My Cowboy Heroes by JIM OLSON
“LeeBobbi Anderson: Jeen Horseman of the Old School� OLSON iving historian, author and superb horseman, Lee Anderson, is a student – shall we say master – of Lee Anderson – Master the old Vaquero of the Bridle Horse “Bridle Horse� methods. He jokingly admits, “I am probably the only Swedish vaquero you’ll ever meet.� Born in Iowa, Lee has had a life-long affection for horses. He has ridden and trained in just about every genre of horsemanship, from Western to English and from the show ring to the pasture. He can drive two, four, six and even an eight-up team hitched to a wagon! He has trained and shown in reining, pleasure and trail and also worked with dressage, hackney, jumpers . . . and of course, the western cow-horse. His passion however, is the “Bridle Horse.� For those who aren’t quite sure what a “Bridle Horse� is – it refers to a horse
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trained in the old Vaquero methods – methods not seen much in this country for 100-plus years. A layman will recognize a bridle horse as one which eventually ends up in the use of a spade bit. Many people are taken back by the spade and automatically assume it is a harsh bit based upon its appearance. Not true. In the wrong hands, any bit is harsh. Lee quotes, “All souls criticize that which they do not understand.� A horse trained in this method responds to a feather’s touch of the reins. In the hands of a true bridle horseman, a well-trained bridle horse is pure poetry in motion. For example, it has been recorded that the old Vaqueros were big sportsman and loved to show off at festive occasions. One such game played went something like this: A hair was plucked from the horse’s tail and the “breakaway� in the reins was replaced with said tail hair. This meant if you pulled any harder than necessary to break the hair, your reins broke. The horse was then blindfolded and put through a series of intricate moves, showing its pure trust in the rider. For the finale, horse and rider ran full-tilt, straight
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at a solid wall. The team stopping closest to the wall, without hitting the wall or breaking the “breakaway hair� was the winner and the Vaquero considered a top horseman. (Before criticizing a contest such as this, keep in mind it was a different time, place and culture.) When asked why old methods such as these are fading, Lee responds, “In today’s day and age, not many are willing to spend half a lifetime learning the proper methods of horsemanship so they can spend four or five years training a horse this way.� Lee is passionate about it however and says, “It’s like driving a high performance sports car. Whatever you want is there . . . and at a touch. To a learned master such as Lee, he realizes every piece of the horseman’s and horse’s gear work intricately together to achieve an eventual result with the slightest of effort. He says, “The spade is a bit of signals. When properly used, a horse receives signals long before he ever feels the bit and responds before the bit is ever actually used.� Each piece of the tack and gear are a part of that signal system, not to mention the rider himself. Lee can pull the bridle off his horse and perform intricate maneuvers using nothing more than body language. Anderson uses a piece of string as a “breakaway� in his reins every day. Much like the old Vaqueros and their horsehair, if he uses more than just a slight tap of pressure on the reins, they break! After many years of being fascinated with horses, Lee chose to concentrate on this old style of horsemanship because he felt it most in tune with the horse. After a lifetime of studying what makes a horse tick, Anderson has even written a book on the subject. Developing the Art of Equine Communications is all about how to communicate with your horse, from a horse’s understanding and point of view. In Lee’s opinion, the bridle horse style of horsemanship comes closest to that. He studied horses and how they react to continued on page 141
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JULY 2012