to join them out for dinner. Horse people really are some of the nicest folks; and loving horses is a tremendous common denominator for meeting and connecting. Hopefully, there will be a chance to get together with them for a ride sometime in the future. Turns out Jim is also a talented song writer and was so inspired by Clinton Anderson that he wrote a song about his experience. Check out "Our Favourite U Tube Videos" in the right hand column of the blog site - Move Your Feet. We have invited these folks to come up for the Stampede and would love the opportunity to share Calgary at it's finest.

Leslie is a farrier and barefoot enthusiast and graciously shared some tips to help me with my own barefoot trimming.

Now we are even more motivated to get home and play with "Boys".

See you when we get back to Calgary.

Tovie and Gord