Welcome to the Barn - 1

When Mike first asked me to do a Western page for his New Rider web site, I thought to myself, "Now, what can I possibly provide to these good English riders about Western riding?" I then remembered my initial thoughts when I first encountered the New Rider site on the internet: "Now, what could a site full of English riders possibly offer me?" "Why don't I just go find a Western site and talk with folks that I have something in common with?"

But I found out early on that the New Rider site has a great deal to offer to me as a Western rider. Besides the wonderful camaraderie of other horse people who really aren't all that different from this old Texas cowboy, but it offers the sharing of equine stories, traditions, training techniques, the opportunity to help others with their equine problems, and just about everything else equine with folks that aren't as nearly as far away from my point of view on horses as that big pond makes it seem sometimes! So in a way, I owe y'all!

Mike asked me to put together a series of articles on things that had a Western flair to them, and I readily agreed.

"This should be fun", I thought. After I sent Mike an email saying I would be glad to, my next thought was, "This might be a lot of work!" But what are horse friends for? And speaking of horse friends, there are a few other Western riders that have been lurking in the shadows on New Rider, and are going to help me with this project. My posse of cohorts in communication include: Thea Lloyd (Epona UK), Tiffany Button (horselover), Bob Jolley (guest writer), Carroll Haverkamp (Allie), Cathryn LeAnn (Katie_85) and Jacki Hyams (JackiAH). I will include a biography of each writer on another page. Thea by the way, is a certified Western trainer in England!

Let me introduce myself. My name is Tim Manson (OutRider on the message board) and I am from Killeen, Texas. I wasn't born in Texas. I was born some 45 years ago in the state of Missouri, but I got here just as quick as I could! First, let me tell you what I am NOT. I am not a professional horse trainer or riding instructor like the wonderful Ms. Heather Moffett. I have read her articles and can in no way compare to her skills and expertise. What I AM, is an old Texas cowboy who has about 30 years of experience in the saddle, and a Western saddle at that!

So what CAN this old cowboy offer you wonderful English riders? Well, guess what! Basic training is pretty much the same, be it for Western riding or English. So are horse problems. Notice that I didn't say problem horses. Generally, if an owner is having a problem with their horse, there is a problem with how the owner is communicating with the horse more than anything else. I have to paraphrase a line from the movie, "The Horse Whisperer. Robert Redford said, "I like to think I work with horses who have people problems!" Now again, I am not a professional horse trainer, but I have been around the arena enough to know a little about this thing we call riding.

The intoduction continues on the next page.