Riding tips, tricks, and words of wisdom

Many of you may have hear these from myself or other people, but here is a list of tips and tricks off the top of my head.

Tips for under saddle:

1.  If you are having a hard time picking up a lead try asking in a smaller circle.  The smaller the circle (small not tiny) the easier it is on your horse to lope/canter in the correct lead.

2.  If you are having trouble picking up a counter-canter work in a bigger circle and slowly scale down the size as your horse gets comfortable.

3.  Large wide circles encourage your horse to speed up (think reining) while smaller circles encourage your horse to slow down.  This works at both a trot and lope.  

4.  The more you move the faster your horse will move, think posting verses sitting a trot.

5.  Your horse's mind is where ever his nose is.  If he is hanging his nose to the outside of your circle he is not focused with or on you.

6.  If you can see your horse's inside eye/eyelashes or the buckle of your bridle your horse's shoulders are upright or close to it when working in a circle.

7.  When trying to lift your horse's shoulders you must first lift your hand before moving it over.  If you just move your hand over you will only tilt your horses head instead of lifting the shoulder.

8.  When your horse warping your circles to the outside.  Brace with your outside leg (leg facing to the outside of the circle) and direct with your inside rein.

9.  When your horse is cutting off your circles to the inside brace with your inside leg (leg facing to the inside of the circle you are riding) and lift your inside rein up and over to lift the shoulder and widen your circle.

10.  It is much easier long term to correct a bad behavior the moment it happens (yes this applies to a horse who normally doesn't do that) than to allow it to get out of hand.  Even the most well trained horse will try and push their boundaries at some time or the other.

11.  If they do it once they will do it again.  This applies to warping circles, dropping shoulders, walking off while mounting, and everything in between.  It is your job as the rider to recognize patterns in your horses behavior and work to fix them.

12.  All of a sudden does not exist in the horse world.  Your horse told you he was upset (high head, braced neck, distracted, tense) and you did not listen.  99% of all spooks can be avoided by paying attention to your horse.

13.  When in doubt move his feet.  It very hard to spook, buck, and or rear when all four feet are already moving.

14.  It is not the pressure that teaches but the release of pressure.

15.  When the going gets tough break everything down into tiny little steps and reward any progress in the right direction.

16.  If you want your horse to always do something you must always be willing to make them do it.

17.  Always make the right behaviors easy and the wrong behaviors hard.

18.  When you teach your horse to move forward without constant kicking, kissing, and general encouragement you are then able to use your legs to cue other maneuvers, you will also be a lot less tired after riding.

19.  If you want your horse to learn to do something for themselves (moving forward, traveling with up right shoulders, etc) you must be willing to let go.  You must be willing to let them try and mess up over and over again.

20.  Riding a horse is a lot like driving a car.  You are very likely to crash and burn when you take your hands off the wheel and stop paying attention.  

Is it you? How riders affect training and progress

In today's modern world it is easy to loose perspective on what it takes to train a horse.  Just pull up youtube, turn on RFD-TV, or open a magazine and you can see 1,000's of awesomely trained horses who we would all love to ride.  Regularly we see Bob Avila and Tom McCutcheon doing perfect reining patterns in the NRHA, and we just finished watching Charlotte Dujardin and Valegro win gold in London.  And who could forget Stacy Westfall and Roxy at the 2006 Congress as seen here.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7wLikusmCEA

We hear about and see the results of hard work on a regular basis, and yet we rarely talk about what it takes to actually achieve it.  So today I am going to talk about some rider factors that affect training and the speed progress.

1.  Time spent-  It is a proven fact that the more time you spend working with your horse the faster you will achieve what you want.  So if the professionals ride 6-7 days a week while you only ride twice a week logically you would have to ride 3-4 weeks to achieve the same amount of riding/training that the professional did in one week.  So if Stacy Westfall had Roxy in training for 3 years before their 2006 congress run (http://www.westfallhorsemanship.com/faq/6/), it would have taken her close to 12 years riding twice a week to achieve the same results.
     
2.  Knowledge/Experience-  The more experienced you are the faster you will be able to realize your riding goals.  When you have little to no hands on training experience teaching a behavior it will logically take you longer to achieve the same results as someone with more experienced.  Considering that Bob Avila has been in the business nearly 40 years and started 1000's of horses it would be illogical for the average rider to expect to be able to achieve the same results in the same timely manner.  This does not mean you will never become experienced and knowledgeable at what you are training; it just means that you should allow extra time when you are not well versed in what you are doing.  On average it can take 2-3 times longer to achieve the same results when you are not experienced in what you are training.  Just remember that everyone had to start somewhere.
 
3. Timing-  Timing is the key to successful horse training.  With a understanding of timing you can often make up for a lack of experience and or greatly speed a long the process.  When you release/reward your horse learns, and the better you are at rewarding your horse the moment he does the right thing the faster you can train.  Unfortunately timing is not something that can be learned from a book but it is a skill that must be learned through trial and error and perfected over time.

At the end of the day you can have a ride like Stacy Westfall but you must be willing to work for it.  The average rider must realize that it is possible to achieve your goals but that the road to completion may be longer than expected given your own personal circumstances.  Besides isn't life is about the journey and not the destination anyway.       

