Elliston Equine Solutions, LLC

04/24/2025

Throwback Thursday: I just stumbled upon this honorable certificate, which brought back a flood of fond memories of my time as the Horse Trainer for B Troop, 4th US Cavalry. A fantastic horse program of horses and troopers for the U.S. Army and Fort Huachuca. After my year-long contract, I decided not to renew it because of the long travel distance from where I was living at the time. I still have many friends who are in B Troop, and I see them regularly. Many of whom I ride with to this day. Fantastic folks, and from my understanding, they are still looking for volunteers for the troop as members. Check them out on their page. Cheers- Travis

04/23/2025

Last week was a good one—not fantastic, but good. This was only because of the 60 mph winds on Thursday. We are still busy starting the three Mustangs in the morning and clients in the afternoon. Our services include beginner horse owner lessons, starting horses, working with troubled horses, horsemanship lessons, and other finer points of the equine industry. I was also able to ride and work with some of my horses. We are proud to serve the Sierra Vista, Hereford, Palominas, Whetstone, and Sonita area.

04/20/2025

04/17/2025

A good week of adopters working their horses with ground work, catching and haltering, leading to tie up to the trailer, you can also hear the screeching of tires and the sound of fast cars while we work these Mustangs. The local police department and the academy have been training on the track next to us. The horses are more in tune with us handlers than with what is going on around us. Waiting on what we want next. This is what we want. Fun stuff!

04/15/2025

Last week was really busy with the 3 Mustangs in the morning, horsemanship, riding lessons, and horse starting in the afternoons, plus squeezing in my own horses to ride. It was a very productive week, and I am proud of all the accomplishments of my clients and the horses and thankful for the good weather we had! Not all my clients are on this roll-up for a picture, nor are all the horses that I rode. I could ride all my horses at the stable, including Poncho. I was able to put his 8th ride on without a hitch. With my leg still, in recovery and with me waiting for it to grow stronger, I was finally able to leg up on him a few months after my surgery and without him not being touched. It was a good feeling and made me happy that we could accomplish our ride together. Good stuff!

04/09/2025

Last week, we worked the horses for four days. Lots of catching and tying the halters, leading, groundwork, "sacking out" and tying to the Ted Blocker Tie Ring. We did have some fantastic visitors come and watch the process of training. At the beginning of this video, you will see the adopters of the Mustangs working with their own horses. For time stamps, you will see Adopters 0-22:35, Zeav leading, and groundwork 22:36-37:50, Sidh 37:50 - 1:02:25, Curry 1:15:54 and Sidh 1:24:55 to end. You will see that all the Mustangs are improving in all areas. These videos are from the students/adopters who are present. There is no music and really no excitement with it. Unless you're a student of the horse and are interested in looking at the micros and not the macros of training Mustangs from scratch, you probably won't be interested. But, if you stick with it... you will see good folks and horses working towards a common goal of understanding, communication, and caring. Cheers- Travis

04/04/2025

Sorry for the late roll-up from last week. Besides working with three wild Mustangs in the morning (weekly videos posted), I have fantastic students of the horse sessions in the afternoon. Plus, my own horses to ride. My days are blessed with busyness. My students in the afternoon did tasks ranging from groundwork to basic riding skills. Learning to move the front end independently from the hind end, 'breaking the four corners" (moving the 4 legs in different directions), lateral work, building confidence riding outside the round pen, and other exciting items of interest. One young horse I was working with during her first obstacle course was a bridge. We went over, and a rabbit popped out from underneath quickly. I stayed relaxed without tightening a muscle as I saw it out of the corner of my eye. Combined with the sound mind of the horse... everything went without a hitch. No worries. The weather in the afternoon this week with the wind has been a challenge with all my clients. Lots of cancellations with 45 mph gusts of wind, blowing sand, and debris. I look forward to working with my wonderful clients and their horses next week with hopefully good weather. Cheers- Travis

04/02/2025

Consistency, Precision, and Accuracy in Horse Training

Training horses requires more than just skill; it demands unwavering consistency, precision, and accuracy. Inconsistency confuses the animal, hindering progress and potentially creating behavioral problems. As renowned equine behaviorist Monty Roberts famously stated, “The horse doesn’t care what you know until he knows that you care. ” This emphasizes the importance of building trust and establishing clear, consistent communication.

