Comment

Comment by PJ on October 13, 2009 at 12:22pm

Ouch Linda! I hope you feel better soon. Sit-the-Trot I agree learning to fall is as important as learning to get up on a horse. I have only had one instructor over the years who taught the emergency dismount. It came in very handy when I was riding a green horses that freaked when I wanted to dismount.

Comment by Linda White on October 13, 2009 at 12:20pm

Not knocking any method that teaches you how to land without getting hurt, but in my many years of sailing through the air and landing on the ground, I've found what works for me is to issue loudly, as you sail through the air, the worst swear word you can think of. It focusses and discharges all your energy into how p.o.'d you are, so that when you slam into the ground, you are pretty loose. The only times I've ever gotten hurt on a bucking horse were when I had chosen to part ways with the horse, thinking getting off would be safer than sticking around. Then you are tense and it's going to hurt when you meet the ground. BTW, not entirely kidding about the swearing......

Comment by Sit_the_Trot on October 13, 2009 at 2:32am

As a Feldenkrais practitioner somehow I end up being around Aikido masters. They teach classes in rolling and falling and it's quite amazing--after hearing numerous stories about people practicing first rolling well in all sorts of combinations and then practicing falling and rolling AND THEN having some incident of falling--and not getting hurt--it finally happened to me--I got bucked off (too too similar to Linda's incident) --and rolled to a soft landing--I was amazed. I stood up in disbelief that I wasn't hurt.
I now incorporate rolling and falling Awareness Through Movement lessons in my clinics but I'd recommend any rider to go to Aikido or some martial arts school or Feldenkrais workshop and learn to fall and roll safely--your body just might use the learning when it has the need!

Comment by Linda Dennis on October 13, 2009 at 1:25am

Hi I am over 50 and just got bucked off of a young horse I had in training that had been a bad bucker beforehand, but I kind of missed the seriousnes of that information before I took him on. Ouch..after he did 3 or 4 small ones and I got after him a little for it, he did the Rodeo thing twice and I could feel myself land on my back. Broke a rib...sore...but still game..but glad he sold while I was healing and I don't have to ride him anymore! lol! It's true..I didn't bounce so good as I used to, hmmmm....

Comment by Shirley on September 15, 2009 at 1:55am

"Are They Still Real?"
A young girl's question rings true as we continue to lose our herds of wild mustangs to uncontrollable mismanagement by our own government. Here is an update on Cloud's capture and release and what you can do now. Plus a preview of the new show!


Dear Friends of Cloud and his herd;



On September 9th six of us stood atop a low hill near the corrals where the Pryor wild horses would be set free. The first band to be released was Cloud’s. But, the family was missing the young members of the band and Cloud knew it. Instead of racing to freedom as he has done twice before, he dashed in a circle around his mares and lone foal, Jasmine. Again and again he tried to snake them back toward the corrals where part of his family was held captive.



It is the stallion father’s job to keep the family together and we saw a display unlike anything I have ever seen as Cloud swept past his band trying to keep them from returning to the mountain top. The whole time wranglers on horse back drove the band and yelled at the horses, trying to get them to leave. Cloud paid no attention to the riders on their tall horses. Instead he tried in vain to reunite his splintered family. In the end the mares won, racing away with Cloud grudgingly following. With tears in our eyes, we watched him disappear into the desert.




Two days earlier we had stood on high hill over looking the corrals watching as bands were driven in from the mountain top through the desert. My heart dropped as I spotted the pale horse in the distance with his band. It was Cloud. The helicopter pilot dipped and swerved, doing its best to bring his family in through the desert foothills. With the Black in the lead, the band broke back time and again, as if knowing what lay before them. Finally, the helicopter was able to press them into the wings of the trap and Cloud took the lead. The Judas horse was released and raced past him. What happened next was a first for me. Cloud completely ignored the lure of the Judas horse! When the corral came into view he slowed and the band pushed in around him, trying to run away from the helicopter. Dust swirled around them as Cloud stopped and turned to face the chopper and stood still for a few seconds. Then, he turned following his family into the corral. I have never seen this kind of defiant courage . . . ever.

And so, I ask that we take his lead. Courage is what we need now. Courage and tenacity.

