This Week on Horse Master TV

Good Day!

It’s great to be home again, even if only for a day. By the time I have unpacked, it’s time to start repacking again. But I am excited to be headed to Lexington KY tomorrow for the CHA International Conference at the Kentucky Horse Park. It’s such a fun place to visit and Lexington is such incredible horse country. Fortunately I will not need a rental car there because I tend to run off the road a lot looking at all the gorgeous horse properties.

This conference is particularly fun for me because I have so many friends within CHA and the conference is sort of like a big family reunion of sorts. It’s attended primarily by riding instructors and horse trainers (although anyone is invited) and the educational opportunities are always outstanding. And the bonus is that we get to visit the horse park, which is truly a Disney Land for horse enthusiasts.

Tomorrow on Horse Master is “Go Baby Go,” an episode featuring a young girl named Kelsey and her very well-trained horse, Rio. Although he’s a pro and knows his job well—the prefect horse for someone just starting out—Kelsey needed to learn to ride him better and show some leadership on the ground. He’s become oblivious to her demands from the ground because she lets him walk all over her without any repercussions. He’s a well-trained, well-tempered horse but he does need leadership.

I see these types of problems all the time. Just because you go out and buy a well-trained horse doesn’t mean he’s a robot. All horses need leadership, authority and rules of behavior from us. I hear the story again and again of the horse that was well-behaved when you bought him but in a month or two he’s a total pig. Typically these horses snap right out of it when handled by someone with authority. Have you seen this happen too?

Kelsey also was riding Rio with way too much bit. He’s a finished reining horse so he was used to a long shanked—high ported bit. But Kelsey wasn’t and because she had trouble keeping the reins loose enough, we switched her to a Myler short-shanked mild ported bit. Kelsey complained of Rio breaking gait at the canter but when I watched her ride, she was hitting him in the mouth with every almost stride. The milder bit made it a lot easier for Rio to tolerate Kelsey’s imprecise hands and to do his job; by creating awareness on Kelsey’s part, she quickly became a better rider for her horse.

So often I hear of ‘horse problems’ that in reality are occurring because of some failure on the part of the rider. As the old saying goes, it is not a human with a horse problem, but a horse with a human problem. Do you know what I mean? It’s always reassuring when a rider recognizes that they are contributing to a problem, even if they aren’t sure how. But it’s human nature to blame the horse. In my experience, most of the time the horse is trying to do the right thing but either the rider is getting in the way or the horse has no idea what the right thing is because of confusing or conflicting signals from the rider. Have you ever had any experience with this?

Enjoy the ride,

Julie

 

 

Unwanted Horses

Good Day!

It’s another travel day for me and as my friend Polly says, on Sundays, I am like a trail horse headed home. As much as I love to travel, heading home is always the best part. Can’t wait to see my dog, my horses and my husband (not necessarily in that order, of course). But for now I am sitting at an airport, waiting on a delayed flight and wishing I had stayed in bed another hour.

It was a busy weekend in Sedalia MO at the Women & Horses Expo. Although the turnout was small, the people were great and I had some good demos and fun horses to ride. There were lots of Mustangs there and I rode a cute little Mustang pony in one of my demos. I think that the Extreme Mustang Makeover (EMM) has really revitalized the Mustang market and given new life and enthusiasm to the owners—what a wonderful thing. The wild horse dilemma is a tough situation for which there seem to be no good answers. Too many Mustangs sit unwanted in government holding pens as humans encroach on their range but the EMM has been so outrageously successful that more and more people are jumping on board and adopting. Sadly, many of the Mustangs rounded up are so traumatized that they aren't offered for adoption, but the others are getting placement a little easier due to the attention the EMM has brought.

