A chilled Filly

Tuesday 25 August 2015

These were the Vaqueros

At the suggestion of my email friend from California, Dorothy, I bought a copy of "These were the Vaqueros" by Arnold R Rojas. Difficult to get in the UK but I finally got a copy from a bookseller on ebay.

The author met some of the old timer vaqueros and rode with them a while. He realised that a lot of there old stories were going to die with them if he didn't record them so wrote many books. This book is his collected works.

Reading the first part of the book I was struck by how wild and wooly these guys were. They spent a lot of time riding bucking horses it seemed and I wondered as to why they didn't do a better job of quietening and taming them. Then I came across a story which turned a light bulb on in my head.

Some young men had done an excellent job in starting some young colts and were justifiably proud of what they had achieved. The owner, Mr Miller, of a local very large ranch came along to see the colts with a view to buying them. Proudly the young men showed him the colts. Mr Miller asked the boys to go and catch one of the horses so he could inspect it. The young lad walked up to the horse and caught it nice and easily. Like I said they had done a good job starting them. Mr Miller asked if all the colts were that tame? The assured him they were. He rode away saying they were of no use to him !
The reason ? In those days there were a lot of horse thieves in that part of the west. Horses that could be caught that easily would be gone in very short order. Mr Miller needed horses that would make a fuss being caught so the men would be alerted if someone tried to steal them.

The moral of this story is to make sure you train the horse for the purpose that is required.

I remember James Roberts telling us about a string of polo ponies he started. As was usual for him he trained them to stand very still when being mounted. When he proudly showed this to the polo team they were horrified. They needed ponies that would set off at a canter to rejoin the game as soon as they landed in the saddle.
James had to retrain that batch of colts and then spent some time with the polo team to better understand what they wanted.

Monday 10 August 2015

Riding in the Rocky Mountains

I regularly go to Calgary in Canada for work. Last Thursday was one of those trips which meant that I had Friday off in Calgary. Mostly I hire a car and head off to the mountains to go climbing or hiking. On this occasion I decided to go riding instead.
A quick search on the internet gave several places that I could go, but only one actually in the mountains themselves. This was Boundary Ranch in Kananaskis country. A quick phone call and I was booked on the ride at 0945 on Friday. It was explained that we would only walk and that this was really just a tourist ride. But I wanted to ride in the mountains I had hiked and knew well so felt that was fine.

I arrived at the ranch early after breakfast at the Summit Cafe in Canmore. My favourite breakfast place in the area. I checked in and then wandered out to see the horses being prepared. This is a big operation with lots of horses to tack up. All the horses seemed to be in pretty good condition and the tack looked serviceable. The only thing that worried me slightly was the long shank bits they were using. Ok for riders with soft hands, but for tourists who had never ridden before ??

It turned out that there were a fair few riders. Around 20 or so plus guides. They decided to split us into two groups. Once it was time to mount up they took individual folks to their mounts and got them onboard anyway they could. But the horses had seen it all before and were chilled. The instructions were "kick them to go, pull them to stop and neck rein them to turn". Again a slightly worrying set of instructions to give tourists, but in the even most of the horses didn't need any cues as they knew the route.

Once we finally set out I could see why we were walking. The trail was very stony and in places steep. Very good terrain to get a horse thinking to its' feet. My little horse, Branton, was brilliant. Very light to the aids, though he did keep trying to pull through my hands. I guess he was trying to get enough rein so that he could eat grass. He spent quite sometime trying to out focus me with this tactic, but eventually gave it up as a bad job. After that we just got on fine. By the time we got back I was very impressed by him and said so to the guide. She found that interesting as a guide the previous year had tried to buy him at the end of his stay to take home for reining competitions.

The ride itself was through beautiful country, but I'll let the pictures describe that. I rode as the last "tourist" which meant I could chat with the following guide. We got on really well and discussed all things about horses. She was from New Zealand and before coming to the USA had only ridden in English style. Western was new to her. So we discussed the vaquero style I'm studying and she seemed very interested. By the time we got back I think was was considering studying some more herself.

To summarise I would recommend the ranch to others. Your not going to have the world most exciting ride, but the terrain and scenery more that make up for that. The horses are well looked after and seemed happy in their work. The staff are friendly in a sincere and not false way. They do longer rides than the two hours I did. All the way up to 6 days with camping out I understand. Through the Rocky Mountains that would be an experience. One of the guides was keen I should go on that trip with him so he could teach me how to go on a packing trip with horses. Again that sincere friendliness shone through.








Sunday 9 August 2015

The new bosal has arrived

We ordered a bosal off Steve Guitron which we now have at home. It's a 1/2" raw hide bosal with roo hide nose button. A buckle hanger with bosal shaped buckles (a bit fancy) and a 22' long 1/2" thick horse mane hair mecate.
The bosal is actually a little stiffer than the 5/8" we already had, though that started stiff as well. The nose button on the new one is flatter where it contacts the nose which will give it a slightly different more direct feel. The mecate reins, being new, are also stiffer and have lots of prickly hairs coming out.
When I questioned Dorothy (the lady in California) about this she said you can rub the hairs of with a good pair of gloves, but never ever trim them off. Rubbing takes a good number of hours to do though. Her other comment was to just ride as it is and when the mecate is smooth the horse is probably ready for the next size down of mecate and bosal. That's a lot of riding.
Bonitao will be riding in this for a while, though we haven't tried it yet. Looking forward to seeing how he goes in it though.

Note that in the photo the mecate is not tied to the bosal. They should never be left tied as it will over time effect the feel of the bosal. We always undo our mecate after every days riding. For us it is just part of the discipline of being able to ride in the bosal.
Riding and owning one should never be taken for granted, they are a privilege to use and should be treated as such.
If you think of the hours of workmanship to make one then you'll understand what I mean.
If you ride in it badly you can also undo months of good training so I always take a very disciplined approach to riding in one. This is not because they are harsh, far from it. The snag is if the horse learns that they can push through it with force then it's a lesson they will learn probably for life.
Maybe that is why I find them so effective, they make me ride better with soft hands and feel. Getting into a pulling match would be really bad news.