Sunday, February 12, 2012

The Duke Didn't Have It Quite Right....(in my opinion)

I imagine most everyone has seen the John  Wayne quote, "Courage is being scared to death but saddling up anyway."  Well, since I haven't posted anything in quite a while, I'll get on my soapbox a little about this quote. 

The Duke is wrong about this....I know he was speaking metaphorically, so he can say it however he wants to.  But here's the fact of the matter.  I've saddled a fair number of horses that I was pretty sure were going to buck.  Trust me when I say, saddling is the easy part.  They might buck when you're saddling and they might stand there all puffed up waiting to move or they might look all relaxed until they move.  But if you've ridden even one colt or horse that has a little buck in them, you know this....it ain't too scary to saddle them.  Not too many bad things will happen if you are paying attention at all. 

However......once you get that saddle on and the cinch tightened enough to keep the saddle on and do a little ground work and run back to the house for another cup of coffee and check your facebook account on your phone and scratch everything you can think of to scratch and....and......and.....At some point, you are going to have to put that left foot in the stirrup.  That isn't really too tough either.  If my cinch is tight enough, I can hang in the left stirrup all day.  I can even hang there and bounce a little while the colt moves around.  Hardly scary at all if you keep your foot where it needs to be in the stirrup.  But EVENTUALLY.....you are going to have to swing that right foot over that horse's back and put it on the other side of that horse.  THAT'S WHERE THE COURAGE COMES IN. 

You know if you've ridden any broncy thing on this earth that you need to stay relaxed.  Keep your muscles relaxed and your body relaxed.  Keep your thoughts relaxed.  But that is not the easiest thing to do.  Your brain tells you all the things you know you should be doing......but your body goes into self preservation mode.  And then you think, "maybe I should have had just one more cup of coffee.  No wait...now I gotta pee." 

Seriously, I know what the Duke meant when he coined this quote.  He was saying it takes courage to start something when you are afraid.  And no doubt about it, that's right.  There are lot's of folks who just need that little push to "start".  And maybe that quote is just the thing they need to hear to do it.  But as usual, I had to put my two cents worth in. 

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