Category Archives: Training

Good trails, Training, Western Trails

I Had a Good Day Yesterday…

March 2, 2019

I got up early…but not too early, had breakfast, hitched up my trailer, and headed out to see the horses. I enlisted the help of my son-in-law to help me catch-up Oreo, who was to be taken to Harrisville, Utah to meet her prospective new owner, Cindy Boccia. Oreo is a little reluctant when it comes to being caught in a big pasture, so I knew it would take a few minutes. After allowing the six horses to run around the 3-1/2 acres for a while, they finally decided they’d had enough fun and games and settled down to be caught – Oreo last of all. We haltered and tied each one, after which Oreo stood to be haltered.

We loaded Oreo and Apollo into the trailer and I headed north toward Kaysville, where I picked up Jon Tanner and his yearling filly, Luna. Since we were to meet the Brand Inspector at Cindy’s place, we decided to bring Luna along to get her inspection done as well.

Once at Cindy’s place in Harrisville, both Luna and Apollo received their brand inspection. While that was going on, Cindy and I let Oreo out into her smallest corral, which was probably about a 75′ diameter round pen with a run-in shed on one end, so that Cindy could see how Oreo is to catch. After just a little effort, Oreo stood for me to halter her. She has been improving in that area over the past month or so, but she is still stand-offish. I am sure she will continue to improve and will eventually come to be haltered, under Cindy’s care.

Cindy, Jon, and I then loaded Apollo and Oreo back into the trailer and the three of us headed back to Kaysville, where we dropped Luna and loaded Jon’s Missouri Fox Trotter mare, Maya (Luna’s dam).  We then headed over to Antelope Island State Park for an afternoon ride.

Looking out toward Buffalo Point near White Rock Bay

For those unfamiliar with Antelope Island, it is an island in the southeastern part of the Great Salt Lake in Utah. Over the years, the State of Utah has used it as a breeding ground for the state’s herd of buffalo, antelope, and bighorn sheep. Each year the state holds a buffalo roundup, where they gather the buffalo, cut out the surplus and sell them at auction.  The roundup has gained national fame and multitudes of people with their faithful steeds gather to participate. Registration for the event is held online and the available slots are filled many months in advance. The populations of buffalo and other animals are left to run wild, but are managed closely for health and numbers.  The park service has created a number of trails for equine, foot, and bicycle traffic on the island, making it a prime trail riding experience for those who enjoy a relaxing day ride, while being able to view wild buffalo and other wildlife of the island. For further information, see their web page at:

https://stateparks.utah.gov/parks/antelope-island/

Between the ears, looking at a buffalo herd

Just a word of caution, buffalo are dangerous critters and they have no tolerance for the intrepid rider coming in among their herd. Do not think of them as cattle! Always stay well clear of them. There are more human deaths in Yellowstone National Park from buffalo attacks than from bear attacks!

The weather was not perfect, by any means, however. It was cold and a little breezy, with gray winter clouds hanging low over the mountain tops. We were unable to see the Wasatch mountains east of us. However, the temperatures were not too bad for riding, as long as one wore a couple layers and a good coat.  We saw several other horse trailers parked in the White Rock Bay parking lot, but encountered no other horses on the trail.

As the real purpose for this ride was to allow Cindy to get acquainted with Oreo, we planned for only a couple hours on the trail. There are a number of trail options, each differing in distance and elevation changes. We chose one that would take us around one of the hills on the island, offering nice views, both of the landscape and several small herds of Buffalo. There were slight uphill and downhill grades, as well as some long flat stretches where we let the horses stretch out their legs and get into gait for a ways.

Cindy getting acquainted with Oreo

As both Oreo and Apollo are Tennessee Walking Horses, Cindy and I put our horses (she on Oreo and I on Apollo) into their traditional running-walk, for which the Tennessee Walker is famous, while I coached Cindy a little on how to recognize the various gaits and how to teach her horse to select and stay in the running-walk. Oreo has been unschooled for a number of years and prefers a stepping-pace. She will need some correction to learn to stay in her very nice running-walk. Cindy picked it up quickly and will have Oreo gaiting perfectly within a short while.

Cindy on Oreo and me on Apollo

We discovered that Oreo wasn’t familiar with velcro. Cindy went to pull out her water bottle and when Oreo heard the velcro come loose, she shied and side-stepped a bit.  She also became a little uneasy at some bicycles, but was easy to handle, even when being skittish. Cindy handled her well under all situations.

Apollo, still a bit unsure on the trail, shied at a row of monster horse-eating boulders at the trailhead, but I was able to convince him to walk between them. Thereafter, he was fine. He shied along with Oreo at some bicycles, but handled the whole situation quite well. The bicyclists were very accommodating, in allowing us to have the horses stand and observe the fearful objects until they realized they were harmless.

So it turned out to be a good trail training day for both Oreo and Apollo and a nice exercise ride for Maya.

As the weather began to deteriorate, we headed back to the trailer, arriving just ahead of the snow. By the time we were headed back to Harrisville, the weather had taken a turn for the worst and we found ourselves driving through poor visibility and falling snow. Still the roads were not bad, just wet.

Me on Apollo (L) and Jon Tanner on Maya

Jon and I dropped Cindy and Oreo off at her place in Harrisville, where she and I prepared all the paperwork for the transfers of ownership for Oreo and Apollo. Once Cindy has had Oreo a while and has decided they will make a great pair on the trail, she will send in the paperwork to the Utah Department of Agriculture and Food and the ownership transfers for Oreo and Apollo will be finalized. As always, with my horses, I offer a 30-day trial period, during which the prospective owner may evaluate the horse, and if, for any reason, they do not feel the horse is right for them, I will take the horse back and refund the purchase price. In this instance, the purchase price is Apollo. Cindy and I have agreed on a trade, horse for horse.

Jon and I then headed back for Kaysville, but took a slight detour en route for a nice Philly Cheesesteak sandwich at a local sandwich shop.

After dropping Jon and Maya at his place in Kaysville, I headed back south for Salem. When I arrived home, it was snowing heavily and the roads were beginning to get slick. After dropping Apollo at the pasture, I nearly jack-knifed my trailer while making a turn into my neighborhood. Luckily, I was moving slowly and a little pressure on the gas pedal straightened everything right out. It was nearing 8:30pm when I backed my trailer into its place at home. I was glad to be back home to enjoy a warm evening indoors with my good wife.

It was a good day all the way around.

Me on Apollo, my new 16HH Tennessee Walker gelding

 

Good trails, Tack and Gear, Training, Western Horsemanship, Western Trails

A Training Ride and an Invitation

I am going forward with my plans to make another short segment of my Mexico-to-Canada horse pack trip. In May this year, I will make the passage from Flagstaff, Arizona to the Grand Canyon National Park. I will not be crossing the canyon on this trip, but will stop at Tusayan.

In 2015, my dad and I made our way from the US/Mexico border to Dad’s hometown of Eagar, Arizona, by mountain trails, deserts, and backroads. That leg came to 355 miles, measured by GPS, and took us 28 days. I documented that trip in several blog posts that are available for your reading pleasure on this site. It is difficult to express in words how much I treasure that experience with my father. He and I had been talking and dreaming about making such a horse pack trip since I was in high school. Dad turned 81 years old just after we finished that trip.

