06/25/2025
Lots of good advice here.
Yesterday, I met and watched the teaching of one of my honest-to-goodness horsemanship heroes.
Al Dunning—for those of you who either live on another planet, or are not followers of western performance horses—is a master trainer of cutters, reiners and working cowhorses, pleasure horses, rope horses, trail and even barrel horses. His barn has been home to a number of hunters and jumpers, too. He has won more world and reserve titles—48—than any other trainer in the NCHA, AQHA, NRCHA, and NRHA. He is a carded judge in all four organizations.
As he says about old-time versatility, “If they opened the gate, we rode in.” As a young rider, he apprenticed with Jim Paul and Don Dodge for eleven years, before going out on his own.
“Learn. Just learn!” he says, from the oldtimers around you and then, from the young guns who are blazing new trails.
Two of his books—Reining, published by The Western Horseman and The Art of Hackamore Training, co-authored with the late Benny Guitron—are staples on the bookshelves of keen horsemen. The man has evolved with performance horsemanship over six decades. He has been married to his college sweetheart for 52 years, which is accomplishment enough. Al still maintains a thriving teaching and training business, along with a social media presence, hosting famous guests on his regular Facebook live videos.
Best of all, when one meets a hero such as this, is finding that he is also a fine and caring human being, with a genuine sense of humour for people and an undying love of the horse.
The occasion was a two-day clinic, hosted by the Canadian Quarter Horse Association. I had wanted very badly to ride in this event, to learn in the saddle from this great man, but with a shortage of hay staring us in the face and two horses newly on ulcer meds, it just wasn’t in the cards for me. Undaunted, I showed up to audit the clinic with my notebook and pen in hand.
Here are just a few ‘Al-isms’ for your learning pleasure… and probably about one-quarter of all the gems I wrote down.
• “Ride the backend! Forget about the front!”
• “Legs on with rhythm to go! Slow and stop the rhythm of your legs to slow and stop your horse…”
• “If you want your horse to go right, then sit right. But don’t lean, stay in the centre! Be athletic! Be able to rise straight up from where you sit. Get your legs under you!”
• “Basic Western Horse Training means that every horse needs: 1) To go forward happily and readily, from leading as a baby, to riding later on. 2) To turn, steer or guide easily, equally, both left and right. 3) To stop! 4) To back up, for this is the way to get the hocks involved, ‘accordioning’ the horse’s body. 5) To find collection, which means understanding the legs, two-tracking, lead changes, all up into a round feeling. All riding horses should be able to build on these steps and add to them throughout their life. Just build and add!”
• “Once we get the horse to soften, we want to convince him that he can stay there, or find self-carriage. How do we do this? With the rhythmic legs…”
• "A soft poll will stop a gaping mouth, not a noseband. That is up to us!"
• “Legs help and correct a busy mouth, not the hands.”
• "Learn from Dressage! Yes, even in the western performance events."
• “Inside rein first for bend, outside rein for roundness!” (Which I loved, for so much of this went back to my days with Mrs. Boerschmann. It truly is a small world.)
• "On a green horse, you are building a triangle between his bit and your two hands. Help and support him!"
• "Stop and transition down with the outside rein, not the inside rein."
• “Ride those shoulders where you want to go! The head is just ‘hooked on’ to the rest of the horse.”
• “Trust in the pattern! Don’t fight him!”
• “Close your hand, you’re not drinking tea! If that little finger is stiff, it means that your hand and arm are stiff, too.”
• “Pull that back cinch up a hole!”
• “Pull back, the horse goes out… pull up a bit and the horse’s head naturally goes down!”
• "If your horse keeps bending out, don’t ride with so much outside leg… or, are your reins even?"
• “A weaker rider, the horse always fades in on the turns; a stronger rider who uses her legs, the horse will stay out…”
• “Keep your counter-canter smooth, subtle, simple. It is one sure sign of the working relationship between you and your horse. Until you can counter-canter, you have no real control over the shoulders or hips and you should not be changing leads.”
• "Horses do not change leads UNTIL you change your legs!"
• “A saddle should be big enough to have some room, a hand’s breadth at least, behind your backside. You want to be able to slide around a bit.”
• "It is a fallacy that snaffle bits are for pulling. No! They’re made to slide a bit, from side to side, so ride with one rein, then the other. Use a straight line between the elbow and the bit, no limp wristed stuff! Thumbs are up, elbows work like pistons, so bend them!"
• “Sit still, don’t pump. The lower body does the work, not the top. Eyes forward and be balanced, like a tennis player receiving a service. You are not on a couch; don’t disappoint me!”
• “Don’t stare across the circle, unless you’re jumping horses. Ride while looking over the inside eye. Mind your track! Don’t be wandery!”
• “The turnaround (spin) and the lead change is built on what comes before. If it isn’t there, don’t even try it. Fix the before, first.”
• “Be a stickler with your equipment. If that bridle, or saddle, or breast collar has a keeper on it, then tuck your darned straps in!”
• “Constantly—constantly—self-check your own position by standing up in the stirrups slightly and lowering yourself back down… without using your hands.”
• “Practice shortening and lengthening your split reins, one-handed, in front of the TV. You don’t need to be bumbling around on your horse.”
• “If your horse is front-end heavy, sit the large fast circle in your reining, don’t stand up over his neck. He doesn’t need that extra weight.”
• “A horse who won’t guide one-handed yet, cross those reins under his neck. Just get riding! So many broke horses go better if we trust them with one hand, than micro-manage them with two… Too many of these horses are ‘hand oriented’, rather than taking direction from the rider’s legs!”
• “Talk about it less and do it more.”
• “This isn’t about me; it’s about you today. The student steers the lesson! The teacher sees and answers what is needed at that time.”
• “Do as little as possible and as much as necessary. Building good horses is like building a house; don’t go on if the foundation is crumbling. Fix that, first!”
• “Horsemanship is somehow making each horse in your hands as good as it can be. Don’t ever cross beyond what his mind or his body can take… but build up to sometimes come close to it. Learn that line and don’t push over it.”
• “Don’t ever be afraid to ask.”
• “Don’t be one of those people who will not allow a horse to make a mistake. When he does, just teach him, don’t overreact. So many people don’t understand that the ‘punishment has to fit the crime’. He made a mistake; don’t sentence him to ten years! There’s a lot of ‘jerk and spur’ that doesn’t belong here, folks.”
• “If it’s not working, stop doing it. Find a new tool.”
• “Your horse has enough to do, he doesn’t need to ‘hold that bit up in his mouth’… (sorry Tom and Ray, I’m with Al on this). Adjust that bridle to put the bit where it should be, in the first place!”
• “Make a strong enough aid that you don’t need to keep making it! Then, you can lighten it as you go along.”
• “If you ride with spurs, put your heels down and use your legs.” (Which made me giggle, for it’s true.)
• "Sit up! Look up! Don’t ride around like you’ve dropped something in the arena dirt!”
• "If you use cheap, garbage bits and gear, stop expecting great results."
• "Slow your hands down. Slow your hands down. Slow your hands down!"
• “Ride them five days a week but train them only two days a week. Turn them out as much as you can. Remember, they also need one or two days without you doing anything at all, but their chores.”
This day was a real highlight for me, meeting this man who has done so much good for western horses and their people. Thank you, Al Dunning, for always being willing to share.
