Walk a Straight Line

 'You stood on the shoulders of geniuses to accomplish something as fast as you could, and before you even knew what you had, you patented it, and packaged it, and slapped it on a plastic lunchbox, and now you wanna sell it.' - Ian Malcolm Jurassic Park Movie

“And because you can stand on the shoulders of giants, you can accomplish something quickly.” 
― Michael Crichton, Jurassic Park Book

Here I come, there Coolidge goes.

I don't have much original thought in ox driving.  I don't feel bad about this either.  I stand on the shoulders of giants.  Dulcy Perkins, the best teamster you'll ever come across, taught me, along with help from Rob Burdick.  Dick Roosenberg allowed me to observe his driving and teaching for years.  Vicki Solomon, Abby Johnson and Tim Harrigan each offered insightful advice in bite-sized pieces.  Howie and Andrew VanOrd poked and prodded my thinking on a number of topics.  Dale Parsons stood back and let my mistakes happen, offering support.  Anna Dirkse and Ivy Pagliari wove their teaching in alongside mine, gently correcting my problems or offering alternate-and-generally-more-successful strategies to accomplish tasks.  Marco and Polo made me look good when I wasn't, Hershel and Walker humbled me when I thought I had it, and Stan and Roy helped me to see what a team could really do.

Giants, I say.

Having said that, I have one original thought:  Walk a straight line.  At least until you shouldn't.  

Teamsters should walk straight lines while the animals should walk arcs.  When making a turn, for example, a right-handed turn, pick a spot to head to and simply to it.  The team should avoid you and, by doing so, they must make an arc.  The tighter the turn. the more it matters that you walk directly.

Try it.  You may have been doing it for years without thinking about it, but it works wonders for helping beginners to make tight turns on day one.  

Now stop walking straight lines.  Abby Johnson explained at the MODA Gathering a couple of years ago that getting a halter and heading towards an animal with intention is a recipe for the animal wandering off.  The fix is to meander a bit, approach in a seemingly unintentional way, like a nerdy kid moving in the hallway to "accidentally" bump into the cute girl.  (my metaphor not Abby's. . . I spent more time than I care to remember in one of those roles)

At Bent's Fort last week, this tip came back multiple times, as Clark and Coolidge had learned to avoid being haltered.  The meandering walk, along with lots of gentle brushing both in the corral and at the hitching post, returned them to an easy-to-catch team.  

There it is: My original thought.  Walk a straight line.  At least until you shouldn't.

Molly the Mule wants in on the brushing.