Where Have All the Horsemen (and Women) Gone? By Dawn Jenkins, Lady Farrier/Natural HoofCare soulhorseride.wordpress.com

They were usually the quiet type. Soft spoken, athletic, lean.They approached their charges with sensitivity and practical skills, passed on from parents and uncles of the generation before them. Learned firsthand from toiling on the family ranch or farm. Horsemanship was a lifelong tradition. It was something in the family. Something in the blood. They worked with the whole picture in mind, not just the moment at hand. And all that they did, like an artist taking a paintbrush to canvas, made the finished composition into a fine work of art. When they spoke, the horse grew quiet. His eye softened. He lowered his head and took a breath and a lick. They could accomplish in quick order what others couldn’t, no matter how much time. Where have all the horsemen gone? Oh yes, there still are a precious few. Men and women who know the breath, the timing, the heartbeat of the matter. Who can come in and whisper and in short order have the tiger tamed and eating out of their hands. Who know when to become big and explosive, but also when to immediately soften, breathe and reward. But there are too many imposters in our modern-day-horsie world. Too many who learned to parrot empty behaviors and have somehow lost the ability to think for themselves and gather practical tools from real-life mentors—tools that work. I remember the day when the seasoned older horseman or woman was the honored elite of every horse community. These were the mentors that us younger horse-addicts would look to for guidance. How to keep a horse from biting? “Offer the prick of a hatpin or nail.” (Or what about the one using the “hot potato”?) What to do about barn-sour tendencies or out-and-out refusals? “Make him more concerned about YOU than the object or direction of his fear.” As a farrier, I've seen horses that were misunderstood or mistreated by farriers before me. (Actually this has improved over recent years from when I first began the craft in 1990. A good sign, I'd say, as things for horses seem to be improving.) Inevitably the horse has a balance problem, usually on the hind end. And because the animal couldn’t lift his leg high enough and couldn’t balance properly, he was punished. OK. Punish for striking, kicking, biting—but leave balance alone! There are ways to accommodate. Work down lower, find a place that’s comfortable for your client, the horse. Cock up an ankle and turn your boot into the lowest makeshift hoof stand. Weld up a mini stand (mine is 9” tall). Get down on your knees. My old uncle, Ink Knudson, a farrier for more than fifty years, had a trick with a leather shoelace that works wonders with an unruly horse. Tie one end to the top ring (or knot) of the halter. Bring the lace around and into the mouth, leaving it loose enough so that the horse can tongue it, play with it, then bring it up and tie to the ring on the other side. “He can’t think about two things at once,” Uncle Ink explains. “He’ll try to spit out the string and forget about what you are doing.” (This method has helped me throughout the years.) I’ve found that breathing really works. When the horse does anything close to what I’ve asked of him, I back off the pressure and take a big breath, softening my body and voice, making a long, impressive loose-lipped exhale. The horse takes my lead, breathes, licks, lowers his head, and I know I’m in. (Well, there was that mare on Molokai with the tendon-hitch to her hind end. She breathed and licked all soft and gentle—then hauled off and kicked me in the arm! I guess they're exceptions to every rule.) I weave back and forth, working my way closer into his range of acceptance, waiting for the heavy feeling of relaxation—the weight of the limb—that tells me he’s allowing me in. Remember, I work with the feet, the same feet that either yield or strike, and the heavy weight tells me he’s not ready to strike. It’s an art, reading the horse and not getting killed. (I was kicked in the head by a mule once, after I was done working—when by all means, it appeared I was “safe”. I had ignored my instincts that day. The mule had told me. But I made the mistake of listening to the trainer—and not the mule, and not my own gut. . .) An older woman, a former client of mine, Sheila, had her own way of getting into a horse’s heart zone. She was the first one I’d seen with this approach, and it worked like magic.Her grey Mustang mare, White Cloud, was apprehensive of me. I was in my shoeing chaps, this was my first time working with her, and the mare had plenty of previous issues with farriers. Sheila went in to catch her up. White Cloud’s head rose, she backed away and turned slightly, ready to flee. Sheila quietly, calmly—in slow motion—bowed her head, and then her body. Low. Lower. Released. Relaxed. Then she waited in that vulnerable bent position. And then White Cloud looked at Sheila intently, stretched out her neck, took a breath and stepped slowly, softly forward, until she breathed her nostrils into Sheila’s hair. Then ever-so-slowly Sheila lifted her body upright. And they were one. Melded. Connected from the heart. And the once-wild Mustang accepted Sheila as her own (And then we went on to trimming her hooves. . .) What a good reminder to the rest of us—to have the sense, the humility, to look up and seek out the Uncle Inks and the Sheilas and the breathing and the calmness that allows us humans to enter into the heart zone of the animals that we adore. After all, our goal is a working relationship between ourselves and our horses. To participate in the joy of discovering, freshly, how to overcome obstacles—together. Then the horsemen will continue their legacy. And the horses will whisper back in return. Copyright 2013 Dawn Jenkins, Lady Farrier/ Hoof Coach Phone: 661-703-6283