Rancho Murietta Walkabout Tour Stop

Yes, I did it again. I volunteered for another Clinton Anderson Downunder Horsemanship Walkabout Tour Stop. This was my fourth tour stop and my third time as a volunteer. This one was held at the Rancho Murietta Equestrian Center, a fantastic equestrian facility nestled in the foothills of northern California.

Outdoor Turnouts

I went up a day earlier to visit with my brother who lives just outside of Sacramento. We had a nice visit. I arrived at 8:30am on Friday and we began setting things up. Much of the fixtures were assembled, but there was still alot to do, which was nice. (In Las Vegas most of the set up had been completed by Friday morning and there wasn't much to do.) We stayed busy most of the morning, stopped for pizza and introductions around 1 pm, and finished the setup early in the afternoon. Once we were released I grabbed my camera and took some photos of the facility. There was a gal practicing jumping and she said yes when I asked if I could practice taking action shots.

The nearest hotels were in Folsom about 15 miles away on a fairly winding road through the cattle pasture lands. It was really great scenery - rolling hills, grazing cattle, birds, and ponds. After a quick shower I set off walking to find a place to eat. There wasn't much to choose from - and Olive Garden and Island Burgers. I opted for the Island Burger and they sat me in the bar. Little did I know that much of the Downunder Crew was eating there as well. Half of them were eating at the bar and I think the other half were sitting outside. They are a fun grouop of people. I joined them for about an hour as I ate dinner and then headed back to my room.

Saturday morning was a bit cooler. We were told to not get there before 7:30, but I couldn't sleep. I was there about 6:30 and Clinton was in the arena setting up. I chose to head over to the jumping arena where the barn cat Baxter and I watched another rider working her horse. At 7:30 I worked the ticket line with Mari Joe and then went to halters and lead ropes to re-stock. It was great to see Clinton personally welcome everyone into the covered arena with a handshake up until it was time for him to start the show. I didn't get to see much of the opening "philosophy" talk. I did get to hear quite a bit of though and that's always enjoyable. The stands were packed. I think they held about 2500 people.

Later we setup the round pen for that demo. The Behlen round pen has to be one of the easiest pens I have set up. The disrectful horse demo was good. The paint horse they used was really spoiled and couldn't figure out for the longest time why he had been singled out for such an ordeal. By the time the session was over he was behaving himself quite nicely.

The "spooky" horse demo was the most fascinating. They used a big black gelding of some strange sounding breed. At first I wasn't aware of what was going on, but Clinton's apprentice Brittney was bringing the horse from the stalls to the arena and the horse was just being an ass about the whole thing. He was trying to run over her, rearing, and being pushy. She could hear Clinton waiting for the horse in the arena and finally they got there. Once in the arena Clinton let her work the horse for about 20 minutes. This horse was totoally disrespectful of humans. At one point Brittney was instructed by Clinton to whack the horse on the nose with her stick. It got the horse's attention, but not for very long. The horse had this huge head and neck and was really over-powering the apprentice. This horse really needed the roundpen session first.

Clinton finally took over and because he is stronger, was able to get the horse somewhat respectful. To his credit, and this is one of the things I like most about him, he didn't even try to do the de-spooking or the blocker tie ring demos with this horse becasue the horse just wasn't ready. You would think that maybe the tie-ring sales would be down after the demo and maybe they were, but the sales floor had it's busiest session after that exciting demo.

The afternoon Advanced Riding Demo with Diaz is always fun to watch and we were caught up enough that I got to see most of it. Diaz seemed a bit off and later I learned that he has been getting wise to the tours. It seems he had figured out he doesn't really have to put out 100% when he's in front of a crowd because he knows Clinton won't reprimand him. Well, he found out that didn't go far because on Sunday during the lunch break Cliinton brought him into the arena and really worked his butt off. Now isn't it amazing that such a highly trained horse like Diaz needs a tune-up now and then? Is it any surprise when our horses figure out new ways to show us up? I learn something from every tour stop and this was the important takeaway from Rancho: Fix problems when you see them. Your horse is going to be constantly looking for ways to get out of work. That's their nature. Look for it and stop it when it happens.

Clinton Anderson

Sunday morning the weather really took a cool turn. The wind was blowing right at us. It had been almost 90 degrees on Wednesday. I was lucky I had brought a light jacket. Volunteers only get to wear a t-shirt (of which I had on three).

