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1) I used my leg aids as taught in hunt seat riding; because I began my riding journey in Virginia Hunt country. 2) I quit using my leg aids. 3) I went back to using leg aids. I found my horses more soft and responsive to my leg. My horse who can feel a fly can surely feel me.  I found horses can become non-responsive to the leg, as they can be non- responsive to the bit, commonly called hard mouthed.  When I got to stage 3, I knew my horse at stage 1 was not responsive to my leg. I had to experience non- traditional riding in stage 2 (no leg) to learn this.  I did not know, what I  did not know, but I found more softness. 

    I got on my unbroke colt, first ride. No movement. I feel on this colt  if I kick I may get buck.  What to do? I pick up my left rein. With the left rein I ask the left foot to step forward and sideways on about 11 o’clock. The colt does. The feet become un- stuck. One foot is connected to the rest of the feet and my colt moves forward in a good calm walk. This is exactly what I want in a first ride. No storms.  Wow? How did that happen? Not sure.  I did not know I could do that. I was amazed.  Who do you know that directs the specific placement of the foot with the rein?

       A cowboy in Washington state told me to listen to what he said. I did not understand. He told me to use what you like and toss what you dont like. I have been doing that ever since I met him, each and every time I meet a trainer or coach.  I did it with him, too. He taught me how I can learn something from people I dont agree with. Maybe there is something they say that I do want to keep.  Train or ride your horse to the best of your knowledge today, and keep what works for you.  And I am learning to be kind to everyone I meet, but I am not good at it yet, LOL.   

      I am at this clinic. The clinic guy is tearing up styrofoam cups and putting them on the ground. Our assignment is to step one foot on that cup, and stand. Horse put your foot exactly precisely here.  What the heck are we learning today?  I was confused. I did not know what he was teaching me until years later.  All we did was walk and stop at that clinic.  I learned alot from him, but did not know it at the time.

      Happy Trails to you, and may you always ride a good soft-light horse.

      My friend called today with a dog training problem. His sweet, happy, boxer loves to run. She gets loose and she won’t come. He wants to know how to hard train her to come no matter what.  I told him I’d teach him how to hard train or soft train and he could pick his method.  These two methods are also in the horse world, both methods are used by backyard owners to top riders.  

      Hard training involves force and pain. The good side is you may achieve quick results. The badside is this can crush the spirit, and ruin want - to attitude and drive.  Soft training involves conditioned - response. You set up a place where you can get yes answers. For the horse it may be a round pen. For the dog, it may be a leash.  I was raised in a military family with hard training. I learned how to crush spirits in horses and dogs and men. Then someone taught me how to train soft.  

      I own 2 intelligent, strong willed, tough, sweet, soft Catahoula Leopard dogs. They are used in the south to gather cows and work hogs. The man I got my dogs from told me only teach your dogs two things go and come. To teach come use a shock collar. I have not needed the shock collar yet. This guy has owned Catahoulas 20 - 30 years, he knows Catahoulas. If ever there was a shock collar breed of dog- this is it.  

       My Catahoulas stay close to me when I ride. They were bred to wander. After a winter off my doggies had a drifting problem as they went hog wild. My first thought is get the shock collar- since this is how I was raised. But then I thought about conditioned response. When the horse does not obey, go back a step in training. If I went back a step in training with my dog I would go back to the leash, back to obedience school; back to come on the leash. This I did. My problem fixed. It took time.  

       Andy trains dogs for the military. He only uses a shock collar if its the last gasp effort before the death camber for the dog. He told me my intillegent high  energy dogs needed a job. Build them an agility course. This has got to be an excellent answer for exerciseing the body and mind of  a German Shephard on a military base in Germany, or a dog in a limited environment like the city. I could run my dogs more, I get my 4- wheeler or pick - up and they race ahead, wind in their face- happy in their heart - for this breed loves to run. Meeting the needs of the breed,  exercise can problem solve. But it takes time.   

