Image by orionoir via Flickr

I was young and pretty cocky when I started working with horses. Back then, I figured that the first thing I had to teach a horse was that I was the top dog. Then it was the horse’s job to pay attention to me and do what he was told. Like a typical person, I was always thinking about the end result I wanted and jumping right to telling the horse what to do. If he didn’t do what I wanted, I’d go to enforcing my supposed authority and make him do it. The horse had to acknowledge me as the leader and understand that if he didn’t do what I wanted, there were going to be consequences.

I hadn’t yet learned to horse-logically break whatever I wanted the horse to do down into the smallest possible steps and introduce them one by one in a way that the horse never felt threatened or attacked. I hadn’t figured out that the real herd leader is the smartest, most confident horse in the bunch, not necessarily the bossiest, nastiest one. I hadn’t figured out that rather than being the scariest thing in the horse’s universe, I really wanted to be the safest place to be.

If memory serves, one of the horses that changed my thinking about training was a three-year-old Arabian stallion named Gydames. There was a young girl who planned to take him into the show ring. Like most young stallions, he had a tendency to be mouthy. So when they were walking along, he’d duck his head like he was going to nip. She’d pop him with this little tiny whip she carried. Then he’d look at her and frown a little. And then they’d just go on. Her father, however, was afraid of the stallion and afraid he was going to bite her eventually. So he asked a local hot shot trainer to fix the problem.

My training plan was simple. I put Gydames on a lunge line with a chain under his chin and began to startle him into having a good attitude about being led. I’d poke him. Then he’d look and frown. Then I’d jab and he’d frown. Pretty soon, I’m really working him over and not letting him get away with anything. If memory serves, I was standing right in front of him while I was making my point because the next thing I knew, I was lying on the ground looking at the underside of a stallion going over the top of me.

I still had a hold on the lunge line so I swiveled around and was able to stop him before he got completely away. I knew I was hurt but now adrenaline was pumping and that helped me ignore it for awhile. I got off the ground, got the stallion turned around and started running toward him which is the sort of thing pumped up young guys do when they’re scared. I was still in startle mode so I still kept jabbing him and making a huge fuss.

Then something about the sequence of events suddenly became crystal clear to me. I realized that whenever I quit poking and spanking, Gydames quit fighting, too. When I forced the fight, it only lasted as long as I decided it was going to last. The horse was totally frustrated. He was simply mirroring my behavior, responding in kind to whatever I was doing. If I attacked, he fought back. If I quit, so did he. For me, that was the beginning of some important learning about how horses learn.

I finally got the stallion calmed down, figured he’d learned enough for that day, put him in barn, and went into the house to think about things. I’d felt several different hits when the horse knocked me down but hadn’t really assessed the damage yet. I found bruises on my thighs and my chest. He stepped on my right bicep and pinched it, leaving a souvenir I have to this day. There was also a bruise on the side of my throat that helped me become a born-again trainer. If Gydames had set his foot down just an inch or so over to the side, my training career would have abruptly ended and I wouldn’t be writing this.

So Gydames got to rest while I healed. And while I healed, I had a lot of time to think about our training session from his perspective and about what I might have done differently. Here are a couple of the things I concluded I’d learned:

Be aware of the horse’s primary activity line. That primary line runs the length of his spine and out the front and back. The horse’s ears and eyes are on his primary line. When all else fails and he can’t figure out what else to do, the horse will flee in the direction his primary line is pointing. That’s just what happened when Gydames got frustrated by my poking and slapping and fussing. The fact that I was standing in his way didn’t mean a thing. He just went up and over me to get away from my attack.

Work in the safety zone. Horses also have a secondary line that runs from side to side about through their shoulders. If you stay near that secondary line, you’re in the “safety zone.” The horse can’t attack you with his front feet or his back feet and if you’re paying attention to what he’s doing with his head he can’t get you with his teeth. Stay by the horse’s shoulder, control his head, and you have control of the horse.

