British Rodeo Cowboys Association

A quick video to introduce this post :)

A few weeks ago some random googling took me to the home page of the BRCA. I had never heard of them before, but the write up sounded fun. As it happened they had an event the very next weekend in Kent. I suggested to Ritchie that we go along and watch for an hour or so. We wound up spending the whole day there.
The BRCA allows folks in the UK to participate on a proper rodeo day. I don't mean bucking horse riding and the like, but events involving precision riding horses and working with cows. I have heard of no other events in the UK that allow cow work as I believed the RSPCA were against it. I enquired and apparently the RSPCA had audited their activities and could not see any problems.

Anyway, we drove around the M25 and finally made our way to the Bar S Ranch. We were glad we had rang and asked for directions. As we drove past a white bungalow I remembered a white bungalow being mentioned in the directions. Sure enough as I looked closer I saw horse boxes parked behind the bungalow. This was the Bar S Ranch. I wondered what we had come to see !

On entering the ranch we found a nice arena at the back and horses already being ridden. Nervously we approached the riders and asked what was happening. They could not have been more welcoming. Everyone was already on horseback, and apart from lunch stayed there all day. The horses were all very chilled in a cramped area alongside the arena standing patiently whilst the riders chattered away and watched proceedings.

It was a competition, but to be honest the only person who seemed to take it at all seriously was Lesley, the judge. Everyone else was just have a good time whilst trying to improve there ranching skills.

The first event we saw was Ranch Trail. Basically and obstacle course including dragging logs, backing around a pattern, sideways over cones etc. During this we mingled and got to know the folks there and display our ignorance. They were keen to educate us and we soon began to understand what the day was all about.

Over lunch I got talking to Stewart who owns the farm. He was an older guy who started working cattle as he got fed up with having to ask friends to help him move cows around his farm. From that he developed an interest in vaquero and so we had a long chat about the style. He then showed me into his tack room which was full of bosals, spade and half breed bits etc. In the meantime I heard Lesley getting annoyed outside. It turned out that Stewart was supposed to be sorting out the pens in the arena for the cattle classes. To avoid him getting into more trouble Ritchie and I helped with the fence panels.

The cattle classes were the most fun and interesting to watch. The team sorting was particularly fascinating. There are two pens joined by an open gate. All the cows are in one pen and have numbers on their backs. The judge calls out a number and the team of two have to cut that cow out of the herd and get it into the other pen. Should the wrong cow get into the other pen then their time is up. They have 2 1/2 minutes and I think the best was 10 cows. The ones who did best were the quiet calm ones who just did the business with the minimum of fuss.

I won't describe all the classes here as they can all be found on the BRCA
website. We have now joined the association and look forward to attending more events over the coming months and years. They also do clinics for those who have never rode like this before and we definitely need to go to some of those !!

Silke Clinic

We had seen Silke give demos several times at various Parelli meets and had always been very impressed. When the opportunity arose for Ritchie to take Bonitao on a clinic we jumped at it. Even better was that it was not that far away, just a couple of hours.

It was a two day clinic, though Silke was in the UK for longer travelling around. It started with a get together in the tea room to find out what everyone wanted to get out of the weekend. Always a good place to start I feel, rather than the instructor having a predetermined plan.

There was a general theme though which was to drum home the importance of the mantra "Mind, Flexion, Weight, Feet". I know we all know this mantra but using it effectively is a different matter.

For example to get the mind we were taught to use the friendly game. The version chosen was swinging the stick and string around until we got both the horses eyes looking at us, then quit. So the horse got relief from the annoyance by giving us their mind. The idea is to build this up so we are always aware of where the horses mind is and to get it back by asking for it. Not by asking the horse to move, or yield, but just to think about us. When riding I do this by picking up my attention and asking the horse to do the same with maybe a lift of the rein if needed. Until we have their mind it's not fair to ask them to do anything. In fact the cue for action will come as a bolt from the blue with a consequent unwelcome reaction if we don't have their mind to start with.

Having got their mind we then ask for the flexion that is needed in order to achieve the desired motion. We worked with forequarter yields to start with. So after the mind we asked for a little flexion of the neck in the desired direction. Not too much as that would dump weight on the inside hind leg pinning it to the ground. Just enough to get the mind thinking in the direction we wished to go.

The flexion helped set the weight in the right place to enable the horse to easily perform the action we were asking.

