The clinic was at the fair grounds in Thermopolis. The weather was perfect: hot in the morning, then storms moving in for a little afternoon rain, and then clearing in the evening. We sat in the bleachers. The Spy twins got a lot of sun because they wanted to be right next to the arena and Mr. Bechtel and I sat a little higher up in the shade.
The first person I saw when we got out of the car was Buck. "Aahhhh!" I tried to smile and wave nonchalantly (impossible) without being a camp follower fan. He said, "Good Morning, how are you guys this morning?"
Great!
It was $25 to watch for the whole day. What a steal. There were about 30 riders in Horsemanship 1. Every possible kind of riders and horses were there from english dressage to mustangs to a Wynonna Judd style lady with flaming red hair, black suede boots riding an icelandic pony. They always started out each morning with questions. Here Buck is explaining about how to hobble a horse.
Buck was working with a mare out of Playgun. He'd been working with her for 2-3 months. She was really better trained than any of the other horses there. He just doesn't make mistakes. Everything is so clear to his horse, it will do amazing things for him.
We were also lucky because Ricky Quinn and his fiancee, Sarah, were there. Ricky has been a protege to Buck for years and now does his own clinics.
After awhile Buck had his helper, Issac, bring out a new colt. This horse was one his wife, Mary, bought. We got to watch while Buck worked with him and then rode him for the 3rd time.
This new horse was attached to his daughter, Reata's, horse, so one of the funnest things to watch was how he dealt with that. The Spy twins were just amazed at what he was able to do with this colt that only had 2 rides on him. I don't know as much as they do, but I was pretty amazed too. It was altogether awesome to be able to watch someone who was such an expert. It made me want to be better at everything I do in my life - not just horses (obviously, since I don't ride).... but just being around someone who is so good is inspiring.
1 comment:
I sometimes wish I was a world-class specialist in something (anything?) instead of knowing "just enough to be good and dangerous" in a huge variety of things. I guess that's the downside to having a broad range of interests.
I'm reminded of the guy who elbowed his companion at Carnegie Hall and said "I'd give half my life to be able to play the violin like that." His companion replied, "He has.
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