[QUOTE=Bluey;6346938]
I somehow think that Tehannas is a corruption of the spanish tejanos.
What I heard from Don Dodge, that straddled several disciplines, includig CA vaquero traditions and others also told me, is that, in many horsemen’s opinions, the tejanos were considered better horsemen and cowmen, but didn’t have the finesse the CA vaquero tradition required, although the CA vaquero horses were considerably stiffer than the less finely tuned, but more athletic and softer horses of the tejanos.
At least that is how I understood the stories told.
Some of what you say makes sense, some not so much, especially questionable when you mention also riding “English Pleasure and park horses” and then saying today’s reining horses are horrible.
Which by the way I agree also to some point, they also make we wince, although not all ride poorly, as you describe.
I expect that, like with everything else, what we know is to be measured against what others know, before we put too much count on it being the one and only truth.
As for horses working as if they read your mind, that has always been so, is how many of our jumping horses worked and still do today, is how any good horseman will end up with the horses they keep and ride and compete or do other work.
Your story is very interesting, thanks for telling us.
[/QUOTE]
I think you are correct that tejanos is the correct Spanish spelling. I rode with Bill “Wink” Chappell for so many years I just slipped into his “vernacular.” That reminds me of the year I spent on Long Island, New York, and the following year I spent in Aberdeen, Maryland, and became close friends with a couple from Tennessee. When I returned home back in California my Mom said she could hardly understand me since I had picked up the accents of NY and Tenn. and it was an interesting combination. Thankfully, it was short-lived after I got home. VBG
I wish to correct one of your interpretations of my statements; i.e., when I referred the horrors of show-ring western riding I was referring to the Western Pleasure classes, not reining classes. I apologize for not making that distinction more clear. However, I will state that the earlier “stock horse” classes were much more realistic in that they actually exhibited maneuvers a horse would execute in working cattle. Today’s reining, IMHO, are classes exhibiting nothing but horses memorizing a pattern of dry work which shows me nothing as far as the original working horse. As for English Pleasure and Park, these original classes were far different than today’s “artificial” frames and movement. I would never force any of my horses into the mess required by today’s show rings. There’s very good reason why so many of our horses in these competitions don’t last long and usually end up with serious lameness.
I do agree that the Tejanos (see you got my attention, VBG) were a bit more rough on their horses which produced a very well-trained and quick-response horse, but as you indicate a bit stiff with anticipation. Wink learned from Vaqueros that had learned to train the more “hot-blooded” horses, including some Arabians, but more of the Thoroughbreds and Morgans (1920’s/30’s era before man tried to screw up the breeding). Wink was a bear on keeping a very light mouth with the horse picking up and holding the bit, whether snaffle, halfbreed or spade. I learned the methods of bringing the horse forward to each transition from snaffle to hackamore (or to curb if the horse was not made for the hackamore) and then from hackamore to curb. During the first week of riding we immediately started the horse learning to respond to leg aids. Then when it was time for the next transition, it was pretty simple since the horse knew the leg aids and would already collect, yield, sliding stop, spin or turn, two track, side pass and shift CG via leg aids with very light communication from hand to mouth (snaffle) or nose and branches (hackamore). Double-reining into the spade was pretty easy and natural by the time we got to that point. This simple training from first ride onward created the ability to carefully protect the mouth from any heavy-handed correction along the way and we produced horses with wonderful mouths that lasted all their lives. Perhaps some of the Tejanos never learned to “finely tune” their horses, but I would put Wink’s horses up against any Vaquero-trained horse. He put the best of two worlds together and was amazing.
The other area I would point out regarding the handling and lightness, etc., is that many of those early 20th century Vaqueros didn’t have the privilege of handling the hotter blooded horses, especially those from the more Northern areas of California into Oregon. They drew those hard-headed, thick-skinned broncs. One has to use a different approach on most of them and it “ain’t” with silk gloves, but they will eventually make good working horses when dealt with on the level of their breeding. However, those very cold-blooded horses very seldom made the wonderful working horses of the better bred, thinner skinned and let’s say “more cooperative/less stubborn” with more intelligence type. VBG A lot of the methods described in “The Hackamore Reinsman” by Ed Connell address those horses.
Good discussion…I always appreciate exchanging information with those that are familiar with the subject and to hopefully inform those that are not.
