Copy 1998

Hello, I'm Buster McLaury

I am a cowboy. My daddy was a cowboy; both my granddads and at least two of my great-granddads were cowboys. Horses and horsemanship go back in my family for at least four generations. Some people remember when they started riding. I don't ever remember not riding. It just seemed a natural part of my life. I grew up on some big outfits, such as the 6666 and Triangle, and it was not unusual to see 150 - 200 horses in the remuda. I was constantly around men who made their living ahorseback, and I wanted to be just like them. I wanted to be ahorseback.

My daddy, Royce McLaury, had some fine old cutting horses, and occasionally he would put me on one of them and let me "help" him work a roundup. He would show me which cows he wanted out, and I would cut them out. Or, to tell the truth, those old horses did the cutting. They knew and understood their job. I was more of a passenger. I noticed at an early age that the men who rode the best horses got to work those roundups, drag calves at the brandings, lead the drives, etc. Well, that's what I wanted to do, so I put a lot of extra time and effort into learning how to make a good horse. The extra effort paid off in that some old timers took an interest in helping this ole' kid. They taught me things they'd learned, and without exception, told me to always watch the good hands and learn from them. I remember my daddy saying one time, "Son, it's about time you learn where them good horses come from," so I started my first colt at age 11. Looking back, I know that he was scared to death. But my mission at the time was to conquer and ride that booger. And I did. Until he bucked me off, kicked me in the belly and broke a few ribs. I was always a little, skinny, dried-up feller and wasn't stout enough to manhandle a horse around, so from that time on, I've searched for a better way to get along with a horse.

Daddy traded a few horses when I was in high school. They were mostly young horses that we would ride awhile and sell, but we got hold of some spoiled horses with lots of bad habits, too. So I got exposed to a lot of things that I might not have, had I just ridden ranch horses. I have worked for ten different outfits in my life. Seven of them raised their own horses, and four of those; the 6666, Triangle, JA, and Johnson Ranches, have quite a reputation for raising some of the finest Quarter, Horses in the country. Seems like I always had plenty of young horses in my mount, and I always rode lots of the extra colts during slack times of the year. With the help of some good and patient teachers in the last 30 odd years, I have found that better way of fooling with horses that I talked about. No small thanks goes to my friend, Ray Hunt. My horses don't operate because they're afraid not to. They operate because they are partners who understand what I'm asking them to do. It's a great feeling! When my wife, Sheryl, and I got married, I was living at the 6666, and she was living on a ranch north of there a ways. We both enjoy fooling with these young horses, and I cannot thank her enough for all her help through the years. Both our daughters, Tiffany, 19, and Misty, 16, like to ride, so horses are a big part of our lives. When we moved here to Benjamin a few years ago, people started asking me to come and help them with their horses, so Sheryl and I have been blessed with the opportunity to travel around the country and do just that. We enjoy sharing what we have learned with others.

I guess I would have to say that my philosophy of horse training is communication -- learning to talk horse to the horse -- so that I can convince him that he doesn't need to be afraid of me and defend himself, so I can explain to him what it is I'm asking him to do. I know that the horse is capable and perfectly willing to do whatever I ask, if I can just present it to him in a manner that he understands. I think it is my responsibility to earn his trust. All the horse is trying to do is survive, from one day to the next. He is a prey animal. His fear and mistrust of me is natural. I am a predator. In order to catch and ride him, I either have to be tougher than he is and make him do what I want, or I have to explain to him that he is in no danger from me. I went the "get tougher" route for a lot of years, and I'm here to tell you there's a better way. Once I earn that trust, I have a great responsibility not to break it, not to get him hurt. I think it is important to earn his respect, and I'll do whatever I have to do to get that respect. There is a fine line between respect and fear. I do not want him afraid of me, but I do want him to respect me. Horses operate on a pecking order with other horses. It's just a very natural thing for them to do. A horse has an inherent need to know where he fits into the pecking order, whether it's with other horses or with a human. It doesn't make him any difference where he fits, just as long as he knows where he fits. When it's between me and him, I'm going to be the leader -- not the boss -- the leader. There's a difference.

