Whippersnappers Need To Watch Geezer(ette)s

This is something that's been bugging me for the longest, I mean, what isn't bugging me...but I digress already.

Us older folk who've been around horses ALL our lives, living, breathing, studying, learning horses have a lot to offer younger riders. By younger rider, I don't necessarily mean in age but in horse experience.

When you have someone who has studied (and all of the above) horses all their lives, they are a real resource that can't be matched. Most of us real riders of a certain age have tried just about every training method on the planet and kept the good stuff and rejected the fluff.

I'm kind of set in my ways. I prefer mostly old-fashioned ways. I have tried so many of the 'new' training methods and still, as of this posting, prefer mostly the older ways. There are a few new things that I have learned that seemed superior to what I know and I now have that in my 'horse teaching-mending' toolbox.

The problem is, as has been told me, that the older geezers of riding don't say much. By and large that is true. My experiences has been that the less a horseman says, the more he knows. A true horseman/cattleman doesn't say much or impart that wisdom. You're supposed to watch what they DO and then emulate them. They don't sit around the arena/tack room and tell you what you're doing wrong. It's kind of like pulling hen's teeth to get a true horseman to say much about horses. You are supposed to shut your mouth and watch. Learn from watching.

In today's day and age, the younger set thinks that the quiet horseman is a dope or stuck-up or even a know-nothing. They jabber on about the latest clinic or trend and think they have seen it all.

The best way is to get out there with a true horseman and be quiet, immerse yourself in the horse and watch. When you don't understand something, ask quietly and respectfully. Even if you don't agree, be quiet and file it away for a future horse. I guarantee there will that one horse some day that you will use that info on. Don't sit there and argue the point. Take in the whole experience. Oh, believe me, I've gotten 'the LOOK' when I told some old time horseman how wrong he was.

Nowadays, I've had to loosen up to be able to talk to people in real life about horses but even then, I still hold back. If I were giving a lesson (which I don't do anymore, haven't for several years) I used to explain everything in detail because it was a lesson. They wanted to learn, paying good money for the information.

So, the next time you go somewhere to work your horse and you see someone off to the side and their horse is working wonderfully, sit back and watch. See what they are doing while astride and try to follow along on your horse. You'll learn a lot, I promise.