      The shock collar is fast and easy. What is your goal?  Come no matter what? I have lost more dogs in Central Idaho than anywhere I have ever lived. If my dog is not with me he is dead. He better come no matter what. My dogs sorta kinda listen and obey. If I put more time in them they would be better. Or I could get the shock collar.  I could get a leash. They are always 100% ok on leash. Off lead obdience without the shock collar takes time.  You get to choose.  

      When the horse is corrected or trained with pain he stiffens up, he gasps, he may loose the light in his eye over time. Top preformance is lost.  John Lyons recommends instead of correct- direct the energy whenever you can in training. I try to apply this and I see a free, loose, not stiff horse and a happy dog. My dogs loves his job. He works hard with a waggin tail. Back in my shock collar days, I lost that joy.  I’m always looking for  a softer way to train.

      My dog had 2 weeks of training in him. We had a problem to solve. Could he find the sheriff on an 8 hour old partly flagged trail? Our first corner was not marked. Other turns werent’ marked. The trail would take a half hour to walk, with no mistakes. We were there in 15 minutes. Dogs with happy hearts can do more. I love soft training. The head of the SAR team was agahast! You have to work a half hour trail, and you must put a shock collar on that dog for a least a year; for after all he is a hound.  Thats not what I wanted in my training journey. We never went back.  I made a choice.

Ps. We teach disobedience when we ask for a yes answer and do not follow through. If you call the dog, he must come.  My dog just ran out the gate and he is running like a banshie- I am not going to call him because I am 99% shure he will not come. Or case B Jeb is in my fenced yard and I call him to come in the house and he refuses. I step on the porch and he comes. He knows the next step is I go to him, and he comes. He knows I followup. I have to teach this concept to my husband. Do not ask the horse, Can I catch you, and then not follow up, or you teach the horse he can win, or run away. I dont want my horse to realise that he can win.  I do not want to teach resist- I want to teach obedience.  

      My son learned how to jump out of airplanes recently. He had 2 people jump with him so he would learn how to fall. We must learn how to fall so we land correctly.  This applies to life. It applies to horse training too. Lerning how to fall is a very important lesson. We all fall. We make mistakes. Storms hit in life too that flatten us. Fall correctly and land right.  Some unwritten rule in horsemanship I learned many years ago was when you fall off- get back on. I learned the same rule in a church once; when you fail get back up. We all fail. Not all of us get back up.  Is this topic about jumping or falling? Is the glass half empty, or is it half full? It is both. Attitude is everything.  Happy trails.     

       I first learned the back a circle exercise from Al Dunning. When I found he was doing a clinic in my small part of Idaho, I did not let the fact that I was riding a green colt detur me from attending. He did not tell us why reiners practice this exercise, just do it. He did not tell how; one rein, two rein, what about leg aids? I got off my colt and backed her from the ground. We got her done with no resist, because Ruby has learned to follow my feel. Learning an exercise on the ground first can make it go smoother.

     Les Vogt teaches the back a circle exercise also. He tells us when to add it to the training program, how often to practice it in a training session, and what it does for the horse.  It strengthens the back end, the back leg muscles, and helps build the stop. Since it is a muscle builder, it should be practiced slowly, like conditioning an endurance horse, step by step. If I remember the DVD’s from last winter correctly, you begin towards the end of the first 6 months of training the reiner.    

      Riding Mac last week he stopped his feet at my request, but shoved his nose toward the sky, so  I backed a circle before I released. I learned if I release the rein when they are tossing the head, I teach them to toss the head, LOL. So I used the back a circle exercise with Mac for a correction. He broke at the poll and yielded his head a lot before we were through. Back a circle gives us many gifts.  

