SureFire Horsemanship, LLC

01/18/2024

The Appaloosa is a horse breed associated historically with the Nez Perce (Niimipu) Tribe. The name may originate from “a Palouse,” which referred to the region where the horses were bred. It is likely that these horses originally came from a variety of Spanish horses—so-called spotted horses—that were traded into the Northwest by the mid to late eighteenth century. The horses were then bred by the Nez Perce.

The Appaloosa is also known as the Nez Perce Horse. The first documented reports of horses in Oregon are in the journals of Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, who noted spotted horses similar to the Appaloosa among the Nez Perce Tribe.

The Nez Perce valued the Appaloosa for its intelligent temperament, sure-footedness, endurance, and speed. They required their horses to negotiate the treacherous trails from their winter quarters in the Wallowa Valley of eastern Oregon through the Rocky Mountains to the summer encampments on the Plains. The horses were fast enough to catch a bison and paso fino—that is, smooth-gaited—enough to allow a hunter to fire with accuracy from a full gallop.

The original Nez Perce Appaloosa nearly died out after the Nez Perce War in 1876, when the U.S. military confiscated the Tribe’s herds. A few of the breed survived into the twentieth century, however, and in the 1930s horsemen in eastern Oregon worked to revive it. As a modern horse breed, the Appaloosa is distinctive for its mottled skin, visible sclera (the white outer layer of the eye), and vertical-striped hooves.

The Appaloosa is one of the most distinctive and valued American horse breeds in the world. The Nez Perce Tribe and other horse ranchers in the region are continuing to develop the desirable traits that were bred into the original breed in the nineteenth century.

By David Lewis (Takelma, Chinook,
Molalla, Santiam Kalapuya)

Photo via Holdyourhorsies

01/18/2024

Availability for makeups today
4 hours offered the next 2 Monday BOOK IF YOU WANT MAKEUPS

01/18/2024

As an avid learner of correct biomechanics of the horse I subscribed a while back to Becks Nairn’s Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/Becks_nairn/posts) I cannot recommend it highly enough. It has been such an eye opener and until I can get to an actual dissection, her Patreon has given me so much food for thought.

Becks recently posted a video of a horse’s cervical spine with the nuchal liagament still attached. Seeing the movement aberrations of the neck created by riding horses behind the vertical, is something every rider needs to see for themselves IMHO.

There are numerous studies demonstrating that excessive flexion puts tension on the nuchal ligament, leading to a variety of injuries throughout the horses body. As riders, it’s critical to remember that the nuchal ligament inserts at the withers (its origin is at the external occipital protuberance at the occipital crest and posterior tubercle of the atlas). From its insertion at the withers, it attaches to the supraspinous ligament, which acts much like a suspension bridge and runs the entire length of the horses spine to the tail.

Armed with this important information it makes perfect sense that when the nuchal ligament is over tightened, as it is when riding behind vertical, it results in a host of physiological issues. Riding horses behind vertical does not take into consideration the anatomy of the horses spine and its subsequent supporting structures. This incorrect posture, such as when the horse’s neck shows this unnatural bend around C2/C3, can only lead to stress on these structures. Bones will adapt at attachment and insertion sites to the excessive loading and remodel, creating boney formations which, more often than not, cause our horses further pain and discomfort. (Photos of some of these remodeled bones in comments thanks to Becks!)

Keeping our horses sound and working can be a challenge on a good day. Having this information can help us in ensuring our horses stay sound for many years to come.

A huge thank you to Becks for entertaining my curiosity and being so generous with her knowledge and experience. ❤️

01/18/2024

Cowtown in Cooper is a brand new feature debuting at Equine Affaire in Ohio! What's Cowtown in Cooper? Glad you asked!

🐴 It's a two-day educational showcase of cattle-oriented Western disciplines.

🐴 Featuring clinics and demos, Cowtown in Cooper will be the perfect deep dive into all things Western!

🐴 Pack your cowboy hats and boots and plan on enjoying an authentic Western experience in Cooper Arena.

🐴 More details on presenters and a schedule will be coming soon -- stay tuned!

And special thanks to Western Life Today for sponsoring this exciting event.

01/18/2024

I love our dorks.

And a very good message.
Do what is best, especially if you know your horse. Don’t let others guilt you with unrealistic expectations ♥️

01/18/2024

Very easy, lessons walking and flexing only lessons, working on seat awareness and liberty work/tricks with Carson and Neiko

why my pssm horse is “cold backed” until warmed up

Talked briefly about bits

And why we use browband headstalls with snaffle bits and single/double ear headstalls for curb bits traditionally

01/18/2024

Talent Is A Gift..

