What a Difference a Year Makes!

Every since we started designing our BB Trail Course, we had the idea of focusing on three dimensions of versatility: trail, patterns and ground.  Well, last November, we found Cowboy Dressage and last February, we found the American Horse Woman’s Challenge.  Both of these experiences have solidified our original idea.  We love versatility!  We want to do more versatility!  And we believe versatility helps us be a better horseman, which helps us develop better horses.

Beyond giving us a clear direction for our future, both of these events gave us a feeling that we strive to do and want to do better for you, our clients.  When we went to Rancho Murrieta for our first Cowboy Dressage World Show, we felt as though we had come home.  The guiding principles and mission of CD is so equally yoked with our (MM Training’s) mission and guiding principles. Plus the people were so welcoming and friendly.  It was a great learning and growing atmosphere.  We also really appreciated watching the other riders, not only compete but also watching them warm up.  We did not see anything that resembled abuse.  Now we know that most people don’t believe they are abusing their horses, but the mainstream culture is accepting to ram and jam, yank and spur, and asking a horse to travel in unnatural ways.  In the Cowboy Dressage culture, we witnessed none of that, nor did we at the AHC.

At the Challenge, I was really amazed.  All experiences can be considered spiritual but this experience seemed to take on a new breadth for me.  You all know I’m not dramatic, so when I say I felt like angels were surrounding me, you know I was feeling something beyond a normal competition.  I still can’t quite put my finger on why.  Was part of it because I was sharing the experience with my loyal and hardworking team, Kori and Davalee?  Or was it that a person, with the courage to sign up and the tenacity to follow through with such an intense competition (colt with 6 months training, competing in 3 different disciplines) has such a solid personal constitution?  Or was it that for anyone who has developed the skills to put that much training on a horse, in such a short period of time, but still expected to reach such a strong connection from her horse, requires a person to be very secure in her personhood and/or her faith?  Or maybe it’s just a little, or a lot, of all three of these reasons and more.  We all know we can’t give what we don’t have.  And a horse/colt needs an incredible amount of support and guidance when asking so much from them.  I’m still not sure.  But whatever it was, these girls were amazing to compete against.  And need I remind you that these were all women in an intense competition?  But still, I only heard kindness and encouragement amongst these gals, the whole time I was there. As with the Cowboy Dressage, I only saw good horsemanship, too.  I have an incredible amount of respect for these ladies.  I know the inconceivable amount of work that went into this competition and my hat is off to each one of them.

We were asked by Eitan and Debbie Beth-Halachmy (the founders of CD) to do a Liberty demonstration at the Cowboy Dressage World Finals. This was quite a surprise and a huge honor, but also a bit intimidating.  As most of you know, we have a ground program that teaches reciprocal connection with our horses.  I have taught horses to want to be with me and to lead without a halter for years.  But I never, ever have gone where I had to go with the Liberty in the AHC.  It was a six-month cram.  Stretch and I had a lot of ups and downs, but in the end, we had our communication and connection working pretty well for us.  But doing a demonstration, at the Cowboy Dressage World?  Stretch still only had 8 months training on him; he still is only 3 years old.  But, oh well, what’s the worst that can happen?  We only live once, right?  And I’m so happy I agreed to go.  By going to do the demo, I got to also compete in my (our) first Cowboy Dressage show.  Granted it was the world show.  No one ever accused me of doing things small or easy.  The atmosphere this year was the same as we experienced last year.  Kindness and being helpful was not a one-time thing for these people to impress others; this is who they are.  Riding the tests and competing in the show was very challenging but also so much fun!  The experience only made me more excited about this fast- growing discipline.  And now they are going to add Liberty to their shows, I am definitely hooked!

Back at home it was an incredible year, too!  Davalee and I experienced instruction at another level in 2014.  Reciprocal learning at it’s best!  We had so much fun!  It was an incredible year!  And I believe it had something to do with a common theme that ran through our year;  being equally yoked.  Davalee and I have found a place to feel equally yoked.  The CD philosophy, principles and its people are where we feel at home.  And we want MM Training and Consulting clients to feel they have found their home.  In upcoming posts we will elaborate more about our great year.