     It helps in turnarounds. My turnarounds are just baby beginner steps of 1/2 or 1/4 turn at the walk, step by step. Back a circle can be married to a beginning turnaround exercise. 1) Pick up left rein, 2) back a circle butt to left away from right leg ( to move butt over use right leg) then 3) stop or pause, 4) step 3 steps to right. ( move shoulder over. ) It really helps my shoulder flow right when I start with back a circle, but I have no clue why this works so well.  ( Butt is backing to left pause- shoulder forward to right- This is hard to put in a word picture.  Butt  moves away from right leg.  )   

      The horse must know to move the butt away from the leg before B a C exercise is done from the saddle. I teach yield butt to leg with a turn on forehand exercise. I do my training exercises in a dee ring snaffle. When I taught back a circle at a clinic last spring, we backed one step. Pause. One step over ( move back leg one step )  repeat back one step- stop or pause, one back foot over. If my horse will not move that back foot over from my leg, I know how to connect the rein to the foot and ask with the bit, so that is my demand cue. I teach step by step, and I begin with one then two, then three steps of B a C, not with the whole exercise at once. I train in steps slowly. Hope that helps give yah something to chew on this week.    

      The turnaround is a forward motion exercise. Knowing this I may ask for shoulder over one step, pause, one step forward, repeat- shoulder over one step, one step forward, to keep the horse thinking forward in the turnaround, or pre- turnaround. This is surely not the finished product, only a part of the beginning. I hope that was clear, teaching is not easy. LOL>   

      Why back a circle?  Les Vogt talks about this in his Cowhorse U program. It builds muscle in the hind legs for stop, helps the stop. I found if I a back a circle to the left- then step right 3 steps it frees the shoulder for a better turnaround. It is a great exercise to get the horse to yield his nose too.  

      For more information on back a circle exersise see Al Dunning tapes and Cowhorse U DVD’s. Happy Trails-     

      I went to a reiners barn. I looked at the stalled horses- every one- every single horse had lost the light or spirit in their eye. They were gone- but they were here. What happened to these horses?

       Some say not to look a horse in the eye. I do. Its part of reading my horse. How do you feel? I have owned Mac for 15 years- raised him, trained him- another cowboy put 2 weeks on him when he was 3- otherwise its just Mac and me.  He never has learned to trust. He does not say it in his behavior- he say it in his eye. He could come undone- he never has but it is there- I know-its in his eye. Mac is a difficult horse- but he does not have a difficult story- because he has always said yes.

     Yes I will cross the creek, yes I will load in the trailer- yes I will stop-  He gives a willing want - to attitude because I never pushed him over the edge. Doug Millholland said if you train a colt right- you will never have problems to fix. This works best on a colt with a good brain.  I trained Mac without a fight. We learned step by step how to dance. He is not an anybodys horse and he never will be- because he can come undone.  I see it in his eye.    

      One day I went to pick up a backfoot. Faster then lightening he kicked his belly. ” I could kick you, you know” - he said. Yes, I see that, and if you kick me I would never be fast enough to get away. I dont need to pick up your foot. I could if I wanted to. I could put a scotch hobble on him and tie that foot up- throw him on the ground if I wanted to- I could be boss- I know how to do all those things. But I wanted Mac’s trust, and you dont gain trust by force.  

       I have to go to the house and think. This is what I do when I am stuck. What happened? Oh- Johnny the cowboy ropes feet- Ray Hunt style. Mac got his feet roped. He does not want me around his feet no more. He remembers. Fast forward- I can pick Mac’s feet up today. I didn not re- train him or fix the problem, or work on the problem. I worked on building trust. And then one day, I could pick up his feet again- like when we were young in the days before Johnny.

     Control the feet- the foot placement the direction of travel- and you control the mind.

      Training without force builds trust. I want to learn how to do that. I want to learn how to do that better.  I never want the light to go out in my horses eye. That’s my goal.   

      Hank rode Mac on a search last spring. Us Search and Rescue folks was lookng for a suicide victum. Hank could not catch his horse in the spring; so he rode mine. Mac was a good boy. He took care of Hank. I believe if you take care of your horse, chances are they will take care of you too.

     I need to learn to post pictures. Until then Mac has a sub album in my photobucket album- sub albums are to the left. Photobucket link is in my first post.  You can tell in my Mac photo album, my dressage stinks, LOL>           

      I have ridden in a few Pat Wyse clinics. Pat rode with Monte Foreman, and he co - wrote Horse Training Science. My favorite clinic was with a Pat Wyse student. He is an un- known Idaho cowboy. After he listened to one of my songs, he began to train in slower steps- and that is why I enjoyed his clinic. I love training slow. I had to walk my horse through a rollback before I could go on with fun stuff.

