Some Images from the Bakersfield Event

Below are a few images I got from the Bakersfield event:

This is Fluffy, our resident trench rodent on the American side. Fluffy was a real trooper even witht the 90 degree plus temperatures and required no water whatsoever!

This is a scene of the living area I set up for myself. I even made up a location sign based on a landmark in the City of Orange, California- Orange Plaza. A good part of Co. G, 364th Infantry was recruited out of Southern California including Orange, Santa Ana, San Diego, Santa Barbara and Los Angeles. Sorry for the poor image quality- the sun was extremely bright.

A picture of my compadre Chris.


And here's me.

Hey Bud, Got a Carrot For Me?

A friend of mine sent this picture of Max to me while I was out of town in Bakersfield. I thought it was humorous... :-)

History of Heroes - WWI Event Report - Part 1

Well, it's Monday and I'm back from the "History of Heroes" event in Bakersfield. My compadres and I provided the WWI portion of the event and it was probably the best WWI event we've had since we lost (well, more precisely walked away from) our permanent battle site out at Jackrabbit Trail in Riverside County back in 2004.

The event is organized by the Kern Veterans Memorial Foundation and the purpose of the event is to raise money for the Kern Veterans' Memorial. The event site itself is at the Kern County Museum.

I took Friday off of work to have enough time to work on getting the trench system for the first public battles on Saturday (the organizers had a backhoe big out the trench systems for both the Allies and the Germans the week before).

After having stopped off at the stable to check on Max and turn him out for awhile, I then proceeded to drive up north through the Grapevine. Luckily for me, the water pump on the van held and I had no trouble with engine overheating (yay!).

When I pulled into the event (after having to deal with the crappy instructions that the event organizers had posted on their web site), I knew this was going to be fun- it was hotter than the proverbial "Hubs of Hades" and temperatures were in the mid-90s all through the weekend. In contrast to last year, I was the only one there and the prospect of having to begin work on the Allied lines in the hottest part of the day did not exactly appeal to me.

After taking time to fortify myself with Gatorade (drank ALOT of that during the weekend), I started work by working on the sleeping quarters and after fits and starts, managed to create a fairly decent temporary "hooch" for myself. Since nobody else was there, I pretty much decided to make it my own and it wasn't bad for what it was. I managed to nail together various scrap wood and soon had an improvised roof frmed together finished off with my shelter half.

"Reinforcements" didn't arrive until after 7:00 so much of the sandbagging and the like was done by myself with some help from the event organizer staff. They went well out of their way to help provide needed materials, even going as far as to order up 600 burlap sandbags (which was a definate improvement from the modern polyester white sandbags we had the year before). It's a real pain filling sandbags by yourself but I managed to sustain this until about 12 Midnight when I finally went to sleep.

The next morning dawned bright and early and soon the temperature started to rise (it didn't cool down at night until about 3 AM). Soon, what few Allied reenactors showed up so I put them to work fixing up the front line. We were outnumbered by the Germans about 3-1 and that was after a couple of the Germans switched uniforms and gear and "galvanized" as Allied soldiers. All told, we had 2 French, 1 British, 1 Indian and 4 US reenactors. It was a good illustration of the problems we've been having attracting and retaining Allied reenactors.

More to follow...

WWI Event in Bakersfield

I have a short week this week since I'll be attending a living history timeline event in Bakersfield this weekend. I'll be going in my WWI infatry impression as a private of Co. G, 364th Infantry, 91st Infantry Division. Co. G was recruited mostly from Southern California so it's definately got a local historical tie.

I'll be driving up tommorow to start preparing our battlesite. The event organizers are digging trenches (sure beats doing them by hand!) and we'll have to do the finishing work- sand bags, barbed wire and the like. We should have 4 or 5 Americans so hopefully we'll be able to get our side together. It seems that more and more, it's resting on my compadre Chris and I to do everything. Since Chris can't get to the event before Saturday aftgernoon, it's going to be up to me a far as the US side. What a pain.

There's a lot that I wanted to do but I ran out of time (life get's in the way again!). The weather is going to be hot- no surprise for Bakersfield. Hopefully, I'll have some pictures to put up when I get back.

Here's a link to the event:

http://www.historyofheroes.com/index.htm

At the Front with the 2nd Chevauleger

Here's a couple of pictures from a WWI reenactment that I did out at Jack Rabbit Trails in Riverside, California in April 2004. This was the last event we ever had out here. Unfortunately, the vandals finally proved too much and it was too much work repairing the constant damage and destruction.

