Bud--the Master Teacher

If Archimedes was expressive, and Rusty verbose, then Bud was positively loquacious. Bud never shut up! He could hold whole conversations....with himself!!!! If he had been a human child, he would have been one of those who hang around the adults going, "Watch me!" "Look what I can do!" "Are we there yet?" "What are we going to do now?" He would have been a pest if he hadn't been so funny.

Bud came into my life as an auction horse. This small 2yo came into the auction ring stomping as if he was the most magnificent horse to touch the earth. His breeding was impressive, and the then owner had hoped that he would grow to become the US version of his brother, a premier sire in Canada. He didn't. So he came to the auction. At that time, slaughter houses were still in the US, and he definitely caught the eye of the "meat men". He was what the draft people call a "chunk".....a short, squat, fat/muscular horse who could pull a lot of weight and "dress-out" pretty good too. But, boy, could he move!!! And a horse that could move like that did not deserve the kill pen.....as far as I was concerned. I decided how much I felt he was worth and started bidding against them. I guess I felt he was worth a lot more than they did, cuz I ended up with a small stallion I didn't need. Ultimately he was gelded and trained......and he became the best horse for teaching me how to drive. I also rode him.....which he "allowed" since I also drove him. He loved being driven......and showed off......prancing around in a cart as if he was really something. He was so talented that even a mediocre rider like me could make him passage and piaffe like a Lippanzaner.

He was my first experience with trying Monty Roberts' "Join-Up". It worked. For the next 10 years he was joined at the hip with me. Right after the "Join-Up" session, he would run out into the pasture then turn around and look at me, very clearly saying, "Well, are you coming or what?" He was the only horse I've had that actually looked forward to working. When he saw me coming with a collar, or he heard the clink of the harness as we got it ready for him......he would just about turn himself inside out. He was like Donkey in Shrek....Pick me! Pick me! Pick me!. If he had been a dog, his tail would have been wagging so hard it would have wagged his whole body.

He has a huge heart, and uncompromising spirit. We had a huge willow fall in the pasture, and we were using the horses to haul the pieces out. Bud, of course, made a game of it, and turned it into a "is that the best you can do?" contest. Prancing, trotting and pulling the branches and smaller logs, he got stronger the more we pulled. In fact he almost ran away with me, then turned around as if to say, "that was fun.....that the best you can do?" So, we hooked him to a 12' long, 2-1/2" diameter log that we pretty much figured would stop him in his tracks....especially since it was in the mud. So I asked him to pull, and he thought he was just going to fly off with it and took off.........but the collar stopped him cold. I really wish I had a video of this, because the look on his face was priceless. 'What the h.....?' I was laughing so hard, I almost missed him getting ready for his next attempt. He turned his head and looked at that log like he was thinking how to move it. Then he, with no prompting from me, took 2 steps back, threw himself into the harness and collar like a real, for-sure pulling horse, dropped down almost to his knees.....and hit the end of the tresses........and that huge log moved a few inches!!!!. And he knew it!......His head shot up, his ears went forward and he got that gleam in his eye....."I got you now!!!" He did it again and, sure enough, the log moved out of the mud and he tromped off with it as if it was nothing......until he hit another wet spot and it bogged a bit in the deeper mud. Once he got on dry ground, he was off and running.....well not literally for him, but I was running to keep up.....and stay out of the way of the log.

People constantly said that he was always watching for me. We went to a lot of fairs, and people I did not know would comment on how he would look for me and when he saw me his whole expression and attitude would change. They would say things like, "That must be Mom". However, it did have its down-side......I was just about the only one who could drive him. Even when I started driving him, as soon as I turned the lines over to someone else, he knew.....and his whole demeanor would change. And, people noticed.

Because of our closeness, it was easy for him to "teach" me even more about Equus. The small nuances were easy to pick up with him. Because he was always so happy-go-lucky, it was easy to tell when he wasn't up to snuff. His eye response was all I needed, to know exactly what he felt and what he needed. The crinkle in his lip told me just how hard he was thinking, how crabby he might be (all 50 nuances of crabby to outright nasty!), the worry wrinkles around his eyes also told me how hard he was thinking, and sometimes even what his concern was! From "what is that?" to "I need to look at that" to "That's just dangerous!".

Might there be some telepathy there? Who knows. I think in words.....pet psychics continually stress that they get pictures from their clients. But he taught me how to "read" Equus in a way that no human could have ever done.....in a way no other horse has been able to do. But what I learned from him, I can take to other horses. I can go to a horse show and "hear" the pain of the horse whose head is forced too low; whose saddle doesn't really fit quite right; whose rider over-uses their spurs; to barrel horses that scream, 'if you just wouldn't jab me/hit me I'd be able to stretch out more.....but since I'm waiting for that ouch, I shorten my stride.' to the horse just so overwhelmed by everything going on that it's in a panic.

