Hang On and Trust the Horse

Recently I’ve taken up equestrianship. My wife and daughters are excellent riders and over the years I’ve gotten tired of watching from the side. Once I even found myself holding coats and purses while they galloped across the Moroccan plains. No fun. So, when my daughter invited us to the Angel Ranch in Wyoming where she works as a ranch manager (trans: professional cowgirl), I decided it was time to face my fears and learn to ride. I asked Anna, a friend who’s a competitive Event Jumper to teach me some basics before the trip. I told her I wanted to work up to at least a gallop. “Don’t worry.” I was told by Daughter and Wife,  “you won’t need to gallop on a mountain trail ride”

“But if the horse sees a bear, it’s going to gallop and I want to gallop with it!”

Anna assured me that riding a trot was harder so that was my goal. We worked diligently in her arena, often on a lead rope (a sort of leash that keeps the horse in a circle so I didn’t have to steer). We worked on posture (mine, the horse was already good), how to use my legs and hands to talk to the horse, “posting” when the horse trots so that my fillings don’t jar out, and lots of other detailed instruction. It was useful, she was a very helpful teacher and I progressed to surviving the trot. Before we left on our trip she pronounced me fit to trail ride under proper adult supervision.

Then I met Terry, the Wyoming horse trainer and the AQHA certified Quarter Horse, Thunder. I asked if there wasn’t a Daisy or Buttercup for me instead. I was assured that Thunder was the perfect horse for my first Wyoming Trail Ride so I tried him in the indoor arena. He rode like a fine sports car, answering the smallest suggestion immediately and with energy. I’m told he can go from 0 to 60 in under 6 seconds, but I’m only cleared to trot, as you will remember. Still, I felt confident and prepared; at one with the horse. We rode out into the Wind River Valley, surrounded by dramatic hills and green, irrigated ranch land. I felt like John Wayne. The troop of us, Terry, his wife, Jackie, Barbara, Beth, Kim, Josh and myself, cut left into a small canyon that dead ended in a steep slope up to the top of Lost Wells Butte. “We must be checking on a water hole or lost cow”, I thought. Terry rode back to where I was in the middle of the line and said the words I was to live by for two days. “If it gets rough, just hold on and trust the horse”.
“Sure, no problem! Nice horse!” Rough; I figured maybe we’d have to ride around a pot hole or through a rocky patch. Then he went back to the front of the line and turned right, up a steep slope of loose sand and gravel that I would have had second thoughts about climbing on foot. The horse followed the others with no problems except for a little trouble breathing because my legs were squeezing as hard as they could. At the top of the hill we then traversed a narrow ridge of the same loose sand and shale. The sides sloped steeply down about 200 feet on either side. I’m an avid hiker and have walked many places that were not overly safe, but I would’ve looked for a way around this had I been on foot. Thunder walked across like it was a sidewalk. The funniest thing that the other riders said during this breath taking ascent was “Hold on the the saddle horn”, as if I had turned loose of it since starting up the first hill!

So, why am I telling you about this in a music blog? Because you need to do this too. Hold on and trust the song. Music only happens in your head. All the time spent mastering an instrument is just to give you a tool that helps you move your music from your head into somebody else’s. Yes, we need to work on the details and skills; where you put your fingers on a guitar is important, but sometimes you need to let go and let the music inside you come out. Make sure you have a good horse, that is that you know the song front to back. Then when you perform, hold it in your mind like I gripped Thunder and his saddle horn and ride for all it’s worth. Performing can be scary, just like riding a horse for a noob like me. If it’s a Good song, one that you love and feel in your soul, you can trust it, so hang on.