Depending on the fence and stressing trivial stuff before you get the important things down

One of the most common problems I've found in dealing with horses that have already been through one trainer is that they are seldom, if ever, ridden outside an arena/pen.  For that reason, those trainers don't realize how much they depend on the fence to control the horse they are riding.

For example, I'm currently riding a 4 year old mule that had been to another trainer, had 50 saddlings, and had never seen the outside of a roundpen.  That is also a perfect example of the trainer and owner not communicating enough to come to a happy conclusion for both of them.  The owner was wanting a nice, broke mule that he could take out and enjoy trail riding on.  The trainer, in spite of having rode the mule 50 times, he never once took the mule anywhere even remotely resembling a trail, he spent so much time on teaching her to move around with her nose tucked up to her chest in a correction bit (which he started using on her 3rd ride...but that's another story) that she has a mouth about as soft as a cinderblock, has no idea what "stop" means, and has been taught very well that she doesn't have to follow her nose....so she's perfectly happy to lope along with her nose pointing right and her body going left.  Now, that wouldn't be such a horrible thing if it was trained as a counterbending exercise like you see in reining horses, but this mule also has no idea what leg cues mean so there is no controlling her body with your legs.

Another thing I've noticed is that any time she gets even remotely stressed, which is almost constantly, she starts grinding her teeth.  That's another symptom of having been ridden by someone who wanted her "bridled up" before she was ready for it...and as a result, even slightly picking up pressure with the reins results in instant stress to her.

Because she has always depended on a fence to "keep her in a circle", she has no idea how to obey the commands of the rider on her back to maintain her direction.  I've been dealing with a very dangerous situation with this mule.  When she first came here, she had no idea what lateral flexion was.  Her neck was about as stiff as a steel pipe.  I've fixed that and basically got her listening well at the trot and walk but she has a panic attack when it comes time to lope, especially if I ask for a circle.  She'll go along okay for half or maybe 3/4 of the circle and then she'll decide that she wants to go the other way...so in spite of me picking up on the inside rein to try to correct her direction, she continues to lope off in the direction she wanted to go.

And, to top it all off, she's barn sour so she always knows which direction the barn is and that's the way she wants to lope sideways toward.  I truly feel sorry for this poor mule every time I mess with her.  She's been jacked around and screwed with and micromanaged so much that she honestly has no idea how to just be happy under saddle.  Even now, she can't sit still for more than a minute or so before she starts stressing about what's about to happen so much that she basically panics and begins either backing up or walking off forward or sideways.  I've been working with her and she's getting better but there is still a very long way to go.

Update:  The first part of this post was written about a year ago and then I just sort of forgot about it until now.

I sent this mule home about 30 days after writing the previous part.  It took a lot of time and a lot of patience, but she finally clicked onto the fact that being ridden could be fun.  I just took her a few thousand miles and whenever she would follow her shoulder, I'd just gently bump with outside leg and lift on the inside rein until she straightened out again.  I learned that she responded badly to having anyone get after her and increase the pressure....so I didn't.  I'd keep the pressure steady until she responded. 

At first, it would take up to a couple hundred yards of travelling crooked and sideways, but it steadily got shorter and shorter.  One day, she just quit doing it altogether.  After that, circles were basically a breeze.  The first time I asked for a canter on a circle, she had a momentary flashback and started to get tense and noodle-y through her body, but I just kept my energy down and kept light pressure on and she quickly relaxed and was loping calm circles in just a few minutes.  I was really happy with her when I sent her home.

Sitting still

No one should ever underestimate the usefulness of just sitting still on a young horse. It is easy to overlook that they need to learn that just like they need to learn how to turn and stop. One of my favorite things to do is, right in the middle of a workout, I will just stop them and let them stand there still for quite a while, sometimes 10-20 minutes or more and just do things that you want them to stand still for. I'll move my legs, re-adjust my seat, move my hands and re-adjust my reins, jiggle the breast collar and back cinch, reach up and scratch them on the neck, reach back and scratch/pat them on the butt, move my weight back and forth and make the saddle move, etc. The last thing I want to happen is I send a horse home and find out the owner ended up falling off because they reached back to pet the horse's butt and it spooked from that or boogered sideways when they leaned forward to pat them on the neck.

When I want them to move forward, I make sure that I am very clear about the forward cue; equal leg pressure on both sides, a forward seat, and I will move my rein hand forward closer to their head on green horses for the first few times until they are solid on just legs and seat. There are very few things that get on my nerves quicker than a horse that just won't stand still.

Sometimes they don't want to stand still, that's okay. If they walk forward, I'll turn them in little circles 'til their feet stop or back them up a few steps, then I let them stop again. It really helps if they are pretty worn out first because, let's face it, most green horses have attention issues right when you first get on anyway and asking them to just stand there and be still for an extended period of time is about like asking a kid for the same thing at a birthday party, haha. Of course, they need to stand until you ask them to move, but if you keep the first few sessions short, then you are setting them up for success.

