How to Stop Leaning
Have you ever struggled with a pesky upper body that insists on leaning before and through the turn? Do your shoulders and torso have minds of their own?
LET US KNOW YOUR THOUGHTS
When to Quit!
If you cut, or do herd work in reined cow horse, or do ranch horse cutting, the nature of those classes is that you have to make moment-t0- moment decisions.
There are no pre-set patterns or courses. You hold the reins. You have to make on-the-spot choices.
This makes these classes exciting … and often frustrating.
One of these crucial decisions is when to quit a cow and go for another. Part of your decision making will depend on your ability to understand cattle.
Here are a few of the things you can weigh when you decide to stay with or quit a cow:
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Is your “good” cow maximized … that is, did you get all the credit-earning work out of her yet?
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Is your “mediocre” cow worth staying on?
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Is the cow you cut so “bad” that the only smart thing to do is quit and get another one?
Let’s begin with a description of an ideal cow.
It faces your horse and goes back and forth for 15-30 feet at a medium clip in the middle of the arena. It has “feel” which means it stops and goes the other direction when you ride your horse to the correct position to stop her.
Our “wonder cow” never darts toward the turn back people, the herd holders, towards the back fence or towards the ends of the arena.
These behaviors in all in one cow during a cutting or herd work class are rare, but they serve as a great references for deciding when to quit.
Okay, with those ideas in mind, here are the most common cow behaviors that should be red flags that it’s time to look for a place to quit and get another cow.
This list does not discuss the multitude of situations that also affect your decision at any moment in time, (like how much time you have been working it, or how much time is left on the clock, etc).
That’s a discussion for another day. This list is meant to be a simple set of key indicators about when a cow is probably “used-up”. Her best stuff is gone … if she ever had it!
I also understand you have to work a cow until you can quit it legally.
For the purposes of this discussion, I am assuming you will wait until a legal opportunity is available to you.
With “ideal cow” behavior understood, here are some red flags for when it’s time to quit a cow and go for another:
1.) She starts off well, but darts hard towards one of the corners. The key word here is dart. You can bet the next time she travels back in the same direction, she will try even harder to get to the corner.
She’s no good. Do your best to stop her and quit working her as soon as possible.
2.) She has no interest in your horse. She wanders from one place in the arena to another … everywhere but in the vicinity of you and your horse.
She may or may not be that “bad”, but without you being able to really affect her behavior and stop her, you won’t be able show much of what your horse can do.
3.) She is numb. She stands there and your turn back helpers are yelling and slapping their chaps. She barely moves.
Quit.
4.) She is crazy! Her tail goes up and maybe over her back. She is on a mission to go anywhere at jet speed and get by any horse she can.
She might aim at the turn back horses or just run wildly around the arena.
Quit working her ASAP. If she is super wild and you keep working her, even if she’s not coming in your direction, chances are she’s going to turn on you sooner or later and mow you over!
5.) She starts off like our ideal cow, but then starts moving in any direction out of the middle of the arena.
Quit at an opportune time. She may not be that bad, but chances are you’ve gotten all of the good work out of her and she’s not coming back to center stage.
6.) She starts running from wall-to-wall.
It’s time to quit.
7.) She starts trying to get through the turn back helpers.
Thumbs down.
8.) She snorts at you!
Adios, amigos! Quit ASAP.
A great way to practice knowing when to quit is to watch cattle from the bleachers in as many classes as you can. Study how cattle behave. Pretend like you are showing.
When does her behavior change and when would be the most ideal time to quit?
LET US KNOW YOUR THOUGHTS 
The Soul of Competition
If you’re a competitor, chances are from time to time you might feel anything from anxiety to intimidation. What if I fail? What will they think? What if I let me trainer/spouse/friends down? What if I’ll never be good enough? What if I don’t make it?
It can be nerve wracking.
While those nagging questions are natural, I have ten perspectives on competition to turn your trepidation into an experience of pure heart and soul.
1. Some folks have a passion to compete and some do not. This seems to be more of a natural personality trait. It’s not a better than or lesser than comparison with other people. It’s a natural joy to compete, or not.
If you’re not a competitor, don’t compare yourself to others who do.
If you love to compete, enjoy it for its own sake. You are meant to be there. Wherever you are in your skills and accomplishments (or not) doesn’t matter. You are enough right where you are. You are on a journey of ups and downs and arounds …. and always learning about yourself.
2. The difference between not riding in competitions and riding in scheduled shows is that shows require that you put yourself and your horse on the line at a specific scheduled time where you’re judged by a person or a clock.
These two elements by nature “push” you to be your best. Know you are helping yourself expand your experiences and skills. Celebrate that you have the discipline to keep reaching for more.
3. While competition appears to be “against” other people (meaning your results are measured externally) I submit that the only real competition is within yourself.
When you enter the show arena, your job is to do your very best in that ride, at that time. Judge your results by your own past performances.
As you continue to grow your mental and technical skills for your discipline, the external results will automatically take care of themselves. Your job is to keep upping YOUR game.
The secret is to be in the heart of your job each moment each time.
The great wrecking ball to any ride is thinking about the outcome.
