Natural Remuda Equine Learning Center 
27 January, 2008 - Newsletter

THE NATURAL
REMUDA EQUINE LEARNING CENTER
JERE JOHNSON
UTOPIA, TX - JAN 27, 2008

ANNOUNCING!!!
        We would like to announce the opening of The Natural Remuda Equine Learning Center at Utopia, TX. We specialize in teaching natural horsemanship to both humans and horses. We do clinics, school sessions, horsemanship lessons and consultation.
        We will be giving clinics on natural horsemanship at our place or the facility of your choice. If you would like to host a clinic, we will give you a savings on your participation. At the Center, we have two round pens, an arena, and an obstacle course to use. Our clinics are small, so you get maximum attention and our prices are reasonable.
        We also have a school session option, consisting of eight sessions and a ninth session free.
        We give lessons to adults or children, at your house or ours. We teach natural horsemanship with groundwork as a foundation. We can work with you and your horse, where ever you are with your horsemanship skills.
        We also give consultation on subjects ranging from buying your child’s first horse to performance coaching and problem horses.
        Now, about Jere and I. We have wanted to open a Center where Jere could give clinics for a long time, but with jobs and children, we just didn’t have the chance. Jere now has the time to study natural horsemanship and develop his own skills to help you with yours. And we have time to give clinics and lessons. You can read Jere’s Bio on the web page.

        If you are getting this newsletter, you are on the mailing list I have compiled. I have been collecting e-mail addresses for our horse contacts during the time we worked for Grey Eagle Ranch and even before, for many years. If you would rather not receive it, just e-mail me and I will remove your name immediately. Also, any of my long-suffering family and friends who would like to be taken off, please tell me. (continued page 2)

OUR NEW WEB SITE

        Our new Web Site is up. It turned out very nice and we want to thank Harold Nelson of River PC in Vanderpool, TX for the nice work.

LATEST CLINICS

        Our introduction clinic and demonstration on January 12 was a rousing success. We had 30 head of horses and 27 people here. We want to thank Lindy Orozco and Jereny Johnson and all the other people who promoted this to their friends and clients. We really appreciate it. And we thank all of you who came. We met a lot of really nice people and had a super good time. See pictures in the next column.

Photos at right : Participants in the January clinic. Warm, but windy!

OUR NEXT CLINIC
FEB 9, 2008
NATURAL REMUDA EQUINE LEARNING CENTER,
UTOPIA, TX.
BEGINNING YOUR NATURAL JOURNEY

        The next clinic will be held on February 9, 2008. It will be a one-day clinic on beginning your natural journey. In the morning, Jere will cover desensitizing, giving to steady pressure, driving with rhythmic pressure, backing and drawing your horse to you. Also covered will be circles, moving the shoulders, moving your horse to the side, and confidence while being confined. In the afternoon everyone will ride and Jere will teach the one rein stop, disengagement, a deep seat, foot falls, backing and circles. By the time you finish this clinic, you will have exercised your horse’s mind so you can have a better ride. (continued page 3)

CLINIC ON FEB 23, 2008
BEGINNING YOUR RIDE.
AT THE LEARNING CENTER UTOPIA, TX.

        We will hold a beginning riders clinic on February 23, 2008. This clinic will be all riding, except for a little bit of groundwork to get your horse prepared. Jere will be covering lateral flexion, circles, stopping with one rein, breaking at the poll, stops and backs, straight lines, and moving the hip.
        All of our clinics, unless we specify differently, will start at 10a.m. and end at 4p.m. We will break at around noon and have an hour and a half for lunch. You can bring a sack lunch and eat with us or go to one of the several restaurants in town. Bring a chair and a bucket to water your horse.
        Most animals, including humans, have a bubble. A bubble is a space around the animal that is kept for safety. Everything has a different sized bubble. How about your bubble? If someone steps up close to you, your inclination is to step back.
        It is very important that you define your bubble when you are working with your horse, both for your safety and for respect. At clinics we see many people that have no bubble around them. This causes the horse to push into their space and walk on them. They also lose their leadership and the horse’s respect in this situation.

        Horses have this bubble too. You can tell where a horse’s bubble is. All you have to do is step into it and he puts his head up, moves his face so only one eye is on you, his eyes get big, or he may try to run away or avoid you in some way. An experienced person can feel this bubble immediately. An inexperienced person may not even realize that they are invading the horse’s bubble.
        Some ways to cause your horse’s bubble get smaller are to extend your hand, palm down, and let him smell it when you go to catch your horse. Soften your eyes and make your horse feel welcome. Spend undemanding time with your horse. Go to the pasture and sit with your horse without him having to do anything your way? Of course, humans are direct line thinkers and to some, this may seem like a waste of time. But this gets your horse to wanting to be with you and consequently he will have a smaller bubble.
        Part of natural horsemanship is to do things differently from everyone else. Doing things differently takes time. And humans, being direct line thinkers, don’t want to spend the time. But it is easier to spend the time teaching the horse than it is to spend the time in the hospital with a broken foot or worse.

O.C.E.A.N. Syndrome, written by a husband.

        Research has shown that about 80% of horse owners are women and over 45.
        Just recently, after years of research, I have finally been able to give a name to what my wife and I have been living with. It's an affliction, for sure, which when undiagnosed and misunderstood can devastate and literally tear a family apart. Very little is known about O.C.E.A.N. Syndrome. But it is my hope this article will generate interest from researchers involved in the equine and psychological sciences.
        You will, no doubt, begin to identify similar symptoms in your own family and hopefully now be able to cope.
(continued page 5)

        Obsessive Compulsive Equine Attachment Neurosis Syndrome (O.C.E.A.N.S) is usually found in the female and can manifest itself anytime from birth to the golden years. Symptoms may appear any time and may even go dormant in the late teens, but the syndrome frequently re-emerges in later years. Symptoms vary widely in both number and degree of severity. Allow me to share some examples, which are most prominent in our home.
        The afflicted individual:

1. Can smell moldy hay at ten paces, but can't tell whether milk has gone bad until it turns chunky. 2. Will spend hours cleaning and conditioning her tack, but wants to eat on paper plates so there are no dishes.

3. Will spend an hour combing and trimming an equine mane, but wears a baseball cap so she doesn't waste time brushing her own hair.

4. Will dig through manure piles daily looking for worms, but does not fish.

5. Will not hesitate to administer a rectal exam up to her shoulder, but finds cleaning out the Thanksgiving turkey cavity for dressing quite repulsive.

6. By memory can mix eight different supplements in the correct proportions, but can't make macaroni and cheese that isn't soupy.

7. Twice a week will spend an hour scrubbing algae from the water tanks, but has a problem cleaning lasagna out of the casserole dish.

8. Can sit through a four-hour session of a groundwork clinic, but is unable to make it through a half- hour episode of Cops.

SEE YA LATER!

        I am going to try to publish this newsletter every month. We hope you can come to one of our clinics or take some horsemanship lessons from us. We would like you to come and visit us too. Hope you have a great February!!
Cathy