Starting point, tied to the US/Mexico Border fence.
Dad and me just north of the US/Mexico border 2015

In 2016, Dad and I continued our trip. The second leg was supposed to take us from Eagar, AZ to Panguitch, Utah, just in time for us to ride in Panguitch’s Pioneer Day Parade and to celebrate the 64th Class Reunion of Dad’s high school graduation class of 1952. As it turned out,  however, that was a difficult trip for us. My favorite trail horse broke a leg on the fourth day and I had to put him down. Despite the tragedy, we continued the trip, but ended up having to stop at Flagstaff, AZ, due to extreme drought conditions and fire danger. There was not one drop of water anywhere in northern Arizona…at least not anywhere along our route. That leg of the trip came to 200 miles and it took us three weeks.

Dad and Me and our pack train on the Mogollon Rim, 2016

In about March 2017, Dad’s favorite horse bucked him off and dad suffered a couple pretty serious injuries. He has fully recovered, but it was touch-and-go for a while. He finally found a new home for that particular horse, so I gave him my little mustang as a trail companion.  Jimbo was Dad’s second saddle horse on our pack trip, so Dad has a long and special history with Jimbo. They are like peas in a pod. Two of a kind. Dad and Jimbo go together like pancakes and syrup.  Even though Dad has fully recovered from his injuries and is still able to ride, it made him realize that he has been pushing his luck. Last year my mother had to go through some back surgery and it fell to Dad to care for her and get her through the rough time. Dad has come to realize that if he were incapacitated, he would not be able to take care of some important responsibilities and that other people would have to be taking care of him. He has decided his horse packing days are done. Dad will not be riding any more of the Mexico-to-Canada horse pack trip with me.

Dad on our mustang, Jimbo, 2015

That doesn’t mean we won’t be going on rides together, just not back country pack trips.

So, for the upcoming leg of my big pack trip, I have invited some friends. So far, I have two close friends (I don’t yet have permission to publicize their names) who will be making this third leg of the trip with me. The trip from Flagstaff to the Grand Canyon National Park covers, as close as I can figure, about 108 miles. We expect to cover about 15 miles per day, on average, so the trip will take about 7 days of actual travel. Adding two rest days to that, and an extra day for unanticipated contingencies, the trip will be about 10 days total. We have tentatively planned the trip for May 13-25, 2019. Now, it looks like we will have only Missouri Fox Trotters and Tennessee Walkers on this trip, so we’ll see if our daily mileage beats our estimates.

We are beginning now to get ourselves and our horses “legged-up” for the adventure. We are getting our gear together and putting some miles on the horses, trying to get ourselves into condition to maximize our chances to make a successful and incident-free passage from Flagstaff to the GCNP. There are some logistical details we still need to settle, but things are rolling.

I have hopes that I may be able to cross the Grand Canyon and continue to the Utah/Arizona border in the fall.

In the spirit of all of the above, I have planned a three-day horse camping trip to the Moab, Utah area for April 4-6. That is a Thursday through Saturday. My cohorts and I will be practicing our horse camping and packing skills and making sure all our horses are well-broke to the pack saddle and that we have all our gear together.

We will begin in the North Klondike area, probably arriving Wednesday evening, setting up a camp, then riding the area on Thursday. We will head farther south on Friday, to the area near the Hole-N-the-Rock store, about 12 miles south of Moab, for some red rock canyon riding. On Saturday we will likely head about 18 miles farther south, a little past Wilson Arch, to an area we call Turtle Rock, where we will ride about half a day, before heading home.

Here is a small gallery of photos from previous horse camps in the Moab area. Click on a photo to see the full image.

Anyone who would like to join us for this horse camping weekend in the Moab area is welcome to come.  The whole event will be BYOE (Bring Your Own Everything!). There is no fee, no registration, and no specific plans. Just enjoyable riding and some pleasant evenings around a campfire. There will be no services at any of these places, so everybody must fend for themselves. There are places in town where one may fill water jugs, etc. and I suppose there’s a feed store somewhere in town.

While I’m not going to call this a clinic and there will be no fees for anything, I will be available during our evenings and mornings to assist anyone who may be wanting to get started in horse camping, horse packing, and trail riding, during those three days.

I will post updates on my Western Trail Rider facebook page as well as on westerntrailrider.com. Feel free to contact me by email at

tony.henrie@westerntrailrider.com

UPDATE:

For anybody thinking about coming to ride with me at Moab, here are the coordinates of my campsites for the nights indicated.

Wednesday 38°49’11.73″N 109°45’57.56″W
Thursday 38°22’52.43″N 109°27’23.13″W
Friday 38°12’51.91″N 109°22’3.07″W

You can enter those in Google Earth and see the places. As there will probably be a lot of folks there for spring break, we may have to move our campsites a little, but they will be very near those coordinates.

Come join the fun.

At camp on the Gila River

 

Horse Health, Training, Western Horsemanship

Let’s Talk About Horse Age

Recently, I was perusing comments on the Youtube video of a particular horse trainer, whose methods I like and learn from.  In this video, he happened to mention that the horse he was riding was a 2 year-old stallion. That brought on a whole thread of comments about how he shouldn’t be riding a 2 year-old. Some of the comments were nice,  some not-so-nice, but the general consensus was that he was riding that young stallion way too early.

So, let’s talk about horse age a little.

Everybody knows that there are seven dog years to one human year, right? Well, not really. You see, some breeds of dogs live longer than others. Some breeds have an average life span of a mere 6 or so years, while other breeds have an average life span of more than 15 years. The longest lived dog I ever heard of was an Australian Cattle Dog that lived to the grand old age of 30 years, which would translate to 210 human years! The point being that such comparisons of animal years to human years, while somewhat based on physiology, are really nothing more than what we might consider “rules of thumb.”

In recent years, particularly over the past 20 or so,  the trend toward starting horses under saddle later than age two has become somewhat of a fad. Now, I’m not saying it’s a bad thing, but I call it a fad, because, like all fads do, it has in some circles gone to an extreme. For instance, in the comments referenced above, one commenter said she doesn’t start her horses until they are seven years old. I consider that to be extreme. I can’t imagine the economics of feeding and vet care for a horse for seven years before starting it.

On the other hand, the professional and amateur horse competition world has traditionally started horses into racing, rodeo, and other competitive disciplines at the two year-old mark, which I also consider to be extreme. However, there’s a caveat here. Read on.

In the horse world and the human world, there are physiological and psychological changes that occur at various stages of development. In the early years, the brain is like a dry sponge and absorbs and assimilates vast quantities of information from simple survival skills, such as breast feeding, to more advanced skills such as social skills and athletics.  The physical development keeps pace with the psychological development. All of these skills relate to survivability in their respective worlds. The rate of development of these knowledge, skills, and abilities is related to the relative life span of the species. Both humans and horses learn certain things easier in their early years. While both are able to learn and develop knowledge and skills throughout their lives, their ability to do so is generally reduced significantly as they get “over the hill.”

Humans are among the slowest developing of all animal species, having an average life span currently averaging 77 years for a man and 81 for a woman (North America), whereas a horse living past 30 years is uncommon. However, with regard to the physical and psychological development of humans and horses, there is room for age comparisons, but they are not precisely equivalent.

One factor that applies to the horse world that does not apply to humans, is that, by tradition and under regulations of most competitive horse disciplines and registries, horses are aged by birth year, rather than birth date. For this reason, over the years, horse breeders have bred their stock to foal in the early months of the year. By doing so, a young horse may be comparatively older, both physically and psychologically, than another horse of the same age that was born late in the year, and will therefore have the competitive advantage.  Such that a two year-old horse born in February, will actually be nearly three years old in December, while a two year-old born in November of the same year will not yet be two years old, by birth date, in December, and on January 1, they will both be regarded as three year olds.

