Right… where do I start? My Texas trip was brilliant - it's the first time I have been to the US and it was a real eye-opener! They don’t have a shop less than the size of an aircraft hangar and EVERYONE was so friendly and helpful (especially as we had no idea where we were going most of the time) - they must put some kind of happy juice in the water!
I went with a great mate, Simon Shearing, and the moment we landed we headed off to a rodeo and had a couple of beers. Then we had the weekend at the event we really came for – the Ray Hunt Memorial Clinic. Ray Hunt was one of the most influential trainers in America and is still followed the world over. In a tribute to his work, some of the best horsemen in America (and a couple of Aussies too!) each drew an unbroken horse to start over the weekend in front of a large crowd. It was interesting to see how they worked and somewhat comforting to know that I work along very similar lines!
The most interesting ones for me were the real tough ‘rank’ horses and how they dealt with them. A couple of trainers had to get a guy called Martin Black to come in and ‘rope’ them – he was a very good operator and great with the rope. It was real ‘warts and all’ stuff and fascinating to see how they corrected any mistakes. What I do know is that it's easy for me to say that I would do as good a job as them, but probably a different kettle of fish under the pressurised environment with everyone judging you!
My favourite trainers were the older guys – Charlie Hill had a couple of broken ribs and could hardly walk but handled a tough horse beautifully and got it ridden in a day. The other two that stood out for me were Buster McLaury and Buck Brannaman – two seriously experienced western competitors and clinicians. It was good to meet the Aussie boys (who incidentally got the toughest horses!) and I hope to spend some time with Dave Stuart when he is next in the UK. Charlie Hill was ultimately voted the audience’s favourite trainer and received one of Ray Hunt’s saddles.
After the clinic we left Dallas and headed to Austin, stopping off at the Sternberg breeding and training operation. The Sternbergs are the UK’s most successful western and Quarter Horse operation and the facilities at their US base (Sterling Ranch) were breathtaking. We were really grateful to our friend Shane Borland, a polocrosse player turned successful western competitor, for organising it. I have never had too much to do with Quarter Horses before but I must admit that the horses we saw in training here were pretty special.
Before we flew home from Houston we spent a couple of days with the Lone Star Polocrosse Club – a great bunch of people and again, so accommodating. It helps that one of my UK polocrosse team mates, Danny Duhig, is keeping the polocrosse traditions of inter-country relations alive and is dating one of their players! They took us ‘hog’ shooting one night but luckily the closest we got was 
shooting a couple of tin cans!
After flying home on Friday, the next night Penny and I went straight off to another team-mate’s leaving party. Hamish Michaels has been in the country for about ten years but is now heading back to his native Zimbabwe. With the dress code as ‘spend £15 in a charity shop’ it was a great night – not sure I remember too much of it though! And yes, I did sleep VERY well on Sunday night…