Competency: A Balance of Integrity, Ethics, Leadership, Confidence, and Ability [Reader Post]

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“Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power.”
— Abraham Lincoln

andalusian-horseBarb Wire Johnny and I had a great adventure planned; we would ride East to the Alaska Highway, turn South and ride through Fort St John to Dawson Creek. There was a lady who had ridden in the Olympics or something who was going to do a riding exhibition. We knew this for a fact; a flyer had come to the main ranch and we had studied it for hours. Now this was a big deal in the Peace River Country and Johnny and I were more than ready to pay our twenty dollars apiece to watch some expert riding and have an evaluation of our own riding. The trip was about 160 miles each way; we’d follow the Alaska Highway for 120 miles or so, it wasn’t like we would be cutting trails and climbing mountains. We could expect to make 50 miles a day with one pack horse to carry our necessaries.

The only potential problem was crossing the Peace River. If the river was high the crossing can be very dangerous: crossing the long high bridge is dangerous if a logging truck comes down the hill with no brakes. Personally, I preferred the river; there was just one problem, Johnny couldn’t swim a lick. If he lost his horse in deep water (not likely) he would drown; I can swim like a fish, but with fast water and a swimming horse and underwater snags, strange currents and whirlpools, there were no guarantees I could get to him if there was trouble. Oh well, we would cross that bridge when we it was time.

335-1I was the cook and Johnny would wrangle the horses and set up camp each night while I prepared a grand meal. Johnny was a terrible cook with horrible dietary habits. He had one basic dish, spoiled venison in a skillet with grease; the fact that Johnny didn’t recognize spoiled meat that was ‘high’ didn’t exactly help his cooking. I cooked using spices and my favorite fruit, Jalapeno. I used it in everything except oatmeal, pancakes, grits, and dessert. Johnny loved my cooking; but I think it had a lot to do with giving his bowels a chance to recover from his ‘high’ meat diet.

References:

He was in his early 30’s and I was a young teenager; yet we were like the best of friends. Knarley Manners was actually my best friend and he was only a couple of years younger than me; but he was a Jehova Witness and I think that group frowns on laughing, for he was a somber young man; but Johnny and I carried on and laughed the whole live long day. He was actually my horse instructor, not really a riding instructor, since I had been riding since I could walk, he taught me the metaphysical relationship between a man and a horse: not that Johnny understood the term metaphysical, he couldn’t read or write; but he lived in the spiritual world of a horse and taught me things about a horse’s nature that I use to this day, 50 years later, both in my work with horses and my daily discourse with people.

We made it to the Alaska Highway and made camp the first night, I let Johnny deal with the horses and putting up the wickiup; I started a fire and got my black beans to boiling. We had a stand of fire killed pine snags to gather for firewood; it burns hot with long lasting coals. The beans were boiling away in no time and I started to prepare the rest of the meal. I cut up four thick slices of my homemade smoked bacon into one inch strips. I left these in the skillet until they began to render and took them off the fire and set them aside. I then put in about a pound of chopped moose tenderloin pieces cut into half inch cubes. Using the bacon grease I browned the moose with half a jalapeno cut into small pieces and half an onion cut into larger pieces, when they were half way done, I chopped a green pepper into coarse pieces and added to the moose. Johnny found several nice mushrooms and I chopped them and threw them into the skillet. Once the moose browned and the onion turned translucent, I took the skillet off the fire. I then added three spoons of balsamic vinegar to the beans, three spoons of mustard, the other half of onion coarsely chopped, ¾ cup of brown sugar, and the other half of the finely chopped jalapeno along with a healthy sprinkling of coarse black pepper. I also added the moose pieces and the rest of the ingredients. The recipe works well with pork or beef, you can substitute beef for most moose recipes if you remember that moose will usually be drier, and that only a real bush ape can eat moose fat because of the strong flavor.

