Tag Archives: bosal

Horse Health, Tack and Gear, Western Horsemanship

Let’s talk about bits…

I recently saw a photograph on facebook that showed a horse with a damaged tongue. The associated post indicated the photo was taken by a vet, who said the tongue damage was from abuse from a snaffle bit. The vet said he/she sees this kind of tongue damage regularly.

Tongue damaged by a snaffle? I doubt it.

Quite frankly, I believe neither that the horse’s tongue was damaged by a bit nor that the person who wrote the post was a vet (I hate to be the one to tell you, but not everything you see on facebook is true). The ensuing discussion on the post inspired me to put down a few words about western bridle bits. I will restrict my comments to the world of western riding, as I have very little knowledge (regrettably) about English riding.

There are, in general, two major categories of bridle bits for western riding: The jointed or hinged mouthpiece bit and the solid mouthpiece bit (the mouthpiece being the part that goes inside the horse’s mouth). There are numerous variations within these two categories and several minor offshoots as well.

Then there are bits with shanks and bits without. The shanks, when coupled with a chinstrap (also called a curb strap or curb chain), provide leverage on the mouthpiece, which is how the shanked bit operates. These are often called “leverage” bits and are correctly referred to as curb bits.

Some curb bits are made with swivel joints where the shank attaches to the mouthpiece. Frankly, I’m not sure there is any real value to this, but it is the current fashion over fixed shanks welded to the mouthpiece.

A bit without shanks is called a snaffle bit. Most snaffle bits are jointed or hinged in the middle of the mouthpiece. A hinged bit with shanks about two inches long is called a Tom Thumb bit.  These are often referred to as snaffles, but that is a misnomer, as it has shanks and operates by leverage. It is a curb bit. Snaffles do not operate by leverage.

Tom Thumb bit is a jointed curb bit

Because a snaffle does not operate by leverage and because most are hinged in the middle, they are generally regarded, although incorrectly, as gentle bits.

O-ring egg-butt snaffle bit

Snaffle bits are often used by horse trainers on fresh horses in the  breaking process. Many trainers, myself included, will use a snaffle bit only long enough for the horse to learn the primary basic commands (such as stop, go, left, right, back) and will then transition the horse to a braided rawhide bosal.

Braided rawhide bosal with horsehair mecate

Most of the horse’s training will be done in the bosal, which operates by pressure and bumping on the horse’s nose and under the bars of the lower jaw, until the horse understands well its commands and becomes compliant and obedient. In this way a horse can be trained without the risk of injuring or desensitizing the tender mouth. The horse will then be transitioned to a solid mouthpiece curb bit, that is properly designed and suitable for the use of the horse, after it is well trained. The stiff braided rawhide bosal is not a gentle training tool and a horse can develop calcium deposits on its nose and on the bottom of the jaw if the bosal is overused or improperly used. There are softer bosals that are of little use for reining training, but are often used as “bitless” bridles.

That said, I have discontinued using a bosal on my Missouri Fox Trotters once I start training them in their gaits. The bosal causes sores on their nose, due to the MFT’s head motion in its Fox Trot. I tend to transition them to the solid mouthpiece curb bit earlier than I used to do with Quarter Horses. My Fox Trotters are so easy to train and so willing, that I have experienced no ill effects from doing so.

Now that we’ve discussed some basics about bits, let’s take a closer look at how they operate.

First, we’ll talk about the snaffle.

There are a wide variety of snaffle bit designs, each with it’s purpose. Snaffles attach to the reins and bridle by a ring on each end of the mouthpiece. This ring may be round ( O-ring) or a D-ring.  The snaffle is not intended to be used with a chinstrap, but I have seen it done. Since the snaffle has no shanks, use of a chinstrap adds no leverage and the only function of the chinstrap is to keep the bit from pulling the ring into the horse’s the mouth if the horse is not responsive to a side pull or if the bit is improperly used. Some people use large rubber washers on the sides of the snaffle bit for this same purpose, as well as to keep the bit from pinching the sides of the horse’s mouth.

D-ring snaffle with copper rollers

There are egg-butt snaffles, that are round and larger diameter where they contact the bars of the jaws and narrower at the hinge in the center.  There are narrow egg-butt snaffles, as well as twisted wire snaffles that are quite aggressive and generally used for correction training and refresher training on non-compliant horses. There are “French-Link” snaffles that have two or more joints or hinges in them. Ironically, the gentlest of the snaffle bits are chain snaffles that are simply pieces of flat-link chain joined by the rings at the ends. There are snaffles that have solid mouthpieces as well.

