Fall Women's Horsemanship Camp Reports:

From Cheryl:
Every year I come home thinking this year was even better than last! I don't know how Sherry does it. One of the keys is her constant learning and personal development. As she grows, she shares with us and offers us the opportunity to expand our knowledge and playing field. She is always there encouraging and celebrating our successes.

The Switzers have a beautiful ranch with outstanding accommodations, food, and fellowship. We stayed in the North Lodge this year and we all agreed we liked it even better than the main lodge.

The spotlights were quite inspiring. Everyone has their strengths and it was fun to see them on display. The music adds a new dimension. For my turn, I asked Sherry to pick out two Mary Ann Kennedy songs and I rode Kisses freestyle to one and finesse (on contact) to the second. My plan was to live in the moment and ride the horse that showed up. Fortunately, my partner showed up and I was very happy with our ride.

We had some nice group trail rides and a couple group lessons. We were outside all day Saturday, but spent quite a bit of time in the indoor arena Friday, Sunday and Monday. Everyone had a private lesson with Sherry. Leigh and I wanted a trail ride to end camp, so our "lesson" was a ride with Sherry. We rode in the wind and the rain, but we also had some time when the wind was calm and the Sandhills had their special magic. I don't know how to describe it. The Sandhills are spiritual to me. I feel like this is the most beautiful area in God's creation and am so thankful I get to live here. The rain makes the footing even better. We walked, we trotted, we loped, maybe some galloping even. We went up and down the hills, we saw the deer enjoying the misty day. We were appreciative and thankful. It was the perfect ending for me.
Not sure what next year will bring, but I plan to make my annual pilgrimage to Calamus Outfitters for another camp with Heart in Your Hand Horsemanship. ­­­­­­­­­­­

From Cindy:
As in every year, I come home from camp enriched in friendships, and my horsemanship. Although the weather certainly could have been better, I still loved every minute of it. The drive out to the beautiful Sand hills brought me peace and joy.

What I enjoyed most:

• The exercises we learned....
• Friday when we played with each others horses, I chose Blue. Leigh's mule. That was a first to play with a mule! He kept me on my toes and you could see he was two steps ahead of me all the way ;) What fun, and a challenge at the same time. I think I know now why Leigh is attracted to mules...!
• Saturday....the trail rides through the Sandhills. I am quite sure that is the most I have ridden Checkers in one day. I loved the ride out earlier in the day. It was the first time I've gone through the gate, landing my eyes on the vast Sandhills, and not feeling fear of the unknown. Checkers gave me that sweet confidence. Sherry showed me the hill that the first year I got off and walked up. (We call it the FAT FARM hill!) This year I cantered up to it. What a difference!
• I also played on my horse bareback that afternoon. Another thing I always wanted to do, but was too afraid to.
• We loved watching every one's routine to music.
• Sunday..... after Sherry's cowgirl church we moved indoors. Sherry kept us busy with exercises in the arena she uses in her colt training to create a softer more supple and responsive horse.
• Monday: For my individual lesson, I had Sherry show me how to Long Line using two reins. I loved the FEEL it presented to me on line. I wasn't sure I could handle two ropes, as I seem to have enough trouble with just one 22ft. but it wasn't as hard as I thought. And was actually fun!
• As usual Sherry gave us some nice study material including areas of Leadership, Communication, Partnership and Lightness. Again also emphasizing the Mental, Emotional and Physical Collection. It was a nice balance of thought and application.

I do feel it all came together for me this year. I have always felt like I was swimming under a layer of ice and I finally hit it from underneath hard enough and broke through. Thanks to my awesome horse Checkers, my mentor teacher Sherry, and my dear friends that are just as much a part of this journey as any thing else.
Wow...I'm finally where I want to be.

Lessons from Horsemanship Camp transferred to working cattle!
From Renee:
Had to write you to tell you what an exciting day I had today. We have been working our calves, pre-conditioning (vaccinating) for weaning in a couples weeks from now. Been using 4 wheelers for moving cows to corrals but used Jack for sorting in the corral. Was so happy to use the maneuvers you taught me on him and he worked so much better. I realized that what helps so much and why we do so good at it is because of the intention that you taught us about. We are so focused on the cow that even when one dives back into the herd, it is like parting the sea. So neat to realize how that works so well. I thought it was all Jack doing that however I do give him a lot of credit for his intentions.

Anyway another exciting thing that I learned today and thought you would be interested in was what I learned in moving the cows. We were taking the herd back to pasture with our 4 wheelers and I was watching our Border Collie and his herding at the same time my husband and I were criss-crossing in the back. It all came together, we were doing serpentines! That's what the dog was doing naturally. So I said "let’s try going up on opposite sides of the herd, turning in towards the cows and criss-crossing in the back, like your dance you talk about. It seemed to work great. I think we can really perfect our timing and dance as we only had about a half a mile to move them. Looks like if we want the herd to move in a different direction, the person on that side would go up a little farther. I am so anxious to try it some more.

So I got to thinking of this on a deeper level. Why I think this works is I think maybe cows need to be disengaged on the front end. When you think about it, when a cow gets on the fight, she braces in the front and faces her enemy. So exciting. I've heard that you need to move cows from the side so I am taking it a step farther. I think you need to disengage that front end and then drive them once moving. We have probably done a lot of this already without realizing what we were doing. I am so anxious to do more experimenting.

I haven't had time to work with Ace. We have been very busy. You did such a great job with him. I have way more hope for him now. Sprinklers have been breaking down and I help my husband with that. Almost through irrigating if we can just get through the next couple weeks.

The lessons that you taught were so, so, so valuable. Thanks so much and looking forward to working with you more.