When to Ask for More from your Horse

What are your expectations of your horse? Do you expect him to be lazy and have to be cued repeatedly until spanked every time you ask him to trot? Do you expect him to stand still on a totally loose rein when you mount? Do you expect him to go around the arena star-gazing and hollowed out in his neck and back? Do you expect him to stand patiently and wait when you ask?

One thing I know about horses is that they will give you no more than you ask for. A good horse will give you no less than what you ask for, but he has to be motivated to give you more. Depending on your horse’s temperament, he may try really hard all the time—almost to a fault (this is my horse Dually) or he may only try harder under threat of major penalty.

You may think it is best to have the former—the try-hard superstar horse, but in actuality people get in far less trouble with the horses that don’t try too hard. For many people, a horse that questions you every now and then, “are you sure you want to do that?”, is not a bad thing. I learned some time ago to be very careful who I let sit on Dually because if you over-cue him, say, to canter, you’d better hang onto your hat because he will be in the next county before you can blink.

But in spite of Dually’s try-hard die-hard attitude in life, sometimes I don’t ask enough of him and, as Terry Wegener said to me recently, I am just too nice to him. But gosh Terry, he tries so hard…. But the more I ask of him the more he gives me and the more I get after him, the harder he tries and the harder he tries, the better he performs. It’s a shame I don’t have the time in my schedule to show him but I sure have a blast riding him.

Our Horse Master episode called Private Lesson is about a lovely woman in her 60s that has ridden all of her life, so she’s pretty good. But she’s never had formal lessons of any kind (I cannot imagine that!). Her horse is a bit lazy, although compliant—a great horse for her. This episode is about how to ask for more from her horse—for him to round his frame and engage his hocks a little and hold himself in the requested frame.

For the most part, we all need to ask more from our horses, at times. More obedience, more responsiveness, more focus and effort when they are working. For those try-hard horses, we have to be careful not to over-tax them emotionally and physically—although these Ferrari-type horses are awesome, they are high-maintenance machines that break down frequently. But the average horse only tries as hard as your leadership and authority demands and will only rise to your level of expectation.

What kind of horse do you have, try hard or not so hard? Are your expectations (not in your dreams but in what you expect to happen each time you ride) too high or too low?

Enjoy the ride,

Julie

Clinic Marathon

After two weeks on the road and nine days of clinics, I am glad to be home from a busy and successful trip. We started the marathon with Rich and I at a ranch horse clinic/competition here in the Colorado high-country at Old Cowtown (replica old west town/resort) http://oldcowtown.net/ where we rode with two of my favorite trainers, Mike Majors (AQHA Versatility world champion) and Blue Allen (reined cowhorse world champion), both of Colorado. Rich and I had a fantastic time, and along with having good friends and good horses there, wining and dining and dancing the night away, it was a perfect weekend.

One day at home before we had to repack, retool and leave again, this time headed for the northeast, where we covered the great state of Massachusetts literally from one end to the other. Starting in Easthampton MA with a two-day ranch horse clinic at Heritage Farm, we had a great time with fifteen riders studying four different phases of versatility ranch horse competition: reining, trail, cowhorse and cutting. The horses and riders ranged from experienced to novice, making it a challenge to teach, but with the help of Rich and David Raucher (one of the owners of Heritage Farm) everyone worked cows at some level.

Next we headed to the far western end of the state for a horsemanship clinic at Berkshire Equestrian Center, http://berkshireequestriancenter.com/ which is one of the nicest clinic facilities I have worked out of. The clinic was excellent—all the horses were great and the riders had a great time learning and improving. In addition to the lovely equestrian facility, they also have a distinguished country inn with quaint and luxurious accommodations and exquisite breakfast. I’ll be doing more clinics there next year and we are thinking about some riding and yoga retreats there for the future. Let me know if that’s something that would interest you.

Since the first ranch horse clinic at Heritage Farm filled so quickly and without any promotion, we scheduled a second clinic—this would have to be Monday-Tuesday to accommodate my schedule. In spite of the tough days, this clinic filled too, showing the interest in the northeast for this type of training. With another 16 riders we worked again through the phase of this competition. Everyone left the clinic knowing what skills they must develop and the challenges they must face to train for these demanding and varied disciplines. As with most things, it always boils down to fundamentals—stop straight, move off the leg, have good body control over your horse. If you have good body control of your horse, you can master these disciplines quickly; and if your horse is cowy, you’ll really succeed in this particular sport.

After six days in a row of teaching clinics, Rich and I headed to the south coast of MA and caught a late ferry to Martha’s Vineyard for some much needed R&R. We spent three days relaxing with friends and enjoying the island life. This was Rich’s first trip to the northeast and he got to see quite a lot of it! We had a glorious day out on a fishing boat with our friends, followed by a lovely get together with cast members from the Horse Master shows we filmed there. Rich and I played tourist for half a day then we had a lovely picnic dinner on the beach with friends, eating fresh lobster and quahog clams. As our hosts predicted, the beach went from a total zoo to empty at about 5:00 and we had the beach to ourselves all evening until the dark and cold ushered us in.

On our final day on the island, we had fun at the county fair eating fantastic fair food and watching the draft horse pull. It was a little cool and blustery for the beach, as hurricane Bill approached. As we were ending our trip, the island was gearing up for the arrival of President Obama and his family. Regardless of politics, residents seemed excited to have the president visit and there were lots of signs of anticipation from merchants, residents and visitors alike.