This was one of the main Bavarian defensive positions. We nicknamed it "Bayreuth" after the famous Bavarian town (especially for all you Wagner fans!).

Here's a close-up of me in the position. We protrayed the 3rd Squadron of the 2nd Chevauleger Regiment (Bavarian Light Cavalry). Although they remained mounted throughout the war, they would take their place in the rotation and would serve for roughly three weeks at a time as infantry in the main line of defense. The rest of the time they were used for provost marshall duties and as messengers.

This was a fun living history impression to do but unfortunately, it pretty much died out when we lost the battlesite. The membership simply lacked the dedication and committment to continue on so I decided to start doing American.

Unfortunately, I now have a closet full of uniforms and equipment that are unuseable- it sucks being an "army of one" and there are too many odd cavalry items to be able to fold into the one German infantry unit still in existence out here. It's a long story and I'm still a bit irritated with the whole thing but I'll save that for another day.

It was fun while it lasted. Enjoy!

North American Trail Conference Ride (or Something New for Max to Do)

Yesterday, the lady who owns the stables where I board Max asked me if I would be interested in taking Max to a trail riding competition. The whole idea is to complete a 25 mile trail and you are judged on horsemanship, tack turn-out (i.e. how well maintaned and clean you tack is), and completion.

Unlike endurance, this is not a speed contest and you are judged more on horsemanship than anything else- basically you are called upon to do various tasks such as stepping over a log or backing up. Also, there are several vet check points where the horses' pulse and respiration are checked- if they're too high, the horse is pulled from the event.

Basically, this would provide a great oppotunity to once again get Max out somewhere new and give him some more trailering experience (especially since we're looking at taking him up north in August to Morro Bay). Also, this is an overnight event, so experience will be gained in this area. Hopefully everything will go smoothly and no disasters will occur (the trailer is a big one).

Max seems pretty fit but I'm a bit nervious, especially with the new saddle- I haven't ridden more than a couple of hours in it at any one time so it's a big question mark. So far, there appear to be no issues but you never know. Also, since my normal trail riding partner has been unable to ride due to a knee injury, I haven't been able to do longer distances. Well, there is the vet check points...

The ride itself is called the Californio Ride and it's on the weekend on May 12, 2007 so there isn't a lot of time to get prepared. We'll see how this goes...more later.

This Week In Review (or make the weird weather go away!)

Yeah, it's been a week since I last posted but I've just been too tired and unmotivated. Such is life...

Anyway, we experienced some high winds last week with a bit of a cooling trend to include intermittant raid. Just the kind of weather guarantted to get the horses all buzzed up and occassionally unmanageable. Great.

Anyway, I wasn't able to get a lot of riding in last week due to a chaotic work schedule and life in general but I was able to work Max a bit and remind him that he does have a job he's expected to perform on occassion and that Spring Break doesn't last until Labor Day.

This last Saturday I had to work most of the day so I didn't make it to the stables until about 3:30 in the afternoon. The wind for blowing fairly steady and cool so I decided to take him for a short ride down the wash and then cut accross towards the Orcas Arena, without crossing the river, and back home again.

For the most part, Max was a good boy although I had to urge him on a bit (he gets lazy on occassion). I've also started using spurs again but only on weekend days but VERY carefully- the rub spots are beginning to have hair grow back in so I don't want to mess it up.

While riding behind the Equestrian Center, I heard some loud voices coming from the general direction of a trail thats located accross a small valley (from the trail behind the Equestrian Center, you have a pretty good vantage point and you can see almost the entire Hansen Dam basin). I then noticed three horses with riders galloping after another horse that only had a saddle- looks like someone got dumped.

I thought great, windy day and buzzed up horses- a good recipe for disaster. I quickly spurred Max and got him going down the trail and away from the action- the last thing I want happening is for Max to feed off the action and start getting stupid. He didn't seem to notice and we soon got out of sight and hearing of the that group.

We finally returned to the stable and on the way, I would halt him now then and make him stand for about a minute or so. Max knew he was on the way home and I was purposely working him so he had to do things he didn't necessarily want to do. In the past, Max tended to start getting impatient if you stop him for too long on the trail and especially when your headed back to the stable.

