Wait, wait, hear me out. Before you go to thinking that I’m a shallow person and it’s just about winning………..
I’m not one of those self motivated, disciplined people with endless energy. OH, I’m very motivated when it comes to participating in clinics and playdays. About 3 weeks before a clinic with Jerry Tindell, I’ll get really, really busy. I’ll make really sure that my basics are good. But get me in between those times, and when I pull into our 1 acre paradise after sitting at a computer for 9 hours, looking at a dirty horse that just wants her dinner, along with the 20 other various hungry critters that have taken up residence at our place, I’m tired before I begin. By the time everyone is fed, it’s about 7. Then it’s time for me to think about the human’s dinner……..After dinner, hubby reminds me that he put lights up for me in back to work in. Ok….. I can harness up, work the horse, clean the stall, grain the horse, take a shower, and get into bed by midnight. Easy.
I know you understand this scenario; you live it too, right? So I will tell you that it’s usually easier to think……..well, I’ll groom tonight, I’ll work the horses on the weekend.
Enter the crazy idea to enter the Winnemucca Draft Horse and Mule Show in Winnemucca Nevada at the end of May. Well, ok, Terry Riley showed me her belt buckle that she won there. I was struck with Belt Buckle envy and entered every single class that had a D (Draft Horse) in front of it. Dropped it into the mailbox, and panic and disbelief set in. What did I do? I have a tendency to be like a runaway freight train when I get an idea. Well, the train left the station without me this time.
Frozen with panic, I headed up to Terri Riley’s beautiful ranch for my training clinic with Jerry. I’ve been training with him for years. With my Clydesdale, Rosebud (Redd Barney’s Desert Rose), we started with Jerry when she was 2.
I wrote about our first clinics a few years back, when Rosebud’s name was “INCOMING”. This was to be yelled by me very loudly as I got dragged across the clinic arena. Rosebud didn’t come to me spoiled; I managed to do that myself!! Bill and I had gone through a devastating loss of our previous Clydesdale to Cancer, and boy did I baby Miss Rosebud when she showed up. I guess you can imagine what happens when you baby a 1500 pound animal. Yep, blisters, broken lead ropes, and practice yelling “INCOMING”. For two years, I’ve been cramming my Clydesdales into a regular two horse trailer to attend Jerry’s clinics in Wilton. I get such confidence from Jerry. I get the motivation to do the things I’ve dreamed of, leaving my safe haven on one acre and venturing out to all day drives, playdays, and now, a show. There’s a whole other story about why we don’t do the clinics in Gilroy, 1 mile from my house. I don’t think the Arabians have stopped having INCOMING nightmares yet…..Back to the present……….
Fast forward to 2 years later, this year. Rosebud has now graduated from INCOMING to bug picking grin Rosebud. It was with excitement and some reservation that I mentioned to Jerry that we were headed for a show in Winnemucca in 30 days. Jerry is a plain spoken; tell it like it is, wonderful trainer. In his subtle way, he informed me “Get to work; you’d better not embarrass me!” Gulp. NO pressure. Jerry’s clinics are always intense, tough work, and this was no different. You get so much out of Jerry’s clinics. He manages to address all the participants training issues, and we all benefit. Of course we start off with the basics, directing our horses’ movement, which is the foundation for all the remaining training. We all got to work on pulling different implements, ground driving, or cart driving.
It could have been my imagination, but I think he worked me extra hard. I was exhausted, and went home with a ton of homework.
So, this is how I get motivation, Jerry’s words ringing in my ears, and knowing that I would have to face him after the show! I have to tell you that for the next 30 days, I think I only missed one or two days of working with Rosebud. I got really efficient at feeding dinner to all critters in record time, relied heavily on Pizza Hut coupons, and went to bed late and filthy most nights. We practiced in the back, with cones. We practiced driving the roads of Gilroy, backing into people’s driveways to simulate the “T” in a gambler’s choice. We drove through every single puddle in Gilroy in case there was a water obstacle. (There wasn’t). We pivoted and backed and pivoted and backed some more. It got to be routine to come home and run outside and harness up. Bill and my neighbor Dan (who was to become my 70 year old stable hand at the show) sweated and planned how to fit everything into the truck and trailer to make the 10 hour trip with 1 vehicle. They put up with my nervous chattering and worrying about what to pack.
The day came to set off for Winnemucca. We had 2 horses, two wagons, 3 rat terriers and three people in one rig. Too fun. We had an easy drive to Winnemucca, and were greeted by Kim Petersen, who runs the show. It’s a fantastic show, and they’re really trying to get as many draft horse people there as they can. It’s also a huge mule show, and has the added attraction of mule racing!!!! I could write 10 pages about the fun we had there. There were some big hitches there, Redd Barney Clydesdales, Mission Bell Clydesdales, Hawkes Clydesdales, and some other breeders. It doesn’t have the competition of Grass Valley, and it’s a great place to start out, or to tune up for the show year! It’s also a hoot to watch the mule shows.
Right away I got to see if my foundation with Rosebud was solid. Turns out the show arena is inside of the mule racing track. This means you wait until the racing mules with their screaming jockeys go by before you can cross the track. The mules are wearing neon colors, the jockeys are standing in their stirrups as they blaze by. Rosebud didn’t think much of it, and with Dan and Bill, I made it across the track to practice. Friday I found out that my enthusiastic pen had signed me up for barrel racing. I told Bill and Dan that I was going to scratch and just concentrate on the driving classes the next day. NO way, said Bill. We didn’t drive all this way to have you scratch. He saddled Rosebud and slapped my helmet on. They both walked me over to the arena, with my heart in my throat.
I’m sure you realize that barrel racing isn’t exactly lightning speed on a draft horse, but I was still apprehensive. (No, I was terrified!) I got in the arena, and heard Jerry’s words in my head. I trotted the first barrel, and by that time was having so much fun that we galloped the other barrels and out of the arena. That’s the first time I’ve gone that fast on Rosebud! For 50 years, I’ve wanted to be a cowgirl, and this was as close as I’d ever come! The picture bears it out; through the dust you can see my grin a mile away.
The fear had been replaced by the joy of having the training pay off. Not just the previous 30 days, but the 2 years of leading, directing, ground driving, pulling sleds, poles, tires, all planned for me by Jerry.
The next day’s classes went as well, I was so proud of Rosebud and our hard work that got us there. A lot of the mule people at the show knew Jerry, and I was happy that we didn’t embarrass him! Turns out that I did win the belt buckle. But you see, it wasn’t about the belt buckle, but the sense of accomplishment, a goal that was met, challenges overcome. Oh, you want to see the belt buckle? Where did I leave that belt buckle? Oh, that’s right, it’s under my pillow.
Thanks Jerry. I’m living my dreams.