After the fun intro of the Trailer Loading demo the volunteers met for tear-down instructions. I think one of the reasons I enjoy this part of the weekend so much is the teamwork aspect. You move from task to task packing stuff up with everyone working in a harmony that's very close to dancing. The employees all have their assigned tasks and they complete them with incredible efficiency. The volunteers Emily, Chris, Patty and the others were all great fun and easy to work with too.

At the end of the tear down Clinton comes out, takes a photo with us and hands us our free stuff for the effort. He is also available for questions. I didn't have any horse questions because, really, they are all answered on his dvd's somewhere, aren't they? I had missed a something at the Las Vegas show last time about personality testing, so I got to ask him about that. It took me a little aback when he answered so easily and asked about my experiences. My previous encouters had all been polite, but curt and efficient. I said good-bye to the crew. It was nice they asked when I would volunteer again. Most of the other stops are scattered across the country and it's just too expensive being a professional volunteer.

After washing some the arena dust off I headed for my car and a new set of adventures awaited. My keyless remote failed to open the doors. I opened the trunk to get my jacket out and the alarm went wailing. I worked on it for about 10 minutes before the crew came out and Cheryl, Clinton's mom asked about the problem. Everyone was tired but the sound guy came over with someone else, I not sure who he was, and they proceeded to analyze the situation. I called AAA and they were on the way. About 20 minutes into the process the boys got into the car and were able to reset the alarm system. Not sure how long I would have been stuck there without their help. After cancelling AAA I was on my home, pulling into my driveway around 3am. After a few hours sleep I was up and at work and the day seemed to fly by as I would recall little bits and conversations of the previous three days.

Clinton Anderson 2010 Tourcation Las Vegas Part 2

Sunday

I arrived the arena at 7am and one volunteer, Keely, was there. The Downunder folks hadn't shown up yet. Shana was rehearsing with Jillaroo for her trick riding demo, so we watched for a few minutes. When the crew came in our first chore was to wipe down all the graphics and displays and then fill in any missing merchandise from the previous night.

Clinton had had a crew doing interviews with guests, crew, vendors, and volunteers. They had interviewed me on camera Saturday night. Pretty straight forward questions, "What's it like to be a volunteer? Why did you volunteer?" Stuff like that. I ran into Renee, a long-time crew member, and she asked how my interview had gone. I said, "okay", but I told her I spent way too much time thinking about what I could have said. She had been interviewed the night before, too. We both agreed our "best lines" came about twenty minutes too late.


Shana's Trick Demo w/ Clinton Watching at the Gate

Shana did her trick horse demo. It was slick. A lot of laying down and sitting up, nodding and shaking of heads. Shana felt teaching the horse tricks kept both the horse and you from getting bored from doing the same exercises over and over again. DUH is scheduled to have a trick teaching DVD out in the fall.

Next was the spooky horse demo and they had found a really good, fearful horse for this demo. This horse was literally scared of his own shadow. By the end of the demo Clinton had the horse calmly dropping its head every time the crowd gave a huge roar. Before each break Clinton would give away a whole bunch of merchandise.


Giving Stuff Away

We broke for lunch and that's another big selling time. It was hard to know what to restock as we were all well aware we would be packing everything up in a few hours. There's an old adage in retailing, "You can't sell from an empty wagon", so we brought out as much merchandise as we could.

The afternoon session was Gaining Respect Under Saddle followed by the Trailer Loading Demo which always a hoot. By the end of that demo Clinton couldn't keep the horse out of the trailer.

About 5pm they gathered all the volunteers together and told us what we could start taking down. Once Clinton was out of the arena things hit a fevered pitch. We took down the banners, the arena manager took down the panels and they moved two big semi-s and Clinton's trailer into the arena. We busied ourselves tearing down all the retail displays. I hooked on to Rob, Clinton's dad, who has to be well into his sixties. This guy looks tough as nails. He was lifting all kinds of heavy stuff. I find guys like this are the best to lend a hand to. You don't want to say much, because if you're talking you can't hear what they say, and they only say it once. And, you better be walking at top speed or you'll be left behind. And, have your gloves on if you need them (he didn't) because he ain't stopping to let you put them on. Clinton didn't fall far from the tree.

The teardown went fairly smoothly and extremely efficient. Most people knew what their jobs were and they did them well. Once everything was just about loaded Clinton came down and pictures were taken with the Downunder Crew. They had a professional photographer, but I sneaked in behind him and took this shot.


