When asked about an advanced class, Ray laughed and with a stern look said, “No. Because there ain’t nothin’ past the basics”. I’ll always remember that and understand it better now!” Ronnie Ford
North of the 49th parallel the summer days are long and the months all too short but it is the season for my own professional development. Having just returned from four days of riding and learning my head is full as I try to put the feel of the right actions in my body. This year’s real success, I finally put meaning to the statement “own the feet”.
As someone who believes in the importance of having a relationship with my horses I have always been conflicted about the space between the “relationship aficionados” and the “command control individuals” attracted to the world of horses. Though as I continue to put leadership meaning to my own actions, a new perspective came to light about owning the feet. “Own the feet” defines the leadership role I assume with my horses.
I do believe Ray Hunt coined the phrase and he demonstrated it brilliantly. Putting his own style to Ray’s teaching Buck Brannaman has also mastered the concept. Buck rode three different green colts over the four days of a session I participated in and his ownership of their feet is unquestionable. The relationship absolute devotion. Buck suggested the relationship between horse and rider “is not a dictatorship, but more like an enlightened monarchy”.
It was this perspective that helped make the connection. As a leader we are responsible for the actions of those we lead. So our relationship to the horses feet is not the “I command you to put your feet there” but the “I am responsible for everywhere my horses feet are”.
While Jack and I struggle through the tasks that Buck’s horse appeared to execute effortlessly I realized the harder I tried the more I got in Jack’s way. As I eased off and created a clear vision as to what I was looking for, as I let “the pressure gravity put into my legs” out and we started to move together. We still make the dance look more like a couple of stumbling fools but it is not for lack of trying on Jacks part, it’s my responsibility to get better at feel and timing.
My friends, love is better than anger. Hope is better than fear. Optimism is better than despair. So let us be loving, hopeful and optimistic. And we’ll change the world.”
All my very best, Jack Layton 1950-2011
“I could always see the best in a horse. Since I’ve gotten older, I can usually see the best in people, too.” Tom Dorrance
“Have it happen BECAUSE of you, not IN SPITE of you” Buck Brannaman
No, I never owned a horse named Lucky. Though I often say “I am lucky with the parents I ended up with,” because one has little choice in that piece of destiny.
Another saving piece of luck, may well be horses. Despite growing up in the city my mother suggests my passion for horses extends longer than I remember. After years of pleading, my first horse entered my life when I was ten. Joey was love at first sight. Horses have been a thread of interest woven through my life.
Many years have gone by since that first embrace and horses continue to be an influence in my life. Through horses I have learned more about myself then any personality profiling tool could offer. It was a comment by a peer that had me thinking who else has influenced me. She immediately recognized the horsemanship influence but inquired as to who I modelled my leadership and facilitation skills after.
The question stumped me. While I have participated in many programs watching and listening closely to the facilitators “Did I reflect any of them?” to be honest I don’t think so. But the question reminded me of the leaders I have had the opportunity to work with and the qualities I admired in them.
There are two individuals who come to mind when I think of leadership influence. The first is Rick, from the planning group at Parks Canada. While he could sit in a meeting, seemingly uninterested or unengaged I have never yet met another person who could summarize and clarify a discussion better than he. All the while he appeared to me to be working on something unrelated, he was capturing highlights and points that carried through the discussion. When he spoke it was if he had summarized a two hour discussion in five or six key points, reflecting back to the group what was collectively said, felt or omitted. He brilliantly validated what was said and a group would leave completely fulfilled and ready to move forward.
A second leader of influence in my career would be Dave, during my time with the Hot Pools Business Unit at Parks Canada. I’d say he is reflected by the question “What qualities do you most admire in a leader?”
Dave had a knack for helping you see the best in what you already have. When you were uncertain as to whether you had the knowledge to move forward, he always offered the right words It was as if he simply saw you by your ability, what you could achieve and had yet to learn.
I have had the opportunity to work with numerous other individuals who have given me reference points for what not to do in a leadership role and they stand in stark contrast to those I’ve mentioned. Experiences you don’t care to repeat but my interactions with them have certainly allowed for the empathy required when working with participants in our programs who might be in similar circumstances.
It was the sage wisdom of a business mentor who painted the first picture for me on The Natural Leader programs. She suggested that a good program is like a three legged stool miss one element and the stool won’t stand. She applauded the idea, provided suggestions for honing the content and encouraged me to continue to grow as a facilitator. Since that conversation I have had the great opportunity to work with some excellent facilitators and each and every session I learn and grow from these encounters. Do I reflect them? In some small way I hope so.
So for that question, thank you. I have had the great fortune to have met many wonderful people through my career and like the parents I ended up with lucky to have learned what I did from each of these individuals.
Synchronicity, the experience of two or more unrelated events occuring together in a meaningful manner, happened.
Two recent but separate events connected a few key concepts to a problem I am facing. The first a talk by Judge John Reilly on his book Bad Medicine a reflection of his experience and struggle for justice in a First Nations community, followed by the CBC show Ideas on the drive home.