Having seen one large holding facility with more than 450 head of unwanted Mustangs in it—a sad sight of diseased and depressed horses—sometimes I wonder if it's humane to keep them in prison until they die of some disease that runs rampant through an over-crowded herd. It would be a perfect world if these horses could just stay on the range and live happily ever after but in this reality, the cattlemen win out because you can place a dollar figure on the value of cattle, so the sparse forage is given to the cattle. This whole situation is compounded tremendously by the bill passed by Congress that banned the slaughter of horses in the US. Now in addition to the 100,000+ head of unwanted horses that used to go to slaughter every year, we also have hundreds of Mustangs to find homes for and the shelters, sanctuaries and rescues are all full to capacity, fighting for funding and struggling to take care of all these unwanted horses. You may not like the thought of horses going to slaughter, but sometimes I wonder if it is the most humane alternative. I hate that horses are starving to death or suffering the fate of uncertainty and abuse. I know this is a touchy issue but horses being shipped to slaughter in Canada and Mexico by the thousands—was highly predictable. Whereas we used to be able to regulate the transport and humane slaughter of horses, now they are truly on their own, with no regulation, and the end result is not pretty.

How do you weigh in on this subject? Do you have experience with Mustangs? And what about the unwanted domesticated horses—what will happen to them now? Do you think the breeding of horses should be regulated by the government, as it is in other countries, to cut down on the unwanted horse population? Due to the poor economy, the slaughter bill and the lack of a basis for the horse market (like it or not, the killer horse market used to be a bottom line for horse prices and now there is no bottom), the lower end horses are extremely difficult, if not impossible to sell now. How do we climb out of this hole and how do we protect the unwanted horses from a fate worse than death?

It’s a heavy subject for a Monday, but one that needs our thought and attention.

Until next time,

Julie

This Week on Horse Master

Greetings!

I awakened to our first blanket of snow here in the valley—the mountains have been getting lots of snow all fall. A reminder that it’s only 5 weeks away from ski season! Yipee!! Not that we need a reminder around our house. Rich and his crew at Monarch Mountain www.skimonarch.com have been busy gearing up for some time now.

Today is packing day; tomorrow I’ll be on the road (in the sky) headed to Sedalia MO for an expo.  I’ve been home for five weeks now and part of me is excited to be leaving again and part of me wants to stay. I am looking forward to the fall expo season coming up and the many people I’ll meet, the nice places I’ll go and the cool horses I’ll ride. Not to mention, no one pays me when I stay at home!

This week on Horse Master is episode 3, “The Next Level”, an episode we got a lot of great feedback from when it first aired back in January. It stars Sharon and her big gallant horse Manassis, a 4^th level school master and a blast to ride. Sharon is recovering from abdominal surgery and getting back to riding and both she and her horse needed reconditioning and strengthening of the abs. We worked on collection and how to keep the horse light and round without hanging on his mouth. Manassis was a perfect cast member and Sharon was wonderfully articulate and at ease in front of the camera.

I’ll never forget this episode because there were some real touching circumstances under which Sharon came to own such a fabulous horse, involving the tragic death of her friend and Manassis’ former owner. It was an emotional TV show and I had to practice what I was going to say in closing for about an hour before I could say it without crying. As soon as the cut was finished, the whole crew burst into tears and everyone started hugging. It was a really silly moment and we were all laughing through our tears, but we were all touched by Sharon’s devotion to her horse and friend. I hope you’ll get to see it.

Enjoy the ride!

Julie

 

The Right Bit in the Right Hands

Good Day!

Last night I dreamt all night about bits. It was a pleasant journey through my subconscious. After exploring all the different Myler bits this week and talking more about new ones to try on various horses, I guess my mind was just full of it. In a good way.

There’s been a lot of discussion lately that all bits are bad and that if you really want to be kind to your horse, you’d go bitless. Have you been in on a similar discussion? While I agree that there are many horses that work just fine in a bitless situation, I think it is overly simplistic to say horses shouldn’t use bits.

To me, there’s one really important fact. Bits don’t hurt horses, people’s hands hurt horses. There’s a concept dating back thousands of years (about 3500 years ago) that’s attributed to Xenophon, who wrote the oldest complete book of horsemanship (there are older pieces but they are only partial documents). He said that the harshest bit in the world can be soft in a horse’s mouth when in the right hands and the mildest bit can be very harsh in the wrong hands.

