Coffee Clutch with Dutch Henry: Impatience, not your friend

Monday, April 20, 2015

Impatience, not your friend—or your horses

Howdy Friends!

Impatience, not your friend—or your horses. We’ve all seen it, a horse handler giving a command over and over to a confused horse. Their voice becomes more excited, louder and high pitched and the result is often not what the handler wanted. We’ve all been guilty of practicing a little impatience ourselves, too. Haven’t we? Impatience never, ever, not a single time helps anything go correctly. Ever. Not in life and never with horses.

Kessy and me takin' it slow together

Think about the times you’ve seen toddlers and youngsters in the store tugging on their mother shouting, “Mommy, mommy, mommy, mommy, mommy” in ever increasing shrillness as the mother ignores them. Pretty much how a horse hears and sees our impatience. And like the mother corralled by the youngster, there is no escape for the horse so their first instinct is to ignore, their second instinct is to do something, anything, most often the wrong thing, like the mother rewarding the youngster with a cookie just to quiet them. Wrong. Isn’t that rewarding bad behavior? And encouraging more of the same? I think so.

When we offer a request to our horse we must be sure to be soft, respectful and patient. Like us each horse is different, has its own personality. Its own method of processing. Be sure to allow the time it takes for your horse to process. Don’t let impatience be your instructor, allow your horse that esteemed position, she will guide you with softness and grace.

The most wonderful thing about patience is the more you employ it, the more responsive, soft and willing your horse will become. Soon your horse will teach you that impatience can be a rare need indeed. Many things will change in your relationship. I promise.

Gitty Up, Dutch Henry

P.S. To keep up to date on It’s for the Horses, my books and writings please send your email address to dutchhenry@hughes.net for our monthly newsletter. I’ll be writing special stories for friends on this list. When you sign up you’ll be entered to win a free copy of It’s for the Horses. The drawing will be held the day before release date. I promise your email will NEVER be shared or sold. Invite your friends. All my books can be found on my website www.dutchhenryauthor.com

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Welcome to the Coffee Clutch

Welcome to the Coffee Clutch, a happy place to visit. I write uplifting stories about a wide variety of subjects from horses to birds and nature, to love and family and friends. Sometimes I'll post excerpts from stories I've written for Equine Publications. Sometimes I'll post about writing itself. Coffee Clutch got its name because I often write while enjoying my morning coffee in the barn with my mare Kessy, and all our critters. Join us here for fun conversation and stories I promise will make you feel good.

It's For The Horses

This is not a book about riding, or training horses. It is a book on my thoughts, ideas and suggestions on how folks might find the joy in doing things for the horse, with the horses’ point of view as the leading guide. My hope is to help as many people as possible learn to hear the horse, feel their spirit, and in that way help horses everywhere. Over the years I’ve met and worked with remarkable people and horses who taught me about their feelings, their joys, their sadness, and their spirit. As a horse advocate everything I do is from the horse’s perspective, including this little book. Every story, idea, suggestion and thought on these pages will be to suggest and share thoughts and ideas on how to maximize a relationship between horse and human—from the horse’s point of view.

Tom Named by Horse

The only man ever to offer Tom respect is Red Cloud. The only woman to give him love is Red Cloud’s granddaughter. Struggling with his own personal demons, Tom finds himself wedged between honoring that friendship and staying true to the depths of his conscience. Amid a backdrop of tumultuous social upheaval, he finds nothing prepared him, the woman he loves or Chief Red Cloud, for the changes about to thunder into their lives, sweeping them helplessly into the tides of human conflict and historical drama. Available on Amazon.

From The Banks OF Little Bear Creek

The Tom Named by Horse Saga continues. Three years after the death of Tall Dog, Tom Named By Horse and Soft Cloud have turned the little soddy, the lands granted them by Red Cloud, and the lean-to barn into a thriving horse ranch, fulfilling Tom’s dream. The Plains Indians Wars, or Red Cloud’s war, is mostly behind them, and the lands have had their transformation as Red Cloud’s vision had warned years earlier. Trailing horses from the ranch to Denver city has become an annual event for Tom, Buck and the rest, and this is the story of that trail. In the spirit of a good old John Wayne movie, vengeance, cattle and horse thieves, a dirty sheriff and corrupt mayor, and a wedding make this year’s drive a ride you’ll want to tag along on.

Monday, April 20, 2015

Impatience, not your friend—or your horses

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