01/18/2024

I was like “what archer pages do I follow” oh it’s Amy spreading some truth again

01/18/2024

SAME WITH RIDING you won’t be an Olympian despite ability or talent if someone makes you believe you can’t

That’s not being mentally weak that’s someone else being a bully. Even the comments are telling. Let’s stop lazy teaching, if you’re blaming your student you aren’t much better than a rider blaming the horse

01/17/2024

What’s your favorite thing about winter?
Mine is lack of mosquitoes, lack of flies, less sweat…but not no sweat
😅 trying to remember a reason for every season

01/17/2024

I’m not personally canceling, I feel bad doing so many days missed
We will do modified shortened lessons
No penalty if the student decide to skip

01/17/2024

I often tell my students “we don’t have to go to harder- we can hold duration” there are so many calm and none tense ways to use pressure. It is just as much of an art of training as GOOD R+ in my opinion

When you're riding your horse and using your seat, legs, and hand, be aware that it's not always an escalation in pressure that gets a positive change.

One of the most elementary ways to teach the use of pressure is to teach it in levels of intensity. Let's say level one is a squeeze of the leg, level two is a bump, and level three is a kick.

Sometimes this method can work. And it can be useful for your safety.

But what works better isn't escalating, but changing the pressure or position a little. Or making the ask a little more exaggerated but keeping the intensity the same.

What's the difference between exaggerating and escalating? Escalating is an ask, tell, command. This can lead to a brace and then a bigger burst of energy. Horses that are solely trained in this manner are very tense. Exaggerating just means getting a little bigger or changing it up without a repercussion if there's no response.

Often times our horses are delayed or slow if we are not setting them up good enough. It isn't fair then to give them an escalation to make something happen when it didn't make sense in the first place.

Try to set it up for your horse and let them find it. We are so quick to make the horse do what we want but a simple change of the seat bone, leg position, or body position on the ground makes everything go much much smoother. In the long run, this becomes quicker as the horse opens up their willingness to trust and their ability to follow your guidance without question.

This leads to more relaxation and better movement. Which is what we're after anyways!

Pic of when your husband drives by- he must take a photo!

01/17/2024

Every barn is a bit different and I think that’s fine…everyone kinda has their own needs and thrives with different things for sure.

I think I’m cautious, not paranoid. I’ve seen some of the worst things happen to horses but I’ve also seen them survive some shocking things too…

My horses have been great in winter.
2 main things I pay attention to, the ✌️ 2 TWO most important things that I check, check in with my staff about, and ask when I come in, in the morning, “did they all still have hay left?” This lets me know I’m giving enough and “who’s not drinking”
I watch trends and what is normal, and what isn’t

Catching that is how you keep a very small issue from becoming a very big one.

Are my horses not drinking because there is ice? They’re cold? Not enough forage to encourage intake? Lack of salt?

Or -if there is a heated bucket or trough, is their a short they can sense?

If a horse suddenly changes consumption of either I watch them even more closely.

01/17/2024

The bookend method…. Take two qualities you want simultaneously, but can only do one at a time, and sandwhich them!

One of the best examples is that any time you increase collection do you want to be sure you can immediately return to relaxation. The easiest way to do that is to make sure you work on relaxation before the collection.

 Another classic example is that maybe there is a quality you have in the trot that you do not yet have in the canter. Let’s say you can get your horse to stretch forward and down while trotting, but not so much in the canter… so go back-and-forth between a stretchy trot, and a few strides of canter, and return immediately to a stretchy trot.  Initially you’ll probably just be working on returning to stretchy trot as quickly as you can because just having done a not so stretchy canter might make it harder. Or maybe it’s more difficult to pick up the canter from a stretchy trot. However it plays out, you will end up working on whatever ingredients it is that you need to get that stretch in the canter. 

Too often people keep trotting around, pulling in cranking and trying to get the horse to do something …. maybe flex right. Walk and get it. If that doesn’t work, halt and get it! Then walk a few steps, halt, flex right, walk a few steps, halt, flex right. Soon you’ll get it in the walk no problem. Then trot a few steps, walk, flex right, trot,… you get the idea.

What two qualities can you do individually, but would like to get simultaneously??

01/16/2024

This is why we don’t do anything outside of walking once the weather drops below 25
There’s a lot you can learn off of the horse as well

They do fine and cold, temps, regulating themselves, however, any kind of hard work or inflammation on the airway. Long term is not good.

How cold is too cold to ride my horse? We often are asked this question during cold snaps like the one we're currently experiencing.

The effects of cold weather on equine airways have actually been researched to a degree, with enough negative effects seen to reconsider just forging ahead despite the temperatures.

1) Horses breathing 25 degree F air during a sub maximal exercise session on a treadmill showed an influx of neutrophils (a type of white blood cell) and inflammatory cytokine substances for up to 48 hours after the session, and researchers suggested this altered immunological responses enough to potentially predispose them to infection with viruses, etc. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17269885/

2) Another study shows exercise even in the 40 degree range can cause some damage to the mucosal tissue of airways as assessed by sampling of fluid in the airways. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12405726/

It's also known that human athletes (such as skiiers) who routinely exercise in cold weather are predisposed to a type of asthma from chronic insults to their lung and airway tissues.

