by Joe Camp
I’m sorry that Joe believes his story to be a fable. Especially the part about where and to whom I was born. Because Joe doesn’t know. He wasn’t there.
And I was.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
If the last Benji movie, Benji Off the Leash, had been a big success, we would’ve never owned horses and this book would’ve never been written. The movie was not a big success. It was unable to compete as an independent film against the huge promotional dollars being spent by the Hollywood studios these days. That experience left a huge, gaping hole in my life. I was convinced that Benji Off the Leash was going to raise the bar for family films. Be an example that would show Hollywood the error of its ways. It had a strong story that set a good example, without the use of four-letter words, sexual innuendos, or violence. I was certain that God was using Benji Off the Leash to prove once and for all that good stories do not need to lower the bar to entertain. It was clear, at least to me, that God had been involved in the movie from the beginning, that He wanted it to be made. The money was raised in record time. We were forced to accept Utah as a production location, against our wishes, but once we were there, many of the usual production problems miraculously vanished. And we found Tony DiLorenzo, a young composer searching for his first movie. He wrote an amazing score that we could never have afforded with a seasoned composer, and I believe Tony will become one of the finest film composers in the business.
Yet with all of that, the film did not do well.
And there was this huge hole to fill.
When depression tries to claw its ugly self into your being, there are but two choices. Give in to it or grab it by its scrawny neck, sling it to the ground, and pull yourself out of that hole.
Growth always seems to arise out of adversity.
I, of course, didn’t know it when it was happening, but God was telling me it was time to move on. To fill another need. To make a difference.
If the movie had been even marginally successful, He knew I’d be off working on another one.
But I wasn’t to go there.
Instead, I tried to forget by turning to horses. And learning about them. I wanted to fill the emptiness of that dark hole. Then, slowly, Kathleen and I began to realize that something was amiss with the traditional methods of caring for these beasts. And, quite unexpectedly, an amazing journey of discovery lay before us.
A new passion was born.
My first acknowledgment, therefore, is to God for never failing to do whatever it takes to make me listen, no matter how hard I try not to. For the tough love I so often need. For caring that much. And for using me as a humbled instrument of His will.
Next, from the bottom of my heart I thank the investors in Benji Off the Leash, dear friends all. At best it will be a long time until you recoup your investment, yet I have never lost your support, or your friendship. In addition to funding a terrific movie with a wonderful message, you have inadvertently made a difference for horses everywhere.
During the promotion of the film, one of the publicists set up a radio interview by telephone with Dr. Marty Becker, well-known author, syndicated columnist, radio host, and Good Morning America’s vet in residence. A week or so after the interview, Marty called and asked if it would be possible for me to bring Benji to a fund-raiser in his hometown of Bonners Ferry, Idaho. We were in the middle of a coast-to-coast, major-market promotional tour for the film and he was asking that we pause for two days and come to a town of 2,700 people for a benefit screening. “We could also do one in the neighboring town of Sandpoint,” he added. A much bigger town, almost 8,000 people.
It was clearly another God thing, because I took one look at Marty and Teresa’s beautiful ranch—and their horses—and convinced everyone involved that it would be a nice breather between Seattle and Chicago. Kathleen met me in Spokane and we drove up to Bonners Ferry for a perfectly wonderful two days nurturing a pair of new lifelong friendships.
Why does any of that matter? Because if it hadn’t been for the movie, the investors, and God, this most unusual meeting with Marty Becker would have never happened. And if the meeting had never happened, Marty Becker would never have become such a giving and loving friend, and he would’ve never have introduced me to his literary agent, David Vigliano, easily one of the best in all the world. If I had never met David, it stands to reason that he never would have become my agent and I would certainly be, by this time in the process, completely insane. And, without David, I’m sure the book would’ve never made it to Shaye Areheart, the most loving publisher on the planet.
So from the bottom of my heart, thank you so much, Dr. Marty Becker. Maybe our horses will be pasture mates yet. And thank you, David Vigliano, for loving the book right from the get-go. For believing. And for saying exactly the right thing every time I needed it. Thank you, Shaye Areheart, for having the faith to put the power of America’s largest publishing house behind these meager words of mine. I’m still aghast.
Next has to be my editor, Peter Guzzardi. What a thankless job, trying to pull the best out of a paranoid independent writer and filmmaker who, having always been independent, never once had the blessing of a sensibility like Peter’s to make something better. And when there’s no one there to try, one can become very possessive, fearful, mistrustful, unreasonable, and obsessed. Yet somehow Peter managed to carefully weave his way through my insecurities and help me make this book so much better. Thank you, Peter. I hope it was somehow not as bad an experience as I imagine. I would hate to have to deal with me.
Thank you, Monty Roberts, for your friendship and for being there with Join-Up as we began this process. If we hadn’t given our horses that choice to be with us, right in the beginning, our entire experience would have been sadly different, for it was that moment of Join-Up with Cash that caused me to change from owner to partner. From like to love. From the boss to a member of the herd and a true leader. You have blessed me with the soul of a horse.
