Cowboy JP

Please don't leave!

Not the spider, you!
My girl is home sick today and we were left alone to deal with this guy on our own.
Hello photo of the day!
We ended up blowing on him to get him out the front door squealing the whole time.

Once we got him out, my little cupcake pointed out that I had done the most screeching! Of course I attributed that to being defenseless while having both hands on the camera and my old body on the floor!!!
I believe she was feeling vindicated about the watermelon scenario!

Okay, now that that is taken care of let's move on to what I wanted to share today.

Remember meeting Eve?


I am not sure if you recall, but in that post I told you that Eve was supposed to be getting some training done.
I want to tell you a bit more about that today.
It was a fun step right out of my laundry, mommy, spaghetti and meatball daily world!!

Now I don't know all of you who read this blog, but I have a feeling none of you are cowboy/horse trainer employees and may enjoy this field trip as much as I did!!

Some come on over here and let me introduce you to JP!


Don't let the ball cap and cell phone imprint fool you, this fellow is the real deal.

I mean, no he wasn't wearing boots or a ten gallon hat, but this guy knows his horses!
It was quite a treat to be able to saunter around the Ranch listening to his slow polite drawl as he answered my barrage of questions.

I admit I was a bit skittish this trip, seeing as how the last time I was visiting was when....

...I had my flying lessons!

JP was not there for that incident but had heard about it.
He just gave me a sideways grin and a bit of a laugh when we spotted the gray mare and I suggested that I might have flashbacks and may pass out or something.

JP deals with crazy middle aged ladies almost as well as he deals with horses!!

He said that he has been riding since he was three.
THREE!!
Okay, different world people.
So that means he has been around horses just about as long as I have been married.
Ahhhh ha ha ha.
He also mentioned that he has been training since he was about eleven. cool!!
This investment of time really shows in his demeanor and ability to "read" what the horses might do.
For instance when we came down a path and saw April...my nemesis, he was quick to say

"Be ready, she is probably gonna spook soon and run right past us."

Which she did, almost as if on command.


Awhile later I was busy snapping pictures but noticed, out of the corner of my eye, his entire body language change from laid back relaxed leaning on a fence, to ready and aware.
I immediately stopped what I was doing, stood very slowly looked him right in the eye and asked him quickly what I needed to do.
Apparently the Stud horse I was taking photos of was about to corral a mare, her baby and ME!
He was pretty sure I didn't want to be invited to that party, and got me out of there quickly.

JP then politely excused himself to get back to work while I took the time to wander about a bit more, trying to stay out of trouble!

I did have a purpose for being out there that day by the way.
It isn't all field trips and cupcakes for me ya know!!
JP recently married into this sweet family and has been using his talents to create a Web page for their family ranch. Since we are all interlinked on Facebook, he came across some of my horse images and knew they would marry well with his vision for the site.

So...I was on assignment this day gathering specific images which will be used there when JP can dust off his tennis shoes and get back to it!
You can check out what he has going so far here, at the Tranquility Ranch Website.
I hope my images are easily identifiable to you...I feel like I am developing a sense of what my "style" is working its way to being.

When I finished my "assignment" for the day I hiked back over to see what JP was up to. When he left me he said he was getting back to work...me being me, I didn't know what that looked like.
Here is what I found out!

See him sitting there on the fence...I think he is texting! Kidding, just kidding.

Now, glance over to the right a bit; he has Eve securely tied to a large tree limb.

I was like a 6 year old asking questions, why ya doing that, now why ya doing that, now why ya doing that?
He just answered and answered and then answered again in an email...cause you know my rememberer doesn't work so great.

Here is what he had to say.
"I'm desensitizing her so that she will be more relaxed and comfortable around people so that she can be trained easily. By doing this I will get her trust and once I have that, I will be able to get her to do just about anything for me including saddle up!"

He has her tied to the tree limb because it has some give to it. Otherwise it would be him attached to the end of that rope and he could have fought her for hours if not days!!
He lets the tree do that work! Cool trick JP!

