The Dream

     Regardless of discipline, the skill and control displayed by that horse and rider should be the goal of all horsemen. Notice how quickly the horse responds to the commands with a strong "Yes sir!". The rider even instructs the horse with one hand, a particularly western-like way of doing. It barely looks like the rider does anything, but the horse responds quickly and obviously under the guidance of the rider. Just the fact that the horse did all of those transitions at a canter is impressive enough! You can tell that not only is that horse extremely well trained, but he is very trusting of his rider. This is what every human and horse pair should look like.

The Scoop on Gaited Horses

     If you're like most of the horse world, or the non-horse world for that matter, you have no clue what a gaited horse is. You may have seen the word  on an advertisement or in a magazine, but you didn't really know what it meant. Since only a very few breeds are capable of doing it, it' only natural that so many people don't know what it is. So what is a gaited horse? Technically, a gait is anyway that a horse moves it's feet, but when people use the term "gaited" horse refers to any 4 beat gait that the horse does. This means that each foot touches the ground at a different time. Since there is no moment where a foot isn't on the ground this movement tends to be much smoother than 2 beat gaits such as the trot (what most people are used to) and the pace (a gait where both legs on one side are hitting the ground at the same time). 

     Now, while any pattern of the feet hitting the ground in a 4 beat motion is considered a gait, the smoothest of all gaits is called the amble. The amble -and of course the gait the Rocky Mountain Horses are known for- is where each foot hits the ground in a perfectly even count. To the untrained eye, this gait simply looks like the horse is walking super fast, but it is actually a movement of it's own. The video below is a wonderful example of what a gait on a Rocky should look like. This is a slow gait, but they can go much faster. Notice how the rider's head does not move up or down at all as she is riding. The foot fall is (and should be) back left, front left, back right, front right. My trick to tell if a horse is gaiting is to stare at the back left leg, and from there you should notice that the left front hits next, and the right side follows suit. 

     There are several breeds of gaited horses, and all have different gaits. The most common in Kentucky are Tennessee Walkers, Kentucky Mountains, Rocky Mountains, Spotted Mountains, and Saddlebreds. Although Standardbreds do pace, I don't consider them a true gaited horse because many cannot be trained to do a 4 beat gait. In my opinion, Rockies are the smoothest horses out there. However, I've ridden several very smooth Tennessee Walking Horses, Pasos, and a variety of grade horses and ponies, so breed isn't everything. Hope I've opened your eyes to the wonderful world of gaited horses! I normally say "if it sounds too good to be true it probably is" but not in the gaited world!

Keep Your Horses Warm

With the weather here in the negatives, luckily a very rare occurrence in the great state of Kentucky, we're scrambling to keep the horses here warm without freezing our fingers off in the process. Here are some articles that I've found the most helpful. 

These focus mainly on keeping horses in good health warm. 

Keeping Horses Warm -The Horse

Keeping Horses Warm -Hobby Farms

This one is specifically for helping older horses stay warm.

Your Aging Horse: Winter Horse Care- Equisearch

Things that I have done are give plenty of free choice hay, keep the younger, thinner, and any horse that would not be allowed to stand under shelter in the barn, and check water frequently, breaking ice as necessary. The free choice hay is especially important because the horses need all of the forage to regulate their internal temperature. Super high quality hay isn't necessarily as important as a large amount. They need the calories, but they need it spread out during the day, and horses tend to eat higher quality hays such as alfalfa too quickly. As long as the horses have a good, thick winter coat, plenty of hay, and access to shelter, they should be fine. Good luck, and I hope all your horses and your fingers stay warm during this crazy cold spell!

Here are a few pictures of my baby this morning in the disappointing amount of snow we got last night.

Hay is important! Drover has no issues with having access to more hay!

Just look at that fluffy winter coat

Ground Work is the Key to the Perfect Saddle Horse

     Some people believe that horses are born knowing how to be ridden. Hate to burst your bubble, but that is 100% false. Trust me, I've worked with several youngsters, and when they hit they ground, all they know is that they have to get up, and figure out how to nurse. Everything else has to be taught to them. Horse people refer to this as ground work, and without it, that horse would never let you ride it. Ground work covers a wide variety of skills from simply how to lead a horse, to teaching it tricks, to lunging and respect games. No matter what the exercise, the purpose of ground work should be to strengthen the bond between horse and rider. The better the bond, the more respectful the horse is, and the better behaved it will be under-saddle.