I've been working on breaking Max of his impatience and I think we've had some success. I also made it a point to ride past the gate and then turn around and ride by the gate going in the opposite direction and then further on. The basic idea is that I'm training him that things are not always predictable and that he needs to listen.

Sunday found me out at the stables a lot earlier so I decided to do some arena work and then head down trail on out usual route. Max was very good on the arena work and he was soon giving me a nice forward trot, good leg yields and I was able to get in some good serpentines at both the trot and canter. I use a combination of neck reining and two-handed reining.

As a reward of sorts, we rode down the wash and towards the Orcas Arena. I then decided on a change in itinerary because there seemed to be a lot of people working horses in the arena (when its windy and you have a number horses together, it can sometimes get a bit dicey) so I decided to take a trail that leads over the river. We proceeded on sort of a long loop that eventually lead back accross the river and up the wash.

What really stuck out this weekend was the high numbers of rental riders and high number of rental riders doing stupid things- like trying to kick up their mounts into a trot and have them take off while, in most cases, the rider barely stays in the saddle. All it takes in one horse getting excited and the result could be a real disaster. Granted, rental string horses don't tend to be very energenic but you never know

Anyway, overall a good weekend.

More Wind...

The wacky Southern California weather still continues...This last weekend, the wind kicked up again. On Saturday, the wind wasn't too bad at first and I decided to ride one of my usual loops (down the wash, accross the river, make a circuit to the east, recross the river and wind up at the Orcas Arena).

However, as I rode, the wind began to pick up a bit and by the time I was closing in on the Orcas Arena, it there was a strong breeze. Max definately began to perk up and I was carefully watching his body language. Right outside the arena, someone had ponied a few horses and one of them was giving trouble- like in rearing and otherwise carrying on like an idiot. At this point, I decided that I wasn't going to give Max another stimulus so I decided to reverse my direction and head back to the stable by an alternate route (a somewhat lazy route).

Things worked out OK but I could definately sense that it was going to be one of those days where the horses are getting buzzed from the wind (it was a cool wind) and then feed off of each other. It can get pretty dicey sometimes with this.

When I got back to the stable, I met up with one of my compadres and his horse The Mare and proceeded to do some laps around the track. The Mare hasn't gotten out much lately so she was a bit on the edgy side (like all typical Thoroughbreds it would seem...). We completed about 9 laps (roughly 3 miles ) at various gaits including the canter. The canter was the most "interesting" in that Max definately wanted to keep up with the Mare and he wasn't in a mood to listen to me- it took some work to get his attention.

Sunday was lesson day and when I first mounted up at about 8:30 AM, it was still and calm- a beautiful day. However, as I proceeeded to warm up Max, it became increasingly cloudy, cold, and windy. The lesson begain well but the wind began to pick up more. Then Max decided that he didn't want to do things my way and that it was more fun to call out to his horse buddies and carry on like an idiot so he began to fight me on some of the cantering manuevers I was doing, to include bucking and trying to back up.

I managed to settle him and get him re-focused but it was a constant struggle. We managed to complete what we set out to do but it was a real pain. I hate it when Max gets this way.

One thing for sure is that I need to work on my reining more and keep my left hand from crossing the whithers to the right side. I also need to work on my seat position on Max and focusing his attention.

It's not always wise to pick a fight with your horse and you have to choose your fights- the best way to deal with Max's tantrums is to ride it out and make him so simple things until his focus returns. When he gets buzzed up, he's not listening and he then tends to really blow up- the trick it to bring him down and then make him work.

It was definately work and I'm sore today because of it! We'll see about tonight...

As The Wind Blows....

Yesterday I had to stay home to meet with the plumber to look at our waterheater (I'll save that wonderful story for another time). After the plumber had come and gone, I decided to head to the stables to get in some saddletime with Max.

In the course of getting ready to leave my house, I noticed that the wind had begun to kick up a bit. No problem, it happens all the time and usually it's not the same at the stables. I do not like to ride when it's windy because it tends to get the horses buzzed up and they're a bit more excitable, especially when stuff starts flying around. Overall, it's a big pain.

When I arrived at the stables, it was another story- it was a windstorm and of such a magnitude that dust was blowing in clouds and stuff was flying all over. I checked up on Max- he was fine and just observing everything with his herd buddies.

I quickly concluded that it was way too hazardous to ride and even turning him out wasn't a good idea. The wind was blowing dust so hard that I had to slip a bandana over most of my face, leaving just enough room for my sunglasses. I wish I'd brought the dust goggles I used in Columbus along with me.

