Horsemanship Lessons From Ray Hunt

One time I was watching Ray ride this little gray and white paint. He was loping circles, and doing flying lead changes, and to this day, I have never seen a more effortless change, from Olympic horses, to reiners, bridle horses, etc. I said wow, Ray, that was nice! He said, not bad for the first time I loped her in a circle. I said, I hope I can do that one day. He said you don't want to do that, you want to do it like you do it. It took me years to understand that, and while it was still the most beautiful lead changes ever, I understand and enjoyed talking to Ray about those differences, While he will always be the ultimate, it was a pleasure to become me through his tutelage. 

The second was a time, with a horse I was riding, and he was wanting to buck, and run away with his owner. Once I got on, he would do his "thing," and I would do a one-rein stop. Ray would say, circle him circle him. The next time, I would circle him, and Ray would say, one-rein stop, one-rein stop, This went on for days, and the horse got over it, but it soooo seemed like I was always on the horse backwards or something. Then several years later again, I understood. I asked Ray, and told the story, and told Ray the times I did a one-rein stop, I had already gotten to the feet, so there was no need to stop the horse and go through that all over, and the times I circled, there was no connection to the feet. Ray said, it's like Tom said, it's about the feet, the feet, THE FEET.

The third was a horse that bucked a fellow off a few times, and his wife had asked me to get on, It was on the edge, but I was just in sync and would be there right when Ray gave a direction. The horse never bucked with me and did so good. After that I just couldn't stop learning (imagine that) and asked Ray, should I have done this or that, waited here, or done more there? Ray said when you've had as good of a ride as that, just enjoy it and leave it alone. 

It's amazing, how slow I was, in taking those years to get the simple lessons. As Ray might say, It's amazing how it takes a lifetime to live a lifetime. There are so many stories, and we all have them to share, I look forward to sharing some more around the camp fire. Thanks, Ray. Keep all of us on track and save us a few to start.

Posted in: Hobbies