Once the weight was correct the horse could then move the feet as desired with ease. In fact having got the mind, weight and flexion right it was almost easier to move the feet as we desired rather than stand still.


Once we had the mantra well and truly embedded with various exercises we then looked at the idea of massaging the horse whilst it is in motion in order to get a nice long and low gait.

Again we needed to get the correct flexion so Silke showed us a reflex point at the base of the horses neck just in front of the shoulder which will cause the horse to flex it's neck towards the side pressed on. This was practised at standstill to start with. This then allowed the neck to be flexed without having to use the lead rope which would just pull the horse on top of the handler.
Once achieved the handlers then started circling their horses whilst moving with them by walking at their shoulder. On a left circle handler is on left side and lead rope is in left hand. This leaves the right hand free to ask for flexion by gently pressing on the reflex point, releasing as the horse flexes. Once the correct flexion was achieved then the handler massaged the horses neck whilst they moved and also stooped as they walked to mimic the long and low position we were looking for in the horse.
Some horses clearly found even gentle massage of the neck quite painful showing how much tension they were holding. Anyone who has had a trigger point massage on a tense muscle will now what I mean. If the horse showed any sign of relaxing then the massage was stopped briefly in a micro release of the pressure. This helped show the horse that relaxing the neck muscles would take the pressure away.

It was remarkable how quickly all the horses relaxed into long and low and how much snorting was going on in the group as they released the tension.

Once achieved at walk it was repeated at trot. This was quite hard work for the handlers. Maintaining the horses trot whilst running themselves in a stooped position, pressing on the bend reflex spot and massaging the neck with micro releases as they got it right was tough. But again the results were quick and spectacular.

The stooped posture of the handler was introduced so that in future it could be used as a cue to the horse to go long and low when the handler was not in a position to touch the horse physically.

I could give a detailed version of the rest of the clinic, but in fact it was then all about putting these skills into practise to achieve a huge variety of manoeuvres. Back up with flexion for example, or travers, roll backs .... all done on line with a concentration on the relaxation of muscle groups and of course

MIND, FLEXION, WEIGHT, FEET

So much to tell

It's been such a busy few weeks I hardly know where to start ! In fact I think I'll have to split this into several posts and write them as I have time. But to give a flavour here is what we have been up to

1) Silke Valentin clinic

We attended a Silke clinic on the 27th and 28th August. Silke is from Germany and is confined to a wheelchair, or more often and motorised buggy. She has a remarkable ability to train horses despite this apparent handicap. The clinic was all ground work. My wife Ritchie took Bonitao to the clinic whilst I watched and picked up poo ! In some ways watching was almost and advantage as I could follow Silke around and watch her coaching more than one person and horse.

2) The British Rodeo Cowboys Association.

Random web searching took me to this website BRCA . I've always wanted to find somewhere I could work cattle, but was under the impression that the RSPCA in the UK prohibited it. However the BRCA does work with cattle and they have been audited by the RSPCA.
They had a Ranch Horse Event on the 6th September in Kent so we decided to go and see what they got up to. It was an absolute hoot. Great fun people having real good fun with their horses. It was a competition but the only one who seemed to take that really seriously was the judge :).

3) Clinic with Josh Steer.

Ritchie and I hosted a clinic at the yard with livery our horses on. The yard owner was very very hospitable in helping us make this happen. It's so nice to be on such an open minded and positive yard.
Josh was the apprentice of James Roberts and so we know him very well indeed and have spent many days laughing and having fun together. Since James passed away Josh has continued to develop his horsemanship to the extent he has still not even learnt to drive. So on Friday the 11th September I drove 3 1/2 hours to Lancashire to collect him. 
The clinic was held over the 12th and 13th in lovely weather. We had a total of five on the course. Three rode in the morning and then Ritchie and I in the afternoon. We split it like this as Ritchie and I are concentrating on our bosal riding at the moment and felt this made for a natural split of the group. 
During the Saturday lunch break one of my aikido instructors and I gave a mini clinic on aikido and how it can help in horsemanship. Much to my relief this was well received.

4) Barefoot trimmer visit

On the 14th September Mel Isaac came to check on our horse again. She did make some adjustments this time as she felt they had both arrived at the stage where we can help nature a little in shaping the feet. Overall she was happy with their progress and very happy with Fillys' overall development, as am I :)

As you can see lots to tell and I'll try to catch up with it all over the next week or so