Consistency in training involves maintaining a predictable approach. This means utilizing the same cues, commands, and rewards consistently. If a certain hand signal indicates a halt, it should always indicate a halt, never a turn or a walk. Variability in commands undermines the horse's understanding and creates ambiguity. Precision further refines this consistency, focusing on the precise ex*****on of each movement. For example, when teaching a horse to yield to pressure on its flank, the pressure must be applied precisely and consistently, avoiding any haphazard or overly forceful applications. This approach minimizes confusion and maximizes the horse’s ability to learn.

Accuracy in horse training necessitates a careful observation of the animal’s response. A skilled trainer doesn’t just issue commands; they meticulously observe the horse's reaction to determine the effectiveness of their technique. Are the responses consistent, timely, and precise? Here is another example of Accuracy, while closely related to precision, involves the correctness of the actions taken by the trainer or rider. For example, jumping exercises should be set to appropriate heights based on the horse's abilities. If a rider repeatedly uses jumps that are too high or too low, they can affect the horse’s confidence and performance. Maintaining proper training heights reflects a commitment to accuracy in training, which ultimately supports a horse's growth and learning.

The benefits of consistent, precise, and accurate training are numerous. It fosters a strong bond between horse and handler based on mutual understanding and trust. This leads to a more willing and responsive horse, enhancing performance in disciplines such as dressage, jumping, or even trail riding. Moreover, a well-trained horse is a safer horse, reducing the risk of accidents caused by miscommunication or misunderstanding. In contrast, inconsistent training often results in fearful, unpredictable, or even aggressive behavior, posing risks to both the horse and the handler.

In the end, consistent, precise, and accurate training methods are paramount in developing a strong, reliable horse on the “payroll” for its boss/rider, the leader. Trainers can cultivate well-behaved, responsive, and safe equine performance by prioritizing clarity, attentiveness, and a commitment to consistent application. These training methods reinforce the importance of precision and accuracy in every aspect of the horse-human relationship. Cheers- Travis

03/31/2025

Here we are with Curry, Sidh, and Zeav for the 24-28 March week. This is another video of the wild Mustangs, with full transparency from videos taken by the adopters of these three horses. They are in random order with no dates. You will see "sacking out", groundwork, and me doing the "Superman" on their backs. Sidh is at the time mark 45:42, Curry 23:29, and Zeav at 48:17. It Was a really good week for these horses. As a couple of my friends up in Oregon say, "Do a little a lot!" Cheers- Travis

03/28/2025

Howdy folks, you probably noticed that my website was temporarily down. The problem has been fixed and I am happy to report that it is up and running again. Please check it out.
Cheers- Travis

https://www.ellistonequinesolutions.org/?fbclid=IwY2xjawJTmIxleHRuA2FlbQIxMAABHTQQvpCDf9GvdSNSyjsHrtZdGiHx61w4eo9tXf6xHkC4Tb5TLqjQ5iRfYA_aem_4aR7mnMAkpCcmu8d7WYjsQ

Horses or cattle – You must provide brand paperwork and proof of ownership of animal, ID, and your own brass iron. I use liquid nitrogen.

03/27/2025

I just spent the day working with three Mustangs. These three horses were adopted after the expo. I did lots of desensitization, placing the rope halter with lead rope on and getting them used to humans. On Sunday, I will post how they are looking and what they have learned. They're excelling at a rapid pace now, including me lying on their backs. Until then, check out this video! Cheers- Travis 20 March 25.

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03/24/2025

Last week was a very busy time working with three Mustangs with halter starting and turning to face with sacking out. Did some groundwork lessons with another client, riding lessons with a couple clients, and horsemanship lessons with another using trees to help move the feet of a horse and to get the horse to think. Not pictured was loping another horse and doing transition work. Life is good and I am looking forward to this week and all the horses and clients. Cheers- Travis

