Frankie
3 year old QH gelding 14.3 HH. Franks is available through Embrace Equine Ministry - Wild Hope. He’ll be finished with his training here soon and ready for his new forever home. Frankie has the “born broke” temperament and has just the right amount of whoa and go. He’s very willing and eager to please. He’s got a ton of potential to go in many directions. He would excel at ranch horse riding, trial horse, pleasure horse, even a kids 4 H horse with some more miles under saddle. Correction to the video this is ride 6 not 5 regardless he’s amazing boy. I do not own the rights to this music.
Your horses should stand still for a farrier.
There’s no excuse for your horses not to stand still for the farrier.
All my horses were all once feral or semi feral horses. Every one I can ground tie, trim and shoe all their feet without them ripping a foot away, leaning on me, stumbling, pawing, whinnying at other horses or dancing around. They stand respectively and quiet until the job is done.
How do you get your horses to stand for the farrier? Handle their feet. “I handle their feet every time I ride! I pick every foot out!” Picking your horses feet isn’t handling their feet. Most the time horses have issues with standing for the farrier is not because they can’t pick a foot up, but because they can’t stand for a period of time with a foot up, or they don’t like the feeling of the tools of the farrier.
Handle your horses feet in such a way that actually prepared them for their feet to be worked on, not just picked up. Hold their feet up for extended periods of time. When the horse tries to rip the foot away don’t let them. If a horse moves around keep the leg up until they stand. Basically hold the foot up until they are quiet then put it down.
Your farrier is NOT your trainer. They are there to do a specific job and training your horses for them to do their job isn’t apart of it. It’s your job as an owner to make sure the professional you hired is able to do their job. You don’t hire an electrician to come and do some wiring and when they show up say “oh hey by the way you have to build the house too”.
My thoughts and methods on how to properly lung a horse.
My thoughts on using lunging to warm a horse up. Lunging shouldn’t be chasing a horse in a circle just to physically tire them out so you don’t get bucked off when you throw a leg over them. Lunging should be about not just physically warming a horse up, but mentally warming them up and getting them in tune with you and equipped for the job ahead.
Watch the full video here ⬇️⬇️⬇️
https://youtu.be/FkfXmmWhC7I?si=FWZjrLrpjLsR9kzp
How to tie a Spanish Cross knot.
Mud knots (or war knots) are yet another tradition buckaroos and working cowboys commonly practice today. These knots are meant to keep a horses tail up and out of the mud and brush while riding the range keeping them long and healthy. They also come in handy while roping keeping the cowboys rope from getting tangled in the horses tail.
How to tie a mustache mud knot.
How to tie a mustache knot.
Mud knots (or war knots) are yet another tradition buckaroos and working cowboys commonly practice today. These knots are meant to keep a horses tail up and out of the mud and brush while riding the range keeping them long and healthy. They also come in handy while roping keeping the cowboys rope from getting tangled in the horses tail.
Why use a bit of you can ride without a bridle entirely?
I often get asked “if you can ride your horses entirely bridleless, why ride with a spade/bit at all?” I don’t post these videos of me riding my horses bridleless to show I don’t need a bit with my horses, but it’s to show it’s about communication NOT control.
Biggest mistake riders do when coming across a scary obstacle
Biggest mistake riders do when coming across a scary obstacle with their horses is to try and force the horse across the obstacle by binding the horse up and pressuring the horse forward. What you want to do with your horses is not to draw their attention to what they are scared of and loose attention to you, but to draw attention back to you so that they forget about the scary things.
By getting a horses attention onto you and maintaining their focus you train your horses to
1) Stop and think before they react
2) Loom to their leader (you) for guidance
3) RESPOND (not react) to the information (cues) you provide them.
Don’t throw scary things into your horses face loosing their attention and focus until they stop reacting to it, get control of the horse and maintain their focus and attention on you instead. This in turn will build a horses confidence in themselves and in you.
Watch the full video on YouTube here:
https://youtu.be/fHkbAkwWZwY?si=DE9oZTLjJDCjxjwk
You can desensitize a horse to handle just about anything, but without control it means absolutely NOTHING. A safe horse comes from the ability to control one, not what a horse can tolerate.
