Watching a Real Horseman

Yesterday, Betty and I went to see the training clinic put on by Chris Cox. Chris, born in Florida, was raised from a small child in Australia. He is a no-nonsense, straight-forward educator. He doesn't have much flair or showmanship, but he's one heck of a horseman. He has a great love and respect for horses, but he understands leadership with them very well.

We watched him first work with a horse that went into a sweaty panic when he was asked to load. It was apparent even to folks like us that this horse did not have a good, ground-work foundation. Chris worked with the horse on the ground for about 15 minutes - mostly disengaging the hindquarters and then directing and driving the horse between him and the fence. Then he took the horse to the trailer and alllowed him to check out the trailer. He asked him to step in with his two front feet and then step back out. In just a few minutes the horse was going in and out of the trailer with no problems at all. He even stepped further and further from the trailer and the horse would go up to it and step right in.

Next he worked with two women who had both had accidents with their horses. The session was to show how you can begin to rebuild your confidence as a rider. He's the only clinician that I know that does this. The first woman was an experienced rider who had ranch experience. She had her horse attacked by a standard poodle which is a large dog. Her horse bolted and she eventually fell from the horse breaking her leg, arm, pelvis, ribs, and had a punctured lung.

The other woman was a less-experienced rider with a beautiful, but very untrained, very nervous and emotional horse (the horse in the picture above). She fell and broke three ribs in her accident. They both had lost their confidence in riding. I won't take the time and space to go into details, but Chris worked with both to help them begin to restore their confidence. The more experienced rider got the foundation and information she needed to continue on her own. He gently told the less experienced woman how to restore her confidence, but that she needed a more stable horse. Her horse was much too emotional. He suggested that she give her horse to a good trainer to work her into a more stable horse, but she was not the right horse for her to regain her confidence.

Next, he brought back a horse from the previous day (which we could not attend) that was a bucker. He wanted to show what the second day of training looks like. He had to do some more ground work, but it was amazing to see how this horse progressed under his care as we watched. Again, he's the only clinician we've seen who brings a horse back for a second day to see how his training affected the horse.

Finally, he brought out his horse, Pepto, and did an advanced horsemanship demonstration. He admitted that because of his schedule he had not ridden Pepto in several months. Halfway though he took off the bit and bridle and did a very impressive demonstration riding just with his legs - even including getting the horse to lay down and get back up with him aboard with just leg cues.

We learned a lot and, if he ever comes back to this part of the country, we'll go see the whole clinic.

Today is October 20 and if today is your Birthday then you share your day with: Snoop Dogg, Viggo Mortenson ("Hidalgo"), Tom Petty, Jerry Ohrbach ("Law and Order"), Mickey Mantle (my baseball hero when I was a kid), Art Buchwald, and Bela Lugosi.

On this day in 1803 the US Senate ratified the Louisiana Purchase. In 1944 General Douglas MacArthur stepped ashore in the Phillipines fulfilling his "I shall return" promise. And in 1968 Jacqueline Kennedy married Aristotle Onasis.