CATHY’S DESK
Are lessons worth it?
When you are a kid time goes so slow. I thought school would never end, so I could get to the important things in life, like getting my cattle ready for the fair or farming with my Dad. Then when I passed 40 it seemed like time went like lightening!! And now it seems to go even faster. There are not enough hours in the day or days in the week. (of course it might be because we are way slower in getting things done.)
Anyway, my point is that time goes fast and we should all enjoy our time, especially with our horses.
When you first got the idea to get a horse, your dream was to buy him, take him home, and have fun riding him. Well, part of that came true. You bought the horse with quite an outlay of money. You have taken him home or to a barn to be expensively boarded. But the parts about riding him and having a good time have not come true. Even when you are on the ground, he seems to push you around and you fear for your toes! And if you ride him, you are afraid he will buck you off.
So, you find a trainer or teacher. (Hopefully Jere Johnson!) And as you complete these lessons, the pushiness and shoving from your horse seems to disappear. You are having a lot more fun with him and you see light at the end of the tunnel, as far as his manners are concerned.
Then your life intervenes. You are busy, so you skip a lesson one week. Then the next week it is rainy and cold and you skip another lesson. Winter comes along and you skip some more lessons. Then your horse starts pushing on you again. When you ride him, he runs off or bucks. You see what has happened here? Things have slid downhill. You have taken your focus off your horse. All of the things you need for horses are expensive. Does it make sense to buy a horse and then only go to the barn and look at him or lead him around to graze? You could get a dog and do that for a lot less money.
Lessons are expensive, your horse is expensive and all the things he needs are expensive. If you have that much of an investment in him, prioritize your time with him. Go ahead and take your lesson. Do your homework and work with your horse several times a week. Make it your first priority. Soon you will be riding and having a good time again.
UPCOMING EVENTS - We have planned some fun clinics this year. We reserve the right to cancel any of these clinics or change where they are given. ALL OUR CLINICS ARE LISTED HERE
LESSONS
Fridays and Sundays, we are at various barns in Boerne and Bandera, TX. Call us for the schedule.
On Thursdays we are in the Fredericksburg/Comfort/ Johnson City/Buda area at various locations.
We do have some lesson slots open, especially on Sundays. Call us for lessons every week at your barn or here at the center.
CLINICS
All Clinics are listed on the Schedule Page on the web site. We have several open dates for clinics through the year. If you would like to host a clinic, call us and we will visit with you about it. Or if you would like to host any of the clinics that have no location yet, call. If you host a clinic and you have 9 people, we will pay your fee.
January 21, 2012 Drill Team Clinic #1
These are fun clinics! We will probably have 4 of them, and they will be progressive. They will cover how to synchronize with other horses, & spacing. When you get done with these clinics, you will be able to ride a simple drill team pattern. This clinic will cover the Single and Double swing. We will need at least 8 people to be able to do this. Jere Johnson will teach this clinic. He rode for many years in a drill team group called the Westernaires in Lakewood, CO. They made appearances at the Denver Stock Show, the Ft Worth Stock Show, and big shows in other states.
January 28, 2012 Trail Clinic and Ride
This clinic will teach you how to go through and around natural objects. We will also discuss Trail Etiquette. We will then ride a trail and put the things you have learned into practice.
February & March Apprentice Program
We will be running an Apprentice program every Saturday, Sunday & Monday during February & March. This program will cover personality of the horse; how to read it and how to use it to get your horse to make a bond with you and make your idea his idea. Apprentice students will study all the horses we will have here at the Center in those months. This course will be 144 hours long. If you are interested in this course, call me and I will give you the particulars.
February 4, 2012 Trail Clinic for Horse Shows
The show season starts soon, and many of you will want a few pointers on showing Trail Classes. This class will be taught by Jereny Johnson who has shown extensively on the APHA circuit. You will learn where to stop at your cone, how to cross cavelettis, where and how to cross bridges and how to open gates properly.
February 11, 2012 Horse Personality Clinic
What personality does your horse have? How do you tell what personality he has? How does this influence how you work him? Learn how to work with his personality to build your relationship with him and then get the outcome you want.
February 18, 2012 Cow Clinic
Have fun with COWS!! Your horse will love it and so will you. Held at Llano, TX by Lonnie Johnson.
February 25, 2012 Drill Team Clinic #2
This is the second in a series of Drill Team Clinics, taught by Jere Johnson.
NEWS
We are looking forward to 2012.
We have a lot of new customers and we welcome you all. And so many of our old customers are still with us that we are really thankful.
Our web site has the new schedule on it for the whole year. We will also be sending flyers and announcements for various events we have.
2012 is the year we hope to become more well known and grow our business. To us that means better service and teaching you more so that you can enjoy your horse more.
We do have some changes we have to make though.
NEW POLICY ON CANCELLATIONS
If you have to cancel, do it at least 6 hours before your lesson, otherwise there will be a $15 cancellation fee to pay for our gas and time coming to your place. The only exception to this is medical or veterinary emergencies.
NEW PRICE LIST
We have had to go up in our prices, due to the cost of diesel and hay. Our lessons will now be $65 per hour.
SCHOOL SESSIONS
We have started a new format for people who want to budget better. We will give you 4 lessons at $60 per lesson, for a savings of $20, if you will pay for these 4 lessons at the start.
JERE’S CORNER, SHANE
We all have horses that have affected our lives. I had one named Shane. He was a light palomino colored Quarter Horse. I bought Shane when I was twelve and he was five years old. I owned him for 28 years.
I rode Shane in Westernaires, a drill team, and calf roped and team roped off of him. I rode him through the fire ring for the drill team, and used him in the Liberty act, where he would do the whole act brideless. You could even shoot off of him. He was really an all- around horse. He did his job and didn’t give any trouble.
This horse was my best friend. We went everywhere together, including all over the Western states with the drill team. I taught him tricks, like how to bow, lay down and how to pray. I did what I am always trying to get my clients to do. I played with my horse.
Shane had some quirky things about him too. If he decided he didn’t want to go to Westernairs practice, he could come up with a limp. He also shot-gunned out of the trailer. In other words, when you opened the trailer gate, he would come out as fast as he could, sometimes flipping over backwards. My Dad and I worked with him and finally got him over this, but it took a long time. He was a very food oriented horse and would do anything for it. He was probably a left brained introvert if we had known those kinds of things at that time. He had to be motivated and his motivation was food.
I grew up and married and we still had Shane. He taught our kids to ride when they were little tiny guys. I have pictures of him when he was pretty old and he has really long hair. This was probably indicative of his thyroid shutting down.
He finally died when he was about 33 years old. I had owned him for 28 of his years. We buried him on our place at Higbee, CO. He taught me about patience and just playing with him like a kid. He was a great horse to start on because you could do anything on him and he was up for it.
I hope you had a horse like this somewhere in your background. And most of all, if you are thinking of buying a horse, buy one for yourself like Shane.
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