My favorite time to do it is right in the middle of loping/trotting circles. That way, they can learn that sometimes they will be required to go from higher speed to a standstill and getting to just stand there and breathe for a minute is nice. Horses that appreciate the moments of stillness are ones that don't prance around, even when other horses are milling around. They may keep an eye on all the activity, but they will keep their feet still.

In my experience, that is the one thing that most people want and so few of them have; a horse that is content to just stand there while you talk to a friend or watch a rodeo event. Or, even more importantly, stand still while you mount and get comfortable and when you dismount.

Working with baby.

I am currently involved in my first experience with handling a foal. I have always had untrained horses to handle but never one younger than 2. Rafe was born on July 16, 2009 to a Belgian mare that we "rescued" from a friend of ours so that he wouldn't just send her to auction. Most people who know anything about the horse market would be able to tell you exactly what a green broke, 7 year old, fugly Belgian mare that was in foal to a Quarter Horse would have been worth at auction. So to keep her out of the kill pen, we brought her home. I guess in a bad way, it was fortunate that Steph (John's mate) had been snakebit and died in November '08 cause then John needed a mate to go into harness with. If we hadn't needed another VERY large draft, poor Bessie would have never found a home with us. Anyway, back to the point at hand.
I had never handled a baby before Rafe was born so I had some learning to do along with him. I was able to get there the evening of the day that he was born and do some imprinting, luckily, Bessie was cool with that an didn't interfere. She just stayed close by. Every day I was able, I would go out and just work on scratching him and petting him and getting him used to being handled. As the weeks and months progressed, he demonstrated that he had absolutely no fear of humans and apparently had inherited his mom's laid back temperment. The only problem was that he was beginning to be disrespectful like most foals will at some point. He became nippy and would invade your personal space, step on your toes, etc. I figured it was time then for him to learn something more than 'humans aren't scary'.
So I got my halter and lead and proceeded to teach him how to lead, which was suprisingly easy cause he follows me everywhere anyway. The hardest part was teaching him that when I stop, he needs to stop too. So I spent an afternoon just walking around the property with him and stopping every few strides. When he would get too close or bump into me, I would either use the halter or push my thumb into his chest to back him up a few strides. He finally got that one figured out. Then Dad started hitching Bessie and John (who had never been worked together before). After the initial training stage with them, when there wasn't much risk of having a problem with them, Rafe began to be tied to Bessie's side for the trips.
That helped his leading as much as anything. Now, at 6 months old, he is a friendly, respectful foal that will stand tied, hold his feet up as long as I want, and yeild to pressure on chest, sides, hips and will bend his neck each way. He stands 13.3 hands tall last time I sticked him and if the measurement of the cannon bone is correct, he should mature to right at 17 hands. I was hoping that with his dad being a quarter horse, he wouldn't be terribly big but I guess I will just have to get used to it. He is going to be my next personal saddle horse. He is already up into a full sized horse halter. I am really looking forward to watching him grow up but now that I have had my experience with a baby, I wish I could fast forward to his 3 year old year and start riding already.

Watch the line.

I have often been asked how I get my horses to the point that they won't ever quit when I ask them to do something and I have done quite a bit of thinking about that recently. I thought it might be a good thing to share at the start of this whole thing so that people can get an idea of my mentality in regards to training.



My philosophy on training horses is a lot different than most other people. I never handle a horse without having high expectations for them. I expect more out of a green horse in the first week under saddle than many people do in the first month or two. Some people choose to take 15 or 30 days just working on groundwork before ever introducing the saddle. If that is what works for you, that's great. It doesn't work for me. I would get incredibly bored and so would my horses. After getting an unhandled horse, it is seldom more than 1 or 2 days before I am trotting circles in the roundpen and usually no more than 4 or 5 before I have them on the trail or going through cattle.

So many people start young horses with no expectations of how quickly they could or would move through their training with just a bit of pushing. They are content to just allow their horse to meander around the pen at a walk or being led for the first week under saddle before asking them for any response to rider cues. Those people also generally spend another month before ever introducing the horse to the lope or real turns or backing up. So many people would say that I move too fast and push the horse beyond their tolerance because I get them tired every session, but that is where the line comes into play.

I haven't really been training that long in the grand scheme of things, just off and on for the last 10 years or so but I grew up with, in my honest opinion, one of the greatest horsemen to ever sit astride an equine. I learned to read horses from him and from spending hours and days watching how they react to people and other horses, their mannerisms and attitudes. Over these short years, I have found that tired horses learn faster than fresh ones. When they are tired, they are more apt to pay attention to what you are trying to teach them rather than worrying about "Oh wow, look at that cloud! Where are my buddies? OH, it's a horse eating bush! Is that a rabbit I smell? Where is it? Can I go look for it? I wonder if that grass I'm walking on would taste good. I can't walk through that water, I'll melt!" and any number of other distractions a young horse will encounter. They learn that fighting only results in more work and thus, being more tired before the real work begins. This results in a horse that is less likely to misbehave at the first of the ride, even if they are feeling a bit fresh that morning. I never get a horse tired by lunging them either. I expect a horse to know that the saddle, bridle, and rider means it is time to go to work now, not screw around going in circles for a half an hour working off that extra energy. They need that extra energy by the time I am through working them.