Having said that, I think that there are many bad bits that shouldn’t be used at all. There are some bits that I wouldn’t use but could envision a use or a horse I might try it on. And then there are the bits that I love that horses work great in. Through the years I’ve learned that there are few people involved with horses that know much about bits or even how and why the horse responds (or not). Worse yet, there are people out there that are flat out wrong about what they think about bits.

The most common example I can think of is the Tom Thumb bit. It’s a classic Western bit that many people refer to as a snaffle—showing a level of ignorance about the difference between a snaffle and curb bit. There are only two types of bits—direct pressure (snaffle) and leverage (curb). People think because the Tom Thumb is single jointed that it is a snaffle and therefore mild—and they are incorrect on both accounts. There’s an article in my training library http://juliegoodnight.com/questionsNew.php?id=179 about the Tom Thumb misconceptions but the point is that when it comes to bits, most people are not only ignorant but often what they think they know or what they have been told—sometimes even by a trainer-- is flat bass-ackwards.

When a horse is struggling with the bit, there are two fundamental considerations to make, which are overlooked by most people. First, how does the bit fit the horse? Secondly, how are the rider’s hands contributing to this problem? The amazing thing about the Myler bit system is that it is born of decades of hands-on research and innovative design features (like shaping the bit to the horse’s mouth—what a concept!) which are all about making the horse comfortable with the bit. It is a passion and mission of the Myler brothers to help as many horses as possible be comfortable and relaxed in the mouth.

The Mylers have inspired me to join their mission. I have decided to take a collection of bits with me on the road—to clinics and expos—to see if I can help more horses and riders. It’ll be my own private research project.

And now, I am headed out to the arena to ride my horse on this beautiful fall day. I hope you have time to do the same this weekend!

Julie

A Bit of Fun and Information

Greetings!

I’ve been remiss in writing because I’ve been having too much fun this week taking a private bitting clinic from Dale Myler, of Myler Bits USA. Dale was kind enough to come and give us his undivided attention for a couple of days to impart a lifetime of information on bits and bit design. I invited a several friends—all riders and/or trainers and over the course of two days, we worked with 15 different horses. Everything from an unbroke three year old who never had a bit in his mouth to Rich’s finished bridle horse—with a big variety of training levels in-between .

It was the most fun with horses I’ve had in a while and I don’t have enough time today to write all the things I learned (hence the fun). I fell in love with Myler bits years ago when they first came out and gradually through the years, they became the only bits to hang on bridles in my tack room. I knew intuitively why I liked them, knowing from the beginning that they had an ergonomic shape and must be more comfortable in the horse’s mouth. Although I was the only one in our group that had much experience with Myler bits, we all figured out right away, from Dale’s power point presentation, why the bits would work. It wasn’t until we were in the arena trading horses and bridles like crazy, that we could see the results first-hand.

What I got the most from the clinic, was learning why I love the Myler bits so much. First off, looking at a dental picture with the horse’s teeth closed but lips opened by a speculum, you can see that the tongue fills the entire mouth when his teeth are shut—just like yours does. Having your tongue up in your palate is normal and feels good. It is not possible to put a bit in a horse’s mouth without it being pressed into the palate by the tongue. Pressure on the tongue does not feel good and if you don’t believe it, try poking your finger into your tongue.

Everything a horse can do to evade bit pressure has to do with him looking for relief from tongue pressure—whether he throws his head up, roots the reins, gapes at the mouth, sucks his tongue up in his throat, puts his tongue over the bit, comes behind the vertical. He’d rather have pressure anywhere than the tongue and by going through these gyrations, he always finds tongue relief. Even the bars of his mouth can take a lot more pressure than the tongue (try pressing on your bars—behind your molars and you’ll see what I mean). Myler bits are designed to relieve tongue pressure and distribute the pressure to other areas (like the nose, chin, poll, bars) in order to make the horse more comfortable and relaxed so that he is trainable and can perform to his fullest.

Here’s another interesting thing Dale said, a rider will never learn to have quiet and soft hands until she rides a soft and relaxed horse. That makes so much sense. If your pulling and struggling and hanging on for dear life, where’s the feel comes from? What I learned was that sometimes we can bit a horse differently so that he can tolerate the rider’s uneducated or inarticulate hands. Because I sell a lot of finished horses to novice riders, I already knew this and it’s one reason why I always send the horses to their new home with the right bit.