This is a concept I’ve used even with horses that have been taught to fight you. When I get a horse that wants to fight, I put him in a stall and quiet him down. Then I stand beside him in the stall in the safety zone and continue getting him used to me. If you stand alongside the shoulder of a horse that wants to fight with you and grab a chunk of mane right at his withers, you can stay alongside him quietly while he backs up, spins, or goes up in front and he can’t hurt you. As soon as he realizes that fighting isn’t the game you’re playing, he’ll stop fighting you. This leads to the third thing I learned from Gydames.

Choose the game you want to play and don’t let the horse choose for you. Nowadays, if I had someone with a nippy baby stallion, I would tell them to put a dropped noseband on when they went to working him so he couldn’t open his mouth and start the nipping game in the first place. That way, corrections for nipping wouldn’t interrupt the rhythm of whatever else that person was trying to do with the horse. Pretty soon the whole nipping thing would just go away because a game isn’t any fun unless you can get somebody else to play it with you. And then the person could forget about the noseband.

Gydames was a really nice guy. Despite all my good training, he turned out to be a fantastic halter horse and then he became a nice cutting horse. He was a high-headed Arabian so his form wasn’t pretty but he could hold cow with best of them. He liked that game much better than fighting.

© 1997-2002 Meredith Manor International Equestrian Centre. All rights reserved.
Instructor and trainer Ron Meredith has refined his “horse logical” methods for communicating with equines for over 30 years as president of Meredith Manor International Equestrian Centre, an ACCET accredited equestrian educational institution.

Image via Wikipedia

Copyright © 2002-2003 Larry Trocha

I Want To Do Reining or Cutting. What Saddle Do You Recommend?

There are a lot of different brands of saddles available. Darn few of them are designed well for riding and training a performance horse. You definitely need a saddle that’s designed to help you “ride in balance and sit the stop.”

A saddle that was designed and built specifically for reining or cutting would come closest to what you want. Both of these designs have their advantages but remember, just because the manufacturer “calls” it a reining saddle doesn’t mean it was designed “well” for reining.

The reason for this is that most saddle makers are craftsmen, not horsemen. Very few of them know how to ride a reining or cutting horse. It’s kind of like trying to design a winning race car without ever having been in a race.

Anyway, let’s get down to the nitty-gritty and talk about the different elements of a saddle and what to look for.

• Seat: Remember, you want a saddle that will allow you to sit the stop. First of all the seat of the saddle should lay close to the horse’s back. The closer you can get to the horse the better. Anything more than a couple inches above the back is too high.

  Also, the lowest part of the seat should be the “middle” of the seat. This low part is called the “pocket”. If the pocket is too far back you’ll be forced against the cantle. Too far forward and you’ll slide up on the swells.

  Beware of too small a seat. You need enough room to slide forward and back a little. The average size woman usually needs a 16” to 16 ½” seat. The average man, 16” to 17”. Also, I personally like a seat that is built up in front. This gives a more secure ride. However, the pocket should still be in the middle of the seat.
  

• Horn and swells: In reining your rein hand needs to be able to move unobstructed. Too high a horn or swells will get in the way. I’d want the horn no higher than 3”. And the swells no higher than 7”. I also like the horn to be small in diameter. In a cutting saddle, I like the swells to be a little higher, around 8″. And the horn to be tilted a little forward. Actually, here on the west coast, a lot of folks will show their reiners in a cutting saddle.
  

• Stirrup Leathers: This is one of the most critical parts of the saddle, yet the most overlooked. You want the stirrup leathers hung as far forward as possible. Ideally right behind the swells.

  The reason is simple. To be able to stay balanced on a horse that stops and turns hard, you’ve got to sit down in the saddle. I mean way down. If the stirrup leathers are hung too far back, your feet will be behind your center of gravity and cause you to fall forward.

  The result will be a loss of your balance which causes the horse to come out of the stop. Also the stirrup leathers and fenders should be made of fairly thin, flexible leather. For precise leg cues, you don’t want a lot of bulk between your leg and the horse.
  

• Cantle: Don’t buy one of those buckaroo saddles with an 6” high cantle. It’ll hit you in the back. Quite a few of the “trail” saddles also have a steep, high cantle. Stay away from them.
  