The trick to cooking with Jalapeño is to cut it small and to cook it down so that the flavor permeates the other ingredients. To keep from getting the oils on your face and in your eyes, hold it by the stem when you cut it, the fruit should be cut lengthwise from the base to the tip and then roll it 90 degrees and cut it once again from top to bottom, then cut it cross ways so that you get four small pieces with each stroke of your knife. Don’t pick the pieces up, scrape them into the pot or skillet from the cutting board with the knife. I also cooked biscuits in a Dutch oven: my biscuits always disappeared in a matter of minutes. If you want them hard on top brush them with water: if you want them soft use a little butter.

I could hear Johnny singing to himself at the thought of one of my camp meals about to be served, he was as happy as a kid about to get a Christmas orange.

northern-lightsIt was a great meal; I cleaned up the dishes and Johnny brought the horses in and tied them to trees around camp; we climbed into our blanket rolls and watched shooting stars and the Northern lights while we discussed the importance of Dressage, a subject that neither of us knew anything about, until we fell asleep.

The next morning we were up and moving early, Johnny broke camp while I made bacon and eggs with onions. We washed it down with coffee and Johnny said we were living like kings.

1-1246343183-peace-river-bridgeThat afternoon we crossed the mighty Peace; neither of us trusted the logging trucks coming off the mountain to the South of the river, so we looked for a decent ford and crossed the river. We were about half way when the horses had to start swimming. Johnny and I slipped off on the downstream side while holding on the saddle, the reins, and the mane. The pack horse had to swim with the weight on her back and that is difficult for a horse because it upsets their natural buoyancy, if she started to drown I would need to sacrifice the packs by pulling the release rope for the packer’s diamond hitch that holds the top pack and secures the panniers; we would lose everything except the horse, a small price to pay to save a good horse. I also had to watch Johnny, if he got caught on a snag or caught in a whirlpool he would drown in a minute or two because of not being able to swim. To say the least I was watching everything like a hawk while Johnny was making jokes and trying desperately to make me laugh. We aimed the horses upstream of where we wanted to land or else we would miss a good landing ad maybe swept downstream without bing able to get out of the river. It is necessary to aim upstream on every river whether you are swimming or riding across in two feet of water, rivers are fast and dangerous up North and not to be taken lightly. Being pulled under by one of the powerful horse legs while they are swimming is also a danger during the crossing of a deep river.

Thankfully we made it across the river without an incident; but we were soaked, cold and there was a good chance that some of our food was ruined. We had to get moving or build a fire to keep the hypothermia from setting in, for the river is frightfully cold, even in the summer; we were too excited to consider building a fire. The sun and the heat of the horses would warm us up in 20 or 30 minutes, once we were moving.

About half way between the Peace and Dawson Creek, we crossed the curving Kiskatinaw Bridge and continued following the highway South to Dawson Creek. We then followed the Hart highway a few miles out of town and camped by the Kiskatinaw River for the night. (The Kiskatinaw intersects both the Hart and Alaska Highways.)

The next morning we followed the last of the directions and rode up to a fancy horse ranch near the Kiskatinaw. We could have followed the river overland, but it is considered rough country that neither one of us was familiar with. We caused quite a commotion when we rode into the farm, these people were extremely rich and had all the trappings to prove their status. Johnny and I rode in with a pack horse and western saddles; while everyone else had fancy English saddles and tight trousers with long boots. I had on faded jeans and Johnny wore moose hide leggins and we both wore moose hide moccasins.

We were asked if we could be helped, I showed them our flyer that had come through the mail and said we were there to see the famous lady do some fancy riding and to get an evaluation of our riding, we had our money and were prepared to pay the $20. I looked at the expensive trucks and horse trailers and figured we were the only ones who rode to the event and the only ones to bring a pack horse. We then evolved from being invaders from Outer Mongolia to being humorous vagabonds who were to be pitied and treated with condescension. Johnny and I handled our ostracism with indifference; we had the confidence of men who could survive in the mountains for the whole winter, conditions that would kill these people in a matter of hours and we knew how to keep our horses alive at the same time.

We were shown a corral where we could turn out our horses, there was good feed and water so they were well cared for.

