MAY 24, 2008
Well, the Mustangs are still there. Guess they didn’t jump out last night. Jere went to feed them and they came to the feed when he stepped back. They don’t like him to be close, because, after all, they are Mustangs. We spent the morning just sitting around outside the pen, getting them used to the movement of people. The evening feeding was a lot better. They aren’t nearly so scared.
We are an older couple, in our 60’s, who have worked on ranches and feedlots all our lives. We raised three children in the Colorado 4-H Horse program. Jere has trained horses all of our married life. We have been following Natural Horsemanship since the 70’s. In 2005, we went to a Tour Stop put on by the Parelli Organization, and we were blown away seeing the whole Natural Horsemanship picture. We got to see how the groundwork and riding tied together. Before, the only prerequisite that Jere had for groundwork was that they didn’t drag him from the corral to the saddle shed! Now, all of the sudden, we could see how Natural Horsemanship fit with the riding. So we took many clinics, went to many seminars and started really studying Natural Horsemanship.
Last year, when it came time to retire, we decided to open a Learning Center, where we could teach Natural Horsemanship and we could do clinics and some training. Our whole purpose now, is to teach people how to help their horse, instead of throwing him away when he they can’t get him to do what they want.