Again, a snaffle has no shanks. If it has shanks it is not a snaffle.

Twisted wire ring snaffle – very aggressive – for correction training

I want to reiterate here that among most horse people, a snaffle bit is generally considered to be a gentle bit. One of the primary purposes of this article is to educate the reader about the true nature of how a snaffle functions and why it is a good and appropriate training bit for fresh horses in the breaking process, but, in fact is not a gentle bit and should not be used on a horse that is not completely compliant, except in its initial training.

A snaffle bit operates by three mechanical pressures that cause pain in the horse’s mouth. First, as the reins are pulled or as the horse resists the bit, the bit hinges in the middle, causing pressure on the bars of the lower jaws, just ahead of the molars. At the same time, the point of the hinge pokes into the roof of the horse’s mouth, again causing pain. Thirdly, the hinged snaffle has what is often called a “nut-cracker” effect on the horse’s tongue, causing pressure and discomfort.

Nut-cracker effect: pinches tongue, pressure on lower jaw bars, pokes into roof of the mouth

While the purpose of this post is to educate my readers to the fact that the hinged snaffle bit is not a gentle bit, I have never seen a horse’s tongue damaged by a snaffle, as indicated in the mentioned facebook article and I believe that photo is taken out of context and that the post is a fraud. I have, however, seen a horse’s tongue damaged in the way that photo depicts from being badly cut (not by a snaffle or any other bit) and surgically repaired, which is what I suspect happened to the horse in the photo.  It is virtually impossible for a snaffle bit to cause the damage indicated in the photo.

Having said that, I reiterate that a snaffle is not a gentle bit. Due to the pain and discomfort caused by a hinged snaffle bit, horses that continue in a snaffle past their initial training, particularly in the hands of an inexperienced rider, often learn to raise and shake the head and open wide the mouth to escape pressure from the bit. Raising the head positions the snaffle bit so that it pulls only against the soft edges of the lips at the sides of the mouth. Opening the mouth and raising the head relieves the pressure on the jaws and the roof of the mouth and most of the pressure on the tongue, thereby rendering the snaffle bit almost entirely ineffective. The rider then responds to this misbehavior by pulling harder on the reins in order to retain control, which exacerbates the situation.

I am convinced that this misbehavior, or “fighting the bit,” is much of the driving impetus behind the “bitless” movement. Many people who change to bitless bridles and promote them as being safer and gentler than any bit, are those who, prior to switching to bitless, used snaffle bits on their horses for general use, believing the snaffle to be the gentlest of bits.  The misbehavior of the horse, then, leads them to believe that the horse will misbehave with any bit. The refrain I often hear in promotion of bitless bridles, “How would you like a piece of steel in your mouth?” is utterly without merit and ridiculous.  Most horses, once relieved of the discomfort of a snaffle bit, will change their behavior markedly after a short while, regardless of whether the transition is to a bitless bridle or to a properly designed and adjusted solid curb bit.

There is a very good reason why snaffle bits are commonly used in the initial breaking and training phase of a horse’s training. They are aggressive and painful bits. The hinged snaffle bit, in trained hands, quickly teaches an untrained horse the basic control commands, so that a horse may be broken to the saddle and trained safely.  It is pain compliance – No doubt about it. Once those basic commands are taught and learned, the horse should be transitioned to something else.

If a horse is compliant and the rider has gentle hands, a hinged snaffle may not cause a horse any more discomfort than any other kind of bit or bridle. However, most riders are not always gentle with their hands and most horses are not always compliant.

Now to talk about solid mouthpiece curb bits a little bit (no pun intended).

Solid mouthpiece curb bits have shanks that are intended to operate in conjunction with a chinstrap or curb strap, which gives the bit leverage, causing pressure on the bars of the lower jaw.  This also rotates the mouthpiece, causing pressure, via the design of the mouthpiece, either on the tongue or on the roof of the mouth (or both), although not with the pointed poking or pinching of the hinged snaffle. The shanks provide advance warning to the horse that pressure is about to be applied, allowing the horse to respond to a light cue, before firm pressure is applied.

