Horsemanship and Horsemastery

[Mark Choate]

Re: Horsemanship and Horsemastery

Wellllllllll, Jerry, I'm glad you enjoyed the thread, ha. :wink_smil

Seriously, what a treat this has been to listen to all of this combined experience of horsemanship and the variety of vantage points spoken from. If you totaled the years of equestrian experience (whether formal or not) that has either spoken or read closely this thread, you probably have 500 years worth! One thing that I was told long ago that is still true is that if a person says he never falls off.......then he probably ain't ridin' much. It's gonna happen, but as you get older, you just try to "stack the deck in your favor." Great stuff here and when I write my book of "Equine Anecdotes" I will quote you all (I'm just kidding about the book.... I think).

thanks,
Mark

[Curt Schmidt]

Re: Horsemanship and Horsemastery

Hallo!

My first instructor said that one has to fall off 50 times before one is a rider.

:) :)

It may just be me, being new and all to riding, but the older I get, the harder the ground gets, and the greater the effort to avoid it. :)

Curt

[wavey1us]

Re: Horsemanship and Horsemastery

Hallo!

My first instructor said that one has to fall off 50 times before one is a rider.

:) :)

It may just be me, being new and all to riding, but the older I get, the harder the ground gets, and the greater the effort to avoid it. :)

Curt

Curt,
Well said. Have you also noticed that the older you get, that once you are on the gorund, the longer it takes to get back up on your feet. Also, it takes longer to heal from bruises, sprains, contusions, etc.

[malachi]

Re: Horsemanship and Horsemastery

If it is any consolation to anyone, I have read more than once that Napoleon was an awful horseman as far as correct style goes. He just had no fear of rank horses, running full out or falling, which he did quite often. He was an Arabian man himself.
John G Tucker

[Curt Schmidt]

Re: Horsemanship and Horsemastery

Hallo!

I have only ridden Haflingers, Saddlebreds, Quarter Horses, and Arabians only, so my background is limited.

IMHO, I find that the Arabians are the harder to ride, as their gait is "choppy" and one has a tendency to "bounce" more and it is harder to find and maintain the rythmn of the trot. Can't figure Napoleon. :)

My current instructor said she learned to get over her fear of falling by throwing herself off the horse until she got over it. But aye, Herr Bill, it does seem to physically take longer to recover from injuries, as well as the mentally ignoring them. :) :)

Curt

[IowaYank]

Re: Horsemanship and Horsemastery

Throwing yourself off the horse is also a great way to take hits!! I often seek opportunities to dispel the "who's ever seen a dead cavalryman?" myth!!!!

[TexCavly]

Re: Horsemanship and Horsemastery

Dan do you hold on to the reins while you're on the ground or do you let go and let your horse loose? I've always wanted to do that but I'm not confident that I can control my horse from the ground.

[malachi]

Re: Horsemanship and Horsemastery

I threw myself off a horse once. He was a disturbed 17 hand t.w.h. who decided to run away with me aboard. I found out quickly that if a horse hasn't been taught how to flex, that whole one reign stop thing is a mute point. He was actually looking around at me backward with the bit about to saw his head in half when he took a turn for the woods. I decided I would take my chances with a planned, albeit cowardly dismount rather than let him take me through the trees wide open. I picked the one spot that didn't have visible stumps or fire ant hills and make my exit. We met up at the barn later. I have since learned a few things, but have never regreted bailing on that day! It remains the only time I have been truly terrified on horseback.
John G Tucker

[Forrestcavalryman]

Re: Horsemanship and Horsemastery

I found out at the Twin Rivers event that my horse likes to take hits! We were riding back into camp and she just collapsed out from under me! (turns out she missed a beat in her gait, but I hear that it looked pretty funny!)

[TexCavly]

Re: Horsemanship and Horsemastery

Hey Andrew, did you see the somewhat farby lookin fella riding a big red and loud mule at Twin Rivers? That was me. Almost fell off too, we were making a mad dash to the rear in a frightful state and got bottle necked behind one of the mule drawn cannons. One of the buglers was having trouble with his horse which backed up into my mule (as we were in a trot going around the caisson) and wedged her against the wheel bringing her to a complete halt. I nearly went over top. The bugler was dismounted and was nearly trampled by his own horse. It's good he didn't get tossed under a cannon wheel.

[Forrestcavalryman]

Re: Horsemanship and Horsemastery

Come to think of it, I did see that! Sounds like a frightening experience, I hope that everyone was okay. Shiloh (my mare) at least waited to stumble BEFORE we went out to the field.

[Outrider]

Re: Horsemanship and Horsemastery

I , for one , am proud of Young John of Texas.
The lad can also hitch and drive a team like hell too.

[IowaYank]

Re: Horsemanship and Horsemastery

John, If I have time I pass off my lead rope to the guy next to me before taking the hit. Down at Bummers we came charging head long into the Missouri Engineer company that was armed with repeaters. Jerry Ross and myself were side by side and were unloaded into. We both dropped out of our saddles and were able to quickly grab our leads from the ground. Our horses just stood there next to us laying there on the ground.

[ButtermilkRanger]

Re: Horsemanship and Horsemastery

This is a pretty good thread. I'm enjoying seeing how many of my pards on here pretty much grew up in the saddle like I did. Zack, I remember well those green colts I couldn't get enough of. I used to think that if they weren't trying to kill me, they were worthless. But that was back when the ground was softer than it is now. I blame it on Al Gore and global warming. But back then I was paying my own rodeo fees. Today I just live vicariously from behind the chutes and pay good money for my sons to learn the hard way like I did. A kid asked me a couple of years ago what my favorite kind of horse was. My reply: "broke"

We've got two or three high school or college age kids that ride with us these days. One of them likes to take hits, usually at a dead run. He just flips over the back end like there's nothing to it. I have a hard enough time just staying on without actually [I]trying[I] to fall off. He just drops the reins and all and lets his horse run off. It's usually a hoot watching the Infantry scatter from a runaway horse anyway. Actually, we've never had much trouble with horses that don't come back. The herd instinct usually kicks in. Ottis Arnold got dumped at first Raymond and his horse ran off. We chased him for two or three miles, but he stopped eventually and went over to a teamster's wagon that Ottis had rented out. I figure he'd been following the scent of the mules from home the whole time.

What I really like about this thread is how much geography seems to be playing into it. It seems that many of us from the "western" states seemed to have grown up on horseback and horses have been a regular part of our lives since conception. Some of us may have even been conceived on horseback, but that's a story for another thread. Other geographical regions seem to have a little less experience. Of course modern occupation has a lot to do with it as well. All of those things combined make what we do very authentic because all of those factors figured into the Boys of '61 just like it does us.

[TexCavly]

Re: Horsemanship and Horsemastery

Paddy, I can ride a little bit, but when it comes to driving a wagon I feel like a track star in a wheel chair! I have always wanted to die in front of the crowd and have my brother ride up and "go through" me taking all valuables including boots and make a quick get away. I think I'm gonna try taking a hit in two weeks at a local farb-fest we'll see how it goes.

Larry it is an interesting thing, however I have always felt it was unfair that since I live in Texas I wasn't raised on horses. So I'm having to learn all the horse/mule knowledge on my own with a little help from all you folks of course.