Lesson for April - Lesson for May
Lesson for August
    I want to start off by apologizing for the absence of “lessons” through the summer months. The saying “make hay while the sun shines” is sure enough true and got the better of me the last few months. I’ll work harder on making the time to get a lesson up every month... Be Considerate
    It’s sure nice to have a horse paying attention to us and is willing to respectfully try anything we ask anytime we ask it. That’s the kind of horse we all want, what we’re all working toward. Reality though can be far different, even with a good, well trained horse. The world of both the horse, and us, is far larger than just our interaction with our horse. The rest of the picture should be taken into consideration too.
    We all have good days and bad days, days when things just don’t go right, moods, unforeseen events or personal problems. We deal with all these things and many more on a daily basis. We still have to interact with our families and other around us, but we learn what we should, or should not, venture into as to how we’re doing at that time. For example, if I just got fired from work, had a flat tire on the way home, and I’m dealing with a child who is contemplating dropping out of college.. well, I’d say that’s not a good evening to invite the neighbors over for a barbeque. It night be a good night for a walk instead. There will be a better time for a barbeque another evening. Similarly we should be able to look at our relationships with our horses the same way. They all have “life” going on too. It’s up to us to be able to read them well enough to know how much we should be asking.
    Many of you have seen my stallion, King, at my clinics. He is a laid back, very respectful horse who willingly gives his attention toward me and my requests. One particular day this spring though, I was riding him to gather a bull out of some pretty rough country near the Montana line. He was having a difficult time focusing on the job at hand. Beyond that, he was heavy on my requests and just seemed out of it. My first reaction was to be a little frustrated with his behavior, but as I thought about the whole picture I could be more compassionate to him and the “life” he was going through. You see, spring is breeding season and just the day before I had taken 5 mares away from him, back to their pasture. King seemed depressed and lonely. He was love sick! I started looking closer it was like he was saying “hey, I’m just having a tough time dealing with all of this right now. I’m going through a lot of stuff here”. I finished up the work by asking less of him and not expecting as much out of him.
    When I got him home, he immediately started looking for the girls. I decided to not ride him again for several days. He just needed to work through things in his life. The next time I rode him he was back to his old self.
    Now don’t confuse what I’m telling you with making excuses for your horse’s behavior. We don’t want to make excuses for them. Just remember they have a life too, and the more of that life we take into consideration, the better the relationship we can create with our horse.
    Take care,

    Kirk

To contact us:
Phone: 307-217-2928 Cell: 307-217-2928 Email: bitokingranch@hotmail.com
4559 US Hwy 87 Banner, Wyoming 82832

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