I’ve got to give Lee credit. He never hesitates to tell folks that without me he’d just be one more reenactor out there in a cowboy hat and boots. I’m glad he recognizes that fact. I’m getting him pretty well trained.
Anyway …… I’m a Thoroughbred and as blue-blooded as they come. I’m a race track rescue horse that stands an impressive 17 hands and weighs over 1300 lbs. In 2007, at the age of 7, I had a bad accident in a race. That usually ends a racing career. Oh, I had no permanent physical injuries but a wreck like that usually affects us race horses mentally … we tend to get too cautious in a race. Be that as it may, Lee found me through a trainer friend, Rosie Snell, who owns River Ridge Farm. After a year of healing, loafing, and learning how to be a horse again, Lee started re-educating me in the centuries old tradition of the Spanish Vaqueros (cowboys). I spent a couple of years in the jaquima (hackamore) till I fully understood what I needed to know to be Lee’s partner. Only then was Mike Vatalero of Hopland, California commissioned to custom make a Spanish Spade Bit that properly and comfortably fit my mouth and I graduated to the two-rein (both jaquima and bit). Everything I learned in the jaquima was patiently transferred to almost imperceptible signals on the bit. As long as I paid close attention and things were going well Lee would send me signals (or cues) through his body, his legs, anddthe bit. But, if any more than just a touch was required he would go to the jaquima to prevent hurting my tender mouth. After several months I graduated to what is known as a “bridle horse“. A horse trained in this tradition responds to the lightest feather touch that can be imagined. Not only that, it is allowed to retain every bit of it’s natural spirit and zest for life. Lee says, “It’s like driving a high performance sports car. Whatever you want is there and at a touch.” Sadly, very few horses today receive this type of training for two reasons; (1) It takes years of study and practice for a trainer to perfect the training techniques. Then, (2), on top of that, it takes years of patient work with the horse. I’m a very fortunate horse.
(click the photos to enlarge)
Oh no you don’t ………
At ease in a crowd
I don’t know who has the most fun, us or the kids.
I do a darned good job of working with cattle, carrying flags in parades, and entertaining audiences as Lee’s partner … even if I do say so myself.
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Living Historians Lee Anderson and Concho 