September 20, 2006
One of the True West Moments running on The Westerns Channel has stirred up a hornet’s nest among horse people:

“Does anyone check the accuracy of the statements he makes on the Westerns Channel. For example ‘hold your horses’ has nothing to do with the manner in which horses are tied to the hitching post, but rather to imply that you are going too fast and need to slow down. I can dispute 90 percent of what Mr. Bell says and can prove it 100 percent of the time. Lets get real and make True West Magazine a TRUE statement magazine backed up with documented research facts, not an opinion that reflects one individuals need to impress the general public with their own opportunistic approach to the facts.”
—Bill

What Bill and others who have written me seem to be upset about is the lack of credit given for ground rein trained horses. Good horse trainers are proud of dismounting, dropping the reins on the ground and walking away, while the horse stays put. And according to some of these guys, the cowboy can go to the bunkhouse, take a nap, run into town and buy some beef jerky, come back, eat dinner, watch a True West Moment on The Westerns Channel, get pissed off, come out and the horse is exactly where the Kaboy left him. I, personally have never seen this phenom, but I have a half dozen Emails from trainers who claim it’s true.

I am proposing to Jeff Hildebrandt that we go to one of these ranches and do a test and video tape it.

And speaking of rein ground training, I was talking to Dave Daiss yesterday (who is one of the riders in the “Hold Your Horses” TWM) and he said he was just at a roundup down in Sonoita and during branding several local cowboys rode up, dismounted, dropped their reins and their horses casually walked away. I have a hunch our test will be quite interesting. One thing’s for certain, some of these horse guys are damn touchy about it!

During these serious times people of all faiths should remember these four religious truths:

1. Muslims do not recognize Jews as God's chosen people

2. Jews do not recognize Jesus as the Messiah

3. Protestants do not recognize the Pope as the leader of the Christian world.

4. Baptists do not recognize each other at Hooters.

Took the dogs for a bike ride this morning. Down at the end of the road, they got into the new horse arena and chased a visiting dog. Buddy thinks he’s playing, but Peaches comes in behind and really attacks the outnumbered dog, upsetting all the cutting horse women and especially the dog that’s under attack. I do my yelling technique: “Hay! Hey!” And of course that’s about as effective as, well, ground rein training, or, in this case that would be "sound leash training."

“A dog’s bark may be worse than her bite, but everyone prefers her bark.”
—Old Vaquero Saying