I hung around long enough to give Max some A&M and Omoline (he was definately up for that, wind or no wind) and then left. It turns out that there was a wind advisory for most of Los Angeles County until 10 PM and it warned of potentially hazardous conditions on the road.

Yesterday was almost a complete loss- I couldn't ride and I couldn't work in the garage (I was going to get some things together for the Bakersfield timeline event). Worse, I was covered in dust and my entire body was gritty and dirty- a nice hot shower fixed that, however.

Hopefully tommorow will be much better- the weather is way too nice otherwise to waste it staying indoors! Let's hope for a let-up in the wind...

The Battle of Shang Loo

Here's some pictures from a miniatures battle I particpated in a few months ago. The scenario was set in the Boxer Rebellion/China Relief Expedition of 1900.

There were US and German forces versus Imperial Chinese and Boxer irregulars. Here's some view of my troops in action. It was a bloody affair (especially after one of the American commanders decided to charge the village with cavalry- not wise!).

Here Co. M, 6th US blindly charges forward to Shang Loo unaware that hidden in the village are Imperial Chinese infantry supported by artillery.

Here's a close-up of Co. M charging forth...can you say Balaclava? Onward to the village of death!

After the disastrous cavalry charge against the village of Shang Loo, the US commander finally wised up and launched a second assault with a company of the 9th US Infantry to take the village.

Meanwhile, on the left flank, more companies of the 9th US Infantry advance supported by a Gatling Gun and another company of the 6th US Cavalry.

Mounted Marines Circa 1920s

Below are some mounted Marines that I painted up for wargame scenarios set during the "Banana Wars" of the 1920s. The figures are 25/28mm scale and I got them from Cannon Fodder Miniatures of Australia. I did a little conversion work by substituting two Thompson SMGs for the rifles. It's too bad I wasn't able to find Thompsons with the 50-round drum magazine but with miniatures, you learn to work with what you have.

I like the one above especially- the Marine is smoking a cigar and toting a Thompson! It doesn't get much better than this! Too bad it's so hard to obtain the real thing here in Kalifornia.

Organizing a Reenactment/Living History Unit (An Exercise in Masochism)

This has been irritating me for some time so I thought I'd vent a bit about it. Have you ever had this happen:

You and a bunch of your reenacting buddies are sitting around the campfire talking about various period impressions. At some point, someone says "wouldn't it be great to do an xxxx impression". At that point, like a fool, you add : "Sure, let's organize a unit...it would be cool, neat, etc. and there's a whole lot of good living history, etc., etc., etc...." You get the idea.

So now everyone's really enthusiastic and in the ultimate act of self-abuse, you volunteer to do the heavy lifting in organizing a new unit and everyone agrees and they all pledge to help out, etc. For the next few months, you enthusisastically research uniforms, equipment, weapons, etc. and sources for authentic items. You even go as far as to buy certain items in mass quantify that there are no originals for and you wind up investing a small fortune to the point where all you're eating is candybar lunches and raiding the free food trays at work.

Months pass by, you've completed your work and it's now time for everyone to start work on building their impressions and start planning some events.Now, all of a sudden, everyone is unavailable, there's been family emergencies, the dog needs new braces, a meteor fell on the house, Aliens have abducted them, etc. The excuses are as plentiful as grains of sand. Nobody seems to be available or able to carry on. So there you are- you've built your impression, invested a lot of time and $$$$ and you're basically all dressed up with nowhere to go. In short, you're screwed.

Sure, you can carry on and do various living history gigs but let's face it, it sucks being an "Army of One" and looks kind of stupid. To add insult to injury, your buddies have now discovered some other "great new impression", especially one that's cheap and easy to put together (and it looks it) and not necessarily the most authentic.

Even more interesting, when they see you coming, none of them can look you straight in the eye and you get an ocean of embarassed looks. The lesson here is that there's lots of talking but little walking when time comes to step up to the plate and follow through. It's an unfortunate lesson. What's especially galling is that this happens even in spite of all the painstaking efforts you made to make things easy for people to build an impression and get the correct information

It's the typical thing: people talk the talk but can't walk the walk!

I've been burned a couple of times on this and so I tend to take a more passive role in this area. Recently, a friend of mine and I have been going through a smaller version of the above in regard to maintaining a WWI reenactment unit (we do US infantry circa 1917-18). People are long on talk but we just can't get anyone to get off their ass and actually step up to the plate to help, so we're stuck with all the work.