What is my approach when training a horse? I guess you mean how do I go about it? Well, first I try to figure out just where the horse is when I get in the pen with him. I don't mean physically, I mean mentally. If I know where he is mentally, maybe I can get to where he is and help him get to where I want him to be -- help him come through from the other side. With one horse, I might just rope him and start trying to get up to him. With the next one, that might be way too much. He couldn't stand it. He might run into the fence and cripple himself or try to jump out of the pen. My ultimate goal is to control his feet, so I might work on that a little while he's running around staying away from me. I just try to make the wrong thing difficult -- not impossible -- and the right thing easy. I'll let him work at it, and he'll come up with the right answer before long. I'll ask him to yield to pressure anywhere it's applied, then watch for the smallest change and the slightest try and reward that. That's all I want him to do -- try. If I can get him to try, I can get him to do anything he's physically capable of doing. But if I can't get him to even try, well, good luck getting anything done. From there, there's a lot of feel, timing, balance, and presentation involved. All four of them have to be right or it won't work, or maybe it won't work as good as it might have worked. You need to feel of a horse, let him learn to feel back to you, and then you both feel together. To start with, it might take quite a bit, but as the horse gets more sure, the feel will be lighter and lighter until it's just a thought. Then your idea and his become one. Then the timing has to be right. There's a time in there when everything's set up right for something to work. Then all you have to do is get out of his way and let him do it. If you quit too soon, it won't come through. If you quit too late, you're in his way. 8

Next he needs to be balanced. The feel and timing should be the same on both sides. Things that are working should be the same right and left and forward and backward. Then your presentation... Maybe I should've put that first. You can have the best idea and intention in the world, but if your presentation isn't any good, things will never work out. And what's good presentation to this horse may not work at all on the next one. And what works with him may never work on any horse you ever run into again. The horse will tell you if you're on the right track. Once you get some things working for you and the horse, give him plenty of time to get good at the basics. Get that foundation in there right and solid. It's like the foundation on a house. Build a good one to start with, and it'll hold up a pretty big house. But if you leave out some things, don't be surprised when your house starts coming apart. See how little it takes to get things done. To start with, you might have to use all the strength you have, and that still might not be enough. But someday it won't take hardly anything. If it takes four pounds of pressure to get a change, that's what you would use -- but offer him one ounce first. (These are just numbers I pulled out of the air.) Who knows? One ounce might have got the change, but if you didn't give him the chance, you'll never know, and he'll never learn to operate on the one ounce of pressure. The more I learn about horses, the more I realize there is to learn. So I could go on and on and end up writing a book on training, philosophy, etc. But no matter how many pages I wrote, it would still be incomplete. If I had to pick out one "main message" I try to get across to people at my clinics it would be "Listen to the horse. He'll tell you where he's at and if he's understanding what you're asking him to do. The horse can teach you infinitely more than any human because he is the fact, not the opinion."

People need to realize that the horse is a living, breathing, decision-making animal. He gets afraid and brave, sure and unsure, sick and well, hot and cold just like you and I. Remember you're working with a mind, not just a horse. I told some folks one time, "This is not just a horse. It's a mind and body and spirit that just happens to look like a horse." I guess everyone is looking for a set pattern or formula for training their horses: do this and this and this and you get that. Well, it doesn't work that way with horses. Oh, some folks try it, I think, and every once in a while they run across a horse that their formula really works on, so that really makes them a good trainer. But with other horses they just get mediocre results, so they blame the horse. This deal is just common sense, mostly. You can't make it happen, but you can sure let it happen. I think a lot of folks won't let it work for them, because it requires you to work on yourself at least as much as you do your horse, maybe more. And most people don't want to work on ole' self. They figure he's all right just the way he is. I'm not trying to tell you this deal is easy. It ain't. It requires some work . But work is not a dirty word. It won't hurt you. And it requires some self-discipline. That won't hurt you either. My daddy had a saying that sure seems to fit here: "If it was easy, anybody could do it, and everybody would want to."

Let me leave you with this. The main thing is to enjoy your horses. Just set up there and let your feet hang down and have a good time. Heck, they could have you doin' somethin' afoot!

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