A Manifesto and Warning

I've been hanging out on various fora, Facebook groups, and mailing lists having to do with horses in general and reined horses in particular for some time. Recently, I have come to notice that there are many folks who are interested in traditional Californio style, but very few sources of information that have to do with real rancho practices.  Quite often, when I present such  information, but it isn't what happens in a competition or in some trainer's clinic, I get responses ranging from skepticism to derision. So, herewith something of a manifesto for the blog.

Warning: You Aren't Going to Like This Blog

You've probably found your way to this little bunch of scribblings because you have some interest in bridle horses, spade bit horses, hackamore horses, or something else that falls in with Californio-style horsemanship. You likely have some interest or affection or obsession with working cattle, fine horses, maybe some California history, maybe you are just looking to become a better horsehandler. Perhaps you have a passion for hippology, and you are happy to learn anything that might benefit the horses you ride. One way or another, you've poked around in the back eddies and sidestreams of the Internet and come upon this blog, because of some pointer that said this is a work on the Traditional California School of horsemanship.

I should tell you now, you aren't going to like this blog.

Oh, I don't mean that you won't find anything worth reading, or that the work won't teach you things both practical and esoteric about the art of rawhide, wet saddle blankets, and corral dust. It's just not likely to reinforce anything you've come to believe about horsehandling, riding, history, or even your own comportment (those first two ain't even the same thing, by the way).  You see, this isn't a work about winning a NRCHA contest, or promoting so-called stock horse breeds, or buying into any of the crap that passes for modern-day riding. It won't support the idea that any style of riding (oh my GAWD, not even English!) is less than perfect for its purposes. If you think that anything just about any of the current crop of Western clinicians or World Champion trainers espouses trumps a thousand years of practical refinement, get yourself out of here and go sign up for the local circuit's High Point Buckle series.

You just aren't going to like it if any of these things are among your sacred cows:

• Every horse can slide--or spin.
• Modern Quarter Horses are best-suited to reined work.
• "Using your seat" is some sort of black art practiced only by heathen dressagistas.
• You think "snaffle bit" and "traditional California method" are phrases that go together.
• You think a spade bit is an instument of punishment (you may want to revisit high school physics, in this case..)
• You think "canter" and "lope" are different gaits.
• You don't mind that your saddle seat is so long you could hold a square dance on the space between the front of your legs and the gullet.

What you will find here is the fruit of 60 years' experience with realranch riding. You will learn what the concept of balance is to the Californio, and why it is key to making a reined horse. You wil learn what conformation to look for in a working horse, and why it is desirable. You will learn what disposition lends itself to making a bridle horse.  You will see things from the viewpoint of those who have worked cows for a living, long before there was a NRCHA, Cow Palace, or even an American Quarter Horse Association.  You will think about trotting and walking your horse differently, and you will look at Lippizans and Arabs and Morgans with new eyes.  You will know what a horse's bridle bit can tell you about his disposition. You may even look at how your own dispositon affects your horse.

So, be forewarned. If you ride along with me on this little circle, you are going to jump down cutbanks, try to hunt cows in tule fog, and do a little brushpopping in the manzanita. It should be interesting at least and maybe even fun, but knowing  a reining pattern won't help and I guarantee  you will occaisonally think I'm loca, uninformed, or smoking something I shouldn't.

So--want to take a ride the way the viejos did?