The Downunder Crew

A short while later they gathered up the volunteers to give us our free stuff for volunteering and to get a picture with Clinton. In 2008 my camera ran out of batteries. This year I gave my camera to volunteer Scott from Montana and he took a picture. I didn't realize Amy was taking pictures too and Clinton, at one point, tells me to look over at her camera.


"Look at this camera, mate"

I'm not really an autograph person, most of them look like squiggly lines on a polygraph of a terrible liar, but I had him sign my copy of That Winning Attitude, the motivational book he wrote with Ian Francis. We were told that we could ask questions. I didn't have any training questions (because those are answered in the DVD's), but I did have a question about riding on the hard-pan roads that we do and wondered if I should be concerned about injuries. He told me as long as she wasn't having problems, don't worry about it, and keep riding.

So, we were turned loose. After saying my goodbyes to some of the staff we headed for the exit. After the last two hours of intensity it was oddly calm. I was tired, but not sleepy. I hadn't eaten much, but I wasn't hungry. I went back to my room, cleaned up and got a fresh change of clothes.

I hadn't been to Vegas in 10 years. My games are roulette and Blackjack. I had a system of roulette I had been working on the first three nights and it had worked moderately well. (That means I hadn't lost all my money.) Since this was the last night, I was going to take my meager winnings and put my system to the test. I headed down to the roulette table and lady luck was on my side. I didn't keep track of the time (who does in Vegas), but I think I was there for about an hour and I was doing well. When the wheel turned cold, I cashed in my winnings and headed for a blackjack table.

The night before, I had sat down at a blackjack table where Aaron, Clinton's sound man for the event, was playing. He's a nice guy, heck they all are, but he didn't talk much, and when I saw him playing at a table with an open seat I passed it by for another table. You never know if these guys want company or to be left alone. I had played about half a dozen hands and was just about even when Clinton walked over to Aaron's table. He asked him how he was doing and after a minute or two sat down. The table was full, but a moment later the seat next to Clinton opened up and I immediately grabbed my chips and moved over there.

Ha! I was sitting right next to Clinton Anderson at a blackjack table! You could tell this was his first time playing blackjack. He was asking for advice on which hand move to make. The "wave" for "no more cards" or the "come hither finger" for "hit me". Some of the Downunder staff gathered around. The table came alive. We were all encouraging the dealer. She was doing the best she could. At one point the pit boss came by and most of us lost that hand.

"Who's the guy in the suit?", Clinton asked.

"He's the pit boss", someone said.

"Well, keep him away from here. He has a bad vibe. We don't want that."

Every one was razzing and encouraging every one. After one winning hand we threatened to "bring the casino to it's knees". After a losing hand, "what just happened there?"

Clinton asked the dealer if she knew the rules. "Of course" she said, "I've been dealing for sixteen years".

"Well", Clinton said, "are you familiar with a little black and yellow book called Blackjack for Dummies? 'Cause I've read it and you better watch out!"

Once he was trying to decide on whether to hit on 14 with the dealer showing a two. (All the strategy books say no). We were all screaming, "Stand" "Don't Hit" "Let the Dealer Bust". Staring at his cards he stroked his chin with his fingers and said, "Sorry guys, I'm just going to have to trust my gut here, and my gut says take a card." He draws a six and wins. The table erupted in cheers and laughter.


Amazingly, the South Point Casino Still is Standing

We played for 45 minutes to an hour and it was great fun. We were up at times, but in the end, the South Point Casino is still standing. It was quite surreal sitting inches from Clinton the person, and for a brief time the Clinton I know and the "real" Clinton blended into the same friend.

The South Point is a great venue. By staying there, I was only an elevator ride and a five minute walk to the arena. Their restaurants seemed nice although I preferred to walk to the little sport's bar across the street just to get away for the casino noise.

Monday morning I headed out to Hoover Dam to take in another wonder of the world. It's an amazing piece of architecture and one that will never be matched. This was THE thing that had to inspire the saying "They don't build 'em like that anymore".

I was exhausted by the time I got home. I've had to spend most of the week just catching up, but the experience and memories have been energizing enough to get me through.


The view from a Vent in the middle of the dam. It felt like Harrison Ford in The Fugitive

Just for snickers and giggles here are the two blog posts from my first volunteer experience. This one describes the experience and this one offers my ideas on how to make things more efficient. Many of the things in the second post are in place (kinda like Windows 7 - it was my idea) but only because DUH has a powerful marketing engine working for it now.