     I put my Arab - Quarterhorse mare I have raised and trained myself into a fast gallop. I was told go faster- we did - then I was told to stop. She will never stop- I thought. I got in her mouth with that snaffle bit and she slammed her front end down to the ground in a very on the forehand stop. Rider error. Again we try- do not get in her mouth- do not get in her mouth I chant to meself.  She produces a beautiful butt in the ground slide. She taught me the stop is not in the bridle- its in the brains and in slow step by step training.  John Lyons calls it training the mind.       

I once read about a big Florida trainer who got burned out upper level dressage horses and taught them reining. The burned out reiners he taught dressage. So I began a quest. How do reiners train? What is dressage?  

   I learned about half halts in dressage and feeling the feet for timing the aids or cues this week on a dressage forum. Someone on the forum recommended Dorrence’s book- Horsemanship through Feel.   These two things I may work on all winter to get them from the brain to the ground- or horse.  Today I have been reading mugs blog. She is a delightful reining horse trainer in Colorado.   I went to this reiners blog- and she recommened 2 dressage books. LOL.

Now I am rereading Henry Wynmalen from a reining perspective. I went back to April when she started her blog- I am hooked on mugs. She has heart.

www.mugwumpchronicles.blogspot.com/2008/06/favorite-books-or-adds-guide-to-horse.html

Our computer crashed 3 times this week. Everything  that works sometimes doesn’t work. At one horse forum I got this link of Stacy Westfall- she’s awesome. On my D Board everyone thought they had seen this already- however it had just been taped. A demonstration by Stacy Westfall before the freestyle reining at the 2007 All-American Quarter Horse Congress in Columbus, OH. Part 1, Demonstration- followed by part 2. The standing ovation blocked the camera a little bit. oops-

Part 1 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p4h8lLsfaV8
Part 2 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFD8daKaXZk 

Its been raining and I has not been riding; just feeding my ponies; and waiting for tomorrow.  We go camping next week but the horses stay home.  Tomorrow- always tomorrow I wil ride.  Someday- soon-  

Early May in Central Idaho and we have had a long winter. Snow is melting slower than normal, and good riding  days have been hard to come by.  I have worked a little bit wtih a few horses on basics. I took my top mare on a trail ride and she did pretty good; we were galloping home- then full run - then slow to lope- then stop. I remember at a reining  clinic they suggested we practice the gallop on trails. Just get out and run your horse- I have not done that much because mostly I walk on trails. It was fun- gave the dogs a workout too.  Happy trails to you. -   

I have studied hard to learn the foundation or basics of horse training. It is different strokes for different folks, what one says to do another says not to do. I guess we all have to find our own way on the journey. Les says to start with lateral flex and exercises; also master picking up and releasing your rein. I can release my rein, but picking it up with grace can be a struggle. Is my hand in my nose in that picture, oh no! Maybe if I video me and watch me ride that might help?

Ginger -Grace a Morgan mare tosses her head and resist the bit. We walk in a small circle and practice lateral flex. I may ask the nose to come one inch or less over ( spot one give) or I may want her nose more into her shoulder, where the leg meets the shoulder; ( spot 6 give. ) See this give in Les Vogt Cowhorse U foundation. Maybe Les has another name for it, or no name?

If she does not give me her nose, (spot one give) I may correct her by taking her head ( to spot 6) and moving the hindquarters ( turn on forehand) for a correction. I want the nose to move softly as I pick up the rein. This exercise works on horses who rear also, the head goes up before the feet come up, its hard to rear when your nose is in your shoulder.

Walking in a small circle asking for spot one gives softened Boonie on the bridle after a 4- H kid got done riding him. She put more pressure on the reins than I did which taught him not to respond. I got my light snaffle bit horse back with those foundation exercises. Foundation exercises fix the broken places in our horses. They also get our colts started right. Doug Milholland said if you train with no mistakes, then you have nothing to fix. That is good advice, but most folks dont start a horse from the beginning.