Leconfield 5 day Jackaroo & Jillaroo School, Kootingal, New South Wales 2352

 

Before my departure to Australia I knew I wanted to live the cowboy life once on an authentic Aussie outback ranch. As a big fan of western movies this was the perfect time and location to do so. During my search on the Internet I found this 5-day horsemanship school to learn some ranch-based Jackaroo skills to become a horse whisperer and forge a bond with an outback horse. I was keen on going there to muster up my best cowboy impressions! So without hesitations I booked the Leconfield 5 day Jackaroo & Jillaroo School!

 

On Monday 24th of November Tim, the real horse whisperer, picked us up at 9am from Tamworth YHA. We were a group of 16 people, mostly Dutchies. From the hostel we went to a second hand store where I bought cheap work clothes: two vintage shirts with long sleeves (for only $8). After that we headed to the ranch in Kootingal.

 

After one-hour drive we arrived at Leconfield, a beautiful and hilly countryside in the middle of nowhere. We all introduced ourselves with a cup of tea. We didn’t lose time and started school right away. The first step was to pick up a horse that would be my own horse for the next 5 days. I was so excited to finally get my first horse and there he was. His name? Soldier! It was an old white horse, but perfect for someone who had never ridden a horse before. Exactly I had never but I wasn’t scared at all, on the contrary I couldn’t wait to get started. After a small talk with my horse Soldier I had some grooming and saddling lessons followed by a lesson on Natural Horsemanship riding. After that Soldier and I went for our first ride to get to know each other. My 1st day as a Jackaroo ended after a 2,5 hour ride. I felt so amazed and it was just the beginning!

 

In the morning of the 2nd day I had a two hour Natural Horsemanship lesson, a horseshoeing lesson, a whip cracking and lassoing lesson. Before the ride I played some Natural Horsemanship games with Soldier. After playing I jumped on Soldier’s back for some sheep mustering. That means calling the sheep together for an inspection, followed by a sheep-shearing lesson. My second day ended with a barrel race on my horseback wich was a lot of fun. That night some persons and I decided to sleep outside. We all put our swag bags next to the camp fire and enjoyed the sky full of shining stars.

 

The 3rd day started with another two hour Natural Horsemanship lesson. It was just unbelievable how close Tim and his horse were. Once you had that bond with your horse, you could let him do amazing things. There are 4 horse responsibilities: 

• think like a horse,

• don’t think like a predator,

• independence seat and

• natural pair of focus.

And there are 4 things horses like:

• safety,

• comfort,

• food and

• play

The rest of the day I did some fencing and yard building.

 

I started my 4th day with catching and saddling Soldier and played some Natural Horsemanship games with him. There are 7 different horse games:

• the friendly game,

• the porky pig game,

• the driving game,

• the yo-yo game,

• the circular game,

• the squeezing game and

• the sideways game.

After the fun I was on Soldier’s back for some cattle mustering to yard and draft them. In the afternoon there was a lassoing competition followed by a wrestling with calves to brand and mark them. Wrestling with calves was pretty rough but made you feel strong!

 

On the 5th day Soldier and I went for a swim. We played some Natural Horsemanship games and afterwards we went for a ride where I took Soldier for a trot and a canter. We returned to Tamworth YHA around 6pm for a big night out.