• Rigging: How your saddle is rigged is extremely important. And no compromise on rigging should ever be made when choosing a saddle. The saddle you want should have a Full-Double rigging.

  Some horses might be ok with a 7/8 rigging but never, ever buy a saddle that is ¾ or center-fire rigged. Saddles that are rigged with less than the “full double” rigging will slide too far forward on the horse’s back.

  Look at the way a horse is built. The narrowest part of his underline is
  right behind the front legs (girth). This is where the cinch automatically
  wants to go.

  If a saddle with a 3/4 rigging is placed in the correct position on a
  horse’s back, the position of the cinch will be back towards the horse’s belly. It will just naturally migrate forward to the horse’s girth, taking the saddle forward with it.

  I also prefer the rigging Dee to be either in-skirt or dropped 3 or 4 inches below the swells (called a dropped rigging). This allows for the tree to pull down more evenly on the horse’s back. Both will be less bulky and give you closer contact with your horse, too.
  

• Tree: Make sure the tree fits your horse’s back. If it’s too narrow or too wide your horse won’t be comfortable. Double check to be sure there is enough clearance between the horse’s withers and the gullet (a minimum of 1”).

  A big problem with a lot of saddle trees, is that the bars don’t have enough curve to fit the horse’s back. If your horse is a little sway-backed and the saddle tree is real straight, your horse is going to get a sore back.

When in doubt about a saddle, have a knowledgeable trainer take a look at how it fits your horse. His opinion might save you and your horse some grief.

To learn more about choosing the right saddle, listen to this audio clip: Choosing the Right Saddle Audio

Good luck,

Larry Trocha

I have watched a friend work leather and produce magic. Great workmanship impresses me, especially in leather. I was just introduced to a site that I spent a bit of time on and if you like horses you need to see what John does.

John Brand, also known as Buckaroo John, and the owner of Buckaroo Leather The BRAND to Demand and his family have been manufacturing Quality Leather Western Horse Tack and Accessories for almost 30 years.

John and family can be found in the beautiful foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains in California. The old Gold mining Town of Diamond Springs is where they fashion the finest in traditional western horse tack. Stop by Buckaroo Leather’s blog or website and see their great work.

buckarooleather.blogspot.com/ or buckarooleather.com/

When you take care of a horse, there are a lot of things to consider as far as having the proper horse tack supplies is concerned. Taking care of horses does not stop when you have already provided them the right food and the proper shelter. There are other important things that are needed, such as crops, bridles, horse boots and shoes, saddles, and a whole lot more.

Bridles are one of the most essential horse tack items that you, as a rider, should have. These are used to communicate with your horse. Normally, the most common is the dressage bridle that can fit over the head of the horse and onto his mouth. The reins go back to the rider who uses them to command and control the horse. Horse bridles vary in quality and price, and by standard these bridles should be made of high-quality leather.

Avoid buying poor quality leather as they will crack easily and wear over time, which is not ideal, especially during harsh weather. Check the reins and the cheek-pieces and make sure they are reinforced. The buckles should also be made from stainless steel to avoid rusting. When buying horse bridles, the best advice is to visit a reputable manufacturer that will provide you with some sort of warranty on the product, so you can return them should they not function effectively.

It is generally accepted that horse tack supplies are quite expensive, and saddles are no exception. There are three types of saddles, namely the Western saddles, the English saddles and the side-saddles. When you are looking at these tack supplies, make sure to choose one that is made of pure leather, regardless of what type the saddle is. Suede and synthetic leather are also good options because they are very lightweight and easy to maintain. When you shop for a saddle, it may be best to have a professional horse-care expert with you to help you with your investment.

Horse boots are also important horse tack supplies. When you buy these boots, make sure you choose the ones that are sturdy, comfortable and well-constructed so that they will protect the legs of your horse for many years. There are really a lot of horse tack supply products that you will need for your equine. Make sure you provide them not only with their basic needs, but also with the essential equipment they need.