What was fun about the clinic was switching bits on horses and seeing instant results. I was pleased to learn that the bit I was already using on my horse Dually was probably the best thing for him but I realized I can get the same mouth piece in a snaffle side piece when I want to do more schooling on him. Rich had bought a Myler hand crafted reined cowhorse bit for his new horse a few months ago and Dale felt it was the ideal bit for him for show and we tried a few different bits on him for home-use. It was really interesting to feel the different bits on a very finished horse—a small change in the bit would be very noticeable in how Diggs responded and we settled on the same bit that I use on Dually for Diggs.

A lot of people these days seem to be asking, “why use a bit at all?” While many, if not most broke horses will work okay in a halter, a bit can provide the communication and precise cues that will help you achieve great performances. When used improperly, the devices can be treacherous, but with education and proper, kind use, a bit can help you better your communication and control. There are many things that compel us to use bits: more control, subtle communication, training to a high level of performance or maybe because the rules for your discipline compel you. What about you? What do you think about riding in a halter only or riding bridleless and without a bit? And are you happy, or more importantly, is your horse happy with the bit you use? Every time I’ve given a presentation on bits, the room has been full of people with lots of questions. I find it's important to ask horse owners a few questions, too: How and what have you learned about bits? Why are you using the bit you use? If you have reasons beyond "that’s what someone told you to use," do the reasons make sense? It’s a big subject! Post your thoughts here!

All the best,

Julie

The herd bound horse plague

Good Day!

Seems like I struck a chord in my newsletter Q&A column this month with my answer to Beverly about her hopelessly herd-bound horse. I’ve gotten a lot of  emails from people with similar stories and their struggles with their horses. I’ve been thinking a lot about this subject lately.

Horses are instinctively herd-bound animals, so it’s something we have to expect and understand about these animals. Horses are reliant on the herd for comfort and security—the two things horses want most in life. Unless and until you can convince a horse that what you have to offer him is as good or better than being with the herd, in terms of security and comfort, he’ll never want to go anywhere with you. Understandably, this is one of the biggest issues that arise in horsemanship and one of the most frequently asked questions is, “How do I make my horse leave the barn yard?”

Training and temperament are two huge factors in how herd-bound a horse becomes. You can change a horse’s behavior through training—for better or for worse (not all training is good, nor is all training intentional—people often train horses the wrong thing inadvertently).  However, temperament is something a horse hits the ground with and little can be done to change it. Again, good training can affect a less-than-ideal temperament, but training cannot change a horse’s temperament. Some horses are very brave and independent; others are flighty and needy. In general, mares have more tendency to be herd-bound, but some of the worst cases I’ve seen were geldings.

Of all the horses we have, my horse, Dually, is the most prone to being herd bound—he’s a very friendly, gregarious horse and needs companionship. Fortunately he’ll settle for any kind of companionship and so humans will suffice, if there are no horses around. I constantly am vigilant to whether or not his behavior is affected by the presence or absence of other horses, but he is a brave and obedient horse with professional handling and quality training all of his life. While he may not want to leave the barnyard by himself, he will and does without hesitation or question. When I am at a show, I am very careful to keep his mind focused on the task at hand and to keep him separated from other horses.

What’s been your experience with the herd-bound horse? Are you lucky enough to have a horse that is not prone to be herd-bound? Have you ever seen a horse that was essentially ruined because it has become unmanageable when separated? I used to have a dog with separation anxiety and although she was only 14 pounds of pure Jack Russell muscle, she could tear through a frame wall to get to me. Imagine that mentality on a 1,000 pound horse! Some of the emails I’ve gotten have sounded that bad. What’s your story?

Ride hard but ride safely,

Julie

 

Today on Horse Master

Greetings!

I cannot believe that a year’s worth of Horse Master episodes have already aired and this week we start with our very first episode from our first shoot in Longmont, Colorado last fall. We totally lucked out on the weather at this shoot and although the mornings were very cold, the skies were still and clear. We shot the first five episodes in three days and frankly we were amazed at how well it went. Now that we have five shoots under our belt and 26 episodes in the can, I can tell you our shoots are much more efficient with a trained and seasoned crew!

