Starting Out

Dancing in the Dust

This blog is about the art and craft of the Spanish-influenced style of horsemanship its practitioners call reinsmanship, sometimes referred to as "Californio style." It is not to be confused with reining, an arena sport that bears the same relationship to reinsmanship that a show hunter does to a field hunter. It is a sophisticated practice that is a direct descendant, and near replica, of the Spanish style known as doma vaquera. It is more than just a method of riding--it is also a set of traditions that touch on everything from the way one dresses to behavior and etiquette.

The blog title comes from my first impression of watching a finished Californio bridle horse work, long ago in a San Joaquin Valley summer. It was like watching the most graceful dance through a haze of corral dust and heat shimmer. I have never seen anything more enthralling, and I am still moved by the chance to watching this most practical of ballets.  It is my hope this blog will help continue the practice of this lovely rancho dance.

How These Writings Came to Be

I've been considering  the ideas for this collection of writing for a long time. Perhaps it would be closer to the truth to say the ideas have been poking at me for the last three decades.

I've watched the art of Californio reinsmanship change with the changes that time and history inevitably bring to all human works. From the 1950s to the early 21st Century, the effects of dwindling large ranches, show-ring breeding of so-called stockhorse breeds, the shoehorning of Texas snaffle bit work into reined cowhorse competition, and the ever-increasing pace of modern life have come to bear on el estilo Californio.  In many instances, these changes were not for the better; they overshadowed, and sometimes destroyed, traditional practices that benefited both horse and rider.

I have never thought of myself of much as a horsehand. Now, I'm not without knowledge and skill: what I know about horses and reining would fill up Lake Tahoe. It's just that what I don't know would fill up the Pacific Ocean. When you grow up surrounded by people whose understanding would fill up the Gulf of Mexico, the Carribean Ocean, and maybe the Mediterrean, you gain a sense of what a true horseman can do.

As I've rambled down life's trails, I have come to have an even greater appreciation of those who taught me. I feel that they lent me their knowledge to share, they didn't give it to me to keep. So, in the spirit of gratitude,  I have decided to begin this collection of writing.

What You Will Find Here

I will be recording the traditional practices and knowledge I learned from master reinsman who were also working cowhands. Whenever possible, I will explain the reasoning behind these and I'll try to make it clear whether that's the traditional reasoning or something I've worked out from my own years of study and practice. I'll let you know if something amounts to an old wives' (or old buckaroo's) tale as well.

That all means I might write about anything from a horse's conformation to the etiquette of trail rides and why Californians wear chinks instead of chaps.  You might learn a little about California colonial life, how to barbecue a side of beef, and how to shoe a horse if you are working in flint footing. Bitting and the action of the hackamore will most certainly come up. 

Coming Up

Next time I'll be posting a little bit about my teachers and their learning path. I feel it is important for those of us who aspire to reinsmanship to honor our teachers. After all, where would we be without them? Afoot, that's where!