A student in the UK recently asked Joe for help overcoming the habit of riding with his legs braced. It got Joe thinking about a bay mare that taught him just how much the rider’s legs matter to the horse.
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Joe was working on a ranch in Carmel Valley, California back in the late 1970s. In addition to 600 head of yearling cattle, there were 18 horses for him to work. “The prettiest horse on the place was a young bay mare, but I’d been warned she was crazy and that I ought to just get rid of her,” he explains.
 
But Joe had to see for himself, so as soon as time allowed he brought her in and got her saddled. “She was really troubled about being handled. She wouldn’t stand to be saddled and when you touched her it was like touching a rock. I had ridden horses like her before, but I wasn’t really sure how to help her.”
 
Luckily Bill Dorrance was right next door. “He had been responsible for getting me the job, so I called and told him about the mare. It wasn’t long before he showed up,” Joe says. “Bill really enjoyed helping others with their horses - especially if the person wanted to get better, which I certainly did.”
 
With Bill’s help Joe and the mare made a lot of progress. “But I still couldn’t get her to completely let down, particularly when there was any speed involved. Bill pointed out how my legs had a brace in them. I rode with pressure in the bottom of my stirrups. He said that might be what was keeping the mare a little stirred up.”
 
Joe had ridden that way for a long time and it was a hard habit to break. But when he was able to release the tension, relax his legs and move with the mare, she finally let down. “That was a huge breakthrough for me,” he says. “What I learned from that mare helped the other 17 horses I worked with that winter, plus an awful lot of horses since then.”

Joe Wolter & Bill Dorrance