We each poured a cup of coffee from a large coffee maker and sat on the arena rail waiting for the show to begin. A lady rode into the arena and promptly told Johnny and me to take a seat in the bleachers. We thought she was being a little overbearing; but once we were seated in the bleachers, she rode over to tell us that her horses were not used to having people on the rail. Johnny and I were a little perplexed; since, we expected a horse to stand still and let us slide off to fire a shot whether we were facing a Grizzly on its hind legs or a raging bull moose in the rut.

She had the direct manner and thick accent of a German or maybe an Austrian, it would have irritated us if we weren’t used to foreign people from different cultures.

doublebridle_tarrShe rode a big gray stallion and he was a magnificent animal; she did complex movements and gaits that were precise and timed to music. It was a beautiful exhibition of riding. Johnny sat there for three hours, lost in concentration of the riding skills on display. The lady rode four of her own horses and each was a little better than the one before.

Lunch was served, Johnny and I took our plates out into the yard and ate in silence. “I can do most of that stuff,” Johnny said out loud. I had no doubt that he could do anything on a horse; but this woman had these movements set to music and her horses were very expensive.

“Well, you will have your chance this afternoon. You still want to have an evaluation don’t you?” I asked.

Johnny looked out into the distance and said, “Oh Hell yes, for sure, for sure you don’t need no blanket in Hell. Did you see the way those people looked down on us?”

“Yea Johnny! But the lady was nice to us, she asked us to get off the rail, but I don’t think her horses are trained like ours.”

“That’s for damn sure, Skook.”

We walked over to the arena to watch the other riders get their evaluations. The rest of the riding was pathetic in the extreme. These people had the outfits, but they couldn’t ride one side of a horse. The German lady didn’t hold back, she had many of these spoiled rich women to the point of tears and some of the men looking like they had nettles in their long johns.

hackamoreJohnny and I really enjoyed this part, watching the arrogant and overbearing personalities being stripped away to expose a weak and insecure personality.

Eventually we were told to get our horses ready; we were the last ones to ride and I think everyone was sticking around to get some comic relief.

We both used hackamore bridles, that’s all we had; but Johnny elected to ride without a saddle, he said it would allow his horse more freedom of movement. I was shaking when we rode into the arena: Johnny was relaxed and ready to ride.

The German lady’s attitude had deteriorated during the day from dealing with the rest of the riders and that only added to my apprehension. We were asked to perform different simple movements; but instead of yelling at us, she was complementing us. Eventually, she thanked me for my ride and asked me to stand in the center of the arena with her. She then had Johnny doing advanced movements with little suggestions now and then. Johnny’s horse had a pretty good lather and he asked if he could ride his other horse for a few minutes.

“Please do kind sir, I haven’t been so entertained in years.” I could feel the jealousy of the other riders as they stared in shocked disgust: although, I saw a pride and confidence in Johnny I had never seen before. Johnny rode in with his pack horse, (Johnny’s pack horse was actually a well trained horse and like all our horses was expected to do anything) without a bridle and in a few minutes was duplicating the work he had done on his saddle horse, being a bit of a showman, Johnny stood up on his horse and cantered around the arena under control until he rode up next to me and stopped and slid down slowly onto his horse’s back.

“Bravo, Bravo, thank you so much! Now tell me Mr. Johnny, how many Dressage horses have you two ridden?”

“We’ve never seen no Dressage horses, ma’m, we just came here to learn about Dressage.”

The German lady chuckled at Johnny’s simple honesty and forthright nature while wiping a few tears from her eyes. “We have just been treated to a fine display of horsemanship by our two rustic friends who rode in from the mountains to participate. It was a fine example of the true spirit of riding and horsemanship; they have never paid for a lesson, yet they ride with a skill and effortlessness that few of you have yet to begin to understand. With a relaxed heart and soft hands or no hands as Mr. Johnny has shown, you can accomplish so much. They have demonstrated the essence of Dressage, for the definition of Dressage is, “the easy ride”, relating back to the Spanish Riding School’s discipline of La Jinetta and these two young men have captured riding at its most basic level and advanced way beyond what would be thought possible. Now tell me Johnny, how much for those two horses? I want to buy them.”

