By Elisha Bradburn Photos by Denver Deschenes I am hoping if you have had a chance to read a couple of my previous articles you are starting to see a bit of a theme to the articles. For now, and for our purposes, I will sum the articles up to date as focusing on the qualities of a horseman. You may notice that there isn’t a lot of academic direction, techniques, or exercises I recommend in the articles so far. Elisha and Boone navigating obstacles at James Creek Ranch
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hile all of the aforementioned things are important, what I hope to impart with this article series is something else. What I hope to leave with you is both more and less attainable than writing about a particular exercise or technique, and how that might improve your horsemanship. It is more attainable because horseman or not, these attributes, when actively cultivated, work in all facets of life. They help us be better people, and better people are better horseman. So, you can work on these things, no matter your current skill level, and you may already possess these attributes if you have always given some thought to personal growth. What I hope to impart is also less attainable than a purely academic article, because you have to really have to want in the deepest, truest, part of yourself, to be a better person. It requires more of you, than to just want the skills or techniques to get the desired results from the horse. It requires humble self examination and ownership of the state of the relationship you currently have with your horse. Then, to whole heartedly, unselfishly, and vulnerably seek to grow all of these qualities in yourself. The coolest thing is, like God, horses are full of grace. They freely forgive us when we fall short of these qualities, lose our patience, and run out of knowledge or skill. So, with this grace, we can keep going, even when we slip up. A friend of mine says that we can only do the best we can with what we know at the time. This saying has helped me be patient both with myself, and others. It is never too late to do better. That leads well into the quality I want to run by you this month, faithfulness. Horsemen need to be very faithful to be able to harvest growth in themselves and their horses. Faith in horsemanship is one of those crucial intangibles. You need to be able to picture the desired outcome with your horse and then go forth and execute it. Sure, you
