Eight More Episodes "In the Can"

I just returned from a week in Queen Creek AZ (just outside Phoenix), for a Horse Master shoot. We taped nine episodes of the TV show in just four days at the Horseshoe Park & Equestrian Centre and the weather couldn’t have been more perfect. Although the mornings were a little chilly, since we start taping at first light, by mid-morning it warmed up considerably and we had clear sunny days in the 70s—each day a perfect clone of the one before.

The shoots are long hard days for cast and crew. We start rolling at first light, and for at least two nights at this shoot, we were scrambling at the end of the day to get the last few minutes of usable light. After shooting 84 episodes of the show, we have gotten it down to a system and the past few shoots have gone so smoothly that we’ve gotten a little spoiled, but this one was a little different. The first day of this shoot was like pulling teeth—there was no one problem you could blame but a series of road blocks that put us behind schedule before we even started. Before the sun came up, we found out that the city was scheduled to haul in a dozen dump trucks load of gravel, driving right behind the arena. Our mics are so sensitive that they pick up high-altitude jets—dump trucks would totally overpower the audio and not be the loveliest backdrop for a TV show. Fortunately for us, the foreman of the crew was very cooperative and they agreed to wait at the gate until they got the “all clear,” message by cell phone and then they would hurry in while we were setting up for the next scene.

There were other issues that first day of the shoot, like loading cattle into a semi right next to the arena, the usual equipment problems and, oh yeah, one of our cast members didn’t show up. That’s the first time we’ve ever been totally stood up—no call no nothing. But we always have alternates standing by, so with a slight rearranging of the shoot schedule, we were good to go. It pays to be flexible when you are working with horses (and horse people). To top it all off, at the end of the day we needed a Paint horse to shoot some commercial footage, so a guy we met at on Sunday (who was competing at the facility) agreed to haul his very cute Paint horse back to Queen Creek from Tucson (90 minutes) so we could shoot 30 seconds of footage. As luck would have it, his truck broke down on the way but he managed to unload the horse just in time for us to throw on the blanket and shoot literally the last 30 seconds of sunlight of the day. He was a real champ to haul his horse all that way just for a free blanket—albeit a VERY nice blanket. Thank goodness this day was finally over!

Fortunately the three remaining days of the shoot went off without a hitch and although we worked long days, we got all the episodes done (plus an extra) and commercials and promos and all the other little odds and ends that goes along with producing a TV show (the opening shots, the segues, the “quick tips”, the show openers, etc.). We had some great topics at this shoot, including a horse that balked and walked sideways whenever she came to something she didn’t like. That turned out to be an easy fixed because although the horse was not well-trained, turned out all the rider needed to do was use her legs and reins correctly and insist the horse go straight—and she willingly complied. We also had a young man riding an ex-barrel horse that was arena-sour that had bucked him off a few times, causing a serious erosion to the rider’s confidence. Turns out a lack of confidence is not just the domain of middle aged women—anyone, including an adolescent teenager can experience a crisis of confidence. The horse was actually pretty nice and the young man just needed to direct his focus toward something positive instead of wondering when the next time the horse was going to buck him off (I call this mind pollution; sound familiar?).

We had a novice rider on a cutting horse who wanted to learn how to cue her horse correctly so that she didn’t deteriorate the young mare’s training, so we worked on the correct cue for backing. The episode we thought was going to be about retraining a lazy horse to be responsive to leg aids turned out to be a horse that was not so lazy at all, but the rider was mis-cueing the horse and she just needed to know how to cue for the extended walk. Funny how often the episodes are on a totally different subject than we planned. It’s uncanny how often the horses won’t display the “problem” once we turn the camera on.

We’re three for three now on water crossing episodes—in each case, including the one at this shoot, the so-called “problem horse” walks right in the water. This one was a really cute Morgan gelding and although he did not walk right in the water, it didn’t take much to get him there. The actual “problem” was a rider that made the mistake of pulling back on the reins when she wanted the horse to go forward, resulting in a horse that started backing up whenever there was something he didn’t really want to do. Sitting here reading this, you are probably saying to yourself, “what an idiot, pulling back on the reins when you want to go forward.” But you’d be surprised how common that is—how many riders pull back on the reins inadvertently when asking the horse to go forward—I see it all the time. Combine the conflicting signal with a horse that doesn’t really want to do that anyway, and you end up with a balking, refusing horse. And pulling back on the reins when the horse is backing does not stop him but makes him back harder. In this case, the rider was very quick to figure out her mistake and, even more impressive, she was able to fix it right away. Problem solved.