Clinton Anderson 2010 Tourcation Las Vegas Part 1

Last Thursday I headed off to Las Vegas to volunteer for Downunder Horsemanship's June Tour stop. This was my fourth tour stop, and my second stint as a volunteer.

Some of my friends and family wonder why I take the time and expense to work my ass off for two and a half days, essentially for free. Let me see if I can explain. It may sound corny, but it's my blog, it's supposed to be corny...

I don't have many natural talents. When I have a situation in life I'm not sure how to handle, I rely on the people in my head. I've got a pretty good team up here. These voices are of the people I believe are the best at what they do. If it's a moral dilemma, I hear my Dad's voice. In a crisis, I hear my older
brother's. If it's having fun and getting along with people, I hear my wife's voice. And, when I'm around my horse, it's Clinton's who is talking to me.

Jessie isn't the best trained horse by any measure, but she is safe and I attribute that safety to Clinton. To me safety is THE most valuable aspect of sharing time with Jessie. So, part of volunteering has to do with saying thanks for showing us the safe way. Every product I've bought from Downunder Horsemanship, while at first glance seemed expensive, has been a great value. My tack is five years old and still in excellent shape. The dvd's remain a constant reference for exercises and training. One challenge in "saying thanks" is to see if I can give him more value than he expects from a volunteer. (His expectations are pretty high and that makes this an even bigger challenge).

Now, Clinton, the person, couldn't pick me out of a lineup of kangaroos. But that's not the Clinton I know. The guy I know is the voice I've spent hours and hours listening to, the one that has never given me a bad piece of advice, the one that, if I look a hard enough, has always had the right answer, and the one who has taught me ninety percent of what I know about horses. THAT guy is a very good friend of mine. That's the guy I was helping out.

Well, before all this talk of imaginary friends and voices in my head gets me sent off to the looney bin, let me tell you about the weekend.


On the Road to Las Vegas

Thursday morning I woke up feeling lousy. My body ached, my stomach was queasy. I'm 55, I had applied to be a volunteer in January and had used the event as motivation to work out and maintain what little muscle mass I have left. Now, I'm on the verge of leaving for Las Vegas and I was going to need all the energy I could muster. Having spent 26 years in the health food business did help. I have an arsenal of supplements I believe help keep my immune system strong. I used every one of them. I had to work the first half of the day. My wife would relieve me at 2pm and work Friday and Monday for me. By the time I left I was feeling a little better, at least my stomach had calmed down. It's a four-and-a-half hour drive to Vegas from Bakersfield and I was in my room and checked in by 8pm. There was small restaurant across the street from the Southpoint resort that was about a ten minute walk. It was overcast and there were a couple of raindrops, but the fresh air felt good. I felt much better after a good dinner and the walk back to the Southpoint.


The Empty Arena

The next morning I showed up about 9:30 and there wasn't much to do. The retail area was almost completely set up and my first task was to help number 3,000 programs that would be used for a raffle. Gae, a No Worries Member from Australia was there, too. Clinton was in the arena practicing his first session. I learned this tour stop was going to be filmed for a series on RFD. Downunder had brought the largest number staff here of of any tour stop - ever. And, here's another reason I volunteered. Clinton surrounds himself with only the best people. Everyone was so pleasant, professional, and energetic. Having an opportunity to be even a small part of a winning team is a privilege I'll reach for every time.


The Store

Clinton worked on the lighting and choreography for quite some time. He established his timing marks within the song, had to have the spotlights hitting him just so, and, of course, have the sound exactly perfect. We hauled two thousand programs up to the registration booth. I came down and tried to get familiar with all the back stock of merchandise, trying to figure out where it would go and whether it had to be assembled or not. We broke for lunch (taquitos and chips) a little before noon. We had a business meeting which really didn't pertain to us very much. We got our assignment sheets and a couple of t-shirts, which were our uniforms for the next two days. My assignment was the saddle area. The empty boxes for the saddles were about 60 yards away. When someone bought a saddle my job was to get the corresponding empty box, bring it to the sale area, load the saddle and take it to the check-out area. If necessary I was to carry the saddle out to peoples' cars.

Sounds easy and it was for the most part. During the selling times the people were elbow-to-elbow in the selling area and negotiating the route with a huge box was actually quite fun.

We were dismissed at 1 PM and I headed for the pool area to catch some rays. As coincidence, there was our national health food convention happening on the north side of town. Later that evening I drove uptown and had a most excellent dinner with one of our sales reps and his company's big wigs. Ah, this was living...