Now, if we transpose those numbers to human years, we can see what a huge difference that can make. I do not subscribe to the average “horse years” often stated to compare to human years for the same reasons I mentioned above regarding dogs, however, I have observed over the years various age ranges for horses that have some correspondence to human years. For instance, a two year-old colt by birth month, meaning actually 24 months old, in my experience, is roughly equivalent to a 12-14 year-old human boy.  At this age, important hormones are starting to flow and there is a major development advancement during this period, both physically and psychologically (although the physical development seems to be foremost). A colt that is three years old, meaning at least 36 calendar months, would be roughly equivalent to a 16-18 year-old young man in both physical and psychological development.

Now, the reasoning behind starting a horse later, rather than earlier, has to do with the physical development of the horse. Various growth plates and joints are still maturing at age two that may not complete their growth and development until as old as age five. Many people believe irreparable damage may occur to the young horse if started at age two. While this growth and development also occurs in humans, although at a much slower rate, nobody seems to think it unconscionable to start a child in sports at a very early age.

Now, if we make further comparisons, which I believe are truly comparable and relevant, we can see what a difference a year makes in a young horse. Let’s say a young man has aspirations of becoming a professional baseball player (any sport will do). If his parents start him in sports at an early age to teach and train him to the sport, he will have a physical and mental advantage over other boys who start later (Whether that advantage remains in later years is another discussion). However, the average boy who has been properly coached from an early age, say four or five years old, will be a star player by the time he is in his later years of high school, whereas the boy who starts playing sports at age 17 will likely find he does not have the knowledge, skills, or muscle conditioning to be competitive among his peers. He may also find he is prone to injury, due to the lack of coordination and strength the other boys enjoy.  Young men who begin to augment their physical development in their early years, say from age 12 to 18, by activities such as sports, weightlifting, running, and other strenuous physical activities will be physically stronger and healthier, and often better socially adjusted, than their counterparts who are not involved in sports or other physical activities, over the long run. That is about the same developmental stage as a horse between the ages of two and three years (24-36 months).

Now, let’s say we subscribe to the idea that a horse should not be started until the age of five years, which is a number I commonly hear. That is roughly equivalent to the age of a human in his/her late teens-to-early twenties. In my mind, that’s a little late to be starting their training under saddle, as it would also be late to start a person on their way to becoming a professional athlete.

To extend things further, a horse about 10 years old is roughly equivalent to a human in his/her early thirties or so. A horse about 15 would be in the 40-45 year-old human range.  A horse 20 years old would be roughly equivalent to a human about 60-65 years old. A horse about 25 years old is roughly in the range of 75 years old for a human.

Some ranchers will bring in their young stock to break and start training in their second year, give them 30-60 days training, decide which horses they will keep, sell the ones they won’t, then turn the rest back out on the range until their fifth year (at which time they will be 4 to five years old). They will then bring them back in, finishing their training, and put them to work. That seems like a reasonable regimen for a working horse.  For a horse intended for trail riding and pack trips, such as I do, I see no reason not to start a horse’s saddle training at age two (although I look at their actual age by birth month). I do not, however, start putting long, hard miles on them until they are past three years old (36 months). Even during training they will not always be ridden daily. I have experienced no problems with that process.

Now to address the opposite end of the spectrum.

We all know some 75 year-old humans who still get along pretty well. Some still hike, bike,  and participate in a variety of other sporting activities. A few even run marathons. However, the fact remains that a man’s average life span is currently 77 years and a woman’s is 81. A horse that is 25 years old should be handled with care, with the understanding that you simply cannot work it into better condition. It’s condition is deteriorating and no amount of feed or exercise will improve that. It will tire quickly and can be over-taxed easily. As a general rule, if it has been kept in good condition during its lifetime, it will be so much the better in old age, just like a human.

It has become a common practice to feed older horses a variety of food supplements for various ailments, such as arthritis. In my opinion, horse vitamins and food supplements are no more effective on horses than they are on humans. Many food supplements for humans are purely placebic in nature. Those that actually have some science behind them are formulated for specific issues and are more effective for some people and issues than others. The same applies to horses. There is more marketing science behind many of them than physical science. Most food supplements, both for humans and for horses are much more effective in creating profits for the producer than health benefits for the patient.

Don’t think I am against proper nutrition, or against supplementing an older horse’s diet. Proper feeding is always important at any age. It is true that feed quality, particularly hay, varies from year to year and from region to region and that supplements may be required to maintain a well balanced nutritional diet. Feed can be tested and proper supplemental nutrition determined.  I am, however, stating my opinion clearly that many of the food supplements marketed for horses are effective only in making the horse owner feel better. Some may even be harmful. Do your homework.

So, to get back to the main point of this post, and to come to a conclusion, for a person to state emphatically that another who has started a horse under saddle at age two, without any other information than that, is likely to be wrong. One two year-old horse may actually be much closer to three than two. Another two year-old horse may not yet have reached 24 months of age. One horse may be further developed physically than another at the same age. A horse intended for a life of casual trail riding will not have the same risks of injury or harm at an early age as one intended for heavy ranch or show work, but may benefit greatly from the physical development and training during that period. There are a wide range of considerations in determining at what age a horse may be beneficially and safely started.  Actual age is only one of them. One person’s decision to start a horse later should be considered a personal decision, rather than a moral imperative applying to all.

That’s the gospel according to Tony.

I found the below-linked article informative with regard to bone and joint development in horses:

Equine Growth Plate Fusion Chart

Tack and Gear, Training

Another Step Forward with J Golden…

I’ve had my new horse, J, out a couple times over the past week, for both pleasure and training.

Last week, my wife and I took Lizzy and J out to Santaquin, Utah for a short ride. Due to inclement weather, the ride turned out shorter than expected, but it was still a nice ride. Both Lizzy and J performed to expectations and the ride put some more miles on J, which is what he really needs right now.

The area we went to is also frequented by shooters for a target range. There were several families out enjoying their firearms when we arrived, so J and Lizzy got a little exposure to the sounds of gunfire while we saddled up. Shortly after we arrived, though, the wind came up and it rained for a short spell, driving all the shooters back to the shelter of their homes. Once the rain let up, Linda and I headed up the trail.

During that ride, J showed me that he has that smooth running walk the Tennessee Walker is known for, but I had a hard time keeping him in it on the rough terrain we were riding in. We were going either up or down all the time, which is not optimum for working on gaits. What he needed was some mileage on a long straight, level trail, where we could fine-tune his gait and teach him what we were looking for.

So, this morning I had some time.  I headed out to do a little work with J.

Today’s training goal was to transition J from the D-ring snaffle bit to a bosal hackamore. I like to do most of my horse training in a bosal, because I feel like I am able to teach them to be more sensitive to bridle and rein cues without working on their mouth. Once I get a horse to the point at which I am comfortable with their neck reining and responsiveness to bridle cues with the bosal, I transition them to a curb bit. I may ride the horse in a bosal for a year before going to the solid bit.

A couple days ago, I tied my 5/8″ rawhide braided bosal over a wooden form, to set its shape. This morning I tied my new 5/8″ horse hair mecate to it and adjusted it to my liking. When I put it on J’s head this morning, he couldn’t quite figure it out for a few minutes, but adjusted to it quickly.

I spent about twenty minutes riding J around the pasture, getting him accustomed to the bosal and teaching him basic signals, which he quickly interpolated from his earlier training in the snaffle bit. I worked on flexing his neck both directions, pressure-release method, to teach him how to relieve the pressure on his nose by giving to the pressure. He already stops to my verbal and seat cue, so the ever important “whoa” command was a piece of cake.

