Show People VS Schutzhund People - Page 5

OMG, Mystere, TOO funny!

Though I'm sure you weren't laughing at the time....

Shelly, I'd love to get together with you sometime, and swap riding stories, though I didn't race, just rode in Eventing, and schooling shows.

I was a working student for 6 months at a major teaching stable, and had my fair share of spills. Had to empty the sawdust and dirt out of my britches more than a few times after I'd been thrown high and wide!

The working students got to do 'remedial' work on the rougher school horses, so getting thrown off happened fairly frequently. Nothing like getting thrown backwards through a fence, when the horse refuses to make you sore and stiff for  a few days!

Though the bumps I took were nothing compared to what  happens on the track. I had a former jockey as a patient once, and he told me he'd broken every bone in his body at least once.

Haven't ridden in quite a few years. Funny how the ground gets a lot harder as you get older.... when you're young, you just bounce right back into the saddle!

Sounds like we could use a whole thread to swap herding stories.

I tried it with my working-bloodlines girl, and she was awesome the first time and a maniac ever after.  So I tried again with my ??? bloodlines rescue, and he was very good for the first few sessions, then boxed me in neatly with sheep and tried to drag one off to his (imaginary) den by the leg.  This time I started with a puppy, went often, and didn't get excited, and that seems to have worked pretty well.  Too, he's a pretty steady guy, and can go from nuzzling the weakling lamb around the field to bashing the ram with his shoulder without getting too rattled.

I'm beginning to think that the real secret to herding with a GSD is remembering that a stick raised high means either "Eat me!" when it's not done by the GSD's person or "Eat that!" when it is.  If you raise the stick at the dog, you become the enemymaster or he becomes the partnervillain, and he goes into meltdown.  Presto!  Mutton.  I keep the stick low, and the other handlers say, "Can he see that?"  Yeah.  He sees it fine.

Wow,
I avoided this thread simple because of the title.
I only looked in now because I saw Shelley post to it...LOL    I'm always curious.
Happyday,
I'm just a guy with too much time on my hands and not enough friends to go round.   We had a get to know each other thread a long time back.    Its way back in the archives somewhere.
I am neither show or schutzhund, I'm just an animal lover and sometimes a bit strange, been that way my whole life.
What I know took a lifetime to learn and I hope I'm still learning.   It gets harder with every year that passes.
There are many people here who have been here all along, longer than I.   They post from time to time.  Most I would guess don't have the time.  There are also the players, you'll figure that out in time.
I came to this site for the database, its a very good site and Oli did a remarkable thing by developing his site.   The message board is a bonus.
It has become a habit now and I stop by as often as I can.  
I've owned GSDs my whole life seems like,  not exclusively but they are my favorite breed.   I've raised many kinds of animals including sheep but I really love birds especially birds of prey.  Horses and the dogs are tied for first place in my heart and I found they make better friends than humans.    We understand each other and there can be no deception.
Personally,
I am a male, 56, married with two grown boys, I'm in southern Indiana, and have no party affiliations.  I am not a religeous person per say and I am pro choice, I believe you can find any answer to any question in nature if you only look.
I have two faces, the ying and the yang, I can be someones best friend or their worst enemy.  I believe in the balance of nature and the circle of life.   And before I become too strange I'll end this here.
Feel free to ask me anything, I may or may not answer, but I will always try to be honest.
Brent.