Thank you to all the clinicians, trimmers, vets, and authors listed in the Resources section of this book, many of whom have become friends since those early days not really so long ago. Thank you for sharing your decades and decades of rich experience that allowed us to get so quickly up to speed, to understand the truth, and to become yet another messenger to carry your mission forward.
Thank you, Cash. Thank you to all of our horses. Each of you has such a wonderfully unique personality, and you have brought so much into our lives. But especially Cash. I wonder if you understand how very much you mean to me. When you cock your head and peer straight into my soul, I believe, somehow, that you do.
Lastly, there is my editor before Peter, the love of my life and my second soul mate, Kathleen. How does one become so fortunate as to have two such intelligent, caring, compassionate soul mates in one lifetime? Whenever I’m buried in a project, Kathleen is always there. If I’m editing a film, she consults every evening on what we’ve edited that day. And she’s so brutally honest that afterward we might not speak for hours. It’s difficult, emotional work that deserves combat pay. The same is true with this book. She read every word, every chapter, over and over again.
“I don’t see any changes,” she might say.
“What do you mean? The third word in the eighteenth paragraph is changed.”
Combat pay, indeed.
Thank you so much, Sweetie, not only for your help and support, your love, your glorious ideas, and, yes, for the title of this book, but also for allowing me to tell your side of this journey as it actually was: fearful, frustrating, and embarrassing. I’m sure there were times when you simply wanted to quit and walk away. It is your book as much as mine. I love you so much.
PHOTOGRAPH CREDITS
Chapter 1
Stallion in the Wild—American West
Photo by Pete and Ivy Ramey
www.hoofrehab.com
Chapter 2
Joe and Cash
Photo by Kathleen Camp
www.thesoulofahorse.com
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Chapter 3
Horses in the Wild—American West
Photo by Pete and Ivy Ramey
Chapter 4
Joe and Kathleen’s Tack Room
Photo by Joe Camp
Chapter 5
Herd at Ortega Mountain Ranch
Photo by Laurra Maddock
www.ortegamountainranch.com
Chapter 6
Joe and Cash
Photo by Kathleen Camp
Chapter 7
Babies Sleeping—Carpe Diem Farm
Photo by Joe Camp
www.carpediemfarm.com
Chapter 8
Joe and Kathleen’s Natural Pasture
Photo by Joe Camp
Chapter 9
A Family in the Wild—American West
Photo by Pete and Ivy Ramey
Chapter 10
Pocket and Sojourn Communicating
Photo by Joe Camp
Chapter 11
Two Wild Horses Communicating—American West
Photo by Pete and Ivy Ramey
Chapter 12
Cash, Joe, and a Pawleys Island Hammock
Photo by Kathleen Camp
Chapter 13
Rusting Shoes and Nails from Cash, Handsome, and Pocket
Photo by Joe Camp
Chapter 14
Dancing at Sunset—Arrowhead Mountains
Photo by Ginger Kathrens
www.TheCloudFoundation.org
Chapter 15
Pocket—Before We Knew
Photo by Joe Camp
Chapter 16
Stallion in the Wild—American West
Photo by Pete and Ivy Ramey
Chapter 17
Sophie Having a Blast—Ortega Mountain Ranch
Photo by Laurra Maddock
Chapter 18
Joe and Cash
Photo by Kathleen Camp
Chapter 19
Family Band in Snowstorm—Arrowhead Mountains
Photo by Ginger Kathrens
Chapter 20
Kathleen and Skeeter
Photo by Joe Camp
Chapter 21
Wild Herd—American West
Photo by Pete and Ivy Ramey
Chapter 22
Joe and Kathleen’s Remaining Hitching Post
Photo by Joe Camp
Chapter 23
Sojourn on the Run
Photo by Joe Camp
Chapter 24
Circus Ball Going for a Ride
Photo by Joe Camp
Chapter 25
Going to the Water Hole
Photo by Ginger Kathrens
Chapter 26
Joe Flexing Cash
Photo by Kathleen Camp
Chapter 27
Members of a Wild Herd—American West
Photo by Pete and Ivy Ramey
Chapter 28
Miss Mouse—Shortly After Coming Home
Photo by Joe Camp
Chapter 29
An Empty Stall—Handsome’s Lead Rope
Photo by Joe Camp
Chapter 30
Joe with Skeeter, Pocket, and Cash
Photo by Kathleen Camp
Chapter 31
Joe with Cash
Photo by Kathleen Camp
RESOURCES
There are, I’m certain, many programs and people who subscribe to these philosophies and are very good at what they do but are not on the following list. That’s because we haven’t experienced them yet, and we will only recommend to you programs that we believe, from our own personal experience, to be good for the horse and well worth the time and money.