Saturday

Saturday morning I was up at 5:30 and went down for breakfast. A couple of nice gals from Minnesota, who were there for the show, invited me to sit with them for breakfast. We shared horse stories for about a half an hour and I headed for the arena floor. Clinton was rehearsing for his opening one more time. When they set off the smoke machines, the fire alarms went off in the arena. This had not happened the day before. There was some discussion and the arena manager was contacted to make sure it didn't happen during the show. They started letting the No Worries Club members in as soon as Clinton left the arena. About a half hour later Clinton showed up in a clean shirt, his brown felt hat, and went through the retail area shaking the hands with his staff and volunteers encouraging everyone to have a good show. He seemed happier and more relaxed than I remember him in 2008.


The Show is About to Begin

The intro and Mindy's performance was excellent. It went exactly as choreographed and it was very impressive to see Clinton and Mindy walk through the smoke with the sound and lights blazing. Clinton gave his philosophy talk and then took a break. I worked the saddle area and the place was packed! The next demo was advanced riding after which Clinton announced that this was Mindy's last tour stop. She would be retired. There was a break for lunch where once again much shopping took place and our station was buzzing along pretty good. I'm not sure exactly how many saddles were sold, but there were quite a few (some people had theirs shipped home).


Clinton and Mindy

We helped set up the round pen for the afternoon demo and then I went to take a break. As I walked up to the bathrooms to clean up, I noticed Ian Francis sitting alone near the top of the arena. I went down, got my snacks and water and headed up and sat next to him during the round pen demo. We didn't talk much, but he seemed like a nice guy. After the demo we tore down the round pen and set up the water supply for the EZ All and Ritchie Waterer Demo, then it was back to my station.


Ian Francis

The late afternoon session was a riding demo with Clinton (on Mindy) and Ian (on Diez). Ian demonstrated a number of techniques for getting the horse to go where you wanted and then Clinton demonstrated a few things too. Near the end of the demo Clinton was saying how horses are very specialized today, almost too specialized he said. When he trained horses in Australia they knew how to do a number of different things; rope, rein, herd cows. Even Mindy, he said, was good with a cow.

"Who wants to be a cow for us?" A woman, 60ish, raised her hand and came into the arena. Clinton instructed her on "how to be a cow" and had her running back and forth across the arena. Then Mindy "worked" the woman/cow. After a couple of turns and rollbacks Clinton said, "You are the best cow we've worked all day". As the crowd roared he continued, "For such good work you get to have Mindy's very LAST ride at a tour stop." He put her on Mindy then he played the cow. The first rollback was so quick she almost came off, but Mindy took care of her. It was a very touching moment and there were many tears flowing as Mindy left the arena for
the last time.

The shopping area kept us busy after the last demo. Shopping went on so late that I was asked to man one of the exits because the security guards were going into overtime. It was an easy assignment that lasted until 7:20 or so when Amy came by and released me for the day.

On to Sunday in Part 2...

Ray Hunt Pearls of Wisdom

LEGENDARY HORSEMAN RAY HUNT DIES

AQHA - RAY HUNT

America's Horse, March 12, 2009 -- Editor’s Note: The name Ray Hunt is legendary. He took the mantle of natural horsemanship from the Dorrance brothers and spread it to a larger audience. He, in fact, was the first traveling clinician, taking his teaching methods on the road more than 30 years ago and continuing to teach through 2009 when he had a spring workshop scheduled at his Texas ranch. Today, however, we mourn the loss of a legend. Ray Hunt, in his late 70s, passed away March 12.

The best way to describe Hunt is to let his words speak for themselves. What follows is an excerpt of a story published in the May 2002 American Quarter Horse Racing Journal:

Ray Hunt has shared his equine philosophy and techniques around the world. In 2002, he presented a two-day clinic at New Mexico’s Sunland Park Racetrack and Frontera Training Center, focusing on gate-training young horses and correcting problem behavior in older runners. But whether it deals with racehorses or ranch horses, the advice was vintage Hunt.

“We’ve got to look at things a little more from the horse’s point of view,” Hunt said. “We’ve got to try to help him to learn to reach our goals.”

Hunt worked with – instead of against – the horse’s natural sensitivities to pressure. He often pointed out that a horse can feel a single fly land on its body - so whips and chains aren’t necessary. He urged people to combine their knowledge and understanding of horses to create situations that increase the likelihood of the desired results.

“Make the wrong thing difficult and the right thing easy,” Hunt said.

