From my window seat, my eyes followed along as a river laced its way through the quilted patchwork of the Canadian prairies. I was flying to Winnipeg, Manitoba en-route to the Bar K Ranch, where I was scheduled to do a three-day horsemanship clinic.

I was traveling with the lovely Janet Werstroh we all know from the head offices of “Horses… Naturally” with Jay O’Jay in Calgary Alberta. Yes, Janet was truly excited about leaving the city behind and immersing herself into the lifestyle of a 16,000-acre working cattle ranch. And may I add; a ranch that is very well known for its foundation bred quarter horses and breeding program. Click here to check out their website.

I was impressed with the natural ease with which Janet calmly turned off the buzz of urban living, allowing herself to fall into the day-to-day routines of this working ranch. Let me put it to you this way; her jeans were dirtier than mine at the end of each day and I don’t think she even noticed.

Just in case you’re wondering! Janet was traveling with me mainly because she was going to be taking photographs of all the different aspects of the clinic; including all the participants, their horse and whatever else she had time for. I was amazed; in three days Janet took over 1800 images! Now she has the tedious task of editing, sorting and burning selected images onto CD discs to send out to all those who made requests. My bet is that the next time she travels with me, the amount of photos taken will be considerably less.

The images attached to this blog are Janet’s, so if you like them please drop her a line and let her know. We will also be adding more of her images throughout the web site – see if you can identify them.

As we disembarked from the airplane and headed over to pick up our baggage, the anticipation of getting to the Bar K Ranch caused me to tingle with excitement. I truly was looking forward to meeting up with all the people and all the horses that would be taking part in this spring tune-up clinic.

There she was, I spotted her right away! Susan Kopec was waiting for us at the bottom of the escalator. And as we made our way over to her with the mounds of baggage we were packing, I could feel the warmth of her welcome reaching out to us from across the room. I could tell this was going to be a good clinic!

From their family owned and operated Bar K Ranch, Susan and her husband David Kopec were my clinic hosts for what was being officially named the “Spring Tune-Up Clinic”. Their hospitality was second to none. I even got to stay in an attached cabin to the main house with lots of room to spread out my traveling gear and relax.

David and Susan had all the bases covered, right from a portable round pen set up in the indoor arena, a quality sound system, bleachers for the spectators and, they even had the parents of local 4H kids cooking up great lunches.

Right from trailer parking, camp sites, stabling and portable toilets, nothing was overlooked. Heck, they even had an evening trail ride planed for those who cared to join in. We actually rode home under the light of a full moon – hard to beat!

In my humble opinion, being aware of the needs of others is a good thing, but doing something about it deserves to be commended.

“Win a Colt”! For five bucks you could buy a ticket in an effort to raise money for the “Riding for the Disabled”. The Bar K Ranch donated the newborn foal for this draw, but the interesting part was that there were approximately 52 foals to choose from. That’s right, there were 52 brood mares in their foaling pasture and every morning of the clinic, there was sure to be the cutest newborn baby found standing along side its mother.

Monique, a clinic participant, won the contest draw and when I saw her last, she was still walking amongst all those newborns scratching her head. A bit confusing for sure – good luck with your decision Monique!

Staying with David and Susan at the Bar K Ranch was an exceptional experience for me. I think the intentions behind all we do in life speak louder than any words and are a direct reflection of our integrity and self worth. I hope they know how much I appreciated those days I spent in Winnipeg, and that I can’t wait to return again in the fall.

I was standing at the BBQ when I saw a black pickup truck make its way up the dirt road that leads to my place here in Invermere BC.

Yes! Paul Schofield had just arrived with his four-year-old mare “Betsy” and for the next five days they would be my guests here at Stoddart Creek Stables – or at least that’s what I thought! Allow me to start from the beginning.

Paul Schofield arrives at Stoddart Creek Stables

Paul, his wife Velma, and a group of friends traveled to Red Deer, Alberta to attend the Mane Event which is a large horse expo that features “horse trainers” of all disciplines. However, Paul and his friends were there to watch the “Trainer’s Challenge” - a colt starting competition with three trainers and three range raised colts.