“Ma’m, I sell all my finished horses for $1200; but I need these horses for guiding hunters this fall and working the trap line this winter. They would be ready and seasoned by Spring.”

“Let’s say, I give you $2,000 for each horse and you get two more ready for the this fall’s hunting season.”

Johnny and I looked at each other in disbelief: we had never heard of Peace River Horses selling for that kind of money. Johnny looked the woman in the eye and said, “Let me think about it overnight, it’s a big decision.”

She was polite and said she looked forward to seeing us in the morning.

We rode down to the river and made camp. After dinner, Johnny was looking into the embers of the fire and said, “In the morning, I think we should ride back home; we learned a lot today, a lot about horses and a lot about people.”

“I understand the stuff we learned about horses Johnny; but what did we learn about people?”

“Skook, many people are just phonies, they act all arrogant to hide their incompetence and insecurity, it fools some people, but it don’t fool guys like us. Most of those people back there treated us like we were fresh cowpies in the front yard, something to avoid while wearing their white tennis shoes; but that German Lady treated us with respect, she recognizes horsemanship and talent, the rest of them can’t lead a stick horse to water.”

“She wants to buy your horses for serious money, maybe that’s worth going back tomorrow morning.”

“She offered to buy them Skook, that’s a Hell of a complement and that is all that really matters.”

“We’ll leave in the morning,” I told Johnny and we turned in for the night after a wild and exciting day, well at least for us.

We didn’t talk much that night, but I asked Johnny if he was going to teach me how to do some of those fancier Dressage movements. He said, “It’s all in the mind, Skook, it’s all in the mind.” We fell asleep dreaming of Dressage.

Arrogance and deceit is often only a device to hide insecurity and a lack of integrity. Increasing the level of arrogance and deception only makes the flaws that much more apparent and failure even more humiliating

There were two main characters in this theater of life: Barbwire Johnny who had 10,000 years of horsemanship flowing through his veins and The German Lady who had mastered the cavalry movements required of officers and men to keep order and formation on a battlefield with as many as 10,000 horses. They were both masters and they both learned from each other and respected each other‘s abilities.

piegan-indians-on-horsesJohnny glimpsed the fine tuned cavalry movements for the first time in his life and the German Lady saw, probably for the first time, the riding skills of the primitive equestrian that served in countless cavalries throughout history and beyond.

Both of these individuals commanded respect by their abilities and by their composure. No one within 500 miles could duplicate the riding skills of either one and each watched the other with the eye of a master.

These individuals commanded respect because of their accomplishments and abilities. There was no arrogance or narcissism there was only a display of ability and knowledge. The idea of discussing prestigious universities would have been laughable for between Johnny and Me, neither one of us had ever sat at a school desk.

This German equestrian kept a large group of riders with elevated opinions of themselves under her command with ability and presence, key components for leadership. Then she had the graciousness to complement my friend Johnny, not with condescension; but with appreciation for his skills.

The US is now being led by a leader without basic leadership skills nor graciousness; oh sure, he can bow and act with and show a submissive supplicant’s attitude to foreign dictators and royalty, but that can hardly be considered grace, it is more like the comical actions of a buffoon or a court jester. A leader or a statesman can inspire his people to follow him and through judicious decisions people gain confidence people will increase their confidence in a leader’s abilities. Leadership qualities based on appearance and charismatic qualities that are only initial superficial if you consider the likeness of Lincoln or even Napoleon; neither of these men relied on physical appearance to inspire others.

The president has shown a weakness of character in dealing with resistance and rejection; leaving the American people feeling like our leader is a four flusher who is betting heavily with a weak hand that can’t possibly win. He has displayed an overly self-assured demeanor without the intelligence and integrity to back it up thus the country feels there is a disaster waiting to happen. President Obama’s administration has been built with cronyism and a new component, the requirement of past radicalism in the arenas of Socialism and Communism. Thus with this group of rogues that would have never been considered in an ethical government of the past, the American voter is becoming more disillusioned with our president.