The headstall attaches to the upper ring of the shank.  Some bits have a middle loop on the shanks, located at the same point in the shanks where mouthpiece attaches.  This loop is there for the purpose of attaching a second set of reins to the loop (which I have never seen done in western riding) or to use the bit as a snaffle (no chinstrap and no leverage), should the rider choose to do that. However, to use the bit as a curb bit, the chinstrap attaches to the same loop, at the top of the shanks, as the headstall (see the photos below). I have seen chinstraps improperly attached to the snaffle loop, which causes the bit to function improperly. The reins attach to the lower ring at the bottom of the shanks.

The tighter a chinstrap is adjusted, the quicker the horse feels input from the reins. The adjustment of the chinstrap also adjusts the position of the mouthpiece in the horse’s mouth as the chinstrap engages. I tend to keep my chinstraps fairly loose, as most of my riding is trail riding and I do not want my horse to feel input from movement of the reins except when I intend to give input.  The length of the shanks also affects how quickly the horse senses input from the reins, as well as the amount of force that can be applied to the mouthpiece. If you have a show horse and need the horse to feel input from even the most subtle cues from the reins, you might try a snugger chinstrap and/or longer shanks (many show classes limit the length of the shanks).  A properly adjusted headstall and chinstrap make a lot of difference in how the horse responds to a particular bit.

Most solid mouthpiece curb bits also have a port (the bend in the middle of many bit mouthpieces), which applies pressure on the roof of the mouth or on the tongue, depending on the design of the bit. Some solid mouthpiece curb bits look like Spanish Inquisition torture devices, but are, in fact, quite gentle in the hands of a trained rider on a trained reining horse.

Spoon bit for a reiner

These are often called “spoon bits” and have larger, elaborate ports, which allow the well-trained horse to sense very subtle cues via the port. Cues from the rider that may be imperceptible to a judge on the ground may be felt easily by the horse. These bits are not intended for horses not trained to them. Due to the look of them, many people unfamiliar with their use believe they are  cruel “correction” bits. They are not.

Medium port grazing bit

The port and shanks of a solid mouthpiece curb bit are designed with the use of the horse in mind. For example, the snaffle bit is generally intended for training or correction.  The bit commonly called a “grazing bit” was designed with a solid mouthpiece, a low or medium port, and fairly short shanks that are bent back toward the rider. These were designed with the rancher in mind, so that his horse might comfortably graze with the bit in its mouth, without the shanks getting in the way or causing discomfort.

Bits designed for gaited horses tend to have longer shanks and broad ports that are designed to go over the tongue with little or no pressure when the horse holds its head properly in its gait. The shanks are generally longer than those of a grazing bit and angled differently, providing more subtle cues to the horse’s mouth while in gait. A Western Pleasure bit (often a simple grazing bit) is designed to relieve pressure from the port on the tongue and roof of the mouth when the horse holds its head low and vertical, placing the port in a neutral position with a loose rein. A spoon bit on a reiner puts little or no pressure on the horse’s mouth while the horse is doing its work, but allows the subtlest of cues to be transmitted to and felt by the horse. Those are such technical bits that even the weight of the reins is important.

Robart Pinchless Gaited bit

I have found I like a bit made by Robart and marketed by Amazon for my Fox Trotter and my Tennessee Walker. It has a wide, rounded mouthpiece that has a steel swivel (not a hinge) in the middle, allowing single-rein control as well as normal neck-reining. It also has copper wire inlaid into the mouthpiece, which helps keep the horse’s mouth moist. Note also, the center loop, for use with a second set of reins or to set the bit up for use as a snaffle.

Imus bit, similar in design to the Robart bit

 A similar bit, marketed by several sellers, such as Imus, uses a copper swivel, however some people have told me the copper swivel wears out over time and breaks.

I have found this design, properly adjusted, to be quite comfortable to my gaited horses. Again, bits for gaited horses generally have longer shanks and differently configured mouthpieces than those made for Quarter Horses. Gaited horses generally hold their heads higher and at a slightly different angle than Quarter Horses while in gait, thereby making a regular ported curb bit somewhat uncomfortable to them. A Quarter Horse is trained to carry its head low and vertical, which places the ported mouthpiece in a neutral position, bearing no pressure on the roof of the mouth or tongue. The medium or high ported bit reinforces this head-hold training, while a bit for a gaited horse might prove uncomfortable or ineffective for the Quarter Horse.