So how do we extrapolate these findings to our own equine athletes? It's probably fine to walk your horses under saddle even in quite cold weather, but avoiding strenuous exercise below freezing makes sense, especially for horses with a predisposition towards asthma or other respiratory issues. Additionally, watch out for dusty arenas (often the case in the winter when it's too cold to water them) because the effect of inhaling dust on top of compromised immunity from cold air can compound the problem!

01/16/2024

Schedule open through rest of the month
Next Monday and the one after 4 hours are open for makeups due to weather
Februarys posted late tonight

01/16/2024

Would folks like getting texted a link to their invoice as well? It seems some have been getting missed 😬 I just hate a million alerts

01/16/2024

It actually doesn’t slow down which is why many of you are just now hearing from me

Here’s to the owners who are outside every couple of hours to monitor their horses’ health in these frigid temps.

Here’s to the owners who are checking waterers for ice. Here’s to the owners who are freezing their fingers to hang up their hose, or bringing hoses inside their house to keep from freezing.

Here’s to the owners switching blankets, double blanketing, or cleaning out shelters for their unblanketed horses. Here’s to the owners who are worried if their horse is staying warm enough with or without their blanket.

Here’s to the owners who are throwing countless flakes of loose hay out while making sure the round bale feeders don’t go empty.

Here’s to the owners praying that equipment starts, and hydraulics work smoothly. Here’s to the owners who figure it out when the equipment fails you.

Here’s to the messy mud room, filled with winter bibs, charged heated vests, boot dryers plugged in, and headlamps charged. Here’s to the countless pairs of gloves you have to swap out each time you venture outside.

Here’s to the rigorous training schedules, riding lessons, and busy barn coming to a halt. Here’s to putting the health of the animal’s first.

Here’s to the part of horse management that isn’t so glamorous. Thank you for all you are doing for the safety and wellbeing of your horses during this time.

Here’s to all of us ❄️🩵

01/16/2024

Chris is here NEXT Tuesday, the 23
I know most horses are do
Just letting everyone know

Thankful!! Very thankful for the lovely clients, almost always on time, offering snacks and food, understanding with us as they expect us to be of them

YOU are wonderful and keep us going and YOU are allowed to (occasionally) break some rules because you bend over backwards for us!

One of my best clients had a true emergency and had to cancel last minute, I won’t charge her. She’s an amazing client.

The few problems know who they are and they won’t be on the books much longer.
Good clients deserve our energy 👏 thanks and much much love

Chris’s mare

01/16/2024

All horses do this
Horses with PSSM do it a LOT until their managed well
This was Teddy last year.
He liked to “break in 2” in a snaffle his owner said and needed a tomb thumb…
When Teddy left he was on a calorie reduced diet, gained weight and muscle on a pssm appropriate diet, and was ridden regularly.
The last “problem” horse I had come in last year before my arm took a beating.

01/16/2024

01/16/2024

I am tired of
“We were beat so it’s fine”
“The horses like it”
“I had it happen to me and I’m doing fine so it must be fine”
You are a broke (or lucky adult to never me traumatized) to get to such an age you are still in denial about what bad experiences do to us and our ability to learn.
Firm doesn’t mean nasty.
I am anything but weak, I am anything but a pony petter or a participation reward giver, yet I haven’t called my students such names.
It is a LAZY excuse and I will stand by it
I am glad others do to

01/16/2024

I’m sure everyone knows-too cold for lessons today
Modified lessons tomorrow
And we’ll be filming more to show you don’t need to be ignorantly harsh to be able to push our riders

01/16/2024

Going to post the video of the trainer who very kindly gave more modern, kind, yet still very instructive directions next, who showed she could say the same thing “is the instruction clear? Say it back to me? How do you understand it”
Instead of “bird brains” lazy instructing

I am old school. Well, I am also getting older as later this year I turn 55. As a junior rider, I rode in clinics with the likes of George Morris and Ian Millar. THEY WERE TOUGH! Hard on the ego an…

01/16/2024

Sky thank you!
This is wonderful.
Sky and her friends had to come due a project at the barn and the only reason I found it was I was doing some Google updates-thanks kiddo

And I know everyone loves Toby

Created by Academy Vibe students:Sky SpiritiGrace StarrettJackson DekleLucina Jankowski©2023 Hilliard Imagination NetworkThis commercial was scripted, shot, ...

01/16/2024

01/16/2024

Can you lend a hand?
Give your time?
Help with funds?
Include them in prayer?

Helping others comes in all different forms.
Do what you can. ♥️

01/16/2024

Was super warm at the dentist office this afternoon.
This evening….our mustang didn’t even want to come inside

So much harder on the humans. I found the dentist office to be a relaxing break from the bitter wind 🌬️ 🥶

01/16/2024

Providing evidence-based mental health training across the state of Ohio.

01/16/2024

Once you’ve started 50 and realize no two are alike (even the full siblings raised at the same place) you start to be a little less likely to assume that you know what to expect!