Favorite Quotes

[Excess]

I think this will be a fun thread for everyone to contribute to and for everyone to learn from too. What are your favorite horsemanship quotes? And if you care to elaborate, why? I look forward to hear what everyone has to say!

[Weebonilass]

Two of my favorites off the top of my head...

"It comes from the heart." Tom Dorrance

"A horse is a living, breathing, decision-making creature. He's entitled to an opinion." (or something very similiar) Ray Hunt.

[AWSpinks]

"No matter how hard you try, you can't screw'em all up."

[LD.]

"I want the horse to do my thing his way" Joe Wolter

"If you're afraid you are going to screw this horse up, don't worry- you will. Try not to screw him up as badly as you did the last one" Tom Curtain

"Don't postpone joy" JRB

[greenbroke]

"you gain strength, courage,and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face."

eleanor rooseveldt




"encourage your horse by getting out of his way"


joe wolter

[Excess]

[QUOTE=LD.;357]"If you're afraid you are going to screw this horse up, don't worry- you will. Try not to screw him up as badly as you did the last one" Tom Curtain/QUOTE]

Oh my. This is the story of my life.

[Sue]

Mines not so elegant. Not very NH, either. A well-known ranch manager, and pretty good hand, on one of the big outfits in Nevada once told me when putting the pokers to a certain horse "Don't worry about blood, GO FOR THE GREEN!"

Inspiring.

[red]

"What we have He-yaah, is a failure to communicate".


the story of my life..
you already know who said that.

love,
red.

[rodear]

One of my favorites is: "It's what happened before what happened, happened." Ray Hunt. At first hearing, nonsense, but later one of the most important concepts I have found in correcting a shying horse.

[fionagirl]

How about "Notice the smallest change and the slightest try." -- Ray Hunt

That'll take me a lifetime ...

[reata]

"Horses and life its all the same to me". BB
"You have to give something you never gave to get something you never had". TD
"Your not working on the horse, your working on yourself". RH
"What we are working on here is something most people don't even know exits, but it does exist and most people miss it". RH
Those are my favorites ... They have changed my life!!! :-)

[Mares Tales]

"The last thing you learn was the first thing you needed it know"........LOVE that one!

It tells me this is a lifelong journey without an end so get ready to enjoy the ride, and it reminds me not to focus too hard on the destination and try not to be "too attached to the outcome"; that the act of being in the moment and observing things from there is the most important. Also that wherever I am in my learning there is much more to look forward to.

It tells me that when I make a mistake it`s ok cause I haven`t LEARNED the last thing yet and couldn`t be expected to know it. How could I, I`m still here learning, I am not the finished product with all the knowledge that I have the potential to have someday if I just keep trying to figure this stuff out. In other words, no matter where you are in your journey you have the pleasure of knowing that there will be a lot more "Ah HA!" moments in the future.

That quote tells me that no one is born knowing this stuff right from the beginning, it`s a process and it`s personal. If we all DID know the first thing we needed to know, we`d be a horse and possess all the knowledge about being a horse that a horse has from the time it became a few wadded up cells in inside its mother.

It tells me that "the first thing you needed to know" was the big picture of what a horse really is, from the horses perspective with all its unique characteristics and since that is pretty well impossible (because of us being a different animal with its own branches of evolution), then we better get started to lessen the gap because it`s a long way to understanding and being able to feel what`s its like to be a horse and understand what a horse truly is.

[Slydn]

I love quotes an such; here is one I found on a Starbucks cup.
Fearlessness is not the absence of fear. It’s the mastery of fear. It’s about getting up one more time than we fall down.

-- Arianna Huffington
Author of On Becoming Fearless ... In Love, Work, and Life.

Have a great day riding.

[red]

here are two, that make me think

Don't let yesterday use up too much of today.

will rogers


the slower you go the faster you learn.

r. hunt

[WashoeKat]

One of these is a repeat, but I think they belong together.

"It comes from the heart." Tom Dorrance

"No kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted". Unknown

"My religion is kindness." Dalhi Lama

To me, this path is all about about opening our hearts and acting in the spirit of kindness. It's a path I was on before I owned a horse, but my horses have taught me more about kindness than any human.

[Shana Dieterle]

[QUOTE=LD.;357]"If you're afraid you are going to screw this horse up, don't worry- you will. Try not to screw him up as badly as you did the last one" Tom Curtain/QUOTE]

Oh my. This is the story of my life.
Thanks, I needed to hear this. I'm new to the Eclectic Riders and new to horsemanship. My first horse, after decades of irregular, infrequent riding, is a high spirited Arabian mare. I did not choose her, she chose me, and all too often I think she is much more horse than I can handle, and she could go so much further with a more experienced and less hesitant rider.
Thanks again.
Shana

[Shana Dieterle]

[QUOTE=LD.;357]"If you're afraid you are going to screw this horse up, don't worry- you will. Try not to screw him up as badly as you did the last one" Tom Curtain/QUOTE]

Oh my. This is the story of my life.
Thanks, I needed to hear this. I'm new to the Eclectic Riders and new to horsemanship. My first horse, after decades of irregular, infrequent riding, is a high spirited Arabian mare. I did not choose her, she chose me, and all too often I think she is much more horse than I can handle, and she could go so much further with a more experienced and less hesitant rider.
Thanks again.
Shana

[KpH]

" The most natural thing for humans to be these days is un-natural"
Karen (Parelli) Hagen

[Excess]

" The most natural thing for humans to be these days is un-natural"
Karen (Parelli) Hagen

So true....working with horses really scares me. Not so much the fact that they're a big animal and all that, but I'm just so afraid that I'll do something so unnatural....or that I'd hurt them with my horsemanship. I'm afraid to touch horses sometimes in the fear that I might ruin them. I want to try so hard not to get in thier way. And for such a long time I didn't know any better. Now I don't even know if I know any better. Now I'm just scared! Horses are just so sacred to me. Sometimes I don't even feel worthy to be around them.