We had to work on his directional signals a bit, though. After a few figure-eights with a few sharp bumps on the nose, he began to understand that he needed to lead with his head, rather than turning while looking off in the other direction. I feel this is more effectively taught with a bosal than with a snaffle bit, since the snaffle tries to pull through the mouth when plow-reined. The bosal is used to bump the horse on the nose, teaching him to look away from the pressure and toward the direction of intended travel. Very quickly the horse begins to respond to light pressure on the nose, rather than waiting for the bump.

On J, I decided to try something I have read about, but hadn’t yet tried. I bought a 5/8″ 6-strand horse hair (mane hair) 24′ mecate to use with my rawhide bosal (Click here to link to similar mecates on Amazon.com). I have read the prickly feel of the horse hair mecate is more effective than a smooth rope for training the horse to neck rein. As the trainer plow reins with one side, he lays the opposite rein against the horse’s neck. It feels the prickly mecate on its neck and more easily associates that touch with the turn in the other direction.  The transition from the bosal/mecate to a bit and smooth leather reins is then a simple matter.

Once the horse handles with light cues on the reins under all conditions, and I no longer need to “bump” the bosal, I feel like the horse is ready to transition to the curb bit. Again, I do not train for shows and am not a reining expert. I ride trails and do pack trips. I train for all-around good, reliable trail horses.

After a few minutes of getting-acquainted-with-the-bosal time, I decided J was ready for a ride outside our arena and pasture. I was looking forward to getting him outside and onto some long, straight roads to see what we could do with his gait.

I was pleased to find that J was easy to handle riding away from his herd and our home base. He did so with no argument and kept his mind on what was ahead of him. He decided that he preferred to step-out in his natural gait, which I have been told is a “stepping-pace,” so I let him have his head. The stepping-pace is not an unpleasant gait, however, with more speed it evolves into a full pace, which is very uncomfortable for a rider. I have been hoping I might be able to work with him and find that smooth running walk in him the Tennessee Walker is famous for. Regardless, the reason I bought him was to get a horse whose walk could keep up with Lizzy’s on the trail. J definitely has that box checked.

As we got onto a long paved road with little traffic, I used the reins and spurs to be able to get J coaxed into a good running walk. It was a little slow, but it was definitely a running walk. When he wanted to go faster, he slipped into the pace, so I kept his head in, flexed at the poll, to check his speed. When I did this he slowed and got back into the running walk. I let him hold that for a bit, then slowed to a flat walk for a while. We kept speeding up and slowing down without allowing him to get into his pace. Before long, he was speeding up his running walk. I found that a light touch with the spurs, while keeping him flexed at the poll, collected him just enough to produce a good running walk with good comfortable speed. I was feeling pretty good about things.

We rode around some low hills for a while, working on things like crossing logs and looking for witches and spooks. I also worked on J’s canter. He simply does not know how to do it with weight on his back. I finally got him to canter up a hill, but he didn’t like it. He prefers to gait. I’m ok with that, since I will be using him for trail riding and pack trips, however, I have always felt a well-rounded horse should perform well at a canter.  We’ll continue to work on that.

After a little over an hour, we headed back toward home. I was quite pleased when J settled into a nice running walk and, since we were headed toward home, even picked up his speed a bit. I was able to keep him dialed-in to his running walk, rather than slipping into his pace, by light cues on the reins and a touch or two with the spurs. I estimate we were moving along very smoothly at about 8-10 mph.

That will match up very well with Lizzy’s Fox Trot.

Back at the pasture, J had a very nice light sweat on him. We finished up with a good brushing and hoof cleaning, before I turned him back out with his pasture buddies. After a good roll in the dust, he was off with his friends.

I like this fellow more every time I ride him.

P.S.

I felt Lizzy’s baby move today! Looking forward to a beautiful spotted Fox Trotter foal sometime about late September.

 

 

Training

Patience and Training

I’m glad horses are of a forgiving nature. Almost like a dog, a horse seems to forgive and forget the occasional lapse we humans tend to have when things don’t go just so.

I had one of those episodes not too long ago. I was out with a bunch of friends for a trail ride down in the San Rafael Swell area in Utah. Because trail rides are such good experience for a green horse, I took my new boy J Golden along. My plan was to pony him along for part of the ride, then switch saddles and ride him while ponying my seasoned mare, Lizzy.

When I went to load him into the trailer to head out to the meeting place, J didn’t want to get in. I worked with him for a while, but had no luck.  He set his feet and wouldn’t budge. I tried various techniques I have seen used with success, including the pressure-release method and the make-’em-back-up-fast-then-walk-forward technique, then I tried the loooooong lead rope looped through the tie loop, then passed back outside, so I could be behind “encouraging” him method. I even tried longeing him. No joy.

Anyway, a neighbor saw me working with him and asked if I needed a hand. Fact was, I was getting behind and was late on my departure to meet up with my traveling partner. I accepted the help gratefully. The neighbor brought his trusty longeing whip as a training tool.  My previous experience with J indicated that with me in front of him coaxing and with another person behind just casually swinging a rope and clapping, he would walk right in. That’s what happened when I bought him.

However, this time it wasn’t so. He simply did not want to get into that trailer and had set his mind against it. It took some pretty good pulling and several pretty good whacks on the rump with the whip to convince him it was safer in the trailer than outside. He got in and away we went. I was pretty pleased, actually, because my experience also said that just a couple more times and he would be calmly walking into the trailer like the rest of my horses.

We went on the trip and spent a good evening with friends in camp that night. When morning came and it was time to load up for the trail ride, I again had a tough time getting J into the trailer. With the help of a couple friends and a couple good whacks with the end of a lead rope, we got him into the trailer.

The ride was nice. For the first half of the day I rode Lizzy, then at lunchtime I swapped my saddle to J’s back. I was very pleased with how he handled. He was a bit difficult at first, wanting only to follow Lizzy, not lead her, but after a mile or so he settled down and the rest of the ride was pleasant. We worked on his reining and other commands as we went along. I think we both enjoyed the ride.

After about 12 miles or so, the trail ended at my truck and trailer. The plan was for me to load my horses and a couple others and shuttle drivers back to their trucks and trailers, so they could come back and pick up their horses and companions.

So, here we are, tired horses, tired riders, looking forward to a relaxed evening around the camp. All I had to do was load my horses. Wouldn’t you know that again, J wouldn’t get in the trailer. Being tired and with everyone waiting on me, I lost patience with J and I started trying to use more force to get him into the trailer. I tried using some of the same techinques that hadn’t worked before, and even those that had worked before, but my patience was gone. Poor old J was scared of me and scared of the trailer. I am sure he sensed my impatience and anger and that increased his excitement and fear.

In both horses and men, when emotion increases thought processes decrease. Both J and myself were perfect verification of that.

Luckily, there were a couple of my riding friends there, who are also much better trainers than I, who asked if they might give things a try. Seeing as I was not getting anywhere with J, I handed his lead rope to them. After a few minutes of unsuccessful effort, it was decided that I should go ahead and take what I had and shuttle the drivers, so we could get things rolling. We would try again with J when I got back.

On the way over to the trucks, I apologized to those with me for my lapse of patience, as well as for the delay. In all honesty, I had no idea I was going to have so much trouble with J loading into the trailer or I would not have brought him. I thanked them for their patience and help and I truly appreciated it.

After dropping off the drivers, I returned to camp with a couple others and dropped them and the horses there, then headed back to pick up J and help return others to camp. Surprisingly, one of the returning drivers waved me down and told me he already had J loaded in his trailer and all the horses had been picked up.