Before a horse is even asked to enter the starting gate, Hunt established boundaries with the animal. While facing the horse, he applied slight pressure with the lead rope (enough to take out the slack) to encourage the horse to step forward. Hunt wasn’t talking about walking off – he was looking for the slightest clue that the horse was willing to move its foot. As soon as the horse shifted its body weight, Hunt released the pressure.

“Think about controlling the feet and shifting the weight,” he said. “If you get the horse to move his weight, he has got to shift his feet, but I bet he doesn’t move his feet first. He shifts his weight, then moves his feet. He prepares his position, and then there’s a transition. Don’t try to get the horse to go without getting it ready.”

If the horse stepped as Hunt wanted, he was rewarded with a rub on the forehead. If the horse didn’t step forward, the pressure was applied again, but never in a tug-of-war fashion. This wasn’t a contest.

“The horse doesn’t know what a contest is – what win or lose is – but the human does,” Hunt explained. “The first thing you know, you’ve got the horse contesting you – and don’t be surprised if he’s the winner. The horse doesn’t have any pride or ego – the two things that really get in a human’s way.”

If the horse stepped back, Hunt stepped back also, keeping the pressure steady but not increasing it. Hunt wanted to make the wrong thing difficult, not necessarily impossible. He stressed that the horse had a choice – he could do the right thing the easy way or do the wrong thing and face difficult consequences. In this case, the easy option was for the horse to simply take a step forward. But if he stepped back, Hunt went with him – if Hunt had stood his ground, when the horse hit the end of the line, the man would probably have had a fight on his hands.

To get a horse in a starting gate – or to do anything else – he has to be prepared, to be ready to do it. The horse’s body gives all the clues to his readiness. Hunt compared the unprepared horse to a steel rod. Tense muscles, wide eyes and planted feet are signs of excitement that show the horse needs more time to relax.

Most horses that are not ready to accept the gate will walk up to the open stall, stop and shift their hindquarters out of line, making a smooth entrance into the gate impossible.

Hunt suggested supporting the horse by twirling the end of the lead rope near or even tapping the horse’s hip to get the horse to line up. Then back the horse and approach the gate again to gauge the horse’s willingness. Don’t be surprised if you have to do this several times. As Hunt said, “It’ll probably take more than once but less than a million times.”

Other pearls of wisdom from Hunt:

• “Notice the smallest changes and the slightest tries.”


• “You direct the life in the horse’s body through the legs to the feet to the mind.”


• “Slow down so you can hurry up. In the end, it’s a good way. Speed ahead of accuracy is no good.”


• “You think you’ve got to hold the horse, but you don’t have to,” Hunt said. “You’ve got to have a feel – a feel following a feel, not pressure against pressure. That’s what happens in the starting gate, pressure against pressure. We don’t really think about it in that manner, but the horse does because he learns what he lives. He learned it the way he lived it.”


• “There has to be firmness and discipline. I’m responsible for running the show, and the horse is going to work for me. He’s going to go where I want him, but he’s not a slave. You make him want to do it. First thing you know, he’s your partner.”


• Hunt compared the human-equine relationship to a dance between a man and a woman: “If I was going to dance with a lady, I wouldn’t just grab her and say ‘We’re going.’ I’d get slapped,” Hunt said. “A lot of people don’t understand that you are trying to get the horse to turn loose in the same way. There’s a place in there where he turns loose and then you give. I feel of him, I feel for him, and we both feel together.”


• “I’m trying to get my idea to become the horse’s idea. It’s not like turning a dial that is going to work today. It’s what led up to today that you need to change. It’s the little things that make the difference.”


• "Keep in mind what you are working toward,” Hunt said. “You might not get him in (the starting gate) today, but when you feel he tries – which is a plus toward that – you can put him away. Quit on pluses, don’t quit on minuses. That’s negative; always quit on positives. He will never forget it. Build on positive things. When he finally wants to do things for you, that’s building confidence in him. By doing too much, you can take that confidence out. You’ve got to work from the horse’s point of view.”

-- Excerpted from “Hunting for Help” by Jennifer K. Hancock in the May and June 2002 issues of The American Quarter Horse Racing Journal

03122009rayhunt

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Our Axioms

In an effort to digest what we learn and incorporate it in our training, Ranae and I try to come up with our own horse training axioms. Sunday we came up with this one:

Always start off with a plan. If a problem arises, abandon the plan in favor of working on the problem. Plans are cheap, problems are can be costly.