The Line:
A good horseman should be able to watch a horse, see the expressions in his eyes, ears, nostrils, neck, tail, flanks, feet, and every other part of his body and know exactly what the horse can withstand and what they cannot and the exact location of the fine line separating the two. Every time I handle a horse, I step them close to that line. Once you can read a horse, you can push them in their training. I get my best results when, each day, I push a horse just right up to that line and then let them ease back away from it. Each and every day, I push them to learn everything they are able and I keep a close eye on that line. When they get close to that line and are just almost ready to step into the void on the other side, I will back off. I go back to something that they are comfortable with, something that they have already mastered, even if it is just standing there or walking in an easy circle.

Each day, I push that line and each day, I find that line has moved a little farther away and I can push them more. Each day, that line will move farther and farther into the horizon until no matter how hard you push, you just can't seem to find the line. Soon, the horse will learn that even though you will often ask a lot from them, you will not ask them for more than they are able to do. That's when they start giving you more, almost like they want to find out for themselves exactly how far they can go. They are more willing to try new, scary, or complicated things and you can almost see the lightbulb moment when they understand and the happiness after they complete the task set for them. They are eager to go to work because they seem to be fulfilled knowing that they are wanted and needed. I honestly believe that they begin to feel a connection to us just as we do to them. They begin to have their own expectations and want nothing more than to please us, if only for a pat on the neck and a soft word of thanks.

It's like the little engine that could, they begin to believe that they can do things that sometimes even you wonder if it isn't too much for them. Because they believe that they are fast enough or strong enough, then somehow the task ends up done regardless of how difficult it was. What they may lack in ability can be mostly made up for in heart. Ability and training are the tools in a horse's arsenal, but the heart is what decides the winner. With horses like that, you can rope a brick house and there are only 2 possible outcomes when you ask them to drag it; either the house will be pulled off it's foundation or the horse will break every piece of tack you have and dig holes in the ground with his feet until you ask him to stop trying.

People ask how my mustang that was out of the wild not even a year and weighed maybe 900 pounds drug a 2000 pound steer out of a pen at a feedlot.
My answer: heart.

People ask how a racehorse with a broken leg keeps running and giving his all to cross that wire first.
My answer: heart.

I honestly believe that if you never expect anything during the training of a young horse, they know that you don't expect anything from them. They become content just to meander through life and the first time something happens that truly tests the horse, that line is suddenly precariously close. On the other side of that line is an endless black void called QUIT. Once a horse quits on you because you ask him for too much, there is no getting him back. Every time they hit a wall, they will either stop dead in their tracks or tuck tail and run instead of soaring over it or crashing through it. Because they have given their all failed before, they don't believe that they can succeed so they don't even try. That's when a horse's spirit is truly broken.

Every once in a while, you will find a horse with a fighter spirit that just won't quit no matter how many times they are flung into the vast abyss on the other side of the line; however, those horses are very few and far between. In my 25 years of being around countless horses, I have only ever met one horse like that. He had been abused, terrorized, and truly set up to fail time after time after time after time but was still willing to give everything he had and more to do whatever you asked of him.

It takes years of observing and testing before you can consistently find that line on every horse. In the process of learning to spot the line, you may not see it until after it is already behind you. Sometimes it just happens before you think it will. Sometimes you don't push a horse close enough to the line and it takes longer for it to fade into the distance or sometimes it will forever loom just past their own shadow. Each horse has to be handled according to their own line. Some horses begin life with the line straddled between their hooves and others start with a line that is on the far blue horizon. Learn to spot it and then learn to work toward it without stepping over to the other side and you will forever be astride a horse with heart.

It is true what they say. Truly the best of horsemen do walk a fine line.

WooHoo, my first post in my own blog.

This is a whole new thing for me and I am just wanting to kinda share my journey to becoming a professional horse trainer and some of the philosophies and lessons I learn along the way or things that I learned a long time ago that are still useful. I have some experience and have been training horses for myself and others off and on for the last 10 years or so but I am finally making the transition to professional soon. I mainly specialize in making nice, broke, anyone can ride them type horses that are used for ranch and trail work. I am now beginning to learn the finer points of making show quality horses from my Dad, who trained show horses for the better part of 30 years. I am looking forward to sharing my experiences with others who may wish to learn or just share some interest in the process of taking an unhandled horse and creating a partner.