Got to see JL!

[wjminwi]

Hey, it's been a long time since I've checked in, but wanted to say that it's been even LONGER since I first heard of JL, and I finally got to see him in real life last Sunday! My dd and I went to the Hoosier Horse Fair, and John and Josh were there together! We were too shy to say "hi", but we watched both sessions and thought about how far we've come in our horsemanship since we bought our first one (11/05) and since we started trying to learn. John has been the most consistent influence on our training all this time. Made us both happy to finally see him, esp. as I think he is "handing over the reins" to Josh and I doubt he'll do clinics too much longer, at least not on the road.
Hope everyone here is doing well and getting in some spring rides!

[horsespoiler]

I got to see John and Jody a few years ago in Albany,OR. They were both very friendly. That was the year John was doing a problem horse demo on a horse the owner wouldn't ride. He tried to have it cross an obstacle and the horse reared and flipped over backwards. John stayed on all the way to the ground and ended up breaking his shoulder. He got back on, crossed the obstacle and got off. He admitted he should not have tried riding that horse over an obstacle as he could tell he just wasn't ready and we could all see the result of pushing a horse too far too fast. Then he went to the hospital. Luckily Jody had been at the booth in another building and didn't see it. He spent a week in Creswell,OR with friends who then drove his truck and trailer back to CO for him.

[wjminwi]

I guess even the best have their moments of doing something stupid! Makes me feel better :-)

[MaryS]

I saw on facebook that he still does clinics and lessons at his home. I so much would love to go!

[wjminwi]

Oh, I know it! It's so gorgeous there too. But I'd never pull a trailer that far....hate driving with a trailer. Though I suppose you can use his horses for lessons.

[ghostrider]

I think they would have loved to know you followed him on the board. They are so down to earth. I've never met him but they cared enough to personally send me a card and a cool DVD of baby horses when Michael passed.
It's nice to hear from you too.

[wjminwi]

Hey Denise!
I've decided to write a short letter to thank him for coming to Indiana's dinky little expo, and for the old discussion board, and for the impact he's had on our horse life these past 11 years....even though he doesn't know it! Well, he will once he reads the letter :-) He had four grandsons in the arena at the end. Two little guys got to throw free DVD's at the crowd. I guess one of the older ones was in one of Josh's demos on a different day. And the other older one is bucking the family trend and into football instead of horses...but he was there, and he was smiling! Another odd thing....we were walking through the horse barn, looking at all the horses, and two of them were listed as owned by Brandi Lyons. But she wasn't even there! And we never saw the stalls for John and Josh's horses. And the two that were Brandi's were not the ones John and Josh were riding in their clinics. So that was bit of a mystery!

[ghostrider]

Maybe a client's horses? I'd love to have him give a clinic down here, maybe someday he'll come to Springfield, we do have a really nice fair grounds with nice arenas and all that compete with the big cities.