It is true, that any of the above bits may be used cruelly by the rider and that non-compliance of the horse may cause discomfort or even pain to the horse. However, that is less likely to be the case with a properly adjusted solid curb bit than with a snaffle bit. Additionally, the length of the shanks on a curb bit provide a little advance warning to the horse that pressure is about to be applied, whereas the snaffle provides only direct pressure on the bit. This is why horses may learn to respond more precisely to a curb bit than to a snaffle.

In case you are wondering, I am not a proponent of bitless bridles. I have nothing against them and I have seen some horses function better in a bitless side-pull bridle than with a bit. However, I believe that to be the result of faulty training or handling earlier in the horse’s life or possibly a health or injury issue respecting the mouth.  My horses handle well with a solid curb bit and I have experienced nothing that makes me think a bitless bridle would better suit my needs or theirs. I make no recommendation one way or the other. I prefer a bit.

So, the moral of this story is this: If you regularly ride your horse in a hinged snaffle bit and find your horse developing the habit of opening its mouth, raising and shaking its head, or general disobedience relative to the bit, try moving to a properly designed and adjusted solid curb bit and see if that behavior doesn’t change.

You’ll be surprised at the results.

Did I mention that a hinged snaffle is not a gentle bit?

TH

P.S.

Since I first posted this article, I have learned that the damage to the horse’s tongue, depicted in the featured image above, was probably caused by a rubber band tongue tie, which is used in some disciplines, such as racing, to keep the horse from getting it’s tongue over the bit. Occasionally, such a tongue tie is improperly installed for one reason or another, and forgotten, causing damage as seen in the photo. I will restate here that such tongue damage is impossible with a snaffle bit.

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.

 

 

Horse Health, Tack and Gear, Western Horsemanship

A little of my own experience at horse training…

I have a horse up for sale. He’s a very handsome, good, solid four year-old palomino paint gelding I bought earlier this year for a  pack trip. We were short one horse for a trip from Eagar, Arizona to Flagstaff, Arizona, about 200 miles total. Let me tell you a little about him.

When I came across Reno, I was actually looking for a mustang in the $5-800 range, that maybe needed a little  training. They are pretty much a dime-a-dozen around here, because so many folks get caught up in the romance of adopting a mustang and training it themselves, only to find out they are in way over their heads. Then, a couple years down the road they end up selling an unbroke or greenbroke mustang for almost give-away prices. Well, it’s simply a fact, and that’s what I was looking for.

Reno, as advertised

Anyway, back to Reno, I came across an ad for him and really liked the photos they included of him. He was advertised as being about 14 hands and a 3 year-old. The asking price was above what I was looking for, but was still within my range, so I decided to pass by and take a look. He was located in Heber, UT.

I found that he had been raised from a foal by the family who owned him, and that he was very personable, almost a puppy dog personality, but, also like a puppy, he was somewhat disrespectful. Now, a disrespectful puppy is one thing, but a disrespectful horse can hurt you. He wouldn’t let me lift his hooves, cow-kicked when I messed with his belly, and would turn his rump into me when he was annoyed, rather than moving away as a horse should. These things I can work out of a horse with a little training. What I look for is good conformation, good straight legs, good hooves, and a good attitude. With the exception of a quarter-crack in his right rear, he had all these things. He was also a little taller than advertised, coming in at about 14.2 or so, and stout, which I liked.

After a good inspection and a couple weeks of thinking about it I decided the quarter crack was due to lack of hoof care and not to any kind of coronet injury and that it would heal up just fine with some good care. I dickered with the owners and we agreed on a price that was good for both of us.

I have to be careful when buying a horse, because I rarely sell them. I get pretty attached to my animals and once they are mine I tend to keep them, regardless of any shortcomings they may have. I wouldn’t be a very good horse trader. So, two rules I have set for myself when horse shopping are 1) I don’t take my trailer or any money when I look at a horse for the first time (unless I have to drive a couple hours just to see it), 2) I don’t hand over the money until I have the horse in the trailer. Rule #2 is very important, because I generally  buy horses that “need an experienced rider,” which usually means they have little to no training and might not have ever been in a trailer. Once I get a horse into the trailer, I’m good to pay the money.

I forgot that rule with Reno. I bought him, paid the money, then headed out to the trailer. That was a mistake I won’t make again. What a rodeo! It took us more than two hours to get him loaded. He fought, reared, fell over, and pawed. We finally got him into the trailer and headed home. Getting him out of the trailer was just about as fun. He eventually tried to turn around in my 4-horse slant-load and got stuck in the loading door. He reared over backwards and fell out of the trailer onto his back. No harm done, just shook up.

