The learning never stops

The past month has given me some great learning opportunities in horse training. The sixth annual A Legacy of Legends held in Fort Worth, Texas was a fantastic event, held to showcase and share the knowledge and legacy of Ray Hunt and Tom Dorrance; two men widely credited as promoting horsemanship through trust and understanding rather than through fear and force.

This event was an incredible convention of horsemanship and knowledge. Nine colts were started over a three day period using the methods of Ray Hunt and Tom Dorrance. The colts I saw being worked were willing, quick to learn, and supported by the trainers working with them. It was a pleasure to watch horsemanship at that level, and a privilege to learn from horsemen like Buck and Reata Brannaman, former Aussie Wayne Robinson, and Jaton Lord to mention just a few. It is quite astounding to be able to achieve such willingness and subtlety in colts over such a short period of time, and I feel it is a true testament to the work of Ray Hunt and Tom Dorrance. 

I also had the opportunity to work for Ben Royal of Ben Royal Cutting Horses in Lockeford, California. For just over a week I worked with Ben at his training facility, loping horses as part of their training regime. I learned such a lot about the finer points of working horses on cattle from watching Ben train the horses, as well as from riding the horses myself. At the professional level of cutting horse training timing and feel are crucially important, and although some would argue that these cannot be taught, I very much refined my own feel and timing through learning from those horses I worked at Ben's. I was even lucky enough to work one of the horses on a heifer, which was an incredible experience.

A big thank you to Ben and Holly Royal, and to all those involved in the 2016 A Legacy of Legends event in Fort Worth. A special thank you to Linda, Kitty, Chilita, EB, Mark, Trav, and Tulenic: the horses who taught me softness again.