To put it bluntly, “Our President can’t lead a stick horse to water.”

Henry Clay: Of all the properties which belong to honorable men, not one is so highly prized as that of character.

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Obvious question: why does Obama not lead us?
Answer: he has no leadership skills; he has never led before; his only skill is to get what he wants by bullying, insults, intimidation, and underhanded deals.
He is a poseur.
He knows nothing of economics or government. He believes that we are the government and the government is us. The evidence is otherwise. The 13 Colonies rebelled in 1776, having become sick of too much government. Obama believes that all good comes from government, and that free people, left on their own, will only engage in evil. He has no evidence to support his faith. He can name no advance, development, or invention which can be credited to government. His documentation consists solely of the writings of Karl Marx and the teachings of his radical socialist mentors.
As readers if this blog can readily attest, whatever government touches turns to bureaucratic sludge. My own field, education, has seen a massive transfusion of funds. Result: we rank lower on the world stage than before the Department of Education was established.
Obama is now riding the horse. His dressage (or the lack thereof) is now visible to the world.
World leaders have taken his measure; they know they can pull a pump fake and score on him at will.
Alas for us. Socialism has worked so well. Venezuela is out of coffee. Can you imagine? The blessings of Socialism has turned a coffee exporter into a coffee importer. And Iran must import its gasoline.
If Socialism is such a blessing, where is the Socialist regieme which remains in power without a secret police? Oh, can’t name one? Oh, well.
It is time for a reality check. We are being hope-and-changed into desuetude.

ditto to the above post. 8)
OT: URGENT
Environmental groups Defenders of Wildlife and CREDO are leading a charge against Sarah Palin and her upcoming show which highlights Alaska and is slated to be aired by the Discovery channel. They have collected some 500,000 thousand signatures requesting that the show be canceled. These signatures will be delivered to The Discovery Channel’s May 5th shareholders meeting.

Immediate action item: Show your support today for Sarah Palin and her upcoming show “Alaska” by signing this petition:
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/sarahpalinsalaska/

SKOOKUM:WOW,can i have some of that goodies bacon beans biscuit?i ate it with you;do’nt forget either of your storys in the book with thoses nice pictures;i also like LINCOLN quote about giving power to a person;if that person is given that power only for the nice smiley face and empty words that charmed the crowd,is the sure way to end up in being enslaved by him,and once you are,you are blind to possibilitys of getting out from destruction coming to thoses,i find. 🙄 thank you for such good reading;bye

Another great story my friend, or should I call it a parable? Or even a fable?

Does that ever bring back memories? I drilled around Ft. St. John, Dawson Cr., Chetwynd, Tumbler Ridge and Sakunka Falls. Most holes were tight holes( High pressure, H2S, hole trouble, no leaked info for rig scouts, secured). Rivers there were dirty, fast flowing, and dangerous. The Sakunka Falls were wide and powerful. I guess you’ve been there.

I remember 2 gals showing up on horseback, from the flare pit area, having no business being there. I had to tell them to go, but i sure wanted to ride off with them. Alas, I was the driller, 800 miles from Calgary.

ilovebeeswarzone, Bacon, maple or hickory smoked and thick sliced, with beans flavored with salt pork, sliced onions and biscuits or cornbread, eaten by a campfire with coffee to wash it all down with is a favorite of mine as well. Grand grub and hearty fare while living outdoors in the rough and tumble. Fresh or dried fruit or berries for dessert is just absolutely mouth watering.

Food back at the house is a more elaborate offering but when you pack out all of your goods on horseback or on a small horse drawn wagon, it is pretty keen cuisine.

