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We went to the Northern Illinois Horse Fair last Saturday. I went for basically one reason, to talk with Tommy Garland, a trainer from Va. The reason being is I’d seen him a few times on RFD-TV a while back and he demonstrated some of his techniques for tying a horse around in the round pen.

I’ve said before I’m not much for ground work. I do enough to get the colts where they handle and all that but don’t really work any groundwork program. Basically get them where they’ll do a few things colts need to do…handle their feet, lead, tie, get in the trailer, stuff like that. But that said, I do like working them in the round pen when they’re checked up. It really seems to help them get the idea and makes it a little safer first time I swing a leg over em. Helps the more advanced horses get their softness and some collection a little easier than can be done from the saddle.

Anyways, I got to talk to Tommy and we were pretty much in agreement on the things we do. But he deigned a halter/bridle rig that we bought that is really working out great. It’s basically a leather halter with browband like a bridle. The neat thing is it has rings and straps for the bit which makes it so you can snap the bit on and off in about a second. It’d be really great for trail riding if you had to stop and tie the horses. Just unsnap the bit and you got a halter. I hate seeing people ride with a halter under their bridles. This rig takes care of that.

The nicest thing that sold me on it is I can snap my check lines to the haltler part, through the bit and check up the young ones. This way they feel most of the pressure on the halter part (which they already understand real well), but still feel the bit some as they work things out. Right now I’ve got 4 colts that need to be started . This is going to help me out a bunch.

The rig cost me a 100 bucks. That made me cringe. But turns out it’s been worth every penny to me. And it’s really built well so should last a lifetime.

Take a day to do nothing. Find a pasture or lot with a bunch of horses in it. Find a fence or somethin to sit on and get comfortable. Then just watch.

Watch how the horses interact. How they “train” each other. How the young ones learn from the older ones. How a look and twitch of the ears let’s the others know they are pushing the limits. How they buddy up together. How all the little groups all come together and get along when the weather gets bad.

Watch their footwork and movements. How each foot is placed with precision. How they know when to work off their hindquarters and when to work on the forehand. How each one has a different gait. Their facial expressions and moods.

Now, when you’re training do you think you have to force a horse to do something or show him what you want and get out of his way? Do you think it’d be best to try and refine a horse’s natural abilities or try to rough him into something he probably never can do well? How can you help a horse to do their best to highlight their strengths and minimize their weaknesses?

These are living breathing animals. They have physical and mental personalities. They have likes and dislikes. They’ve got experience…some good, some bad. They can sense your voice and touch. They don’t know about registries, futurities, shows, trophies or paychecks…and don’t really give a damn about em. Eatin, sleepin, and messin in the stall is what’s important.

We have ideas about what horses should and shouldn’t do. They got ideas about what they should and shouldn’t do. Since we’re gonna partner up we gotta have some discussions and work out some compromises. They’re gonna have to tolerate some things and we’re gonna have to tolerate some things. Just like people we gotta deal with it, don’t always work out.  That’s not good or bad, it just is.

Can we make a horse do what we want? Yeah, but do you want to? Wouldn’t it be better if we helped them to want to do it? We can jerk a rein or stab a spur to get them to do something. Wouldn’t it be fair if they kicked us half way across the barn if we didn’t feed them on time? Maybe next time we don’t give them the proper cues they throw us over the arena fence…that’d be fair.

These days we got a lot of information and stuff available. Natural horsemanship, joinin up, round pens, square pens, forty dollar halters, clinics, internet, TV, etc. But their still horses. They don’t give a damn about any of that stuff unless it means better feed, more sleep and bigger stalls to mess in.

We’re supposed to be the smart ones here. Look around a horse show or training barn sometimes and see if you think that’s true. Bits and spurs and all that are training AIDS. The only real training TOOL you got sets between your ears. Try to reach a little deeper into the toolbox before you pull out one of those aids.

Just a few things I’ve come to like to do when working a horse.

Fencing - Reiners always talk about fencing their horses to work on stops and rollbacks. I do that some too but I like to use the fence to get their attention and respect. Doesn’t even have to be a fence…sometimes I use the border of my property to the corn field next door, anything to use as a reference. Simple enough - just ride along the fence and when the horse drifts move him pretty abruptly in the opposite direction. The fence gives both you and your horse a reference to keep him from cheating or you from nitpicking. When I get to a corner I like to keep em guessing…sometimes turn the corner, sometimes rollback, sometimes just stop and wait. Also helps to work on alignment and some with speed control through the gaits.

Rounding - Pretty much same as fencing but I use the outside of our round pen. Probably works better than fencing for gaining respect because as they come around they get closer to the barn and really think they’re gonna get to go that way. Also gives a young horse a little aid in making nice circles and the pen helps keep them from leaning too much to the inside.

90’s - Riding squares. Just ride a straight line and when you want to turn make it a sharp 90 degree turn not a round corner. Helps horses get used to keeping forward motion in their spins.

Gates - Working on lateral movements is kind of a challenge for me. So I kinda came up with the idea of having the horse wanna do it. At the end of session I’ll take them over to a gate to the lot and make them work it…sidepass, forehand turn, back up. They seem to get pretty good at it pretty quick when they know that gate leads to being unsaddled.

Trail Backing - You’ll see this in the trail classes at a show. Lay down some timbers or something and have the horse back through them. I use landscape timbers cause they kind of make noise and move around when a horse steps on them….they don’t like that and pay attention more to what they’re doing. I like to make a cross pattern so I can back a horse straight or turn the corners left or right. Gets em really thinking about their footwork and working their back ends.Can start out with the alleyways pretty wide and narrow them up as they get better. Real good exercises for hip control. Can also do some turnaround work in the middle of the cross.

Some of these things I do sometimes just to keep me or the horses from getting bored. Some horses seem to need a reason to do things and work better with some references to work around or through.

Well if you check the Les Vogt website you’ll see that Level 2 is ready to go. Still time to get a letter off to Santa with the ordering info.

I’m looking forward to this one. I’ve always considered myself a “starter”, being able to get a horse to a certain level then hitting the wall. Although the folks I’ve rode for have been happy, I always felt like I was giving them an unfinished project.

Since we got a pretty big family, Santa kinda hits me pretty hard this time of year. So it’ll be January before I can get mine ordered. But I sure enough look forward to Mr. Vogt  putting a few more ideas in this thick skull. I’m hoping I can put on a few finishing touches that my horses deserve.