Judge Reilly spoke of his awakening to the concept of world view throught the tragedy that was occurring in the interpretation of the euro-centric justice system on First Nations communities. While Indigenous people make up 3% of the population of Canada, they represent over 70% of those incarcerated. It was his new found awareness that caused him to challenge and change the justice system for the First Nations community west of Calgary.
The CBC radio segment Ideas, presented a series of life stories by adults with Asperger syndrome, a form of high functioning autism, and their struggle to fit into a societal view of norms. An “Aspy”, as they referred to themselves, process information differently. An example one speaker gave: referring to the noise the fan was making. For many, a noise that wasn’t noticed until pointed out, for a few something they have been concentrating hard to block out so they could focus on the speaker. He suggested an Aspy spends their whole life trying to block out all the other stimuli around them, an exhausting effort.
While one event spoke of the justice system, the other about a physiological or psychological condition both brought together the concept of worldview. The synchronicity, two perspectives offering something unique for a horse I am working with.
Stella has been here since October. What began as a nursing project to heal a badly injured leg has developed into the study of an ultra-sensitive horse. I have had the great pleasure of starting numerous horses now and believe I have come to understand what to look for in a colt as they are developing. Stella (think of the play A Streetcar Named Desire) is not like any of the other horses I have started. While I have had a few suggestions that could profile her according to certain traits, consider a Myers-Briggs for horses, in my view what gets in the way as once defined, the label creates expectations and it becomes easier to broad stroke what may show up.
I believe there are huge advantages to people becoming aware of and reflecting on their own natural tendencies through the various assessment tools. Awareness is the first step in challenging ourselves to step outside of our comfort zone, I have come to understand a lot about myself through these exercises. The profiling tools also help us recognise and respond appropriately to these identified traits in others. The challenge in doing the same thing to a horse is they have no opportunity to respond to that label. They are simply the way they are.
The concept of worldview is not new to me, but the other night I had a whole new understanding as to what it means to me through the work I do. Stella is and thinks like a horse, but rather than one who starts to see a pattern after say two or three times, she will continue to see something different in each effort.
My favourite quote by Temple Grandin one that has gained a whole new meaning with Stella is “we may see the world in color, animals see the world in detail.” What is just a flag, a stick or a rope after a few tries with most horses – is something completely different and still poses a threat to Stella after many. Like an Aspy I believe Stella simply processes the information differently than other horses so she is reminding me yet one more time each horse is an individual. While I remain the same in how I might believe I am delivering the message, the weather might be different, another person present, the laundry on the line all represent stimuli she is processing while I am trying to get her to focus.
As I have added or subtracted elements with Stella I have learned to make no assumptions, take each effort as a new try to help her through each change. The more attention I also pay to the details the quicker we get from one step to the next. While it may have been a different label that caught my attention it was the concept of worldview that changed what I too began to notice. Stella requires that I remained focused on the moment, not distracted by what might show up and flexible to adapt to what does.
Watch Judge John Reilly’s talk “My Aboriginal Education” on TedxCalgary
sent back in March – but recently published in the May / June issue of Eclectic Horseman
While we may dream of riding the range, roping and doctoring cattle or making the perfect bridle horse, the side of the range we rarely fantasize about are the -30 mornings when you actually have to be outside. Frozen water tanks, tractors that refuse to start, hydraulic fluid as thick as molasses, fingers that don’t work, numb feet and so many layers of clothes everything feels like you are moving in slow motion. As March arrives it’s hard to believe that spring is suppose to be here in less than three weeks.
Now I realise that not everyone has to live with the same frigid temperatures, but from what I hear, this year, winter seems to have all but covered North America. Mother nature simply doesn’t seem to be holding up her end of the deal. Regardless of the weather cows will be calving and there will be many hardy souls checking to ensure the latest arrival has a chance. The cowboy image is more than a heated indoor arena and the conveniences we have grown so accustomed to.
A good number of us reading Eclectic Horseman spend more of our time riding a desk chair than our horse, even fewer who work with cattle on a regular basis. Statistics suggest about 80% of horse owners board. For those of us who don’t, we try to manage horse time along with work commitments, commuting and keeping up with friends and family that have little to no interest in our equine passion.
I am fortunate enough to look upon participating in a horsemanship clinic as professional development. While I hone my horsemanship skills I am always seeking out tidbits of information that apply outside of the arena. What I am finding is that cowboy wisdom applies to more than just handling horses or cattle. Pretty much every clinic I’ve attended there is as much talk about the person solving their problem as there is about managing a horse problem.
While there may be a plethora of buckaroos and cowboys decked out with all the right stuff, Buck Brannaman couldn’t have said it better “Horsemanship is not a wardrobe issue.” What we are learning is not so much about the outside of the horse but what motivates the inside. There is always talk about understanding the horse, getting to the mind, firing up the natural curiosity and their inherit desire to get along. Everything that we are learning about our relationship with our horse applies outside the arena.
Horsemanship is actually about becoming better human beings. We have an incredible capacity to change things and what I’m seeing is how horses can change people.
“When life feels like it’s going western, there is no shame in grabbing on to the saddle horn” Cowboy Wisdom