“You say ‘Oh he might spook, he might buck, he might fall down, he might rear.’ So look at what he’s working with!
He knows you can’t handle it and that don’t make him wrong to know that you can’t handle it.
He might do any of those things because something might scare him or he might slip and fall at any time and yet the people can’t handle that, but they want to go on with their horse.
If he turns around quick, they fall off!
So confidence, again, is knowing you are prepared for the unthinkable and I don’t know how you are going to get that without experience – that still don’t make you wrong.
You know where you’re at, you should know your capabilities. That’s no sin and no crime. You’re being honest with your fellow man. You’re being honest with your horse……you’re trying to keep him out of trouble.
You have to have guts and determination if you want to look for what I’m talking about. If you don’t, that don’t make you wrong.
What do you want to do or accomplish?
What are you capable of accomplishing?
It’s your concentration, your coordination and your reflexes in that order.
But the concentration isn’t near deep enough.”
– Ray Hunt
Excerpt from an article in the ‘Eclectic Horseman’ –http://www.eclectic-horseman.com/content/view/314/
Image of Ray is from the November 1998 issue of the Western Horseman.