Some of you may remember in November of 2000, we bought a little weanling mustang from the BLM auction. Sundance was to be my horse, but he bonded inexplicably with my weird, professor husband who had never been around horses before in his 52 years. The closest he's ever come is a love of old cowboy movies!
Nobody was more surprised than he to find the attraction was mutual! Lee (hubby) decided he didn't want anyone fooling with his horse, and I told him as long as the horse and he understood each other, it was OK. So this man to whom it's impossible to tell ANYTHING, got the John Lyons Communicating With Cues series of books, and his thoughtful wife (blush), encouraged by his devotion, bought him the John Lyons Seminar I on video.
Progress has been excruciatingly slow (it seemed), but he assured me he "knew his horse" and wouldn't be rushed. Good for him! He's actually followed all the instructions over the past year!
Guess what?!?!! It works!!!!
Yesterday, he threw a leg over his saddled horse for the first time. That sweet little mustang never flinched. Of course, they've been working with the saddle and putting weight in the stirrups for a month! Lee did all the ground work and made sure Sundance would respond to pressure every time and give his head before he would put a foot up.
It works! I never would have believed it! The two will be off riding through the neighborhood in no time! Sundance is only two - yes, I know it's early to ride him. He won't get any work to speak of - Lee's never ridden faster than a jog on any horse! I MADE him get up on one of the Thoroughbreds so he would at least know what it feels like!
So, in the tradition of the old west, a man has bonded with a wild horse and made him his own. A cowboy is born!
Congratulations, Lee! Better than sex - right?
Green on green still may equal black on blue, but I think if they keep the pace they've been going, they might just pull it off. Now they have to establish the rules for Sundance being a riding horse. There's still a long way to go!
Karen Croninger Midland, Texas, USA 2001
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