Why ya doing that JP???


"Because she is not halter broke! Her first instinct when I catch her is to fight to get free. By allowing her to fight the tree she will wear herself out and hopefully realize she is fine and that she is only fighting against herself.
She will begin to respect the rope, realizing it is better to go with it than pull against it."

"Once this is achieved your horse is just about halter broke!!"

He also let me know not to look the horse in the eye, and pat them reassuringly but as though it is just something else you are doing. They tend to be less nervous that way.

Hmmm, not really the way to go about the business of training kids, though this might tend to work with a teenage boy!!! I will try it out, hey whatever works!

Hey JP...where ya taking her??

"Well, because her training is just starting she doesn't have a sense of respect for people so she'd rather run.
Not because she wants to get away but because she is unsure of what I want from her. So I will herd her into a pen where we are in close range, where she will have to acknowledge me for catching her."

As JP gently led Eve to the gate to separate her from the other horses, she got nervous and began shaking her head. She pulled up hard and fast and JP lost hold of her.

It was then a battle of wits, will and skill to see who would win out!
She lunged right, he countered.


She lunged left, he was on it!



But she was fast and crafty and managed to dart past him.


She seemed to immediately get saucy too, seeing that she once again had the upper hand.


JP took it all in stride, never got frustrated or angry.
Just set about to catching her all over again.

Since the horses were going to be running anyway, I asked where I should be in the field to snap off some shots.

He settled me in along the fence line so that I could take some shots of the horses running past, saying it would be the safest place in that field for me.

Huh? Really JP??? Seeing as how these guys rushed me and would have trampled me to pieces given the chance.
It is a conspiracy I tell you...see the dark horse way to the back...uh huh, that is April's baby!!!
They have been talking!

JP ran these horses about, specifically for me for awhile.

He wanted to catch Eve, but he also knew I wanted to practice my camera skills.

He's nice like that.

She always managed to stay in the middle or on the edge far away from him.


Dodging and staying just out of his reach.


This cowboy knows when he is beat.
No offense there JP, but you just couldn't catch her!!!

You gotta respect a man knows his limits but keeps his tricks handy too!
Yeah, JP headed over to get a bucket of feed in order to tempt her to go with him.

Hey, I work well for food...it is a great motivator!!

He loaded it up in a bucket and jumped on the gator to drive it back over to the field.
That horse in the center wanted some of that there motivation for herself...



...and set off to get some.

Ahhhh ha ha ha!! He had to shoo her off, then got back down to business.

JP says he finally caught Eve, then took her on to the next part of her training.

Lunging was first on the schedule. Here is what I found out about that.
You earn a horse’s respect by moving his feet forwards, backwards, left and right. The purpose of lunging should be to continuously ask your horse to change directions and focus on you. The more you can get his feet to move and change directions, the more respectful the horse will get.

And then next was patting down.
JP said "Patting down will desensitizes her. For example if I were to saddle her up and she got hit with the stirrup, she wouldn't spook!"

I like how he explains things nice and simple!!

JP is so obviously talented with the horses, I couldn't help but ask him of his future plans with them.
I just adore his answer!
"Yes I do plan to continue working with horses after college. Most people have movies, golf etc which they need to relax. Horses are the one thing that I feel most comfortable around . . . other then my wife of course!

That kind of comment deserves a drop dead gorgeous picture to go along with it.

By photographer extraordinaire Allison Brockman of Freckled Egg Photography.
If I am not mistaken that horse hiding behind the featured horse is Eve! How about that!!?

Hey JP!!! Thanks for my field trip day, and answering my texts at weird times of the day, and running the horses about, and answering 800 questions, and answering 800 emails, and putting up with me all around!!!

When can we do it all again???

Huh JP??

Huh?
HUH???

JP??

....I know your number JP!!

Well, that is all for today.
My presence is requested for a rousing game of Horseopoly in the next room over with my baby girl!!

See ya tomorrow!!