Oh well... I'll have more on this later.

Life with Max

After recovering from the sticker shock of repairing the radiator on my van (and facing the prospect of yet more costs when the water pump finally dies), I decided to work out the stress and relax by riding Max (I only wish Max knew auto mechanics and could repair the van but I think that would be a challenge with hooves...).

So I've managed to get a couple of decent rides in for the last two nights. Nothing serious but I've been paying closer attention to keeping contact with Max's mouth with the reins (using two-handed reining). This is not as easy as it looks! The key is to let the shoulders, elbow, and hands moved back and forth in rythem to the movement of the horse while at the same time, not allowing slack in the reins (i.e. loss of contact).

Also, on turns, you also have to maintain contact. By contact, I mean just enough so you're touching the bars but not so much that you're actually constricting any movement or forcing the horse into an unnatural position. This definately calls for more discipline than neck reining (although it's actually helped improve the neck reining). The trick is to keep your hands quiet and NOT be waving them around.

One of the easiest mistakes to make while neck reining is to let the hand and arm waive around, especially if you're cantering or trying to manuever. Keeping one's hands quiet works in all disciplines, English and Western (watch the Western reiners sometime!). Quiet hands and not moving the bit around will also make for a more calm and compliant horse. Anyway, that's the theory...putting it into action is a lot more tough.

Overall, our rides were good and I like to also take him out on the trail to different spots. I have a set of areas that I ride to in a random order (so that Max doesn't get used to going to the same place every time). I'm also teaching Max to pay attention to me.

I also like to ride Max in a small ring that's not too far away from the stable- it's part of three rings located in Orcas Park. I usually will work him at the canter and practive transitions. Last night, I worked at keeping Max focused even though he was more intent on watching other horses (it's easy to tell when his attention wanders)- sometimes it takes a bit of "reminding" with the crop.

Overall, not bad but I think I'll give him the night off tonight- I'm sore and I'm sure he'll appreciate a break.

My Old Van

Well, I guess it was going to happen eventually but yesterday the radiator on my 1995 Chevy Astro Van finally decided to die in a big way. For some time, the radiator coolent had been slowly leaking and I was hoping against all hopes that I could keep filling it up and limp by until after tax season...but no such luck.

Sunday, while I was driving to the stables, the temperature begain to climb almost to the red line. I turned on the heater (this sometimes will bleed off some of the heat) and limped into the stable. I then popped the hood and checked the coolent level- completely dry! Great, I'd just filled it a couple of days back and figured I was good to go...I filled up the reservoir with water again and then went off to do my riding with Max.

Some five hours later just before leaving the stables, I checked the coolent level again- dry! This is serious. I filled it up again and left for home.

The next day I took the van to the mechanic. After some testing to determine where the leak was located, it was determined that there were two cracks in the radiator (it's made of plastic) and it was obvious it had been spewing coolent all over the engine.

Naturally, the mechanic also recommended replacing the hoses since they had never been replaced since the van was bought in 1995 (it would cost more having to do the job separately). Naturally, I agreed...the thermistat also needed replacement so the bill came out to $450 in total. Crap! And I was hoping to buy some more horse tack for my Punitive Expedition impression!!

I hope Max doesn't get ill or injured...it's not like I'm made of $$$!

This Week's Action

Pretty dull, actually...

Tuesday and Wednesday I worked Max some- nothing heavy duty, just some trotting and cantering finished off by transitions. To be honest, I'm just plain tired and the weather has been gloomy this week- not particularly motivating.

Last night I decided to give Max the night off and catch up on some work around the house. Hopefully, things will brighten up by the weekend and I'll do some more extensive riding.

Where I Ride...

In looking for a map of the trails in the Hansen Dam Basin and vicinity, I came upon a website where someone has taken US Geological Survey maps and modified them a bit. Here's a map of where I do most of my riding:

http://maps.kc6hur.net/pdf/HansenDamShadowhillsLVT.pdf

As you can see, there's quite a few places to ride but you have to be wary of motorcycles, go-carts and ATVs, which are not supposed to be operated there (it's illegal but to some folks, that's just a suggestion and not a mandate- go figure!).