[Weebonilass]

One of my favorites is: "It's what happened before what happened, happened." Ray Hunt. At first hearing, nonsense, but later one of the most important concepts I have found in correcting a shying horse.


I like that one... trying to figure out that from the last time I parted company with my horse. Unfortunately, it appears that I hit a stirrup on the way off and suffered some short term memory loss. That's the first time I haven't been able to do a play-by-play to figure out "what happened before what happened, happened." Very frustrating.

[BuckarooMan]

"If you see your stirrups slap together chances are your bucked off"

[FrancaV]

Most of my favorite "deep" horsemanship quotes have already been mentioned so I'll follow BuckarooMan in the humorous vein,

"Don't squat with your spurs on."

and

"Never play leap frog with a unicorn." ;)

[Scout]

[QUOTE=Excess;362]
Thanks, I needed to hear this. I'm new to the Eclectic Riders and new to horsemanship. My first horse, after decades of irregular, infrequent riding, is a high spirited Arabian mare. I did not choose her, she chose me, and all too often I think she is much more horse than I can handle, and she could go so much further with a more experienced and less hesitant rider.
Thanks again.
Shana

You don't need to feel badly for what you know or don't know. You begin where you are and if your intentions are good, you're doing your best and you can tell that ego should not enter the equation... you'll know when to get someone to help you and your horse. It's a great feeling to have a horse take to you and it does make a difference in how things go. But be sure to be realistic.

[cynthia peterson]

it's better to be a Has-Been then a Never-Was(good to remember when you wonder while you are out there knocking yourself out with your horse when everybody else is going on vacation or at least Dairy Queen!)

Advice is something you ask when you already know the answer but wished you didn't (isn't it so true we want someone to tell us we are better with our horses then we know we are. let alone talk us out of buying another horse!)

The tragedy of life is not death, but what we let die inside us while we live.-Normal cousins(live your dreams, don't let anyone take them away from you)

Sometimes something worth doing is worth overdoing.-David letterman ( a good answer for us to tell people who think we are too horsey!)

when you get to first base, pick it up and take it with you.-Linda parelli ( always take your basics with you even as you advanced. this was attributed to Linda on riding, but it is not original to her)

and RED, i sure like that quote from one of my fav movies, COOL HAND LUKE,
what we have here is a failure to communicate.that thought certainly comes to me as i hanging on after a bucking fit.

[red]

here is something I had tucked away in a book that Marty Martens signed for me, at the benefit last year....sometimes you get just what you need, when you least expect it...or find what you always knew was there.
Here goes:


Until one is commited, there is hesitancy. Always ineffectiveness.
Concerning all acts of initiaitive, and creating, this is the elementary truth.
Ignorance of this, kills countless ideas, and splendid plans.
The moment one definitely commits oneself, providence moves, too.

Whatever you can do, Begin it.
Boldness has genious, and power and magic in it.
Begin Now.

van Goethe

[BuckarooMan]

My boss says this too the ground crew when he snags a big ol calf

"Don't Weaken"

[NoBite]

Don't bend over, them taters got eyes.

[cynthia peterson]

"There's a time in there, it's just as well not to crowd the horse if he isn't ready for it. you keep offering, trying to help as much as you can, without troubling him too much about it. then, there will be a day when it will just clear right up"--Tom Dorrance

Ray Hunt from the Tom D. Benefit:
"keep em' out of trouble"

"think of Tom on your shoulder, make him proud"

"give em' time, let em' get sure"

"Fix and wait. You can really hurt a horse by rushing him"

"It's obvious that horse is afraid; can't make it-so stay on the edge of that"

"Hold, don't pull"

'Get off him before you wreck him"

"in the midst of difficulties, there's a lot of opportunities"

The human teaches a horse what a contest is"

[Weebonilass]

Okay, I'm trying to remember who said something about it's not a horse problem, but a people problem. Anyone? :)

[reata]

I think that would be a Tom Dorrance classic!!!

[Weebonilass]

Thanks Reata, for some reason I was wanting to give Ray Hunt credit for it and yet, I had a feeling that wasn't right :) I probably would have remembered if I saw it in print, but I have True Unity on tape instead.

[reata]

I'm sure Ray says it too Ginger!! :)

[rydns]

Just saw this one on a different horse board:

"A horse's behavior will be in direct proportion to the number of people watching you ride him." Anonymous

[rydns]

My boss says this too the ground crew when he snags a big ol calf

"Don't Weaken"


Heck Roo, my brothers told me that all the time while growing up and they still do!