Everyone’s favorite episode turned out to be a really sweet roan mare who has been star gazing for years (very high-headed, above the bit). She was a 16 year old mare and the owner has had her for six years, so she’s been doing it at least that long. The underside of her neck was really over developed and bulging but I could tell it was not from her conformation, but rather from years (a decade perhaps?) of fighting the bit and resisting contact. I changed the bit to one that I knew would help (the Myler MB36/HBT shank http://juliegoodnight.com/myler/ ) but it took me a long time (20 minutes or so) to get her to find the release by lowering her head in response to pressure instead of raising it. But once she got it—she got it! And the owner was able to carry on and they showed tremendous progress. The smile on the owner’s face said it all.

We also had a gelding that had learned the nasty trick of ripping his nose away and running away from you whenever he didn’t want to do something like longe or load in a trailer. He really gave us a “run for our money” and sent us scrambling across the arena after him on several occasions. Fortunately most horses never learn this trick—to throw their body weight around and run away from you, but if you’ve ever experienced it, you know it to be a huge problem. I won’t say we cured this horse, because that is definitely learned behavior and you cannot unlearn something. But I did give the owner some additional tools to help deal with it and we got some positive response from the horse. 

Our final two episodes were part one and two of the same story—taking a young horse through the roundpen training process. Going way beyond just running the horse around the pen, but going through each step—driving and herding the horse, controlling the speed, teaching the inside turn and hooking on. It was silly to think we could do all that in one half-hour episode (which is actually only about 20 minutes of content), so we did the to-be-continued thing and made a second episode out of it. The filly made some great progress, especially in the second episode, so I think it will be good.

It’s a long process from taping the shows to when they actually air, but at least the hardest part is done and they are “in the can,” which is an old-fashioned term from back in the day when film was actually used and it was stored in cans. Now, of course, everything is digital and stored on tapes and hard drives, hence the term “taping” a show as opposed to “filming” a show. These shows will air in May and June and by then we will have taped another eight episodes in San Diego in April, our final shoot for the 2010 season.

A big thank you to all my crew and cast—it takes a lot of people to put together a TV show and we appreciate everyone’s help. We have a permanent crew of 6-7 who attend every shoot and have specific and technical jobs; plus we rely on 4-5 local volunteers at each shoot to help with everything from horse boogers to lighting. We work hard during the shoots, but we have a good time too. By the end of the week, we are all pretty much comatose, but it is a good tired.

Enjoy the ride,

Julie

 

What's Your Pet Peeve?

About ten years ago, as I was walking through my barnyard, I came across a stray piece of baling string on the ground and it prompted me to start a new column, “Pet Peeves Around the Barn,” for the CHA magazine, The Instructor. We have a pretty strict rule around my barn that when you open a bale of hay, the very first thing you do is pull the strings, tie them up and throw them away. It’s not an unreasonable or anal rule; it’s because I like things to be neat and tidy and I hate seeing strings being chewed up by horses, which could cause health problems. Now, some 10 years later, pretty much all my pet peeves have been published, plus dozens from other instructors, trainers and barn managers.

The rules for the pet peeve column are simple: it has to be about something that is either a safety issue, a monetary issue or for practicability and effectiveness. It can’t just be a whiny complaint. My thinking was that if horse people could know about the things that bothered professionals, they might learn something, have a greater awareness of good management practices and stay on the good side of the boss. You can see the archives of past Pet Peeves, written by myself and others here: http://cha-ahse.org/WEBSITE_MAGAZINE/articles-pet-peeves/index.html

Just when I think I’ve reached the bottom of my stack of pet peeves, another one rears its ugly head. This week, I wrote about using metal snaps on the reins to connect to the bit for the upcoming issue of The Instructor. Although the metal snaps are highly convenient for the rider, they are not so great for the horse. The metal-to-metal connection causes a sharp clinking vibration to the horse’s mouth and it interferes with the rider having a good feel of the horse’s mouth. To me, the convenience is not worth the irritation to the horse and the lack of feel for the rider. Plus, there are many reins out there with a quick-connect to the reins that is not metal—all the reins I sell, both rope and leather, are quick and easy to connect and still comfortable for the horse. I’m not saying you shouldn’t use snaps, I’m just saying why I wouldn’t use them, so that you can make an informed decision yourself.

What are your pet peeves when it comes to your horses? Remember, it can’t just be a complaint about something or someone—you have to substantiate it with good reasoning. Is there something at your barn that you think should be done differently or something that really bugs you? If so, let me hear about it. It would be great to have some fresh new ideas for the column!

Enjoy the ride!