Cabalgata 2007

I found some more pictures of the 2007 Cabalgata. Here's one of Pancho Villa himself:

And another of General Villa at the mueseum at Pancho Villa State Park:

For more pictures, go to:

http://imageevent.com/publicgallery/photography/cabalgatavivavilla2007000

Pancho Villa & You Tube

I came across some interesting videos on YouTube about Pancho Villa entitled Pancho Villa - El mayor de los Dorados:

Interesting pictures from the Mexican Revolution.

Here's another one entitledPancho villa -la persecucion de villa which, judging from the pictures and what little Spanish I know, is celebrating Villa's eluding US forces during the Punitive Expedition:



Even today in Mexico, Villa is considered a hero and by today's standards, he'd be a rock star. Certainly an interesting, if controversial life.

This Last Weekend with Max...

I've been pretty lazy lately...must be the warm weather or something!

Anyway, everything was abuzz at the stable last weekend- two new horses moved in and there was all sorts of work going on as their new stalls were being prepared. The other horses were excited, including Max, but nothing serious. Horses are, next to Cats, the ultimate conservatives and their theme seems to be "we fear change". Hmm, something in that...

Earlier in the week, the weather was pretty up and down and last Tuesday, the wind was blowing something fierce- the stall roofs, which are all made of metal, were rattling and things were flying all about. The horses were buzzed up and especially a new Standardbred Mare that one of my stable companions had just got- she was running around her stall and kicking, bucking, and snorting (but not farting, thank god!).

Well, things settled down and last Saturday, I decided to take Max for an extended trail ride. Since my usual trail buddy has been unable to ride due to a knee injury, I was on my own. I decided to get an early start and first ride up into the hills up to the cattle pens (it's about a two-three mile ride). The ride went uneventfully, even with the paint ballers and I even rode him up a particularly steep dirt road at a full canter. He was pretty good about it and didn't even look once at the ranch down below and try to call out to his equine brethren.

Part of my goal here is to increase Max's focus on me, rather than all the other stuff out there on the trail. Naturally, he'll always be checking out his surroundings (he's a horse, after all) but I'm trying to train him to be more mindful of me, especially if some critical situation does develop.

The trail I follow follows a creekbed past Middle Ranch and then past a paintball "battlefield". The trail segment then winds up at a collection of picnic tables in a cluster of Oak trees. Next, you have a choice of several trails that all lead up to the cow pens (they are literally a set of cow pens located next to a gravel quarry and underneath some high voltage lines- you can literally hear them hum!). I usually go up following a dirt road- it's wide enough to ensure good visibility and firm enough footing to run up. At the top, I usually follow a fire road until I hit one or the other trails leading back down the hill to the picnic benches (either trail ends up in the same place). If I were to follow the fire road, it would take me up further into the mountains and ultimately over the hill until I hit Foothill Boulevard.

Anyway, we completed the loop up to the cow pens and then back down the hill and then headed back to the stable (I really need to post a map here at some point!). But here's where I got creative: Max expected that we would be heading home and naturally he'll try to speed up. I kept him in check and then rode past the entrance to the stables- Max then began to try to edge in the direction of the stable and basically communicate to me "Hey buddy, we're done! Let's go home!" His efforts were rewarded with a nudge in the flank and a "get up there!" More work for Max...

I then continued to ride down the wash and across the river and then completed a loop that took me to the Orcas Park arena. On the way, I ran him out at some sand pits, just for good measure, For some reason, Max had fun running the sandpits and he began to buck (or at least try). I quickly put an end to that and we then continued on our way.

I also ran him around the outside of the arena (there were some others inside doing some sort of exercises so I didn't want to bother them). We finally made our way home with a total time of about 3 1/2 hours on the trail. Naturally Max was rewarded for his efforts and was able to relax for the rest of the day. Overall, a successful trail ride and I succeeded in focusing Max on me and he seemed to have a good time at it (I wasn't ALL work! :-)).

Sunday was our weekly lesson and we learned more dressage moves, especially counterbalancing and doing various circles while spiraling in and out. It's not was easy as it looks and I have a lot of work to do in this area but things look promising- the trick is balance and maintaining even tension on both sides of the bit (that's GENTLE tension). You're basically using your legs to move the horse and leaving the head out of the equation- you firmly keep the head pointed forward but your working off of the horse's legs and hindquarters. The key is to NOT try to lead the horse by the head- it doesn't work and it unbalances the horse.

Overall, a good workout for the both of us. More later...