I had a slight situation the other night, nothing to write home to mother about, but just an everyday kind of thing, that needed to be addressed. It was something I thought that I might want to discuss with you all.

I hated history in school. However, the Civil War was the only thing that caught my attention. Having lived in the North, and now the South, it gives me a different perspective on things. The people up north really don’t care much about anything other than what affects their present, individual lives. The people down south have a bond to this day. The people up north will come together when they are attacked, 9/11 is a perfect example. The people down south, in the undercurrents of their everyday existence, are always bonded. I always loved the movie “Gone With The Wind” even as a child. As an adult I understand the emotions behind what they lost. To many, it wasn’t entirely about the slaves, but the ways in which they had grown up. The loss of innocence. Their way of life, “Gone With The Wind.”

I’m not a big TV watcher. I thought I might like to see the mini-series Grant, but I really didn’t care if I did. Sat down after feeding to eat my Fudgsicle and Bobby (who was asleep) had it on. They got me right from the beginning when they spoke of what an amazing horseman Grant was. I’ll pretty much watch anything that has horses in it. When he jumped over the barricade, I was hooked. (but whoever described much of the horse action was not a horse person) I watched it for a half hour and taped the rest. When I wrote this I hadn’t seen the second or third episode yet, but all through the first they spoke of his horsemanship. I guess what most amazed me about the man was his calmness through all his struggles in life, and battles, but what really caught my attention was his ability to assess a situation calmly, and determine what was the best way to handle it.

This is something we should constantly be doing when dealing with horses. We’ve been taught (hopefully) the right way to do things when training, riding, and just working around horses in general, but sometimes you have to adjust the methods with the current happenings. Nothing is cast in stone. The whole key to Grant, and us, is that we have to make decisions calmly and thoughtfully, but most importantly for us, in the blink of an eye.

I was trying to feed the other night right after a storm had come through. It had stopped raining, but the wind was kicked up and there was a cool breeze after a very hot humid day. Well you know the deal, the horses were galloping, bucking, rearing, and carrying on. My one Thoroughbred (of course) wanted to share the play with me. He stood rearing and bucking at the gate so I couldn’t get in. I figured that shaking his feed bucket would get his attention, he didn’t care, he wanted to play. He knew it was feeding time, he knew why I was there, but just like a child, he wanted to play, with me now. Okay, switch tactics, but to what? If feed didn’t do it what would? My first thought was to walk away, wait for him to settle, and then come back. But this became a challenge to me. Not from the horse, but from my mind. I can learn something and add to my knowledge base. I thought, nope, I needed to redirect his attention somewhere else. You know, get his mind back on me. So I took a shot in the dark. I had a carrot in my back pocket left over from earlier in the day (don’t usually have any at that point). It wasn’t big, just a bite size. Pulled it out and asked him “you want a carrot?” All motion stopped. Nose came through the gate, with ears forward and a big “yes please” on his face as his lips were motioning to the carrot to come on in. Shocked me, but go for it. Gave him the carrot and while he was chewing I opened the gate, put the bucket towards his nose, he said “yay! dinner” and followed me to his feed bucket, quiet as a lamb. Well quiet as a lamb for him.

I know in the past I’ve told you how to distract students from worrying when learning to ride. I know I’ve discussed distracting a horse from his focus on the wrong things while riding. Yes this is another instance of distracting a horse, but this post is about you, about staying calm, calculating the situation, and coming up with another idea to accomplish what you want without injury or loss of time. Remember, they forget over time what they did wrong. I, however, forget over time what I was going to do.

It’s amazing how just about any venue can teach us something about horses and us, even a mini-series about a General. Always keep a listening ear, and an open mind. You will always learn something.