To make a long story short – I just happened to be one of the featured trainers and as the competition unfolded, Paul was convinced that I would be the winner. He even made a $50.00 bet! Well, he couldn’t believe it when he lost that bet – so he ranted and raved about it all the way home – driving his wife and all of his friends “Insane”!

The Trainer’s Challenge was held at the end of April/07 and as the summer fell upon Paul, he went about his business of farming and ranching in central Alberta, Canada.

As fate would have it, we were to meet again – this time by total surprise! Paul had tickets for Big Valley Jamboree in Camrose, Alberta – a huge outdoors Country & Western Music Festival and to his amazement – he saw me there doing a series of Colt starting demonstrations.

Not only was he surprised, he was eager to share the story of how he had lost fifty bucks. You could say that Paul was having trouble accepting the fact that I had not won the Trainer’s Challenge - and you guessed it – he started to rant and rave about it once again.

This is how we met and this is where our friendship began. As we talked, Paul asked me if there was any chance of him coming out to my facility to learn more about Jay O’Jay Horsemanship. I could see the eagerness in his eyes and I could feel his energy, the kind that only comes from a strong his desire to learn - so we made plans!

On September 13/07 at 7:30pm, Paul rolled into “Stoddart Creek Stables” with his horse “Betsy”. I put the BBQ on “hold” as I focused in on getting Betsy settled into what would be her new home for the next five days. Then it was Paul’s turn to un-hook the trailer and get bunked in.

Stoddart Creek Stables - Indoor Arena

As I finally sat down to eat my diner the conversation started, and let me tell you – it never ended. Paul wanted to learn the right way - he wanted to know the techniques, the strategies and the mechanic’s of horse training. His enthusiasm was contagious!

I told him that the techniques and the strategies were more or less the easy part. It’s the relationship with your horse – the communication – the emotional knowledge about their behavior and the mental knowledge of how they are – that’s the challenge! In fact some people never clue in enough to get it – and yet it’s the very core of every great horseman.

Stoddart Creek Stables - Top Barn & Round Pen

We woke up early that next morning, got the chores done, put the coffee pot on and had a good breakfast. Fueled up and ready to go, we started day one of what would be a “private work shop” with Jay O’jay Horsemanship. 

Can you believe it – in five days we started two colts – a big black Friesian and a big brown German Warm blood. We also stayed overnight at a backcountry lodge where we did a one day work shop – trailer loading, round penning techniques and then took an incredible trail ride into the wilderness of the Canadian Rockies. On top of that I was filming Paul and Betsy’s lessons so we could discuss them in the evenings. And somehow I found the time to ride my own two horses – Coco & Cisco.

Then, when the five days were up – Paul blew my mind – he said he didn’t want to go home! What about your wife, I asked – she’s okay with me staying was his reply. Well aren’t you tired of horse’n around yet? No – is the only thing he said.

Paul stayed another five days – and let me tell you – I worked real hard on getting him to understand “how” to become a better horseman. As you’ve probably already guessed by now – if you want to be successful with horses – you had better start working on yourself. It’s our personality that’s the deciding factor as to how we do all things with horses. Our attitude is a big part of this equation – and a healthy attitude is only achieved through the knowledge and understanding of the horse.

At the end of the ten days, I asked Paul – in a word or two can you tell me a little bit about your experience here with Jay O’Jay Horsemanship? Are you happy with the knowledge and understanding you gained? He didn’t really answer me in words – he just stood there with this look on his face – so I thought I had better photograph it.

Paul Schofield – Expressing his experience with Jay O’Jay Horsemanship

All that I know for sure is that Paul left Stoddart Creek Stables with a big smile on his face!

Paul Schofield & Betsy

It was time for Paul to get back home, his family was missing him and the cows were calling. But as he was pulling out of the driveway – he shouted out the truck window – “I’m coming back”! 

Click here to see what Paul had to say about this time spent learning from me!