Looking Ahead Pt. 2 Pure Horsemanship

I sit here on a winter day in December, at my desk banging out thoughts on the keyboard.  My mind is on being horseback, however, and so that's what comes out at the end of my fingertips, and from there onto the keyboard, and from there to the printed word on these pages.  It's alright.

I was thinking this morning, on the drive over the ranch from my winter part time pad in East Glacier, about some comments an acquaintance of mine had made regarding comments I had posted regarding a ride we'd done in what I called "sacred" country.  He wrote that if the country was sacred, what was I doing there?  Well, I don't know for sure if the country in question is sacred, in the purest sense, to anyone else.  It may be or it may not be.  I don't know.  I do know this.  That country we rode in on that particular day and which I've ridden many times with and without guests, is sacred to me.  That's what really matters.  That's why I was there.  I ride in alot of neat country, some of the best in the world, in my opinion.  And damn it, some of it is pretty special.  It's sacred to me.  Especially that piece of paradise that will remain undescribed and unnamed.

Back to the subject at hand, however, and I'll add to those thoughts.  Isn't the desire to ride a good horse in real special country why so many of us do it?  It's the second best feeling in the world!  On my way over the ranch I was able to think about that sacred ride on that very special day and why I did feel so good, so light over the course of those miles deep down in the bowels of the river breaks.  Why?  Quite frankly, I was on the back of my very special partner, Hombre, a helluva horse.  He's capable, big enough for me, and so light in my hands,  He takes me, guides us on the trail, cross country, up and down hills and mountains, and across  criks and rivers.  And we see the same thing.  Oh, he doesn't say much to me nor I to him.  But we do well together.  We share the day, sometimes deep in thought.  Both of us, although I suspect his thoughts are a whole lot more simple than mine.  Good for him.  I'm the complex dude.  But Hombre makes my life a bit more simple.  I love the day with the good horse.  He isn't the only good horse in the bunch but a day with Hombre is a day well spent.

Isn't that the cowboy in all of us?  Riding a good horse in good country, alone with our thoughts.  Our hopes, our dreams, our problems, and our frustrations, all there, but perhaps easier to understand and digest on the back of a horse.  Somehow it all seems easier, simpler, less complex, on the back of a horse.  The good days riding are great and the average days are good.  They all beat the hell out of driving on the freeway!

Over the course of my riding career, the last thirty five years or more, my riding emphasis has been doing exactly that.  Riding.  Getting in the saddle and moving forward, literally and figuratively.  That's what you'll do here, at Bear Creek Ranch.  We'll get a big fancy from time to time, particularly during our time spent training and riding in our round pen and arena.  You'll begin to learn how to move your hands lightly, softly.  You'll begin to understand lead changing and transitions from the walk to the trot and on up the gaited ladder!
We'll talk about and follow through with a consistent emphasis on riding with feel, the dominant theme of the great brother tandem of Tom and Bill Dorance.  That philosophy of riding with a light hand and mind will always be front and center during your week at Bear Creek Ranch.  And I don't doubt for a second that most of our guests and students will hit that learning curve a whole lot quicker than I ever did.

And perhaps most importantly, you'll be able to ride some of the same country I do.  That's where you'll put your ongoing equine education to work.   The ultimate classroom is the world outside the round pen and the arena.  I look forward to sharing so much of that with you.  That cowboy in you is right there ready to blossom.  One of these days, hopefully this summer, you'll see what I mean.