Why I love clinics and why you should too

  Since the age of 7 I have in ridden and attended clinics.  Growing up we as a family spent our vacations hot, dusty, and horseback.  In our little white Bruton Easy Pull we logged hundreds of miles attending Aggie 4-h clinics, and riding with wonderful horsemen like Brian Summerall, and Bob Allen just to name a few.  My Dad would take care of us and the horses and my Mom always rode in the clinic with us.  I was picked up from school in a loaded horse trailer more than once.  Growing up clinics were almost magical, not only did we get to stall our horses and ride in a arena (super special when you do not have them) but we also had the chance to learn something new from someone besides Mom.  Years later as a adult I still love a clinic and here are some reasons why.

1. You get to ride in a group.-  Many of us ride alone or with just a few friends and family.  Attending a clinic allows you a largely unknown group horses to ride and interact with.  Because it is a training/learning environment it is a great place to socialize a horse.  

2. You have to haul.-  Attending a clinic forces you to confront your loading fears and problems.  Every horse and owner should be comfortable loading and hauling and most of us rarely have the chance to practice.  Going to a clinic is a great way to get you both out and about in a understanding training friendly environment.  At our clinics we always help when some is needed. 

3.  You can't beat a little distraction.-  Between the new surroundings and new horses there are a lot of distractions possible for your horse at a clinic that you can not get riding at home.  Attending clinics is one of the best ways to teach your horse to perform reliably in stressful and distracting situations.  Again being a learning environment you are able to do what your horse needs without issue.  

4.  Another Perspective.-  Many of us spend so much time working alone that we do not notice small changes in our horsemanship and riding.  A clinic allows for a fresh perspective on your riding and horsemanship from the clinician, and a chance to evaluate for yourself where you stand among your fellow riding peers.

5.  You can't beat the time horseback.-  Most riders average 20-90 minutes on a normal ride.  At a clinic you often spend 7-8 hours each day with your horse (not all of it actively riding).  Just as you really do not know someone until you have traveled with them, you really do not know your horse until you spend two 8 hour days with him.

6.  Practice makes perfect.-  I have probably attended at least 12 Aggie clinics in my lifetime, and while each clinic was taught by different students they all presented the same exact information year after year.  Why attend so many of the same clinic you are probably wondering?  Because each time I had the chance to re-enforce what I learned before and pick up/remember something new.  Because each time I got better, and each time my horse got better.  Eventually I had a different horses who each time got better.  Our horses have participated in on average 8 clinics each year for the last 4 years, not to mention those by others, and yet each time we find something new or something else to work on.  

7.  The bang for your buck.- Between the long hours, personalized and general instruction, the unique training opportunities, and one of a kind atmosphere you would be hard pressed to find more value for your time and money. 

            

  

Modern times, modern training problems

"It's my money and I need it now!"

Many of us have heard this annoying advertisement and yet many of us use the same philosophy in our horse life.

 "It's my horse and I need him to ___________ now!"

How did we get here?  When did we trade horsemanship for showmanship?

It happened when we put horsemanship on a deadline.  We need our horse to do ___________ because we have a show, trail ride, etc.  We have a date on the calendar which we can not ignore.

Now deadlines are not absolutely evil.  They can prompt us to ride, train, and can offer a gauge to our progress.  But they more often lead to short cuts in training which may pay off in the short term, but will eventually create major issues in the long run.  

I had a child horsehood without deadlines, yes I still had major horse events but I was taught as a small child that a horse will always show you what he needs, and that if he is not doing it he is not ready for it.  Knowing this I rode until things got better, I rode until things clicked and my horse was ready, and then I rode even more.

I was taught that good horses are born but great horses are made and that every great horse had someone in their life willing to ride through it all to find the wonderful horse inside.

As I've gotten older I have realized that what I learned as a kid is the right way.  There is no magic trick to fix your problems except to go back to the basics.  It takes me 4-5 years to "finish" (for lack of a better term, because you can always improve, horses are never finished in my book) a horse. How long does it take you?

Just ride, things will get better. Eventually everything will come together.  I promise.    

Calm after the storm

Calm after the storm

Just last week I rode through a hell of a storm. My horse in training reared sky high 3 times in a row over a simple back up request while I finishing up my ride out in open pasture, with a bum right ankle, and home alone (Why was I riding at the time you may ask, because I'm a horse trainer I get paid to ride no matter what is going on in my own life). All I could think as she was going up was, “Aw hell, now I have to finish this.” So I did finish it, I did, and she had to trot herself into a tizzy for rearing up, and go back to the crazy trot circles every time she tried to rear again. 15 minutes later she backed up nicely when asked and I slide off. I will admit to being a little petty and rewarding her with only a nice pat and the Babe the movie quote, “That'll do, Pig, that'll do.”, only because I was in serious pain with my ankle from her antics. Even in pain, even after a awful ride by anyone's standards I was happy because I had successfully ridden through the storm once again.