     My favorite ground exercises are: 

1) Desensitizing- it's not really a single exercise, but really just getting your horse used to anything that may scare it. My favorite scary things are inner tubes, tarps, anything that makes a crinkly/popping noise, a platform/teeter-totter, and flags. The more often you "scare" your horse with new things, the less he will freak out about them because to him it's just another crazy thing that his owner is doing. I'm constantly trying to scare Drover, and every time I come in with a new object he just gives me the "Really? What are you going to make me do nooww?" Look, and stands there like a trooper. Nothing fazes him! 

Playing on the platform with Drover

2) Trick Teaching- It may just be the kid in me, but I love to teach horses how to do cute tricks!! Drover's owner is opposed to most of my ideas, so I've only been allowed to teach him the Spanish walk (I'll post a video as soon as he's doing it well), but I have a friend with plenty of minis who I can teach as many tricks to as I'd like! The best part of trick training is that you will never teach two horses how to do the same trick the same way because not all horses learn the same way. Just like people, they learn at different speeds, and have different strengths and weaknesses. So it's a fun challenge, lets you learn how your horse learns, and you get to show off the adorable trick to your friends! It's a win-win situation! My favorite tricks are the Spanish walk, bow, and smile. 

     Riding is fun, but don't forget to spend time on the ground too. There is so much more to working with a horse than riding!

When you're on the same wavelength as your horse, everything runs smoother! This is what we look like after a session on the ground!

The Importance of Trust

       A wise man once told me "It is not important that you trust the horse, but that the horse trusts you". That wise guy happened to be a great thoroughbred trainer buddy of mine, and "once" was yesterday, but that's not the point. The point is that the single most important thing to ANY relationship, whether it's a human-human or human-animal, is trust. Without trust, your relationship will never, ever succeed. It's as simple as that.
     The best way to earn your horse's trust is by being a good leader. Stay confident, even when you're scared to death. I know, that sounds a little impossible, but you have to keep in mind that your horse can sense how you are feeling. If you are tense and scared, he'll be tense and scared. If you're relaxed, he'll know that he can relax. You can't "ride scared" and expect for your horse to be cool calm and collected.
     It may just be the crazy teenager in me, but very few things scare me. "My" horse, Drover, knows that, and that's why we work so well together. He has absolute faith that if something pops out in front of him on the trail, and I don't freak out about it then there's no reason for him to freak out about it.
     The younger you start working with a horse, the better your relationship will be. The perfect example of this is my friend's Rocky Mountain filly. By the time she was 5 minutes old, we had already had our hands all over her. This is a picture of the same filly at four months old.

There is nothing more beautiful than a horse that will let you enter her stall while she's napping, and just let you lay down beside her. The only thing more amazing than this is her allowing someone to actually sit on her. 

When your horses trust you, there is nothing that you can't do with them.

The Horses That Made Me

I could start this blog with a long list of things that I've accomplished, where I've ridden over the years, and who my trainers were, but all of that would not make a hill of beans if the horses that touched my heart hadn't been there. So, here are the horses who truly made me the rider and trainer that I am today.

Felicia

My first love. To be honest, I don’t know what breed she was, or even how old she was, but I knew her chestnut coat sparkled, and her feet could fly. I was seven when we met for the first time at Touch-of-Dutch’s Pony Camp. She introduced me to all things horse, from grooming to jumping. I was a pretty quick learner, even back then. A year later she was permanently retired as a riding horse due to a hoof injury. It absolutely broke my heart.

Blake

The Black Stallion -ok, he was a gelding, but he didn’t act like it!- A retired race horse, and my second love at Touch-of-Dutch. He taught me how to really jump, and how to be balanced because it was that or fall with his trot! He was a stubborn boy, and enjoyed playing “keep away” with his head if there was ever a bridle in my hand, but he made me a better rider, a tougher girl, and a lot smarter about getting my way.

Sonata

At eighteen years old, you’d think this mare would have been calm, cool, and collected, but this Arab was hot to trot, and loved to canter. She was the first horse I ever cantered on, it was on accident, but who really cares?