So, I knew I had my work cut out for me.

The first thing I had to take care of was the disrespect. This horse was about as friendly as any horse I have ever owned. In fact, I think he likes people better than horses. Having him in a pasture with four other horses was good for him, because they began right away to teach him the horse etiquette he had never learned, being raised by people with no other horses around.

The cow-kicking and moving away from me were first on my agenda.

Now, from my experience with horses, I have learned that training a horse is not a whole lot different than raising kids. In fact, I often wish I had garnered more horse training experience before my kids came along, but I just didn’t have time for both back then. I find that horses require a gentle, but firm hand and consistency in order for them to progress well from step to step in the training. The one exception to that rule is when something they do can get someone hurt. There are times when swift and severe punishment will cure a bad habit faster and more surely than any other method. The horse learns very quickly that “when I do that, I get hurt.” So, with that in mind I decided to cure the cow-kicking the very first day.

I have a very stout lead rope, made from the shrouds of a heavy military cargo parachute. It is about 3/4″ thick and has a very heavy brass snap hook on the end. With Reno dressed in a stout flat-braid nylon halter and a strong lead rope tied to a solid post, I moved in beside him on the “on-side” with my heavy shroud lead in my hand, dangling the heavy snap hook on about three feet of lead. With my left hand I began to touch and rub Reno’s belly. As soon as his left rear hoof came off the ground in a cow-kick I swung that heavy lead and whopped him hard on the rump with that heavy snap hook. He was quite surprised by that, so he jumped and moved away from me. We did it again. As soon as the hoof came off the ground, I whopped him. The fourth time I rubbed his belly, his hoof stayed on the ground. He has never again attempted a cow-kick as I touch his belly, rub him, brush, or saddle him.

Next up was teaching him to move away from me, rather than showing me his rump. We started that lesson when we worked on the cow-kick, but there was more to do. I found that he would not let me lift his left rear hoof. As I would try to reach for it, he would move into me and warn me off with his rump, threatening a kick (which he never did). We started working on this by me taking something pointed (not sharp) in my hand, such as the handle of a rasp, the handle ends of a pair of nippers, or a hoof pick, and whenever he moved into me I would let him move into that pointed object, so that he would feel it. The harder he pushed, the harder he felt it. He didn’t like that and learned to move away from me. I would not poke him with it, or push him away with it, but let him move into it. That way, as soon as he stepped away, the pressure was gone. Had I followed him with it, he would not have learned how to avoid the pointed object poking his hip by moving away. Now this, being a more gentle (but firm) method of training, it was several sessions before he learned not to move into me. Now, several months later, he moves away with a simple nudge from me with no stubbornness at all.

The third thing we started working on was lifting his hooves. While he was still somewhat disrespectful, he allowed me to lift his fronts and his right rear, but would not allow me to lift his left rear. I don’t know why. There is no apparent injury or scar I can see, but for some reason he’s touchy about the left rear. When I would try to lift it he would  cow-kick and move away from me. He wasn’t really trying to kick me, he just didn’t want me lifting his hoof. To address this, I took my heavy lead rope and looped it around his left rear pastern, under the fetlock. I would lift his hoof with the rope and simply hold it off the ground while he kicked. I would hold both ends of the rope in my right hand, while leaning against the horse with my left, so I could keep my balance as he kicked away. You have to stand back a bit, just to make sure he doesn’t connect with one of those cow-kicks. After a minute or two, he would get tired and stop kicking. As soon as he stopped kicking and let his leg relax, I lowered it to the ground. If he kicked as I was lowering it, it got raised up again until I could lower it all the way to the ground without a struggle. In this way, after a number of sessions, Reno learned that when he was relaxed I quit bothering his leg. He also learned that the kicking did no good and was just wasted energy. Now I can lift all his feet without trouble. In fact, he lifts them for me as I reach for them. He is learning the respect lessons.

I started riding Reno shortly after I brought him home. The owners told me they had given him to a local rancher for the summer, to have him broke and trained. They said they had often seen the rancher’s kids riding him around. At the time I didn’t think too much about that, except to consider him somewhat saddle broke. I found out pretty quickly that Reno was simply greenbroke, meaning I could saddle and ride him, but he didn’t know much else. I took him for a couple rides in the local area and was pleased with him. He learned pretty quickly that I was easy to get along with and we had no real problems on the trail. In fact, my dad and I took Reno along with the rest of the horses on a three-day ride south of Moab, Utah in April, on which I was quite impressed with Reno’s calm demeanor and good head on the trail. We went up and down, and round and round, trail, no trail, bushes, gullies, over fallen trees, and even through a tunnel under a highway. Reno took little convincing and was willing to give anything I asked of him a try. I was very pleased.

