A few years ago, when I was preparing my cow horse Austin for the Snaffle Bit Futurity, I didn’t like the way he started to drop his shoulder and lean into a cow when we were circling it, especially when we were going to the right. I chipped away at the problem, but wasn’t quite figuring out how to completely make it go away.
I make a point to keep myself surrounded by horsemen I respect and can learn from. On one particular day, I was riding with Kelby Phillips, a cow horse trainer based in Scottsdale, Arizona. Kelby has an impressive list of accolades to his credit, including winning the World’s Greatest Horseman. He’s trained standout horses such as Hickory Holly Time, Duals Lucky Charm, and CR Truffles and Lace.
I shared the problem I was having with Austin with him and my frustration about not being able to completely get rid of it, and he had a simple fix. Instead of trying to constantly stand the horse up—stopping his shoulders from falling into the circle toward the cow, which is what I was attempting to do—he said to just do a rollback to the outside every time the horse leaned in. For example, when I noticed Austin’s shoulders falling in on the circle, I’d literally turn his head to the outside and do a rollback. Then I’d go right back to circling the cow. If Austin dropped his shoulders into the circle again, I’d do another rollback. That fixed the problem quickly.
It was a simple fix and something I should have thought of doing myself, but for whatever reason I hadn’t. It made me realize that it’s important for me to get around other trainers. It’s not so much that they’re going to show me something I don’t know, but it helps to have an outside perspective about how to approach a problem.
I’ve always been big on watching and learning from other trainers and picking their brains. If I don’t know the answer to something, I’m not ashamed to admit it and get the help I need. I’m a perpetual student, and I think that’s one of the reasons why Downunder Horsemanship has been successful. I don’t let it get stagnant. If there’s a better approach, I find it and share it.
The same is true as you’re going through the Method. Surrounding yourself with other Method followers and taking lessons and clinics from a Professional Clinician or Method Ambassador to receive tips and advice about how to approach an exercise or nip a problem in the bud will greatly accelerate your horsemanship journey. There’s nothing like an outside perspective, especially from those with extensive experience, to give you the jumpstart you need to make progress.
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