What is the storm? For me I have experienced a storm on every horse I have ridden regularly (Of course I am a trainer so I ride like one, and I expect my horses to do reasonable things at reasonable levels in their training career, and I am never just a passenger), it usually occurs 2-3 weeks into training after quite a bit of sloppy resistance on be half of the horse who usually has never done anything in its life beyond being haltered and brushed. So when I step in and expect attention, energy, and effort for the first time ever their lives they rightfully suffer a little culture shock and resentment. So we plug along, riding because we have to until the horse suddenly says, “Enough is enough, I liked my life before, and I don't like backing up, trotting circles, being caught, etc, so I'm not going to it any more, so make me, or leave me alone!” This is the storm, your horse has decided to challenge you, and you only have two options; win, or back down.

Win or back down. You can only do one, and the one that you choose will have great consequences in your horse life. If you choose to win you will get to experience the thrill of the calm after the storm, or if you  choose to back down your horse will only become more and more resistant. I always have chosen to ride through the storm (and believe me I have been in some spectacular storms) because I know that on the other side of it we will have an understanding, I will have a better horse, and in many cases the beginning of a true partnership. Let's just say that when your horse has dished out a 150% and you are still willing and ready to ride you finish the ride with a ton of “pasture cred” to say the least.

In my horse life after every storm I have always achieved a major break through. So much to the fact that I welcome storms because I know that they are the beginning a much better chapter in my riding life. I know that after a rough ride, 99% of the time I will have a good stretch of clear sailing up ahead. My horse in training has once again been another perfect example of what riding through the storm can get you, she was 100% better on the next ride and every ride since all because I was willing to call her buff and say, “Yes you can, and yes, you will.”

Are you willing to ride through the storm? If so I will meet you on the other side, which feels a lot like heaven.

Please note that all horses were in perfect health and care at the time of all bad behavior, and all had been evaluated for reasonable pain causes for bad behavior prior to being put into training.

"Is it you that always..."

Is it you that always, is it you that decides?

Are you the passenger or the driver?

When you want to turn left and your horse resists do you decide to turn right, or do you keep turning to the left until your horse has done it right?

Ride for perfection instead of good enough.  

Keeping it Green

Fast Friday-  On Fridays I am going to offer a quick thought, tip, quote, etc.  

As riders we must never stop learning.  To often we sink into a comfortable routine of mediocrity.  We forget to push ourselves and our horses. we forget to grow.

So...

Keep riding, learning and growing.  

Quote of the Day:

There is no secret so close as that between a rider and his horse. ~Robert Smith Surtees

   

Greatest Teachers

The greatest teachers in my life have always been horses.  

This is Setta Lu

She taught me to love, trust, and try.

She taught me how to listen to and communicate with horses.

She made me become a horseman and a trainer. 

She was the first horse I ever trained.

She was always willing to check my attitude when I needed it the most.

She had a slow soft trot to die for, and was the only reason I managed to survive High School.   

We trail rode, showed, worked cattle, rode at the beach, and did everything else in between.   

She was severely visually impaired and later blind 7 of the 8 years we were together.  

She passed away at the age of 15.  

      

How have horses influenced your life?  

Consistency is Key

All you really need is Consistency

I never call a horse finished. To me you finish reading a book, or you finish the work week. I consider all horses to be works in progress, just like a nice lawn they have to constantly be maintained. Consistency is key in having a happy equine relationship. Horses see everything as absolute. So if you allow your horse to eat grass while on the halter, every time they see some grass they will be trying to eat it even when you don't want them too. Sometimes does not exist in the horse world, it is the same as always.

For example let's say that your Grandmother always keeps a full cookie jar, so every time you visit her you're going to go get a cookie. Now one day you go to visit and when you check the cookie jar you find crumbs instead of cookies. You have grown to expect cookies so even though they are none today the next time you go to visit you are going to check the cookie jar, and will probably check several more times afterwords until you are absolutely certain that there will be no more cookies.

Horses work they same way. The best trained horse in the world will turn rotten if allowed too, and the worst horse can become a joy to handle. For example if you are riding and you ask your horse to trot and then he breaks down to a walk and you allow him to walk for 15 steps before telling him to trot then the horse learned that they can stop trotting and walk for 14 steps before being corrected and he will probably try and do it again.

Horses learn through cause and effect. The horse touches the electric fence, the fence shocks him and the horse learns that touching the fence hurts. A colt gets too full of himself and bites the old mare, and old mare bites or kicks him, so the colt learns that you should not bite old mares.

A nippy colt can easily be fixed by lightly bopping him on the nose every time he tries to bite. Consistency in the horse world means every time without exception by all people who have contact with the horse no matter the situation. Don't worry if they keep testing you, as the more they have been allowed to do something like biting they longer they will continue to try to do it.

A foal spends the majority of it's life a horse so when dealing with young horses it is important to enforce the same rules that adult horses live by. Most young horses will try to bite, kick, rear, be pushy when leading, etc but all of these behaviors can be quickly put to bed by correcting it the moment that the horse acts out. If the first time a colt tries to bite a person he is met with a light bop on the nose, he will very quickly learn that you don't bite people. Training is consistently making the right behavior easy and the wrong behavior hard.

The sky is the limit as to what you teach your horse, you just have to remember that consistency is key.