Patrick

Fast forward eight years, and I finally got a horse of my very own. Ok, he was a lease, but he was mine. I paid for him. I trained him. I cleaned his messes. He. Was. Mine. He was a varnish roan Appaloosa yearling, and not a particularly pretty one at that, but he could have been beat with an ugly stick, and as far as my trainer is concerned, he was, and I would have just loved him all that much more. At first though, it was not all love. It took FOUR people to shove him into a trailer from a little stall (he was a field baby), and half the day for him to decide he wanted to come out of the trailer. If I looked at him- he jumped- and touching him was impossible, much less love on him as much as I was dying to do! Within a couple hours, I had him leading on a loose line (he was not broke to lead). On the second day, he was following me around with no lead. On day three, I had him standing on the platform. This horse taught me how to teach a horse. He taught me how to bond with another species. He only strengthened my love for horses. He is the reason I know all I do now. In a little over two months, I took a horse who had never been touched , and taught him to be lead, stand tied, trailer perfectly, deal with water, come when called, deal with a bridle and a saddle. I was never allowed to get on him, but if he he had been old enough, I would have in a heart beat! Above everything else, this horse taught me the importance of ground work.

Shirock

A ten year old RMHA/KMSHA mare with a serious lazy issue. She was the first horse I was allowed to ride at Hidden Jem Ranch. I had been working with Patrick all summer on the ground, but when I sold him, I didn't want to stop playing, so I kept hanging around the barn, and helping, and she let me ride Shirock! This was the best broke horse I have ever met. She will absolutely put up with anything! Probably because she is owned by my trainer’s daughter, and she has been put through a LOT of obstacles! She is THE sweetest mare ever, and also the easiest to ride. This may be because of her laziness, which is where she helped me. Shirock likes to eat. I like to go forward. Shirock taught me how to properly persuade a horse to move forward. You can flog her all you want, but if she doesn't want to move; she’s not going anywhere, but ask nicely, and she will.

Drover

A five year old Rocky Mountain Gelding, and the son of Shirock. He belongs to my trainer’s husband, but I definitely claim him as mine. He has go. I like go. This boy, although usually inflicted with as much laziness as his momma when he is away from home has a motor that will go all day on the trails, and a gait that you can drink wine off of! Of course I haven't tried that...but if you wanted to you could! He’s an absolute trooper too! He always puts up with anything I ask him to do! We've jumped logs, raced barrels, cantered across fields, crossed water, ran bareback, and everything else I've come up with, and he has almost never batted an eye! This boy has taught me so much, from how to sit a canter, to how to fix a pace. He is by far my favorite on the farm, and I don't have quite the bond with him that I had with Patrick, but I trust him with my life.

Elle

I should say Princess Elle, because that’s how she acts. seven years old, 14.1 hands, and definitely the diva of the farm! Shirock may be the boss mare, but this one is the vice president. She is also the mother of half the herd, so that helps. She has taught me problem solving skills. She slammed my knee into the gate, and I learned to turn her head till she stops. She wanted to go forward, and I learned to make her stand there. Our personalities clash like fire and ice, but its good for both of us. She has helped me the most outside of the barn. I now know how to deal with people who bug me. I know how to smile and nod and say "that's nice" when really all I want to do is slap them. As much as we butt heads, I love Elle, and she really is a good mare. 

Rhonan

This guy is a little black beauty, and the son of Elle. GORGEOUS black three year old with long locks, and eyes that you can get lost in! Only thing is, he’s three, and needs more work. He does fantastic normally, but he’s still a kid at heart. Noisy Water bottles will kill him, and so will a moving flower! He's teaching me to be soft with my hands, and to give a "good boy" at the slightest try. Patrick also taught me this, but it's completely different when you’re in the saddle.

Talon

An equally gorgeous black almost stallion (he going to be, but we changed our mind) yearling, and also Elle’s baby. He has taught me how to be calm, while still always being on the look out. When Elle had him, she was viciously protective. If you looked at talon, she would have bit your face off, and two weeks after he was born, Elle was sent to be bred again, so he wasn’t handled nearly as much as he would have been under normal circumstances. That combined with the neighbors hand feeding him over the fence, and he’s nippy with few manners. After lots of work, he’s better now, but I still don’t trust him.

Wingnut

My first foal. For the short 5 days he was with me, I loved him every second, and at a mere three days old, when he walked away from his momma to put his fuzzy little muzzle on my thigh; I knew he loved me back. Technically, he was not MY baby, but every time I walked into his stall, his ears perked, and I had a connection with him, and I’m going to claim him.

Lightening

My most recent horse to play with, and first "real" barrel horse! This guy is a 6 year old, green broke Quarter Horse, and is my 4-H project horse for 2013-2014! He is very smart and willing to learn, but we haven't quite spent enough time together yet to be on the same wavelength. Right now we're learning how to work with each other, and I'm teaching him how to run barrels as his owner is teaching me how to teach him!