NATURAL HORSEMANSHIP
This is the current buzzword for training horses or teaching humans the training of horses without any use of fear, cruelty, threats, aggression, or pain. The philosophy is growing like wildfire, and why shouldn’t it? If you can accomplish everything you could ever hope for with your horse and still have a terrific relationship with him or her, and be respected as a leader, not feared as a dominant predator, why wouldn’t you? As with any broadly based general philosophy, there are many differing schools of thought on what is important and what isn’t, what works well and what doesn’t. Which of these works best for you, I believe, depends a great deal on how you learn, and how much reinforcement and structure you need. We have more or less shuffled together the first three whose websites are listed below, favoring one source for this and another for that. Often, this gives us an opportunity to see how different programs handle the same topic, which enriches insight. But, ultimately, they all end up at the same place: When you have a good relationship with your horse that began with choice, when you are respected as your horse’s leader, when you truly care for your horse, then, before too long, you will be able to figure out for yourself the best communication to evoke any particular objective. These programs, as written, or taped on DVD, merely give you a structured format to follow that will take you to that goal.
www.montyroberts.com Start here, please. Learn Monty’s Join-Up method, either from his books or DVDs, on sale at this website address. Watching his Join-Up DVD was probably our single most pivotal experience. Even if you’ve owned your horse forever, go back to the beginning and watch this DVD, then do it yourself with your horse or horses. You’ll find that when you unconditionally offer choice to your horse and he chooses you, everything changes. You become a member of the herd, and your horse’s leader, and with that goes responsibility on his part as well as yours. Even if you don’t own horses, it is absolutely fascinating to watch Monty put a saddle and a rider on a completely unbroken horse in less than thirty minutes (unedited!). We’ve also watched and used Monty’s Dually Training Halter DVD and his Load-Up trailering DVD. And we loved his books: The Man Who Listens to Horses, The Horses in My Life, From My Hands to Yours: Lessons from a Lifetime of Training Championship Horses, and Shy Boy: The Horse That Came in from the Wild. Monty is a very impressive man who cares a great deal for horses.
www.parelli.com Pat and Linda Parelli have turned their teaching methods into a fully accredited college curriculum. We have four of their home DVD courses: Level 1, Level 2, Level 3, and Liberty & Horse Behavior. We recommend them all, but especially the first three. Often, they do run on, dragging out points much longer than perhaps necessary, but we’ve found, particularly in the early days, that knowledge gained through such saturation always bubbles up to present itself at the most opportune moments. In other words, it’s good. Soak it up. It’ll pay dividends later. Linda is a good instructor, especially in the first three programs, and Pat is one of the most amazing horsemen I’ve ever seen. His antics are inspirational for me. Not that I will ever duplicate any of them, but knowing that it’s possible is very affirming. And watching him with a newborn foal is just fantastic. The difficulty for us with Liberty & Horse Behavior (besides its price) is on disk 5, whereon Linda consumes almost three hours loading an inconsistent horse into a trailer. Her belief is that the horse should not be made to do anything; he should discover it on his own. I believe there’s another option. As Monty Roberts teaches, there is a big difference between making a horse do something and leading him through it, showing him that it’s okay, that his trust in you is valid. Once you have joined up with him, and he trusts you, he is willing to take chances for you because of that trust, so long as you don’t abuse the trust. On his trailer-loading DVD, Monty takes about one-tenth the time, and the horse (who was impossible to load before Monty) winds up loading himself from thirty feet away, happily, even playfully. And his trust in Monty has progressed as well, because he reached beyond his comfort zone and learned it was okay. His trust was confirmed. One thing the Parelli program stresses, in a way, is a follow-up to Monty Roberts’s Join-Up: You should spend a lot of time just hanging out with your horse. In the stall, in the pasture, wherever. Quality time, so to speak. No agenda, just hanging out. Very much a relationship enhancer. And don’t ever stomp straight over to your horse and slap on
a halter. Wait. Let your horse come to you. It’s that choice thing again, and Monty or Pat and Linda Parelli can teach you how it works.
www.downunderhorsemanship.com This is Clinton Anderson’s site. Whereas the Parellis are very philosophically oriented, Clinton gets down to business, with lots of detail and repetition. What exactly do I do to get my horse to back up? From the ground and from the saddle, he shows you precisely, over and over again. And when you’re in the arena or the round pen and forget whether he used his left hand or right hand, or whether his finger was pointing up or down, it’s very easy to go straightaway to the answer on his DVDs. His programs are very task-oriented, and, again, there are a bunch of them. We have consumed his Gaining Respect & Control on the Ground, Series I through III and Riding with Confidence, Series I through III. All are multiple DVD sets, so there has been a lot of viewing and reviewing. For the most part, his tasks and the Parellis’ are much the same, though usually approached very differently. Both have served a purpose for us. We also loved his No Worries Tying DVD for use with his Australian Tie Ring, which truly eliminates pull-back problems in minutes! And on this one he demonstrates terrific desensitizing techniques. Clinton is the only two-time winner of the Road to the Horse competition, in which three top natural-horsemanship clinicians are given unbroken horses and a mere three hours to be riding and performing specified tasks. Those DVDs are terrific! And Clinton’s Australian accent is also fun to listen to…mate.
THE THREE PROGRAMS above have built our natural-horsemanship foundation, and we are in their debt. The following are a few others you should probably check out, each featuring a highly respected clinician, and all well known for their care and concern for horses.