Reno in his first packing training experience

I later took Reno on a  day ride as a pack horse. I Loaded a 50# sack of feed in each side of a set of hard-sided, bear-proof paniers, and took him on a trail ride. As far as I know this was his first experience with a pack saddle. At first he was scared by the noise the paniers make, being hard plastic, and we had a little bit of a rodeo for a few minutes. After that, he settled down and did well. It didn’t take him long to learn to keep the paniers away from things like rocks and trees. Once we rounded a narrow trail with a rock face on his left and Reno allowed the left panier to hit the wall. The force knocked him sideways off the trail and down a steep embankment into the shallow river below. Once he got his feet back under him, he simply climbed back up the embankment, let me grab his lead rope, and we went on. By the time we were done for the day, Reno had learned to keep those paniers away from obstacles near the trail. From that day to this he has never rubbed my leg or knee on anything alongside the trail.

In May, Dad and I embarked on our pack trip. We had four horses and a mule. The horses were rotated as pack and saddle animals, to keep them fresh and rested. Reno was everything I hoped on the trip. Never did I have any problem with him.

Well, I did have one problem. When I was leading him as a pack horse, whenever I stopped to rest the horses he would walk up next to my right leg and drop his head to graze. When he would lift his head the lead rope would come up under my stirrup and get wrapped around my leg. When I complained about it out loud, Dad laughed and said it was my own fault. He pointed out that whenever Reno came up next to me, I would reach over and rub his neck and scratch his ears and he liked it! Ah, well, I guess that’s a bad habit I taught him.

You can see a video of me on Reno, crossing Clear Creek on the Arizona Trail, about 70 miles south of Flagstaff, Arizona here:

After we finished the pack trip I decided to continue Reno’s training. There are a few things I like my trail horses to know, such as moving off leg pressure and heel cues to move their fore and hind quarters; there are times on the trail when you need to position a horse in order to cross an obstacle or ascend or descend a particularly difficult place.

I took Reno into a small training arena to start working on his cues, only to find that he became extremely excited in the arena. As calm as he is on the trail, I was quite surprised. He was, in fact, so excitable in the arena that we did very little training at all. I just tried to work on him simply walking around the arena calmly. I found I was having to handle him more aggressively with the snaffle bit than I like, occasionally causing him to get a sore mouth, so I have moved  him to a 3/4″ braided rawhide bosal for this training. He responds much better in the hackamore.

I generally start all my horses on a snaffle bit, then move them to a bosal hackamore for the bulk of their training. When they are easy on the controls I move them to a solid curb bit. Reno had been doing so well in the snaffle, that I had just left  him in that and hadn’t done much hackamore work on him. He’s progressing well now.

The only thing I can guess with Reno is that the former trainer (the rancher) probably had his kids riding him most of the time. I expect that was often out pushing cattle, which would explain is calm demeanor on the trail, however, my guess is that the kids also attempted to try roping off him in an arena. I expect he got spurred a bit in the doing. That is the only explanation that comes to mind and fits the evidence. Regardless, I have been spending my time lately, trying to continue his training and get him over his excitement – fear – inside enclosed areas.

I normally train with spurs on , as I find horses tend to learn quicker with their judicial use and I can give more precise cues with the touch of a spur than with a heel. However, with Reno, I have removed my spurs. He over-reacts to them, I suppose, as a result of being exposed to some undisciplined spur use from his previous “trainers.” With much patience and a gentle hand, I have been slowly getting Reno to recognize what I am asking with my heel cues. He is very willing, but still reacts more out of fear than desire to learn, which makes learning difficult. Fear simply isn’t a good training tool. My job, therefore, is to teach him that my cues don’t hurt and that learning to respond to them calmly brings peace and rest (my, that sounds almost religious!).

Reno gets better each day. I have been trying to ride him more often this winter, when time allows. When I can consistently ride him an hour or two every day or so he improves rapidly.

The problem with that is that every time I ride him I like him more and more and want to sell him less and less!

He’s a good horse.

Reno, south of Moab, Utah April 2016