Julie

 

 

Starting Fresh

I love New Years Day even more than Christmas. Last night we “celebrated” in our sane and civilized way, which allowed us to be tucked into bed by 10p. Rich worked all day, ending the busiest weeks of the year at the ski area http://skimonarch.com/. Normally I would go up and ski with him on NYs eve but with a high of -10 plus snow and 20 mph winds, I opted to hang out at home by the fire all day instead. At the end of the day, I headed up the mountain to meet Rich for the NYs festivities—a torch light parade followed by an exceptional professional fireworks display on the mountain followed by toasting the new year and hugging and laughing with many old friends. The whole thing is over by 6:00, leaving plenty of time to head home, eat dinner and be in bed by 10. We prefer to celebrate NYs on eastern time.

This morning we awoke to subzero temps giving me another great excuse to stay home, cook and sip coffee by the fire all day. It was so cold this morning that my hair froze to the edge of the hot tub and feeding the horses required arctic fleece top and bottom, insulated carhart overalls and parka, a neck gaiter and the fur-lined Elmer Fudd hat. No one cares about looking good in this kind of weather. It’s too cold to ride today, even in our solar heated indoor arena. I have a rule about that—when you go outside and take a deep breath in through your nose, there will be no riding if your boogers freeze. So instead of riding today, I’ll make the obligatory NYD black-eyed peas and hang out in front of the computer.

Watching the horses on the coldest of mornings, I always see the same behavior. Since our horses are in individual stalls which open into pens, they’ll each be hunkered into their stalls until the first rays of sunlight hit. Right before the light hits their pen, each horse will come out of his stall and stand in the very spot that the first rays of sun hit. It hits each horse’s pen at a different time and a different place in the pen, so it is very clear that each horse makes this intentional move to absorb as much heat as they can at the earliest possible moment. I’ve watched this behavior of horses in the winter here in Colorado for more than 25 years and it’s one reason why I love living in the middle of my barnyard—it’s amazing what you can learn by looking out the window. Have you made any discoveries about horses just by watching them?

I am not making any formal NYs resolutions this year because I already have a number of irons in the fire in that regard. I restarted my five-pound challenge a couple weeks ago by cutting a few calories (not so easy to do when baking 45 dozen Christmas cookies) and by boosting my workout up to a whole new level. I’ve been working out daily for a number of years and I am not in too bad a shape, but I had my butt kicked with my new workout video, “Banish Fat Boost Metabolism” by Jillian Michaels. Maybe you’ve heard of her—she’s the one from the Biggest Loser show, which I’ve never watched but I have lots of friends that love that show. Love was not the main emotion I was feeling the first week of this workout-- it’s a killer and she’s brutal; but in a strange way I love it! During the first week I was so sore I could barely put my shoes on, but after two weeks, I am feeling much stronger and Jillian is starting to grow on me. I have vowed to do this workout every day for six weeks.

For me, the five pound challenge is regular and ongoing; I’ve lost the same five pounds hundreds of times. How about you? But what keeps me motivated is that for me, there is always a TV shoot right around the corner. Not much is more motivating for losing weight and getting in better shape than seeing yourself on TV. Especially these days with the HD and widescreen format (obviously it was a tall skinny person that had the brilliant idea of making the picture wider). With a shoot coming up at the end of January, I can put up with Jillian’s brutality with a smile only face if she lives up to her promises.

Another non-new year’s resolution that I have been working on for a couple months is a total make-over of my office. This is a big project that includes cleaning out, reorganizing and labeling all my files (almost done and they are BEAUTIFUL!) and going through every stack of papers and every nook and cranny, taking each item and either throwing it away (how liberating!), filing it, or putting it into an “action” pile. The final step in this total office make-over is to reduce and reorganize the action pile by either doing it, delegating it or organizing it into a long-term project. It’s an enlightening and empowering process that I read about in a fantastic book called Getting Things Done by David Allen. Once I am finished in the office, I plan to go through my house and do the same thing. If you are looking for a resolution, I highly recommend this book.

My other non-new year’s resolution is to spend more time working on developing new products. I have resolved to get up early and spend an hour or so each morning, while it’s still dark and quiet, working on one of several projects of mine that are in the R&D phase. I’ve actually been making headway on my book—a major work on developing riding skills incorporating all the concepts, theories and teaching techniques I have developed over the last 30 years. It’s a big project that I’ve been working on for a while and it might not be finished this year, but I am making progress. My other projects include an audio series on horse behavior, new audio mounted workouts, a riding club curriculum for people that want to form study groups and the development of an apprenticeship program, which I hope to start in 2012. If I get half of that done this year, I’ll be happy. Now that I’ve gone on record with these goals, I’ll have some accountability this time next year.

What about you? Do you make resolutions? Do you actually keep them? Do you relish starting over with a fresh new year or do you begrudge the passing of time? If you have any inspirational thoughts or proven ideas to better yourself, I’d love to hear them. But for now, it’s time for me to take some more abuse from Jillian.

Wishing you a successful, productive and happy new year,

Julie