So, I returned to camp disappointed in myself. I lost patience with my horse. As a trainer, that is something that should not happen. I placed myself and my horse in a position that was not conducive to training – both of us tired and impatient, with a bunch of tired riders waiting for us to get something done and without the option of just not doing it that day – and then I lost patience when things didn’t go well. I let factors outside the task at hand influence my judgment and technique. I made matters worse, rather than better. In the end, it was a good day of training for me. Not so good for the horse.

I was also disappointed that I was not there to see how the other trainer was able to coax J into the trailer. Whatever he did is something I need to learn. I know those two friends, father and son, are far better trainers than I and I wish I had been there to learn from them.

Still, I did learn. Or, maybe I re-learned, that impatience is anathema to training and that putting myself and my horse in a poor training circumstance led to a poor training experience for us both.

A wise man once said, “When you make a mistake, all is not lost. You can always be used as a good example of a bad example.”

Ultimately, J is now loading and unloading in my trailer reliably, although he still hesitates. Each time he gets better about it. I have taken the time to work with him under much more favorable conditions for training. Since that day, I have been able to coax him into the trailer with a slack lead rope, using only the pressure of his knowing what I want him to do and the hope of a reward of a handful of sweet feed in the feed bin once he gets in.

The Apostle Paul once said that faith, hope, and charity are the virtues that make us the persons we should be. I think maybe in training horses the three great virtues might be firmness, consistency, and patience…but the greatest of these is patience.

Thankfully, J seems to have forgiven me. He’s a very friendly and level-headed horse. There isn’t a mean bone in him. I think he’ll be the kind of horse, eventually, that I can trust to take care of my grandkids.

 

Training, Western Horsemanship

Another Good Training Session with J Golden

I had some time and some decent weather again today, so out to the horses I went.

My goal for today was to trim up J Golden’s hooves again, break him to the D-ring snaffle bit, and to see if I could actually ride him around the arena without getting bucked off. I figured that might be a bit too much to ask for our third training session…over the period of about a month, but why make goals if you’re not going to set them high? A wise man once said, to shoot for the stars and miss is far better than to shoot for the gutter and hit it!

As usual, my first task was to catch J out of the pasture. It was apparent we were going to have another “go-round” in the pasture when I entered. All except for Lizzy, who has had enough of running around. She came right up to me, so I haltered her, gave her a treat, and took her out of the pasture.

I tied Lizzy to the grill guard of the front bumper of my truck – it’s an excellent tie rail. I brushed her down, revealing some of her beautiful summer chestnut brown under her lighter sorrel winter coat. I trimmed up her hooves as well, in anticipation of a possible ride this weekend. Then I left her standing and went back for J.

This time I let J, Jimbo, and the other horse in the pasture into the small arena through a gate in their pasture. Once in the small area, which is about 100′ X 75′, or thereabouts, I had them right where I wanted them. Although it’s quite a bit larger than a normal round pen, it works for what I need. I started the trio trotting and cantering around the arena and kept them going until they let me walk up to them. Every time they turned their tail to me, I made them run. Eventually, they will learn that if they stand still when I come up to them, they don’t have to run. Later, I will teach them to come to me.

After catching J, I haltered him and gave him his treat. I let the other two go back to the pasture. I took J out to the truck and tied him next to Lizzy, brushed him down, then trimmed his front hooves. I just don’t have the energy I used to , so after trimming Lizzy hooves and J’s front hooves, I was done. I’ll get J’s rears later. I am pleased that J’s hooves are looking better. After years of minimal or no care, they had splayed quite a bit and are quite flat and large in diameter. I am slowly trimming them back to good shape. A few more months and they’ll be right.

After resting a bit, I saddled J up. He stood well, although he’s still a little bit cinchy. Again, I saddled him with a lot of banging and swinging straps and stirrups, to get him used to having things slapping around him. He handled it well.

I walked J out into the arena, where he initially became agitated, as before, but quickly settled down and relaxed. I then started refreshing his memory of our last training session, by using the halter to turn his head to the right and left by the pressure-give method. I led him forward and asked him to back. We went through all the halter training steps we did during our last training session as a review.

I decided that J’s head was right and ready the next step: bridle and bit training. When I break and train my horses, I like to break a horse to the bit, using an O-ring or D-ring snaffle. with a 1/4″ or 3/8″ egg-butt or straight hinged bit (no shanks). I will use this bit on a horse trainee until it learns basic commands, such as go, stop, turn left, turn right, and stop. Once the horse reliably performs those commands, I generally switch to a bosal hackamore for the bulk of its training. That way I can teach a horse to become more responsive to bridle and rein pressures without the risk of making a hard mouth. Once I feel like the horse is completely submissive and obedient to the bridle pressures in the hackamore, I transition them to a solid curb bit.

I presented the bridle to J, just as I have instructed in the video I did several years ago, which you may view here. I held the headstall in my right hand with my forearm and elbow on top of his neck. This allows the trainer a little bit of control and entices the horse to submit. I captured his nose between the cheek pieces with the bit hanging below his chin. I took the bit in my left hand and guided the bit between his lips while raising the bit to his teeth by lifting the bridle with my right hand. I tickled his tongue with my left thumb, to entice him to open his mouth and, when he did, I lifted the bit into his mouth by lifting my right wrist (the one on top of his head). He took the bit very easily and I quickly had his ears tucked into the headstall.

After a few exercises similar to our halter training steps, I felt like J understood what the pressure on the bit meant. He didn’t like it much and moved the bit around in his mouth with his tongue for a few minutes, but soon realized that if he gave to the pressure he was much more comfortable. From the ground, I taught him to turn, lead, stop, and back to bit pressure in just a few minutes.

It was time to see if we could reach the highest goal of our training session. As J had taken all previous stages of today’s session like a champ and with no resistance, I felt pretty confident we could continue.

I snugged up the reins with my left hand and took a handful of mane, put my left foot into the stirrup, grabbed the horn with my right hand, and put some weight in the stirrup. J immediately moved away and got worried. I hung with him and when he stopped, I got off and petted him. After a couple more similar episodes, J realized that if he stood still things were better. After stepping up into the stirrup several times from both sides, and leaning over the saddle, without actually mounting, I felt confident he would allow me to mount. I mounted the first time from the off-side, just because I happened to be on that side when I decided to swing my leg over. I dismounted on the on-side and petted and scratched him.

It was time. I pulled myself into the saddle and just sat there. After several calm minutes, J voluntarily took a step. I started turning him to one side, then the other, taking a step or two each time. Eventually, he decided he wanted to be down at the other end of the arena, near his buddies, so I let him walk that direction. As he began to speed up, I gave pressure on the reins and he slowed. Once down by his buddies, however, I had a hard time getting him to go again.

Eventually, J responded to repeated nudges in the ribs with my heels and jumped forward. The nudges stopped. We tried it again and every time he went forward the nudges stopped. Within a few minutes were were walking and gaiting around the arena. J responded very well, surprisingly well, to leg and rein pressures from the beginning. We rode around the arena practicing our turns, stopping, backing, and going for about a half hour, before I decided that was enough for the day.

I was very pleased with J Golden today. I learned something about J as well. He is not a Fox Trotter. His gait is that of a Tennessee Walker. Oh well. The important part is that his walk will, indeed, keep up with Lizzy.

That’s all I need.

Tack and Gear, Training, Western Horsemanship

A little more progress with J Golden

For the first time in quite a while, I had a day off today with good weather at the same time. So, after sleeping-in to an appropriate hour, and having a relaxed breakfast while watching the news, I headed out to work a little with my new bronc.

As you will recall, I bought J last month. He’s a grade Missouri Fox Trotter…at least he looks like one…somewhere between 4 and 10 years old, and he is not yet saddle broke. I bought him from a fellow who bought him at auction, so we really don’t know a lot about him. I see him gait around the pasture, so I know he has a natural Fox Trot as well as a more lateral running walk, so it’s likely he has a bit of Walker in him as well.