We must keep up the fight.


photo above: Living Images by Carol Walker


SHOW PREVIEW HERE. The new PBS Nature Cloud program, "Cloud: Challenge of the Stallions" will premiere on Sunday, October 25th - many of the horses you will meet in this third chapter now sit in pens at the base of their mountain home. Please help us lobby for the release of the older horses immediately. You can read and follow our frequent updates on The Cloud Foundation blog here.

TAKE ACTION NOW:

Ask for the release of the older horses from the Pryor Mountain roundup, it is cruel and nonsensical to remove Grumpy, 21 year old mare, Conquistador, a 19-year-old band stallion, and the 11 other horses over ten years old. Ask for the immediate reform of the BLM’s Wild Horse and Burro Program, call daily and fax your comments as well!

1. White House Switchboard – 202-456-1414 (fax: 202-456-2461) -- Ask for Senior Advisors: Valerie Jarrett and David Axelrod. Ask for Michelle Obama too, her office is receiving a tremendous number of calls and they need to continue.


2. Call your Senators – switchboard 202-224-3121 and ask that they support S1579, The Restore our American Mustang (ROAM) Act


3. Call the Senate Committee of Natural Resources – 202-224-4971 (fax 202-224-6163) Email here. ask that they push the ROAM Act through immediately– it must go up for a vote soon in the Senate


4. .Join us for for the next Advisory Board Meeting and "Mustangs on the Hill"- Sept. 28 & 29th

Please join me and many others at the National Wild Horse and Burro Advisory Board Meeting in Arlington, VA on September 28th (click here for information). Make your voice heard – and then join us in DC on the hill for meetings with key members of the Senate as well as upper-level whitehouse and Department of Interior staff the following day. Our wild horses' hoofbeats need to be heard in Washington DC! More details to follow to be posted on our blog soon.








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Our mailing address is:
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Comment by Cindy Jeffery on September 14, 2009 at 11:39pm

I never used to wear helmets until 2007 when I went to get certified at a CHA clinic. There adults wear helmets while doing anything around a horse, their not just for kids. While at the clinic I was being obedient, bad habits run deep and I figured I'd do what I'd done before wear it only when riding. Well the days were frosty and the ramp to the bleachers was slippery when the sun started melting the ice and as I walked down the ramp I slipped hitting the back of my head very hard. I was never so thankful that I was wearing my helmet, if I hadn't I would have suffered a severe concussion and who knows what else. Two months after being home from the clinic I was out with my good old trusty gelding, my do anything for you guy, giving him a good brushing, remembering the incident at the clinic I decided I would wear my helmet to groom, while I was standing near his neck facing his rear suddenly he thumped me in the back of the head with his head turning to look at something. It gave me a good jolt but again I was very thankful for that helmet. Now I use it anytime I'm around horses. Thanks to my CHA training no one under my tutelage gets away without a helmet when riding or working around horses, that goes for foot gear too.

Comment by Linda White on September 14, 2009 at 8:45pm

So glad to hear your friend survived the mishap. It could happen to any of us.

Comment by Linda L Moeller on September 14, 2009 at 3:30pm

If you're still in the "undecided" camp re: helmets...My friend was riding a 17.1h horse who slipped and went down with her. Her helmet is cracked - and now replaced - but her head is fine.

Comment by Gail Morse on September 14, 2009 at 2:24pm

I know what you mean. Sounds like your countryside has a lot of water crossings . Love them but have not seen a lot around here. Gail.

Comment by Linda White on September 12, 2009 at 4:34pm

I usually envy those B.C. riders with their gorgeous mountains and valleys to ride in, but this year riding in SW Ontario (Grey County) has been fabulous. Today I helped a friend prepare for a big ride next weekend (48+ riders) by marking trails and cutting branches in a conservation area on my trusty Canadian mare. This area was all beautiful woods, old wild apple trees, great footage, hardly any bugs and not too hot. Paradise. We are lucky here to have several conservation areas to ride in, plus on private property - rolling hills, sandy/loam soil, and lots of creeks and rivers to cross. For many years, I was the kid with her nose pressed up against the fence watching those lucky girls ride their horses. Now I feel like I've died and gone to heaven. Every day is a vacation!

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