Driving Horses

On Wednesday Betsey took us on a field trip to Sequim, WA to visit her horse trainer. We had been hearing about John since we have arrived. Descriptions about how good he is with horses, Betsey talking about him when working with her horses saying that John would never allow this, or the horses would never think to cross him like that. Brian has a little dog bo-bo who travels around with him during the week, he got a hair cut and they forgot to do his face, and since then they have been calling the dog John because he looks like he has a large mustache. From all of these stories we were all not quite sure what to expect when we would actually meet him. 

We arrived at the farm in the late afternoon. It was about a one and a half hour drive through the mountains after a morning of pruning grapes and weeding garlic. The day was cloudy, rainy and cold. When we got there John was busy meeting with two gentleman about a horse (no that is not a reference for a bathroom visit). One of the guys was wearing a 10 gallon hat and looked like he looked like a stereotypical cowboy who said things like howdy, dandy, ma'am, etc. They stood around for a bit and talked about the upcoming horse drafting auction, the four of us  stood there kind of in awe not sure what to think or what we would be getting into. Eventually Betsey broke off and introduced us to a foal who was tied up not too far away from us. He was stuck standing in a stall with his halter attached to the wall and a rope hooked on to his bound tail. He was antsy, small with soft hair and a small mane. He kept trying to swing around to check us out with his small beady eyes, so cute! Eventually the two other gentleman left and John came over to meet us. We all introduced ourselves and shook his very calloused, rough, strong hand. He began by introducing us to the small foal whose composure immediately changed when he walked over, standing still as a statue. He explained that the reason he was tied up by not only his head but his tail was to teach him patience, and to teach him to stand. His tail was bound to keep it from growing too long as a safety precaution. By binding up the tail it would keep it short and help prevent the horse from being able to clamp up their tail catching reins or other parts of the harness removing the control from the driver. 

From there we took a tour of the farm, checking out his large garlic patch, listening to Betsey scold him for not weeding enough. We then got to what we drove there for which was learning how to drive draft horses. Betsey split off and got to weeding the garlic (they were doing a work trade- him teaching us, her weeding). He walked around introducing us to his horses which there were 10 or 15. First we met his stallion. He was a huge black horse with a mane that completely covered his face so he looked like a rocker from the 80's. Since we had been there he hadn't moved a muscle, probably sleeping. But as John approached his ears perked up. John showed us how he ground trains his horses by demonstrating different commands such as coming when he motioned, stopping abruptly, turning to the right or left, backing up, all by following only small flicking motions from Johns hand. It was so amazing to watch John, who is probably in his sixties, about 5'10" with a soft teasing voice command this 1,500 pound huge majestic horse. We walked out to the pasture and met the other horses, each of them with a distinct personality which was so interesting to see. John explained how he could identify each of their personalities when they were fowls based on their facial structure and eyes. If the top of their eyes was nice and round they were smart, flat and crooked meant dumb. A bump on their nose was also a sign of stupidity, but a flat forehead and flat nose was a sign of high intelligence. Other features that I can't remember right now were signs of a potentially stubborn horse, obedient, easy to teach, moody, strong, etc. 

He walked us through grooming and harnessing a horse. Then we got a lesson on how to drive a horse using rope reins. He liked to talk, and would go on for quite awhile about specific factors of horse training which is amazing to listen to, especially since he himself has never had any formal training. All that he knows has come from experience, and much of the basis of what he does comes from his experience training great danes; I guess horses are the next step up right? Eventually he hooked up Samantha to a sled that had stacks of hay for seats and let us take the reins. At first we all had some difficulty, its so odd to get used to what it takes to drive a horse. I had some trouble at first getting the horse to go because I was nervous and holding tight to the reins. To get the horse to move he told us to "give her a kiss." This meant making a kissing noise to get her to start moving, to get her to stop you had to yell out "woah." It was so cold and windy at first that often the reins were shaking from us shivering from the cold, rain and wind. 

We each took turns driving, getting the hang of steering a huge horse around a variety of obstacles. We then loaded up the sled with a large amount of hay and drove out to the pasture to feed the horses. We would just cut the large strings off of the bales and throw out sections of the bale enough for them to eat. It was a little unnerving when we first got into the pasture because all of a sudden you were not only driving a horse but had 10 more following you close behind anxious for dinner. 

We finally finished around 8pm (5 hours outside in the cold!) and headed home. It was such a learning experience, and I am so grateful to continue to meet some amazingly talented people.