Many years ago we adopted this phrase that we call SIX little words to live by “I didn’t think that would happen!” Just when we thought we had seen everything that could possibly happen in a meriad of situations, surprise!

Allen’s tough practice session

Allen was rehearsing his Circus Style Liberty Act for a very large county fair in Wyoming with 3 horses. Our ring was set up and looked great. Red, white and blue pennants were strung on the stands and there were a few onlookers. One of the horses became distracted and took off gingerly (well ok, a dead run) in a straight line toward his object of his attention. As he ran, he dragged a few of the flags AND stands behind him. He ran straight toward the onlookers…I was frozen in fear thinking of the several children in the small crowd. Allen reacted quickly though and said “Dos, Cookie Time” at which his horse skidded to a stop and came in for his treat! It took 15 minutes or so before my heart rate lowered.  

Sue’s big SURPRISE at BreyerFest

I was performing a Liberty routine with Lady C and we were in a very large indoor arena. We had a great first performance and had a packed house of onlookers. In the middle of the performance, someone at the far end of the arena raised a roll down door. The sunlight streamed in, horses in the holding area were whinnying and Lady C lost her concentration, jumped out of the ring and made a mad dash for the opening. Embarrasing, to say the least. My helpers easily brought her back to the ring, closed the door and we finished the act with a lead rope on. The audience was good humored and applauded the situation.

A Break out in Belton

Allen had his stallion, Hasan and co-performers, two mares at a large presentation at the Belton county exhibition center. The Liberty act was going well when Hasana, one of the mares decided to take off toward a group of horses at the other end of the arena. Of course, as she darted, she took most of the portable ring of stands and flags with her. The other two horses stayed quietly on their pedestals as Allen walked the length of the area to retrieve her. She was determined to stay errant until she heard the magic words, “Cookie Time”. 

After that we made a lot of jokes among our friends about our mare named Cookie Time.

A good BLOOPER from Dos

At the Lincoln County Cowboy Symposium we had a good crowd for the Liberty Act and demonstration. Allen’s three horses were performing perfectly. One of the best tricks in the act was always perfromed our lead horse, Navbegador. He would mount a pedestal by verbal cue from Allen, turn around, back up and sit on his bean bag. This was always a crowd pleaser!

On this particular day, Allen was engaging our large audience and had his back turned to the horses. Of course, they are somewhat like children and it’s not a great idea to turn one’s back to them during a performance. Dos, who had NEVER performed or even been taught Navegador’s big trick, walked over and pushed Gador out of the way where he was staged for the trick. Dos then proceeded to do the complicated trick, behind Allen’s back. I actually interrupted Allen and asked him to turn around…He was very surprised to see Dos had decided to “steal the show” from Gador. Great example of Allelomimetic behavior-horses learning from horses.

Wasn’t OUR Blooper!

At Breyer Fest, Sue and Lady C were in their last performance of the week. They followed a pretty famous act and all were on a very ridgi d time frame. The performer that Sue and Lady C were following asked his horse to lie down. Well, the horse said NO, very emphatically. Instead of taking his bow and exiting the ring as per scheduled, he struggled for about five full minutes trying to get the horse to lie down…and it was a rather aggressive and unmannerly attempt to attain compliance, which never happened. 

Take away was, keep your assigned time frame and if your horse doesn’t want to comply, save your training for a private session. 

 There are countless more bloopers to relate. The main point we would like to make is- STUFF HAPPENS. Go with the flow and never make your horse look bad in public….

Your horse is your STAR! Be proud and help him be successful!