I spent the weekend working as a volunteer at the Clinton Anderson WalkAbout Tour. They put me at the gate checking and selling tickets, so I didn't actually get to see much of the program, but they give volunteers a gift certificate worth $220 of DVD's so they can catch the clinic on a disk.
I did fall for his speil about the ring tie that is supposed to teach horses not to pull back when they are tied. The rope slips through the ring and the horse gets far enough away to not be scared. Hmmm. Cisco the blaze face mustang came with a reputation for pulling and going bezerk while tied. I hadn't really pushed it so I wasn't sure if he would. Clinton's speil is that you let them freak out and they will recover - "Heart attacks are free," he says. I think Clinton is really good with domestic minded horses.
So I forked over the $20 for the ring and brought it home. Tied Cisco to one of my hitching posts. Started desensitizing him to a couple of things like the rug from the front porch and the crop & string I use. No big deal. Then I start lifting up those feet. The last foot was the right hind and as I bent down to touch it, Cisco went into highspeed reverse, slipping that rope through like it was waxed, until it reached the end, where it was just a little larger because of the braid back into itself. That acted like a dead stop, so since something had to give, and it wasn't going to be the mustang, the weld popped on my hitching post and the horseshoe ring, with the Anderson special went flying. The rope was 20 ft long, so suddenly there was a panicked mustang pulling a dancing horseshoe at high speed around the yard. The horseshoe would catch on objects as Cisco ran past and a couple things went crashing. Cisco hit the back gate and broke the latch, but he was turned around and running back toward me before he could realize his freedom. I ran to close the gate before anything worse could happen. Cisco ran into the park area of the yard and I saw his legs slip out from under him as he hit the pile of leaves along the fence. He was down flat on the ground and not moving. I ran around the paddock. He had slid under the fence and his head was pinned to the ground. He couldn't move. Chester, the mule, ran over and started biting him. I chased Chester away and secured the area to prevent any more equines from trying to assist. I got Roger and we started shoving on the head of the mustang trying to pry him back through enough that he could wiggle. We thought we might have to get a cutting torch, but we kept shoving. The leaves must have helped us and suddenly he was up and off again but without the rope behind him. After a few minutes he let me catch him.
Yep, that Anderson special is a wonderful tool for domestic horses. Can't recommend it for mustangs.
When I got to the WalkAbout Tour on Friday afternoon, it became really obvious that what we volunteers were actually going to be doing was helping with the retail merchandising operation. We tied mecates to bridles, put together handy-strings and sticks, as well as clipped leads to halters. They told us that Clinton wouldn't have time to talk to us until after the show and that if we had a question, we could ask him then. After the show, they had us hopping double time to get everything packed and ready to roll out. There was no time for any kind of conversation with the celebrity. He stood by the back door and watched us carry the last bits to the truck and stow it away. Then Clinton handed us our gift certificates and shook our hands. I was still holding on to my question, but I saw the opportunity slipping away. It was then or never, so I asked.
"I have a question for you, Mr. Anderson, what about donkeys and mules? What would you do differently?"
He looked me straight in the eye and said "I know nothing about them." Then he turned away. Well, you have to admire honesty. Hmmmm.....
Yrs,
Patricia
Labels: gagets, popular horsemanship, tying