You wouldn’t get in a truck and drive it down the road to work if the brakes didn’t work would you? Just because you know the engine isn’t going to blow up doesn’t make it safe to get in and drive if the brakes or steering doesn’t work. So why would you get on a 1,000 lb animal with the mindset if installing breaks and steering from its back. It doesn’t matter what you train your horse to stand still and tolerate it means nothing without control of the horse. If you can’t control a horses feet, hind end, ribs, shoulders, neck and head you don’t have control of the horse. Just because you can push it around in a round pen with tarps, teddy bears, milk jugs etc hanging off them without an explosive reaction doesn’t mean the horse is ready for the first ride. If you can’t get on and control all of the horses body and transfer the knowledge you provided from the ground to the back and get a good turn, stop, go and back without pulling the horse around get off, and get back to ground work.
Horses are allowed to have opinions and communicate them, it’s your job to take negative opinions and form positive ones.
Reward smaller steps more often.
Why does my horse rear/Buck/ act out when they are confused?
We all have had a time back when we were doing our math homework with our parents and your parent is sitting there asking “what’s 3x4?” And you say “I don’t know” and pretty soon it goes from a simple question from your parent to them yelling “YOU SHOULD KNOW THIS SARA!!! WHATS 3 X 4!!!!! JUST THINK!!!” And your confused, tired frustrated little brain just cannot think of the answer and you’re sitting there almost crying if not already in tears from being so dang frustrated. This is what is happening when you are trying to get your horse to do something and get greedy and demand too much of them too soon. This is why you get an explosive reaction. Reward smaller steps more often.
What your horse is trying to tell you is “I don’t know 2+2. I need you to break it down and show me.” Your horse may know 1+1 but that does not mean they know the next step. So when you break it down and reward the try you get a horse that becomes confident in their answer. So show them how to break 2+2 down so they can start to get the answer and reward the try. That single step in the right direction just stop. Then as you move forward when you ask “what’s 2+2?” Your horse will start to go “4??” And you say “yes. 2+2=4. Good job!” Keep rewarding the try and practicing and pretty soon your horse has a confident answer for what you ask with no explosive reaction.
Unsticking a horses feet.
“I’ve started a colt under saddle and everything has gone good, but I’m having issues with him getting sticky feet then squirting out and bolting at the trot”
A sticky footed horse is like a pressure pot. When you don’t train them to have freedom of movement and loosen the feet then every time you add pressure asking for forward movement you are adding pressure to the pot that has no release. Keep adding pressure and soon enough that pot will explode. By training your horses to have freedom of movement in their feet by disengaging them you create a pressure release on the pot. This will unstick those feet and allow your horse to move forward confidently without explosive reactions.
Watch the full video on YouTube here
https://youtu.be/YDWL73nbiL8?si=Zx2KZQscTOwlS_E0
Does your horse really not like bits, or was your horse never taught how to properly carry one?
Does your horse actually not like bits or were they never taught how to properly pack a bit?
How to tie a rope halter.
Colt provided me with a opportunity to show when you tie a rope halter properly you can always get it untied and off the horse. Never cut a halter again.
Setting a horse up for success vs just letting them figure it out.
This is my husbands 2 year old Colt who hasn’t had a halter on maybe 5 times. Essentially feral raised on a ranch in eastern Oregon until my husband had picked him out. This is the first time Colt has had his feet messed with ever. Here I show how setting your horse up for success even when it comes to something entirely new they can preform confident in themselves and you. Whereas if you just throw them into a new situation expecting them to figure it out can cause violent reactions.
Teaching a horse to think before they react will set them up for success for many new situations and scenarios in the future.
Watch the full video here
https://youtu.be/Wv8FcnJQh70?si=Z5IzkGVBQhWukpbu
Can you ask for certain speed and your horse maintain that speed without hanging on them to maintain it?
5 rides in the last 3 weeks and 10 minutes per ride I’ve gotten Fillinic from being dull to starting to respond to that feel. Just being consistent working with your horses even 10 minutes per ride, no matter how stretched out they are, can make a HUGE impact on how they respond.
For everyday riding in a double rigged western saddle you should have your front cinch and your back cinch tightened evenly. If you think that means your back cinch is going to be way too tight guess what? That means your tightening your front cinch way too much.
Ps don’t come in the comments saying “but I do cuttings, but I do reining, blah blah blah” just to argue, it’s common sense what I’m talking about here. If you need more freedom of movement in your horses back to compete then of course, but I’m talking about everyday riding and riding long distances.
How often do you dedicate time for transitions when riding?
Once a ride?
Once a week?
Once a month?
Never?
Working on transitions while riding can help your horse in a multitude of areas!