This past Saturday I started the first day of my apprenticeship with an old friend of my grandfather's. He's well-known in Northern California as a breeder, trainer and competitor of cutting a team penning horses, and he has colts in his barn whose parents I've only ever seen in magazines. I'm excited that I'll be able to ride, and learn from, such high-end performance animals.
Of course, my training is in exchange for labor and, even though they "took it easy" on me for my first day, I came home after nearly thirteen hours of work extremely sore and exhausted. But it was a good feeling that only comes from doing hard work that you love. And I'd much rather be doing ranch work than housework.
Despite all of the good things about the day, I was a little intimidated by so many well-bred horses. Kachina may have a lot of foundation blood, but nothing new or current in the sport right now. Would her breeding put her at a disadvantage in the sport? Was it even worth pursuing?
Sunday, she put my mind at ease as I watched her snaking Tony and Donna's dog Odin, cutting off his bath and herding him out of the paddock. She seemed to really be enjoying herself, working her furry "cow" (who was very confused as he believes it's his job, as a German Shepherd, to be herding her). She may not have fresh blood, but that old blood is still worth something. She has the heart and the cow sense in her. I think she'll be just fine.
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That's awesome that you get to do something like that! I'm a little green with envy over here.
ReplyDeleteAs for Kachina, don't let bloodlines get you down! You'll be learning from eachother and teaching eachother. No amount of blood will be able to get in the way of your teamwork. Just have fun!
Thanks! I know, I feel really fortunate that I have a tie-in with someone like that. He could be charging me thousands of dollars, but instead he's teaching me just for the sake of passing on his knowledge to a younger generation. Very cool.
ReplyDeleteAnd thanks for the encouragement! I'll try to remember all of the other horses who have done amazing things, even though they were underdogs.
And even if Kachina never becomes a great cow horse, she's still a fantastic horse.