Now Army food either the MRE or Tray pack rations are not bad but garden fresh produce and fresh eggs are sometimes just not available. I’ve never been out lumber jacking, trapping or drilling for oil but pushing cattle from range to range and from stream to stream on horseback is the way I was raised from age 8 years on until I left the place to enlist in the Army at age 18 for an “easier life”…

Some formal education at University Level, more than a few deployments and quite a few years later I still miss life on the ranch where the only varmints about were four legged ones. Up before dawn and night watches with those two hour power naps off watch were standard. Cattle and Mounts eat first, then campfire grub and tall tales told by the fire. A good life.

Skookum captures it all and more very eloquently and rich in description in his offerings here at FA. My Night Operations Center Crew all all huge fans of his and greatly impressed and amused by your comments as well.

Integrity, Leadership, Honesty, Confidence, Credibility and Ability are all qualities that are greatly admired and sadly lacking in Government today. Lets hope for a few rough hewn Leaders, possessing those keen character traits to step up and be elected to Office soon.

Take Care!

I see that the bee warrior is posting. On the other post you talk about non explosive fertilizer. When I farmed with my dad, we would broadcast 48-0-0 fertilizer before the late fall tillage. These numbers designate nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, content by percentages. This is one kaboom fertilizers or ammonium nitrate. The lawn stuff has high phosphorus for healthy roots. High nitrogen is great for wheat and strip blasting when merinaded with diesel fuel. I saw this done when Cominco was blasting hillsides for coal.

OLD TROOPER: i eat with my eyes again as i was reading on you;my favorite food,the good life,bye 🙄

oil guy from Alberta, after the Oklahoma City bombing Nitrate Fertilizer now has chemical “markers” for what it’s worth. Nothing is foolproof but purchase in the US in quantity gets
a lot of attention now.

Greetings from the bush country of British Columbia, I am working up here this week and using a computer that is a bit of a mystery. It is nice to think that someone has actually seen the same country I grew up in, it is beautiful country and you will find the places the same with just more development of course, if you ever need a vacation destination. The animals are still there and my son in law who is in the oil explorastion business has told me the area is once again hot with drilling.

I wrote references and meant to refer the reader back to the stories of Barbwire Johnny in the bibliography; but I messed up and forgot to write the references. He is one of the favorite people of my life and it makes me younger to remember those days of my youth.

Whether the stories are parables fables or just good old campfire stories is beyond the abilities of my feeble mind to figure out; it is enough for me to write them down and think that I have cyber friends who enjoy reading them, especially those in a far away war zone. May G-d watch over them.

I can’t respond like I usually do because of the communication situation; but I have already written my next story and am waiting to get a better connection to look up pictures. Those of you who enjoyed the dog stories will like the next one. This one is meant to make you laugh instead of bringing sadness. Best of luck my friends, until I get a better connection and thanks for the kind words.

oil guy from ALBERTA:hi, thank you for your info;i like this blog for the smart ones who comes,like you;i always learn something new;hopefully the farmers all know that fact;the best message is always read the label;is’nt it. it make me think of the soil and compost people buy every spring,not knowing what’s in it,and where it come from. 🙄 bye

TALLGRASS:hi,dont forget to check this post;SKOOKUM2,did it again very good as usual, 🙄 bye

OLD TROOPER:it’s always a pleasure to read you;you’r the first to caught my attention at the beginning of my visit at FA;surely,your group must realize that my writting has improved along with my perfect english; and SKOOKUM has given me quite a few lessons;which i’m trying to remember. 🙄 regards to you and y’all are in my hearth. bye

OLD TROOPER 2, HI,
HERE AT MAY 7 2010, we travel a long way from then,
now august 14 2011, life has brought us all to see many changes,
we keep the faith alive for a better future, to correct the wrong done and bring a new PRESIDENT on top of the SUPER UNITED STATES OF THIS BEAUTIFUL AMERICA, THAT SO MANY BRAVES HAVE SHAPE AND PROTECT WITH THEIR LIVES, AND STILL AT WORK ON IT,
THEY ARE THE TREASURES OF AMERICA, AND WE WILL NEVER FORGET THEM.
and it’s always good to read you smart comments,