Fancy’s Spur Refinement Horsemanship Lesson

Early Susan spur rule, in effect at least 18 years before Fancy was born:  Don’t use spurs until you can ride bareback with spurs. Translation into English:  Humans should not achieve balance while riding by holding on with the legs and feet.  When becoming unbalanced on a horse, one should not clamp the horse’s body with a spur death grip.  It might end in a condition called run-away-horse-dumped-rider. Your favorite rider, me, adhered to that rule. Fancy is much more advanced in her spur rule:  “Do not touch me with your spurs.”  She is teaching me…

Bit and Spurs

Fancy is the age to graduate from a snaffle bit and go into a curb bit. I have been setting up the Wonder bit as a snaffle. Today I changed where the rein fits on the bit and poof, she is wearing a curb bit. Yee Haw! I self-graded C- to C at keeping my one hand grip on the reins. It’s very tough to cast aside one entire arm. The used arm gets upset as it is being asked to perform precision light handling of the horse’s mouth through…

Bucked Off ”Boothie” Today

I landed on my feet. You know what incredible balance I have and how much of a super athlete I am! My feet were already on the ground when the bucking occurred. I was just getting settled into the comfy seat of a shiny black booth. The bucking show occurred in a restaurant I frequently graze at. The seat was ajar! Being a good hand with booths, I settled the seat. The padded seat is a separate part of the booth. It fits into the booth structure. It took a…