This perhaps is the greatest discipline of all about showing … staying focused on all you can control. Get focused. Get into the highest level of relationship with your horse at that moment. Go for it. That is truly all that exists, no matter what significance any particular ride might hold.
Ride each ride like it’s the most important ride of your life. When you take this approach, you practice high level performance skills every time. This results in consistency. A “big” show won’t make a difference because that’s what you always do.
This is up to you, and only you to see it all this way.
4. Competition constantly challenges your belief in yourself. It beckons you to believe you can “do it” no matter what happens on the outside.
It’s natural and easy to feel vulnerable, frustrated, embarrassed and doubt your abilities when you fall short.
The challenge is to treat yourself as you would support your dearest friend.
Tell yourself over and over (in good times and bad) that you believe in yourself no matter the outcome. Know it. Claim it.
Your journey is a worthy and awesome one each step of the way.
Know in your heart that your belief in yourself can never be shattered by inevitable disappointments.
5. Showing is an adventure. Oh my! You never know what’s going to happen.
There’s that soulful relationship with your horse you absolutely cherish. How are the two of you going to mesh today?
There are all the people you get to meet. That’s always a trip!
There’s the show management. There’s the weather. There’s the ground. For those of us who work cattle, we wonder what the beasts will be like today … fire eating dragons or puppy dogs?
Who knows what the day will bring?
Enjoy being amazed. Life is meant to be an adventure! If you compete you signed up for a big adventure.
6. For a particular show season, set an “outcome” goal you can measure and that thrills you. This will fuel your motivation to get going and pick yourself up when you fall. An example would be to win a year end award of some kind.
But once that goal is set, just keep it quietly in your heart. Turn it over to God … or to the stars. You can’t control it.
But you can control many things. Show by show, class by class, focus on the tiny baby steps you can do, like how you use your seat or feet, or how you prepare yourself and your horse.
When you set these “performance” goals and you focus on them, you will automatically be taken to your best possibility to achieve your outcome goal.
That’s all you can do! And you can bet you will grow your skills … and hopefully attain your outcome goal.
7. Don’t just set your performance goals, get passionate about them. Focus like a laser beam on them each and every ride, moment by moment. There’s nothing else for you to do. You’ve prepared. You’re at the show. Go for it.
8. Video each ride. Study it closely. Evaluate your ride in tiny pieces.
Give yourself a celebratory fist pump for what you did well. Own these pieces. Don’t skip this step.
Wherever you fell short, search the video for exactly where the error just barely began. That’s the place to improve upon next time. With this approach, you have a totally customized achievement plan.
9. Be forever grateful … for the incredible opportunity to do what you do … for your horse … for your friends … for your trainer … for the awesomeness of just being able to physically get up in the morning and go show a magnificent horse.
Really, when you think about it, what a magical opportunity you have. There is no failure … only experiences. You are so lucky!
This is your journey. Drink it up.
10. You are always enough. Where you are at this moment is perfect. You are growing. You’re extraordinary. There is no failure. There is only an adventure.
That is the soul of competition … drinking up all of the magnificence of your own incredible journey. It is a gift.
LET US KNOW YOUR THOUGHTS
Break It Down
It’s easy to lump an entire run together as really good, or really awful, and not think another thing about it. (Well, maybe you ponder it a bit longer if you experience the low end of the totem pole.)
I once had a friend suggest that I should make a decision about how long I was going to feel badly about something based on how truly wretched or slightly off my error really was.
What takes your herdwork and cutting to higher and higher levels over time, is your ability to break it down into very distinct segments.
This includes everything from how mentally focused you were, to how well prepared your horse was, to your ritual before you went in, to watching (or not watching) cattle, to how you made your cuts, to how you worked the cow, etc., etc. You get the idea.
The key is to discover within each small piece where an error just began and make your corrections there.
I see herdwork in seven distinct large categories.
Then, within each of these 7 categories, there are even smaller chunks.
Getting better at herdwork by approaching it in larger categories and then even smaller segments within those categories has worked for me in my training and in my teaching.
These are the 7 larger categories:
1. Mental and emotional skills to perform at your best “under pressure,” as well as to make the best out of difficult times.
2. Horsemanship knowledge and skills to be able to effectively communicate with your horse in and out of the herd.
3. Herd-work skills to maneuver well in a herd, choose the best cow in a particular situation, and earn score credit for herdwork.
4. The ability to be accurate and in the correct position as you work the cow; anticipate and counter a cow’s moves with grace and speed.
5. The ability to school your horse at home so you can maintain his correctness and become a pro-active rider instead of a vulnerable passenger.
6. Showmanship skills to escalate your competitive advantage and be successful in competition.
7. An ability to design your own program and your horse’s program according to what you enjoy as you stay true to your personal values.
The best news is that sometimes as you master one seemingly small chunk within a category, many other things fall into place naturally.
It doesn’t matter so much about your God-given talent. What does matter is your willingness to build your confidence by improving your abilities within the small pieces within the categories.
Be sure to give yourself credit for what you already know (and can do with relative ease) and then take the next steps to improve that next small step.
LET US KNOW YOUR THOUGHTS
True Confidence
How would you define “true confidence”? Would you find it in an award or recognition? Would you say it is a feeling of security when you get on your horse? Would you find true confidence if you were calm in most situations?