It was a long journey home yesterday—17 hours of travel including ferry, car, plane, and train, leaving us both pretty exhausted. As I’ve said, one of my favorite parts of travelling is the coming home and we relished the day to hang out and rest at home. It is very fall-like today, here in the “heart of the Rockies”. We’ve already had a couple of nights in the 30s this month and the summer has been fairly cool and wet. A little dusting of snow today on the high peaks is a message to enjoy what’s left of summer (and to begin looking forward to ski season!).

Enjoy the ride,

Julie

Five Pound Challenge Update

It was May 12^th that I first opened the 5 Pound Challenge up to everyone and quite a few of you signed on board. It all started with my friends Lucy and Cheryl and I, then Rich, Heidi and Brenda jumped on board and many of my friends and readers as well. We’ve all had mixed results but everyone has been successful on some level. The challenge just gave us all a reason to work a little harder.

My first five pounds, which we gave ourselves a month to lose, was pretty easy and I am very pleased that I have managed to keep that weight off. However, the second five pounds has been a bigger challenge. Actually, I’ve lost it and gained it back a dozen times but now I am holding steady at just two pounds to go for my second five pounds. Rich takes the prize and has reached the 10# mark already, but is barely hovering on that line. He’s much more self-disciplined than I am when it comes to food, but I am more religious about working out.

I was inspired by the second five pound challenge to increase my workout routine. I’ve been walking 2.6 miles every day for some time but in the last couple months I started running the 2.6 miles one day, then doing another 2.6 mile hill climb the next (we fondly refer to this as “Butt Hill”, it’s a 600 feet altitude gain  in 1.3 miles, ending at 8500’ above sea level), then I run downhill. I also added a half hour evening workout three days/week (10 minute dance workouts—I love them!). While the increase in exercise hasn’t helped me lose much more weight yet, I am definitely getting fitter and I see the results in the mirror and the way my jeans fit, so I am pretty happy with that. If I can just find the right amount of exercise that would let me eat whatever I wanted (within reason), I’d be happy. Anyone found that magic formula yet?

So that’s how I am doing, how about you? Many of you have asked me about the five pound challenge over the past weeks, so now you know the scoop on me. I’d like to know how YOU are doing—those of you that joined on-- back from your honeymoon, or getting more summer exercise or staying disciplined at parties or not trying to lose weight but just get in better shape. What tricks have you found work for you and what pitfalls have you been unable to avoid?

I have to say, I feel pretty good for just turning 50. Yes, I’d like to shed a few more pounds and you can always be in better shape, but I am happy where I am and I hope  you are too. But losing weight (if you need to) and getting in better shape makes us all feel better about ourselves and gives us a goal to strive for. I hope you agree!

Julie

The Great Escape

This is the episode that is airing this week on Horse Master—it’s about a horse that learned to run off every time his owner longed him. It is one that stands out in my memories for many reasons. Not the least of which that this was a case of a horse that learned bad behavior, not because he was a bad or even naughty horse, but because he was simply lacking training and leadership.

Cosmo was a youngish (I think he was four) warm blood of some sort—I believe he was an Anglo-Trakehner (that part of my memory is not so keen), What struck me about him right away was that he looked like a very kind, calm and willing horse, but he acted like a total jerk. Generally a horse’s “look” (facial structure and body type) will give a pretty good indication of what he’s like; and although Cosmo was very naughty—terrible ground manners and would jerk the rope out of your hands and run off when he didn’t want to do something—he definitely did not have the look of a “bad” tempered horse.

The other interesting part of this particular horse puzzle was that his owner, Erika, was very experienced, very competent and a seasoned show competitor and fox hunter. This gal knows how to handle horses—she should’ve known better (and did). Why then, had she let Cosmo learn to be such a brat? Erika knew she had spoiled Cosmo and was an incredibly good sport on the show. All she really needed to do was step up to the plate and take control of this horse—set some rules and boundaries, punish him when he is wrong, praise him when he is good and give him consistent leadership.

In Erika’s case, she had raised Cosmo from a baby and although her other adult horses were expected to have good manners and be obedient, somehow she never got in that mode with Cosmo and he learned how to call all the shots. It wasn’t so bad when he was a little baby, but a 4 years old and 110#, not so cute. Once Erika took control, Cosmo responded beautifully—an ideal candidate for the TV show. A perfect case of the human needing to change, not the horse. Have you ever made a change in yourself or the way you handle a horse that gave you immediate results? I see it in my clinics all the time and love to see it!

It reminds me of all the hundreds of emails I have gotten from people that say they bought a nicely trained horse, only to find out a month later that the horse was seemingly not trained at all, when what has really happened is that the horse had come untrained through poor handling. People are always quick to blame the seller—he must have drugged the horse, he ripped me off, etc. But the truth is, horses thrive off leadership and authority and if you are not the leader, then he is. Few horses will voluntarily lope around the arena with you on their back, unless they have reason to believe in  your authority. The good news is that if you really did go out and buy a nicely trained horse—he’s still trained—you just need to change you.

Do you know someone that is ruining a good horse from lack of authority, control or leadership? Some horses are more easily ruined than others and some require constant maintenance in this department, while others happily look up to your authority. But any horse can be messed up with poor handling. Have you ever taken a horse like this and turned him around? It’s very satisfying work!

Enjoy the ride,

Julie