If I were King

Observations on the Economics of the Walkabout Tour

You know when you're sitting around with your friends talking about stuff and you come up with a great solution to one of the world's problems and you say, "Well, if I were king, this is how the situation would be handled". You are fully aware it will never happen your way for any number of reasons, most of which have to do with a simple fact: you don't have all the information. But we never let that stop us from airing our unfounded opinions. It's also important to remember we don't have any of the necessary qualifications to put forth our ideas. But, again, we never let that stop us.

So, it is in that vein that I offer up my observations from a volunteer's perspective on the the economics of the Walkabout Tour. I recently volunteered at the California Tour stop. I worked three days. It was a great experience. Sunday night after everything was packed up and good-byes were said, I still had a two and a half hour drive home. I was a little sleep deprived so I started with some loud music to help keep me awake. When that didn't work I thought that if I did some "active" thinking it would help my mind pass the time. Daydreaming essentially. It's like pretending you're Nolan Ryan in the seventh game of the World Series when you're playing catch in the backyard. Or, while on your home golf course, imagining you are on the 16th green at Augusta and your Tiger trying to make the putt. Or, pretending you are Bob Avila riding in the futurity, when in reality you're doing circles in some dirt field. For this daydream I would be in charge of the Tour stop.

The only reason I offer it up here is because my neurotic brain won't let go of it. If I don't get it out, it will rattle around in my head like a steel ball in an empty can of spray paint. Clinton talks. I write. Once I get this out I'll be free to daydream something else, something equally unimportant.

First, let me establish the fact that I am unqualified. I'm lousy at making money. And, that I don't have all the facts. This was my third tour stop, first time volunteering and I've only seen two venues. Yep, totally unqualified. And, I'm not suggesting they change anything. Clinton has smart people working for him and they do a great job. Still, that doesn't mean I can't Monday morning quarterback.

Okay, here are the highlights:

First I would have everything bar-coded. That way the checkout process could be sped up with scanners. People were sometimes 15 deep in the cashier line waiting to check out. How many gave up and said "I'll just order online" and then never do?

Having the checkout system computerized would give another very important piece of information: real-time sales data. Do handy sticks sell more after the first session of Gaining Respect? Do tie-rings sell immediately after the demonstration? When, in the two day event, are the greatest sales of dvds? When do the saddles sell? The first rule of retailing is inventory management and real-time sales data sharpens that. If you never sold more than 200 pink handy sticks at a tour stop, why pack 400? You might find hooded sweatshirts sell best in Montana and tanktops are the top seller in Georgia.

The second thing would be to make the check out more like a regular store. Instead of having the tables perpendicular to the check out line I would make it parallel. Look at Costco, Wal-Mart, Trader Joe's or any other mass retailer. They make the checkout line parallel so that everyone is forced to walk by all the impulse items (the key chains, pens, pocket knives, etc.) And, they make it quick and easy.

The DVD Displays

I would maximize dvd sales for a number of reasons. One, it creates loyalty. Two, let's face, the first dvd in any series takes thousands of dollars to produce, the second and everyone after that, probably costs less than ten dollars. I would look at a trade show where videos are sold and see how they display dvds. Stacking them up on a table, laying flat doesn't seem to me the most appealing. It's more like a bake sale. And the TVs. We had four TVs, and what 15 dvd titles? Hey, dvd players are cheap now. Those tv's were big, bulky and the boxes used to transport them were taped together with so much tape it wasn't funny (Well, it was actually). Again, proper merchandising would save space and sell more product.

The Merchandise and Displays

I wouldn't carry anything in a cardboard box - or very little. If it's going on the truck it better have a hard case. I would look at how the circus travels or at other shipping options that provided more uniform containers for transporting. It would not only make loading and unloading easier, there would be less breakage during transportation. I'd have a talk with Martin Saddle. Those saddle boxes should be at least 250 lb test. Not one of the saddles we had were in an intact box. They were falling over every time we tried to stack them.

And, again I would look at trade show technology. They make custom displays for almost everything. It's sturdy, attractive and easy to transport. The heavy metal display racks we used were good, but they were a pain in the ass to put in the truck.

The Show

Here's where you have to determine if you want to focus only on new customers or give established customers a reason to come out again. The three tour stops I've seen were basically the same. Calm down. I'm not saying that's a bad thing. I learn or remember something I should be doing every single time I see Clinton. But, this particular weekend there was another horse expo a hundred miles from us in a different direction and our friends went to that expo because "They had already seen Clinton."