Episode #1 on Horse Master airs this week, with the next episode to follow through the end of the year. I’ll never forget the first episode—not only because I had never done a TV show like this and it was totally new to me to talk in 5 minute clips—but because the horse, Spanky, taught us something we now know is a consistent problem for horses we select to be on the show.

Did you ever hear the old saying about horses, as soon as you brag on a horse he proves you wrong? Invariably, if you speak poorly of a horse he acts like a perfect angel and if you dare brag on him, prepare to be humiliated. It’s almost uncanny, their ability to do this. I can only guess that it has something to do with our subconscious thoughts or actions that the horse perceives which causes him to act according to his own agenda. Has this ever happened to you or is it just me?

“Trail Trepidations” is the name of this week’s episode, starring Spanky and his human, Pam—who is blissfully at home now with her newborn baby  (she wasn’t even pregnant when we filmed the show last fall). So you can see, being in the show worked out very well for Pam! Maybe you should apply. Spanky is a big Paint horse with a lot of white on him and a mostly white face with one blue eye. It may come as no surprise to some of you that this is a spooky horse and not fun to ride on the trail. Now, before I generate any hate mail, let me say that I am not saying that all horses with white faces are spooky but most people that have been around tons of horses know that white faced/blue-eyed horses can be flightier than other horses. This fact is confirmed in Temple Grandin’s book, animals in Translation—one of my favorite behavior books.

The only problem was, Spanky was so focused on being on the TV show and having the camera and crew in front of him that we couldn’t get him to spook at anything! Who knows why he suddenly chose this moment to become a bomb-proof horse? At every shoot we’ve done, many, if not most of the horses that were being featured because of bad behavioral problems refused to demonstrate the bad behavior when we set out to film our “before” footage. As a result we’ve sometimes had to change the training topic for the episode or, in the case of Spanky, had to keep searching until we found something he would spook at! The dumpster with the lid blowing finally gave us some good footage. Sorry about that Pam!

In this episode I learned a lot about the TV show because I tried to teach three different things to the horse and rider—way too much for a half hour show! Since then, I have learned to focus on one topic and try to teach that thoroughly in a very short time. Since this week’s episode is so cram-packed full of training advice, you won’t mind watching it again! If you don’t get RFD, the first five episodes are out on DVD.

Enjoy the ride!

Julie

 

The New Bit DVD is on its Way!

Good Day!

It’s been a very hectic week for me, but very productive too so it feels pretty good. Getting my new video filmed this week was huge. As I mentioned earlier, the horses for the video were awesome. I used a little 2 y/o palomino filly who was barely halter broke. A pretty grade QH, she was an amazingly quick learner—got things right the very first time. I had to do some preliminary work with her to get her to the point where I could start her in the bitting process. I thought that would take several days of two-a-day works but she made my life so easy; it only took a few sessions before she was working fine in the round pen, doing turns and smooth transition; she was accustomed to packing the bit around in her mouth and used to having the surcingle on and ropes dangling all around her.

In the video, we started teaching her how to respond to pressure on the bit, starting with lateral gives—she got it right away and may have even been a little too good for the video (sometimes a little drama is good). She did fuss just a little on the off-side—which made for better video. We progressed to vertical gives with the elbow pull bitting rig and once again, she got the right answer at the very first guess—dropping her head and breaking at the poll when she first felt the pressure, and thus finding the release. In the follow-up sessions she looked like she had already had a full week of training in the bitting process. I sent her home with a good start, light and responsive in the mouth and with her very own Myler snaffle to use as her training progresses.

The second horse in the video was more challenging—by design. I also wanted to show how to use the same process on a broke horse with engrained bitting problems—inverted, head tossing, fighting the bit, running off, etc. Acero was perfectly cast—a 13 y/o ex-team roping horse, used to being ridden in a tie-down, who was very confused and frantic about any pressure on the bit. It took a little longer with Acero to get him to find the release, but he did. With a horse like this, you really need minimally a month of work in the bitting rig—no riding—to rehabilitate him fully. But bless his heart, he tried hard to do the right thing and after only 6 works over three days, I was able to ride him and have a glimpse of how he would be after a month of good work.

