Re: Vosals...& Bits, etc.

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<< - My favorite rider is the one who listens to what I'm trying to tell
them
- when I'm scared, when I'm bold, when I'm proud to be in the lead, when
that tree stump jumped up out of nowhere, when I'm tired (really tired and
not faking tired). My favorite rider understands that I'm not a machine
with gear shifts, but a living creature with a will and an intelligence of
my own. I am unpredictable and will sometimes behave rather poorly. That
is the risk my rider takes when he sits on me. In return for this risk, I
offer to selected riders the highest animal/human partnership available on
the planet. >>

I agree with all this Mike, and yet at the same time I do not belong to the
"My Friend Flicka" school of horsemanship. A horse is a marvelous,
wonderful, spiritual creature, a friend and compadre, a warm and living rock
amongst the chaos life can be--and he is also an animal--let me repeat
that--an ANIMAL, who operates on instinct more than reason, and if it comes
between you getting hurt and him getting hurt--he'll pick you, every time.
In the movies Flicka ran back to the ranch to get a lariat to save Ken from
the quicksand he'd stupidly fell into (seems I remember Ken riding Flicka in
a curb bit, wicked child. But then Mr. Ed went in a halter, didn't he? Oh,
I forgot--he could communicate by talking--.) Anyways, in REAL life, Flicka
stood at the side of the quicksand eating grass, while Ken sank outa sight.
Ken stood a better chance if he'd been walking Lassie, rather than riding
his horse. I love my horse--nor do I need to fantasize him something he is
not, to love him deeply. And I ride him with a snaffle bit, and don't feel
I'm less the horseman for it--and I have freinds who ride in curbs, that I do
not scorn them as lesser horsemen for that. We can't all be horse
whisperers--but we can all love and enjoy horses.

Trish & "pretty David" (who says: I'm an animal? Gee, I thought I was a
mobile carrot storage unit. Can I still have my carrots?)

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