So what could be done with the format of the show? Here's the beauty of the real-time sales data I mentioned above. You could plug in different segments and, because you're keeping track of what's selling and when, you can tell if the segment works or not.

Again, not sure how the details would work but, what if the colt starting demo was with a colt who had been through the Handling Weanling and Yearling Series? We all know what the problem child looks like. What about one that had been started correctly? Maybe it wouldn't be dramatic but it would show greater possibilities for a horse handled well as a yearling. Perhaps two colts starting, one with training, one without.

What if there was a riding demo that included a rider who had taken their horse through the dvd series? Clinton's great, but he has a lifetime of experience. I want to know if someone like me can do it and showing a regular person, on their own horse would demonstrate that. And, wouldn't it motivate the crowd that, if the selected horse and rider were so good, Clinton switched horses? I remember the first time my parents let me drive the "new" car. I really felt like I arrived. Getting to ride Mindy or Diaz - wow!

So, there's more, but these were the things I thought were worth mentioning. This allows me to dump my brain so I can start daydreaming about something else like who will I choose to sire the foal I'll take to the futurity. My mare is a great granddaughter of Jessie James. Jessie James is in Mindy's bloodlines as well and if she could do it....

An Epiphany

epiphany: a sudden, intuitive perception of or insight into the reality or essential meaning of something, usually initiated by some simple, homely, or commonplace occurrence or experience.

We had Tivo'd Chris Cox's show and it was a repeat. There was nothing else on so we decided to watch it. It was one with October Hill farms. They breed and train horses for the highest level of dressage. Chris showed the place off first, then they had a horse they were having a problem with. Now, this has to be a million dollar facility. The owner has horses and trainers and a beautiful facility. She probably has decades of experience with horses. She had taken this horse to the Grand Prix level of dressage.

She was having a problem with this eleven year old fighting the bit, charging, and being nervous. Chris got on and did one of his most basic maneuvers, flexing with one rein. He then did his vertical collection exercise, again one of his most basic exercises. The horse started to behave like it was supposed to in a very short time and that's when it hit me: It's not how much you know, it's how much you know well.

Clinton Anderson has probably everything one needs to know about horses distilled in two series of DVD's all I need to do is study them until I know them completely. I'm likely to never get to work five horses a month to gain the experience someone else has, but I don't need to. My experience will most likely be with one horse, my horse Jessie. I can do the best for her if I know what's on those DVDs inside and out.

I had had my first horse Tex for about nine months. When I started riding him he occasionally would kick up and sometimes even buck. It was a sissy-kicking buck and I never felt unsafe. Well, I eventually had to put Tex down due to severe navicular in both front feet, but he taught me alot. One afternoon we were out riding and I wanted to lope small circles. He didn't want to. I insisted. He had enough. He dropped his head and gave a buck I never knew he had in him. I hung on for the first one, but he was determined to get me off. He bolted a few steps, turned, bucked, dived, bolted again, stopped and bucked and I came off. It probably didn't last more than ten seconds. Now, up to that point I had taught him the one rein stop and he knew "whoa" so well he was almost sliding to a stop. Did I try either of those things in that ten seconds? No. I knew them, but I didn't know them well.

As humans once we get the concept of something we want to move on to the next. I started with disc one of Gaining Respect and couldn't wait until I got to disc two, then three, then the next series. It takes practice, practice, practice to become really good at these techniques. And, yeah, you have to fight the boredom of repetition and find ways to keep your horse engaged, and that's just another challenge. I heard the Beatles played the same dive in Liverpool for over a year, two shows a night, six nights a week. They were probably bored at times too, but they also used that experience to hone their skills.

There was an old horseman, Bill, who ran an automotive shop next to our store. His dad had started it. Back in those days someone would come in for a tune-up and Bill's dad would change out the parts that were needed. Bill tells the story that when the customer came to pick up their car and ask how much, Bill's dad would start by saying, "Well, the labor was five dollars, let's see I changed some plugs, that's eight dollars, some wires another two to make it ten, tuned the carb add four dollars..." and he would keep going until the customer said, "Wow, that much, eh?" That's kind of my impression of the horse industry. There's always more you need to add and there are plenty of people to sell it to you. I think I have all the necessary tools to get a good, soft, well-broke horse I can use for anything I chose. My job is to learn how to use those tools as completely and efficiently as possible and that's what I going to try and do.