That's the down side of learning Equus. Although you can understand and communicate with horses, you also "hear" a lot of things you'd rather not. It's hard to watch a show when so many horses are screaming their pain and/or complaints. But it's fun to watch a horse that is doing what it loves to do. You can tell the horse that loves to cut cows, and the one going through the motions; the one that loves to jump and the one that does it grudgingly. Actually, anyone can tell.....it's just that we don't listen.

Archimedes--my first horse language teacher

The first horse I owned was a non-descript, bay standardbred gelding...so naturally, he needed a fancy name. He wasn't my first choice (a huge [both high and wide] Palomino QH was), but he was a horse my husband (a non-rider, big time) felt comfortable on. The others we looked at were just way too much for him to handle.

The great thing about having him was what I learned, by having him. We at first boarded at a very nice private stables that raised Gaited Horses, and the owners were kind enough to let me ride and teach me about them. But for "knocking around" and trail riding, Archimedes was better. Later, a recession hit (hard) and we had to leave that place and go to another barn that was.....welll.......not the best clientele. There were wanna-be cowboys and tough guys (like the guy who owned to TWH stallions that he mistreated and underfed). But I learned about people, what they do......in his case, he was scared of his horses, so he tried to get them scared of him!!! Eventually one of the stallions nailed him pretty good and he got rid of them (although the young stallion was probably scarred for life). But there was the time when I was feeding Archimedes and the young stallion (who had been moved next to him for ??? reason) reached over to grab the hay I was tossing into his stall. I have to admit, I was stunned, seeing a gaping mouth and teeth coming at me. Well, Archimedes was having none of that and promptly nailed that stallion on the neck.....hard.....left a mark (but no bleeding). No problem after that!!! Don't mess with HIS food.

He was not the easiest ride.....you definitely had to "ride" him.....no goofing off. Yet, my husband could take him out on the trail with some of the "cowboys" and Archimedes would take care of him. He had an injury that I aggravated when I started working him for shows......he had a bad back left leg, which left him gimpy and unable to canter in the right lead. But, boy, could he gallop!!!! Only in a circle did he have a problem. Yep, you had to ride him, but you could NOT cowboy him. Anytime someone got on him to "prove a point" or "make him do" something......they usually ended up on the ground. That included me. He had this knack of "dropping a shoulder".....and no matter you do, when a horse drops a shoulder.....you're off. And he upped the ante by adding a fishtail or two just before. Several times the wannabes got on him to either catch loose horses or because they needed another horse to go out riding.....and each time he set them on the ground. See Archimedes was a sucker for food.....and even when loose, would head back to the barn where the hay was stored.....so he was an easy catch. But when they dug their heels into him......game on!!

He was also very expressive. He could look like a cartoon horse...and make all the faces you could imagine. He gave me my first lessons in Equus.....the language of the horse. Yeah, I knew about the sounds, the ears, etc. But he showed me the beginnings of the "conversation"....from "go ahead, make my day", to "I REALLY don't feel up to this (but I'm not mad about it)" to "Look what's over there" to "I wonder how that's going to turn out".

It started with his eyes. No matter what was going on, if you looked at his eyes, they told you exactly how he was feeling. Now, I know horses don't "think" like we do.....they pretty much act, react and feel (physically). But they can still carry on a conversation. I always knew when he was saying "that was fun", or "this really sucks" or even "I'm only doing this because you really seem to want me to."

Yes, his ears said things too.....but all the nuances came from his lips. From the little wrinkle to the full-blown snarl...they all meant something. It would take a few more years to begin to understand them.

Ultimately, we had made a purchase of a farm, and he moved with us to 6 acres. Naturally, we needed a companion.....and found someone desparately trying to sell a pony. Smokey was a beautiful pony, as wide as she was tall, and looked like a miniature Morgan. She was also a first class snot. As snotty as she was, she gave us all lots of laughs. She was ridable (my feet didn't even touch the ground she was so wide!) but knew how to get you off.....she'd just get going with that pony trot then suddenly stop and duck her head (or maybe it was the other way around...didn't matter....same effect) and you'd just keep bouncing over her head. She never ran away.....just stood there and looked at you....and you knew what she was thinking. She was almost as expressive as Archimedes.

The third critter was a little fancy shetland pony, bright sorrel with a flaxen mane and tail. I came home from work one day to find a truck and trailer in my driveway. They had just let her out in the field with Archimedes and Smokey. Bad idea. Jody had been raised in someone's garage since the age of 3 months and now she was 2 years old. She had never been in a pasture (or even in the back yard!!), had NO idea what a horse was, and , of course Smokey was not about to share "her" boyfriend. Obviously these people had no idea about horses, and I kept the pony anyway.....just to protect her. Eventually, they all got along....with Archimedes often "herding his mares" around the pasture protecting them from some unseen predator.

Eventually we had to leave Cincinnati for a new position......and all of them got new homes.
But what I learned from them, was the beginning of watching, learning and listening to them....of understanding Equus......the language of the horse.