With all the snow we’ve had this winter, I have only had one other opportunity to do any amount of work with him and it was mostly just to see what he already knows and give me a starting point. It is pretty evident J has had folks work on his hooves and mess around him a bit. He’s friendly and surprisingly trusting, in light of the history I know about him. He has obviously had a lot of longeing, as anytime I give him any room with a lead rope he wants to trot around me in a circle no matter what I’m trying to do with him.

I’m not a big proponent of longeing. There are legitimate purposes for it and, if done properly and for the right reasons, it is useful. However, in my experience, many people longe their horses because they are afraid of them. Some people do it because they just enjoy doing it, others do it to exercise the horse. Very few actually do it as a planned and purposeful part of a horse’s basic training. Consequently, few people actually accomplish any useful thing with it, with regard to helping the horse and the rider come together down the road. Good ground training, in my mind, is essential for a saddle horse, but most of its training will come under the saddle.

So, today I decided to try to make a little progress with J and see how far we could get.

First off, I would have to catch him. I keep my horses in a pasture about a half-acre in size. I haven’t been able to mess with them much over the winter, so they have been a little silly lately about me catching them. I have had fun running them around, watching them buck and fart and play, all the while teaching them that if they don’t come up to me they will run. They think it’s fun at first, but after awhile they begin to get winded and it’s not so much fun. Normally the first one to stop and come to me is my good mare, Lizzy, who is now about 5 months in-foal. Yesterday she finally let me walk up to her and put the halter on her. I brushed her with a curry comb for a while, gave her a treat, then released her.

When I went into the pasture today, there was no running. The first one to come right up to me was J, so he got a treat. He wouldn’t let me halter him at first, so I went on to Lizzy, who stood calmly while I haltered her. She got a treat. Then I brushed her and released her. Next I went on to my mustang,  Jimbo, who wouldn’t be left out of getting a treat. He doesn’t like being caught, but he loves the treats. I started currying him, which he really likes, then slipped the rope over his neck. Once that was done, he started looking for a halter to stick his nose into, so he could get a treat. I brushed him a bit, then released him.

Next, I moved to J, who, by this time was ready for another treat. I curried him for a few minutes, then slipped the rope over his neck. He then let me slip the halter on him. Then he got a treat. My horses learn pretty quickly that putting a halter on in the pasture is a good thing.

J leads quite well, so it is evident he has had some halter training. I took him to the tie rack and tied him off. I have been very pleased that J has shown no pulling-back issues, even when he’s startled. I lifted all his hooves for cleaning and inspection. He’s still a little ticklish about his rear hooves, but offers no real problems. As part of his training, I will lift and clean all his hooves every time I saddle and unsaddle him. It won’t be long before he won’t offer any resistance at all and accepts it calmly. That will be appreciated by my farrier.

Next, I took him into the small arena. As soon as we entered the arena, he became agitated and wanted to trot around me in circles. Like I’ve said, apparently he has been longed a lot and thinks that’s what he’s supposed to do. My lead rope is about 10 feet long, which doesn’t give him much room for longeing. I let him go around a few times one direction, then turned him to go the other. When I let my arms down to my sides, he turned to come to me. I worked with him for several minutes to teach him to stand calmly while I worked around him holding the lead rope. I’m having to help him unlearn what he has been taught before. I want him to stand calmly when I am holding his lead rope. I don’t want him trying to longe every time we head into the arena for training.

Once I got him standing calmly, I started desensitizing him to the lead rope swinging around him. I would swing the tail of it up onto his rump, around his back legs, and up under his stomach, until he learned that when he stands still I stop swinging the rope.

I’m finding J to be a willing and submissive student and he learns quickly. Within a half hour we were ready to begin lessons for the day. My goal for the day was to be able to mount and sit on J’s back. While I expected some reaction from J, since I did a little testing with him before I bought him, I figured he wouldn’t be too much of a challenge to break to the saddle, due to all the handling he had before I bought him.

I saddled him up. He’s been saddled before, so there were no surprises there, even though he gets tensed up and doesn’t like to be cinched. I was a bit brusque and noisy as I saddled him, flopping things around and bumping him here and there, to desensitize him to the saddle and saddling process. He took it well and we had no problems, other than him tensing up. I saddled him with a rear cinch and breast strap. Eventually I’ll start using a crupper and progress to a fully-rigged pack saddle.

Then, back into the arena we went. Again, we had to work a little bit to remind him that we weren’t there to longe. Once that was done, I began to flop things on him, such as the end of my lead rope again, teaching that things flopping on him don’t hurt and aren’t dangerous. I just kept flopping the tail of the lead up on his back and rump and up under his belly until he stopped reacting, then I stopped. It didn’t take long before he was standing calmly while I flopped the lead rope all over him.

Next, I worked on teaching him to give to the halter, by putting side pressure on his nose with the lead and pulling his head around to the left side. I would put a little pressure, and when he gave a little, so did I.  Within a few minutes I had him responding to light pressure on the lead rope to turn his head around to the side. We did this on both sides.

Then I would snug up the lead on the left side and place my left hand, with a grip on the lead rope, up on his neck, just ahead of the saddle, as if I were about to mount. I would have him turn his head toward me submissively, then I would put weight on the saddle with my right hand, gripping the saddle horn or opposite pommel swell, and pulling my weight off the ground, my body weight against his side. The first few times we did this J reacted, spinning around and hopping a bit. I hung on, moving with him until he stopped moving, then I released. Within a few minutes I was able to hang on the side of the saddle while he stood calmly. We did that on both sides.

The next step was to actually put a foot in the stirrup and put weight on it. This step is a little tricky, especially without an assistant, since the trainer is in an unbalanced position with one foot in the stirrup, holding the lead rope with the left hand and the saddle horn with the right, so you don’t want to rush this. Make sure you do enough of the previous step to be fairly sure the horse isn’t going to explode while you have one foot in the stirrup. I would have preferred to have had an assistant hold the horse’s head and lead him around for me while I hung on the side, but I didn’t have one available. An assistant in this phase can help things progress a little quicker.

I asked J for his head, bringing his nose around to the left. I repeatedly asked for his nose until he did so willingly and softly. If he pulled or resisted, I continued to ask until he gave his nose to me. Then I placed my left foot in the stirrup, my left hand with the lead rope snugged-up on his neck, grabbed a handful of mane, then, grabbing the saddle horn with my right hand, lifted myself up into the stirrup, leaning across the saddle. At this precarious point, I started patting him on the right side with my right hand, keeping a snug lead rope with my left. As he agitated and moved, I hung on, pulling his head around, until he stopped, then slid from the saddle. I did this on both sides, until J calmly let me rise in the stirrup, pat and rub all around on the off-side, flop the stirrup, mess with the rear cinch, and generally do all manner of irritating things. I spoke softly and soothingly all the while, as I did this.

The next phase was to teach him that this was a normal and not a worrisome thing. I walked him around the arena and at irregular intervals would suddenly stop him and quickly put my foot in the stirrup and rise up, pat him a little on the off side, move stuff around, then drop to the ground. Once he would allow this without reaction, I decided we were ready to attempt the goal of the training.