I am excited about this new video, Bit Basics. It is in editing now and we hope to have inventory on the shelves by Nov 1^st! I’ve been really busy working on other new products and I am really excited that my new rope reins—in deign for a couple years—are now in stock and they are beautiful! I couldn’t be more pleased with how they came out. I cannot wait to ride with them today. We’re working fast and furious to get these and other new products on the shelf and on the website and get the marketing done. So that’s pretty much been the story of my life this week. It’s good to be home and get things done!

And I’m enjoying a Saturday morning at home on the couch, computer in my lap, CNN on the tube, hot latte in my hand. Although I am thankful to have gotten so much accomplished this week, I am glad it’s Saturday and I can kick back a little. How about you?

Until next time,

Julie

Today on Horse Master

Greetings!

I’ve had my nose buried to the grindstone the past four days, filming my newest video, “Bit Basics.” It took three long days, working with two different horses—an unstarted 2 year old filly and a 13 y/o ex-roping horse who was terribly confused by any pressure on the bit. The horses were great. The filly almost trained up too fast (it’s a pretty quick process when you are starting with a clean slate) and although the older horse took longer, as expected with engrained behavior, he did really well too, showing a dramatic change from head-tossing and star gazing to walking and trotting with his head low and his back rounded on a loose rein.

This week’s episode of Horse Master is one of my favorites. Filmed here at our place in Colorado in June, this episode features a mature Arabian gelding that seemingly had many training issues, like general disobedience, bucking at canter, throwing his head and rushing all the time. At first we thought this episode was going to be about a trail horse that wouldn’t cross water—at least that is what we were hoping. We have a beautiful pond here on our property and it’s perfect for trianing horses to go in water.

We always start the show with the “before” footage, the purpose of which is for the owner to demonatrate the horse’s problem/issue. At this time, we also deicde what issue we will focus on. There’s not a lot of teaching time in a half hour show (which is really only 26 minutes including commercials) so we’ve learned to narrow the topic down to one simple thing we can fully address in that time. But you know how horses are—as soon as you brag on them, they’re bad and as soon as you speak ill of your horse, he turns into the perfect angel. In this case, the Arab, Stinger, walked right into the pond belly deep—without hesitating. Okay, next problem? Bucks at canter.

So we relocated the film crew to the arena and proceeded to get “before” footage at the canter. Sure enough the horse was crow-hopping, bucking, rushing, breaking gait—just having a terrible time of it; neither horse nor rider was happy. It was painfully obvious (pun intended) that this was not a training issue at all but clearly a saddle fit issue. For the past four years, since she bought this horse, the owner had been struggling with a myriad of training issues, probably all of which tied back to a very poor saddle fit.

Now, when you have a long term, engrained issue with a horse, it doesn’t just disappear with a quick fix. Generally horses have developed emotional baggage (they think it’s going to hurt) and habitual behavoirs (rushing, breaking gait, tossing head and inverting). The first step is to identify the root of the problem, fix it, then retrain the horse. Amazingly, with Stinger, it was virtually an instant fix. As soon as I put my Circle Y Flex2 Reining saddle on him, he was a whole new horse. The flexible tree can really work wonders on a horse with a saddle fit problem. Right away Stinger was dropping his head, rounding his back and coming easily into a collected frame.

It would take some time for the owner to learn to ride the horse correctly and fix some of the bad habits like breaking gait, but first we had to make it physically possible for the horse to comply.

The older I get and the more experience I have with horses, the more I appreciate how often so called “training issues” are actually physical or mental issues. The horse either can’t compky with our demands physically or mentally he has absolutely no idea what it is you are asking of him. Have you had this kind of experience with your horse? The other side of that coin is people that are too quick to blame a horse’s bad behavior on a physical issue when in reality the horse “has their number” and is just totally taking advantage of the rider.

I’m excited about the new video, which should be out in November, along with my new training aid, the elbow pull bitting rig. Stay tuend for more info on that!

All the best,

Julie