And I was fortunate to have him visit our area not 15 minutes from my house!
What did I think?
It was a four day seminar and I audited it (meaning I watched from the sidelines). Listening to him explain what he does and watching him perform with his horse is amazing. The horse becomes his legs and Buck's cues look effortless and are miniscule. He said his 3-1/2 horse rode (above & below) was green broke... Well, she was amazing. I enjoyed his stories and his "politically incorrect" banter and his teaching, but I think if you were a rider, his classes were too big (20+) to give immediate feedback, if any at all, per individual. I noticed a number of people continually doing the same "wrong" thing time and again. It seems to me he needed a few "ground" assistants to carry through his instructions effectively.
After lunch, they had the cattle reigning activity. First, he instructed and showed everyone how to use another horse and rider as the "cow" and practice that way. I think the majority of horses had fun with this, once they caught on. Of course, most of the moves that were practiced in the morning class were put in to use here.
Buck "thanking" his horse for a job well done.
Would I go audit another Buck seminare. Definitely, yes. Would I participate as a horse and rider? Not so sure.
I like Buck a lot but I'm not a fan of big groups - hard to get the individual attention and feedback you need.
ReplyDeleteOne of the things I like a lot about riding with Mark Rashid is that most of his clinics are one-on-one, where he takes only 8 horse/rider pairs for an entire clinic and spends at least a full hour each day with each pair. Some of his clinics are small groups - I've never ridden in one of those although I have been to a couple of week-longs in CO - again very small groups - no more than 8, where you still get a huge amount of individual coaching.
Another perspective of natural horsemanship is a good thing, don't you think?
ReplyDeleteOh nice pictures! I hate big groups for riding and learning purposes-
ReplyDeleteI have attended many clinics over the years. Unfortunately some were not good teacher/communicators- which is frustrating and scary ( especially if you have a young or uneducated mount!) I only attended one that was biased to "good breeding" and not
taken by 'reforming' trail/older lesson horses...Yuck!
What a great opportunity for you. I wouldn't mind auditing his clinic.
ReplyDeleteSounds like you had a nice time auditing. I wouldn't ride in a clinic that big, but I guess that's how you make your money. I think Mark Rashid's clinics sound more to my liking. He's actually the only natural horsemanship guy I can get on board with.
ReplyDeleteThe more options the better. I have never heard of Mark Rashid. I'll take a look at him, thanks. I also just purchased a Clinton Anderson book and I really like it... someone said he was really rough, but I'm not seeing that in the book.
ReplyDeleteI figure if you walk away with a few new ideas or reinforcing things you may have forgot, well, that's great. And that is exactly what happened while I was at Buck's clinic.
Whoa, that is so awesome! I just watched his movie last week and really enjoyed. it.
ReplyDelete