Before getting to the punch-line however, I’ll talk a little about our training to lead. I like my horses to walk beside me with their nose even with my shoulder and arm. I try to train all my horses this way, because it irritates me to have to haul on the lead rope to keep an enthusiastic youngster horse in check. As I walked J around the arena, I noticed J had a tendency to want to get out ahead of me, especially while walking toward his home pasture, where is buddies were munching grass. I remedied this by turning abruptly away from him and walking the opposite direction. As I led him, each time his head got past my shoulder, I would abruptly turn and walk the other way. He soon learned that we didn’t turn if he kept his head behind my shoulder. The time we spent leading around the pasture between mounting exercises was quite valuable today. By the time we were done, he was staying right where I want him. This training is important to me, as it keeps horses from stepping on little feet when kids are leading them.

Now, for the grand finale of the training session. Actually, it was quite anticlimactic. When I felt like J was ready, I asked for his head. When he gave it softly, I grabbed the lead and a handful of mane in my left hand, put my left foot in the stirrup, grabbed the horn with my right hand. I then lofted myself into the stirrup and swung my right leg over onto the other side. I was sitting in the saddle. J tensed-up just a bit, then relaxed. It felt really good. I immediately dismounted, sliding to the ground while J stood calmly. We did that several more times, including dismounting on the off-side (right side). I repeated the earlier exercise of walking around the arena, then stopping abruptly and mounting and dismounting. By the time we finished, J was non-reactive to my mounting antics. Mission accomplished!

I was pleased and excited at the progress we made today. I decided not to push him any further. That was enough for me. I’ll let him rest and assimilate all that we did today and we’ll try it again tomorrow, if the weather holds, or Monday.

My goal for the next session will be breaking J to the ring snaffle bit, teaching him basic commands and how to respond to bit pressure. We’ll also work a little more on mounting and dismounting. I’m looking forward to it.

 

Training, Western Horsemanship

Getting Started with J

I had a little free time this afternoon and the weather was nice, so I took the opportunity to go out and mess with the horses.

I have been trying to get J to let me put a halter on him, so I can start working with him. Out in the nearly two-acre pasture he’s in, with three other horses, it’s been a challenge. But! I have the secret weapon! It’s Purina Apple & Oats Horse Treats. My horses love them. I take a handful with me whenever I head out into the pasture, so I never have a problem getting the horses to come to me. Most of them look to find a halter to put their nose into, because that’s how they get a treat!

Well, except for my little mustang, Jimbo. He has a game he likes to play. He likes to see if I’ll give him a treat just for letting me scratch his nose. If I lift the halter or try to get beside him he moves off. Seems like J has been watching that and learning from him. Once Jimbo starts to move away, he and J like to take off together. So, no treats for them.

I guess J got tired of the game today, or tired of not getting a treat. I took a curry comb out into the pasture with me this time and curried  all the horses. Even Jimbo let me curry him, so I spoiled him and gave him a treat for not running off while I was brushing him. J kept coming up and trying to get into my pockets. I curried him and he side-stepped away, but kept his nose pointed my direction…er…in the direction of the treats in my pocket. Once he decided I was ok there beside him with that curry comb I gave him a treat and continued brushing. After a minute or two of him standing calmly, I slipped the lead rope over his neck. I could feel J’s whole body relax, as if to say, “Well, there you go. I’m caught.” He let me slip the halter on without even a blink of his eyes.

I led him out of the pasture, surprised at how easily he leads. He does not fight the lead in the least. I took him out and, lacking a decent tie rack, tied him to the heavy-duty cow guard on the front of my truck. Then I continued to brush him until he stood calmly. I noticed he kept lifting his left rear hoof whenever I got near his hindquarters, so, rather than risk getting kicked, I decided to take him to the small arena and try some things to see how he will be with his hooves.

I grabbed a loose lead rope to use as a training stimulus for him and, holding his lead with one hand, I began tossing the end of the free lead up on his back and around his legs. It became apparent to me pretty quickly that he has had a lot of longeing training. Seems like that happens a lot with horses that have ended up at auctions or rescues. I have come across a number of such horses that have been considered green-broke or unbroke that have been very good at longeing. What I figure is that their former owners were afraid of them, so they would longe them over and over and call it “ground-work” rather than progress to getting them rideable.

J, I know, at his last owner’s place, was handled a lot by young people with troubled backgrounds as part of a treatment program (for the youth, not the horse). So, I am pretty sure he got plenty of brushing, at least on his front end, and plenty of longeing. This, I expect, is also why he’s so well broke to lead, but not easy to catch.

Anyway, after a few minutes of going round and round, while I tossed the lead rope over his back and around his legs, he finally settled down and realized I didn’t want to longe him. After he settled down, I lifted both his front hooves and messed with them a second or two, then I looped the free lead rope around his left rear pastern and lifted his hoof with it. He swung his hoof a few times and settled right down. Never did he actually kick, which pleased me immensely. After he relaxed I dropped the hoof to the ground. I repeated that process several times, until I could lift the hoof and let it down without a struggle. I did the same on the other side. I was pleased.

With that done, I took him back to the truck and tied him. I pulled out my farrier kit and decided to see if he would let me do a little work on his overgrown front hooves. Rather than risk getting a hoof halfway trimmed and running into trouble, I decided just to rasp off a bit of his toes, so as not to start off asking for too much on our first try. I was able to lift his front hooves and rasp off quite a bit of excess toe on both. He gave me surprisingly little problem with that. His rears don’t look quite so bad, so, rather than over-do things for our first session, I just lifted his rears and cleaned them, messing just a few seconds on each, before letting it back to the ground. He gave me no problem at all.

After dropping his last hoof, I gave him another treat, brushed him some more, then took him back to the pasture and let him back in with his buddies. I think both of us enjoyed the session.

I think I’m going to really like this boy. He reminds me a lot of Ranger in the way he moves an certain things he does. As I work with him, I get the impression that he is checking me out, looking to see whether he can trust me. He seems to actually want to trust me, which I find unusual. I normally have to earn their trust before they want it.

Well, it could be the treats.

We’ll see.

Tack and Gear, Training, Western Horsemanship

How to get on a horse

In response to a question on a horse forum I participate in, I posted a short instructional on the proper and safe way to mount a horse in a western saddle.  It occurred to me that it would make a good post here on my blog, as well. Several months ago I made a short video on it, so I will link that at the end.

The mounting technique I am going to explain was developed more than a century and a half ago, and has been practiced since, by cowboys who, often as not, rode half-broke broncs every day as part of their job.  They broke horses by roping them, saddling them, then hopping in the saddle and riding them until they stopped bucking.  Many of those horses never really got fully broke, and many mornings the cowboys enjoyed a short rodeo session to warm up on before heading out for a day of punching cows.

Because of that, they developed a method of mounting a horse that allowed them to maintain full control of the animal from the ground until they were fully seated in the saddle. Even if the horse bolted or launched into the sky in a full-bore bucking fit as the cowboy started to mount, he could safely continue into the saddle while maintaining full control of the horse’s head with a free hand on the reins.  This technique has been largely lost nowadays, and I have seen reputable instructors and trainers who mount improperly, at least not the way the cowboys “back in the day” did it.

Before we start the tutorial, just a few basic tidbits of information.  Cowboys always mounted from the left side of a horse.  There is a reason for this.  It is because most folks are right-handed. That means the cowboy wanted his reins in the left hand. Why that? Mostly tradition. That’s the way it’s been done throughout history. Soldiers, warriors, and folks in general have always been mostly right-handed. They had to have their right hand free to handle their weapon. The cowboy had to have his right hand free to palm his trusty revolver in case something needed killing, or to pull out his lariat and rope a steer.  His right hand was for working, while the left was for handling the horse. Most trail riders will also train a horse to allow one to mount and dismount on the right side, since you never know when that might be necessary on a mountain trail. You never want to mount or dismount on the downhill side. You might pull the horse over on top of you.

