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Published: April 2nd 2008
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Horse country
The view from the top of the hill If you scrap the glitz and glamour of modern day California and look beneath you can discover the real events that made it the state it is today. It is easy to forget that the Wild West was won here over 150 years ago and that Sam Brannan first struck gold in 1848. The gun slinging days of cowboys that we see in films are now gone. Where cowboys used to cross the perilous wilderness of California to provide cattle with better grazing grounds. Today the job is less dangerous are more central to a ranch with the invention of the motor vehicle, there is no need to trail ride for hundreds of miles across the countryside, however life for a cowboy is still a hard one.
The main thing to remember when going to a Californian ranch is that you are entering cowboy country and any ideas of riding sidesaddle or English style should be discarded. The real way to experience the ranch lifestyle is to stay at a working ranch where you will get to experience Western living firsthand. Many ranches are family owned and have been passed down the generations, most spanning back to the first pioneers of
Meet Midge the narcolepic horse
This is during the first session to determine our skill level. the country. When booking a holiday at a ranch, it is usually full board and full use of horses and equipment is included in
you can tell a true cowboy by the type of horse that he rides
Ranging in experience and skill we were paired up to an appropriately, as it seemed, spirited horse. I was given an old mare called Midge who looked like she could possibly suffer from narcolepsy. Determined to create a bond with my new riding companion I attempted to stroke her and with sudden swing of the head she tried to bite me. The instructor, who was tacking her up, assured me that she was only threatening and wouldn’t actually bite but I was not going to take that risk. So we stood there eyeballing each other, this was not a good start.
When we had all mounted our horses the difference in temperaments was obvious, the horse next to me kept pulling at the reins, jolting the poor girl on its back. The girl was experienced rider you could see she was struggling to stay in control. I was suddenly glad for my narcoleptic horse.
Learning the basics was unexpectedly easy and the horse would react to the slightest touch of the reins. Though Midge did
My attempt at vaulting
As you can see I had much difficulty mounting a rusty barrel, I did not stand much chance on a horse. not disappoint me and midway between an exercise, she would stop. I would look up dumbfounded at the instructor who would say ‘give a kiss and hug’. Ignoring my clicking sounds I found a sharp ‘hug’ from the heels of my boots worked just fine. We went through some more basic exercises like walking over poles, stopping and backing up. All these skills we would use on the last day of camp to do the three mile trail ride down to the beach to drop them off the owner who would take them back for the winter months.
Nature gave us all something to fall back on, and sooner or later we all land flat on it
As well as learning to ride western we were also given the opportunity to do vaulting, which is a form of gymnastic on a horse. To learn the basic forms we used an old barrel appropriately named Rusty, standing side ways on we would have to mount using a single swing of the leg and hop on. This was so much easier said than done. With a helpful push from the instructor I was up. We had to perform three compulsory moves and make up a third and in true journalistic style I decided to ‘vogue’ it, then I was ready
Timber the vaulting extraordinaire
The move that she is doing here is called the Stand. Not as easy as it looks, the vaulter must stay in this position for four strides at a canter. for the real horse. The obvious big hindrance on a horse was that it was moving and was considerably taller than the barrel. I completed my three moves and allowed the professionals to have a go. Timber who demonstrated for us, stood at nearly full height with arms stretched out. She then lowered herself to perform which can only be described as a mans’ gymnastic exercise on a pummel horse, legs swinging around with arms lifting at the appropriate times to allow full rotation of the legs. For the piste de resistance she did a forward roll off the back of the horse and all at the speed of a canter.
Before coming to California the activity on the top of my list to accomplish was to ride a horse and it certainly live up to my expectations. Doing the trail ride down to the beach was the biggest reward I could have expected and topped off my last few weeks in America. It was such a serene feeling walking down the mountain top, with my now confident swagger atop a horse but it also was accompanied by a feeling of poignancy because my time with a lot of the
Saying goodbye
The last trail ride to the beach to drop the horses off people I had been working with over the summer was now coming to an end. There was also a huge sense of accomplishment after learning all summer and single handedly ridding a horse down the mountain. I left the ranch as a honourary cowgirl who didn’t tame the Wild West but an extremely narcoleptic horse.
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