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7th Annual Wild Horse Workshop Brentwood, California September 20-25, 2004
This year's Wild Horse Workshop was a predictably wonderful week of gentling absolute wild horses, some just fresh off the range. It is a bit like a game of poker. Sometimes you draw a good hand/horse sometimes a difficult one and sometimes a downright scary one that just trembles at the sight of a human anywhere nearby. And some are just outright aggressive and dangerous. These horses have been calling their own shots and running the show in the wild and have no initial interest in cooperating with us. One such horse had me baffled and after two sessions I was ready for help. As fate would have it, a highly competent trainer from Portugal was attending the workshop and just happened to offer assistance. I welcomed Antonio's help and within an hour he had the horse happily accepting touch in the face and neck areas and was at the beginning stages of leading and understanding the basis of all training, pressure and release. My eyes were glued to this master of equine psychology and body language for that hour, and later in the day as he took on an extremely aggressive checked out herd boss who had attacked an attractive buckskin on impulse that left the buckskin lame until late in the week. This horse was so worked up about being away from his herd and lead position that it took Antonio's skills to help focus this stallion-behaving gelding. Using lead mare gestures and body language he was able with minimal effort to drive the horse at a walk and trot and turn on a dime. Most importantly the horse was focused on him and not his herd. The next day I was able to beautifully bring along the three-year-old mare that I had worked with earlier. Her transformation was nothing short of a near miracle as she stood quietly accepting touch and happily leading and tying. The aggressive gelding had a dramatically more cooperative attitude and Brent Huyett made huge inroads with him that afternoon. It is such a breath of fresh air to embrace new ideas and approaches and this is the basis for this week of learning. Not only are all the participants learning new gentling techniques, but we as clinicians are all learning from each other and from the participants as well. Had we not endorsed John Sharp's use of the bamboo pole seven years ago thousands of horses and handlers would not have benefited from his years of wisdom. Such is the case with Antonio, the Portuguese master horseman.
Steven Levine, one of this year's participants, has written a terrific article based on his experiences at the workshop. Here is his report:
A PROFILE AND SNAPSHOT OF THE WILD HORSE WORKSHOP By STEVEN LEVINE
A unique equine experience has taken place in a different part of the country, every year, for the last seven years. A joint collaboration between The Bureau of Land Management (BLM), and Least Resistance Training Concepts Inc. (L.R.T.C.), has resulted in a Wild Horse Workshop that has allowed hundreds of mustangs to be gentled and hundreds of potential owners to be given hands-on training experience, prior to adopting and taking home a wild mustang. This years Wild Horse Workshop and adoption took place in Brentwood California. What makes this unique is that some of the best trainers in the country come together to give of themselves and their time in order to help a bunch of horses and potential owners learn about each other. In the process horses and the public are introduced to training using natural horsemanship. A true attitude of willingness to share ideas pervaded the weeklong symposium. One of the many things that impressed me was how open the organizers and professional trainers were to learning from each other as well as teaching the public. Not only did the trainers come together from all over the country but the participants also came from all directions and points in between. I can’t even guess how many states were represented by all of us there, but we all brought something to the party. All ages and levels of experience were represented from first time horse owners to those of us who own and train horses but came to learn, and we all did. What follows is a very interesting example of exactly what I’m talking about and an equally interesting two hours spent in conversation for this article. Antonio Louis C. Fernandes de Castro is a gentleman with a rather thick accent and a quiet unassuming manner about him. As Frank Bell, internationally renowned trainer and clinician states. “After hitting a brick wall with a couple of truly problem horses, our eyes were glued, watching his remarkable progress by using his body language, which ranged from animated to phenomenally subtle. In approximately one hour, he was able to get a rope on a horse and have it follow by feel. This culminated with him lovingly stroking this very resistant mare. Now this was the filly we had affectionately called “Hot heels”. This nickname came from her determination to kick one of us into the next county. Fantastic!” Antonio, like myself, found out about the workshop on the Internet and like myself was immediately intrigued. Antonio came all the way from Portugal to attend this workshop with the wild mustangs of the American West. Here’s the background behind the man we were watching. Antonio comes from a ranch near Lisbon that has been in his family since the fourteenth century when the King of Portugal rewarded his family with the land. He raises Lucitanio and Arabian horses and the family is still in the cattle business. Raising bulls for the bullfights. In Portugal this is done from horseback and the bulls live to fight another day. He subscribes to many equine magazines and publications in order to keep up to date with the horse world. Back in the late eighties he started to see articles about a new although not new type of training. Natural Horsemanship. This he had to see. He flew over to attend a clinic in Pennsylvania and has been coming over once or twice a year ever since. He has learned from several of the best-known practitioners of the craft in the years that have followed. He also wanted me to acknowledge the great trainer Nuno Oliveiro and give him the credit for the classical training which he combines with what he has learned over here. Like a lot of us, he needed to be convinced, but seeing is believing. He rode one of his stallions to the prestigious Portuguese Horse Fair without a bridle or halter in order to show his countrymen what was possible. He was laughing as he told how they were looking and touching the horse expecting to find some clear fishing line or something. He trains only his own horses and doesn’t take on outside clients. However, when selling one of his horses, he insists that the new owner spend five days to a week on his ranch to learn his method of communication. Besides having always been interested in wild horses, he had a practical reason for making the trip. As Willis Lamm, head of L.R.T.C. commented, “In Portugal, horses are turned out till the age of four before they are brought in to start their training. We used to do that in this country. Regardless of where they come from, they all speak the same language.” Antonio saw this as an opportunity to learn different training techniques and of course, to learn from the horses. The first thing that he learned from the horses was that all of his preconceived ideas were wrong. As he put it, “I expected to see scrawny, malnourished, small horses. Like gypsy horses. Not true. I was very surprised to see fat, glossy, very healthy horses. These wild horses have good conformation, good bones (structure), and they are of a very reasonable size for many sports and disciplines.” We both agreed that the workshop itself is very professionally organized and the BLM has done a wonderful job with the horses. What is obvious is that everyone is here for the horses. That remains the first priority. As it should be. He told me, “There are no bad horses here. Some have bad habits, for people, but natural for them. I’m very happy to be able to be involved and able to learn from each other.” This is one of the interesting and great folks I met in the week we spent with eighty mustangs and twenty burros. He was one that came to learn and ended up teaching. I expect several of the friendships I made to continue and grow, in the years to come. After all, this is a labor of love. Antonio and I only wished we could do more. There are so many horses, so little time.
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