Now for a little nomenclature on the western saddle.  You have a horn.  It is to hold onto, and to dally a rope to, or to hang stuff on.  It sits up front on top of the pommel. The pommel is the big thing between your legs that the horn sits on, sometimes known as the fork, or the swells. Many saddles from the late 1800s to 1950s have large swells, which allow you to hang on with your knees while your horse sows his “wild seeds”. See?  Then there is the seat, which, obviously, is the part your tush sits on. Behind the seat you have the cantle, which is like a mini-backrest. It rises up to sort of cradle your bottom and helps you stay in the saddle.  English saddles don’t really have a cantle,

Antique "high-back" saddle with brass horn
Antique “high-back” saddle with brass horn

nor a horn for that matter (which is why English riders wear helmets rather than cowboy hats!).  Then you have the stirrups.  They hold your feet, so your boots don’t fall off while riding. They are suspended from the saddle by leather straps called, surprisingly, “stirrup leathers”.  Stirrup leathers normally have a sweat flap attached, which protects your leg from the sweat of the horse. The whole shebang is held on the horse by a cinch, sometimes known by the original Spanish term “cincha”.  The cinch is normally a belt woven of mohair or cotton strings, that wraps under the horse’s belly and ties on either side to the “rigging” of the saddle by leather straps called a “latigo” (left side) and a “billet” (right side). Some modern cinches are made of neoprene or felt, for those high-speed, low-drag folks leaping into the 20th century on horseback…wait, what century is this, anyway?

Western bridle with curb bit, chin strap, and reins
Western bridle with curb bit, chin strap, and reins

Now for the bridle.  You have a headstall. It hangs over the horse’s head, held in place by the horse’s ears.  It hangs down and generally holds a metal bit in place in the horse’s mouth. Connected to the bit is a chin strap (self-explanatory) and a set of reins.

In today’s world, many people prefer bitless bridles, but that’s another discussion for another post. For our purposes here, just assume a bit.

First, we’ll assume the horse is properly saddled and bridled.

Take the reins in the left hand above the horse’s neck, just forward of the saddle. Now snug the reins up until you feel contact with the horse’s mouth, through the bit. This keeps the horse from wandering off while you’re trying to mount. Some experienced horse trainers, on a greenbroke (barely broke, barely trained) horse, will shorten the left rein and pull the horse’s head around to the left as they mount. This helps the rider maintain control of the horse while mounting, by not allowing the horse to lower his head and engage his rear end to buck.

So, there you are with the reins snugged up. Stand right by the horse’s front left leg and face the rear of the horse. That way the horse can’t reach you if he decides to kick you. A horse can kick out forward and sideways with his rear hoof, in what we call a “cowkick”.  If you mount a horse that is prone to cowkicking in the way most folks mount, you are liable to get a surprise right in the back pockets.

Now, without letting go of the reins, take a big ole handful of mane, about a foot in front of the saddle, with your left hand.  I mean a big ole handful! It’s not like pulling hair on your head. It doesn’t bother the horse at all.  So, now you are standing facing the rear, with your reins and a big handful of mane in your left hand. With your right hand, grab the stirrup and turn it, so you can put your left foot into it. Now put your foot into it.

Big ol' handful of mane and the horn
Big ol’ handful of mane and the horn

Now, reach up with your right hand and grab the horn.  Again, grab the horn…not the cantle.  So, there you are, with your left hand holding the reins and a big handful of mane, your left foot in the stirrup, and your right hand on the horn…again…on the horn. Novices, and some smart folks who don’t know better, will grab the horn with their left hand and the cantle with their right.  I’ll explain in a minute why that can get you hurt.

Now, using your left hand and right hand to pull your weight until you can use the strength in your leg, stand up in the left stirrup.  Stand straight up, not bent over the saddle. You may need to give a little “hop” to get up.  That’s fine.  Just don’t hop up and over.  Keep your balance and stand straight up.  That’s important.  Now just swing your right leg over the cantle and sit into the seat. Find the stirrup with your right foot, poke it in, and there you are. Properly mounted in a western saddle.

Now, why am I so anal-retentive about this technique? Let me “splain”. Let’s say you are mounting a horse you don’t know, in the way your buddy at the boarding stable showed you.  You take up the reins with your left hand, grab the horn with it, stick your left foot in the stirrup, then grab the cantle with your right hand.

Left hand on horn, right on cantle - Not!
Left hand on horn, right on cantle – Not!

Now you hike yourself up with a mighty heave…but while you are on your way up the horse gets spooked by your snot-nosed little brother, who thought it would be fun to see what happens when he shoots the horse in the rump with a rubber-band gun.  So, there you are, hanging on for dear life as your horse charges through the stable area. You can’t pull the reins, because your left hand is holding onto the horn.  If you let go of the horn, you will lose your balance, because your other hand is way back behind, holding the cantle.  You can’t continue to mount and get up into the saddle, because your right hand is blocking you…it’s holding the cantle.  You can’t let go of the cantle, because you’ll lose your balance, because your other hand is way up front holding the horn…and the reins.  So, you hang onto the saddle, hanging off the side of the horse, with your left foot dangerously stuck in the stirrup, with absolutely no way to control the animal, until either the saddle finally slides off to the side, dumping you on the ground (hopefully your foot slips out of the stirrup), or the horse rubs you off on a gatepost or barn door. Don’t ask me how I know all this.

Now, let’s look at the same scenario while using the proper technique I just outlined above.  You confidently grasp the reins, snugging them up until you feel the contact with the bit. You use that same hand to grab a big handful of mane. Now you use your right hand to help your left foot into the stirrup.  You reach up and grab the horn with your right hand, and with a nice, controlled lift, you begin to stand up into the stirrup – when suddenly!…well, you remember.

Keeping control while mounting
Keeping control while mounting

So, the horse leaps into action with you only half-way up into position.  Not to worry! You’re holding on firmly to the horn with your strong right hand. You quickly release the mane with your left hand and give a strong pull on the reins, quickly bringing the terrified animal back into subjection, while at the same time, calmly swinging your right leg over the cantle, bringing you into the saddle under full control. No sweat at all! Now to go see about that brat little brother of yours!

Now do you see?  There really is a proper and safe way to mount a horse in a western saddle.  It was developed by the old cow hands for a reason. That reason remains today and better horsemen continue to use it.

If you want to see how it’s done with a little better entertainment value, watch Kevin Kline mount a horse in Silverado, or John Wayne in all his movies, or Tom Selleck in Quigley Down Under or Monty Walsh. Picture perfect mounting technique. These named fellows are actually excellent horsemen, besides being movie stars.

Now, I’m not trying to say that you can’t safely mount a particular horse in other ways. There are people with handicaps, people who may be vertically challenged (as they say), and even folks in their “golden years” who may find it difficult to mount in the way I have described. You make adjustments as necessary and “you do whatcha gotta do”. Most of our horses nowadays are solid broke and mounting up is pretty much anticlimactic, so it’s not as important as it was in days past. However, if you are able, the technique I have described actually is the correct way and the safest way to mount a horse in a western saddle. It could save your hide in that once-in-a-million circumstance in which a horse bolts on you while mounting.

Hope that helps. Here’s the video link I promised. It could be better and I’ll eventually re-do it, but it’s sufficient for this post.

How to Properly and Safely Mount a Horse in a Western Saddle

You can subscribe to my Youtube video channel, where I’ll be posting more videos over time. I intend to create a series of instructional videos for beginners on horse care, handling, and horsemanship, directed mostly to those who are just starting out with horses and those contemplating getting a horse for the first time.

Happy trails!