03/20/2025

I am sending a shout-out to one of my horse students. This young lady was attending a leadership course for lieutenants at Fort Huachuca and contacted me. She stated that she wanted to learn groundwork, ride with a balanced and signal seat, and go see the International Wall. I told her that we could accomplish all of this and a little more. Over the few months, she was in Arizona, we worked on her goals, and I saw a lot of improvements in all these areas. She was a joy to work with. A very motivated, goal-oriented, and mentally attentive person when working with the horses. She also touched other folks in the community with her friendliness and farrier work. This lady is a full-time farrier in Montana. I lent her some of my tools while she was down here to make some "pocket change" and keep her skills sharpened while in school. Between the horsemanship and farrier services... we kept her busy when she wasn't in school. After she had graduated from her course, she stuck around to attend the Ride the Brand- Mustang Expo for a couple of days. She is a true die-hard for learning about horses. Working with this client/student was a pleasure; she was funny as heck, and I wish her the best in her future endeavors and her continued journey with the horse. Cheers- Travis

03/18/2025

It is always nice when you have a group of new folks who contact you from out of state, more specifically from Minnesota, who are interested in my horsemanship after watching my YouTube channel. It was nice of this couple to stop by and get some information from me that should help them at home concerning their horses. We did end up taking lunch in Tombstone. Another surprise was one of my students of the horse from the Air Force Academy, who is now up in Montana, reached out and sent me an awesome message and updates on the two horses that she is working with. Life is always full of surprises packed with good stuff! Wonderful to meet new folks and see what my old crew is up to. Cheers- Travis

03/16/2025

Howdy all! Here is the flip side of the coin. These are some of the pictures of working with the Mustang during the mornings last week during the private clinic with some auditors in attendance. The other earlier post from today showed some of my students learning in the afternoon. After four days of working with these horses, we started rubbing them down with the tip of a stick and tracing their body from nose hairs to tail hairs. Followed by doing the same with the cloth flag. Then we moved up to just using our hands to rub their bodies. All three of the Mustangs accept this, and with me above them, sacking them out and desensitization. We even worked on haltering with two of the three horses. As the old saying goes, "Slow is smooth, and smooth is fast." We are working to work the horses in no hurry to ensure they don't worry. Now, I can honestly say we got lucky with where we are working the horses. We are using the bronc and bull stripping chute to accomplish this. Usually, I use a different procedure with horses that will be started. Horses have two sides, making two horses you work with. Both sides have a survival portion (flight, fight, & freeze) and a thinking portion. To get the horses to think there are two ways. One is to move their feet in the direction you want them to go and change their gait; the second is to remove their feet where they are restricted. This is usually where hobbling and other restraining devices come into play. As you can see in the photo, we utilized a restraining chute to accomplish this. This coming week, once we routinely get the halters on, we will move the Mustangs to the round pen and start working on teaching them to lead, more sacking out, and groundwork. Please look at each picture individually. Leave a like and a comment. Also, don't forget to check out the page Ride the Brand - Mustang, where daily posts of the Mustangs are published. Cheers- Travis

03/16/2025

With the challenging weather last week, I had lots of cancellations, folks on vacation, and life taking over where students couldn't take their weekly lessons. But we did squeeze in a few lessons and an assessment of at least one horse in the afternoon. Mornings were very busy with the Mustangs, which I will post separately. Life is good, and I am grateful for all the students of the horse who are present and want to learn. As one of my clients mentioned this week and one of my old mentors used to say, "When the students are ready, the teacher will come. " Cheers- Travis

03/13/2025

Elliston Equine Solutions would like to thank Ride the Brand—Mustang for having us at their EXPO at the Sierra Vista Riding Club arena. It was a busy two days of round pen activities and demonstrations of four (4) Mustangs for adoption. My horse, Gunner also participated as a demo horse for the farrier, equine massage therapy by some ladies, had the Magna Wave machine utilized on him, and was blessed by a Native American Speaker. I think he had more fun and relaxation that weekend than anyone else. The EXPO had wonderful folks attend that I got to talk to, and I also witnessed some excellent speakers in the equine world give awesome presentations. The crowd battled high winds and fast cars on the next-door race track but stayed focused on this cool event. The spectators told me that they want this event next year. If Ride the Brand Mustang needs my business. I will be there. I believe in their cause. The Mustangs that I worked with are awesome, and I hope all four get adopted. As of right now... I know two of the four are spoken four. If you're interested in a mare and a gelding. They are still available. I am having fun conducting private clinics for horse adopters, and auditors are welcome. I will be working these mustangs in the morning daily with their new owners at the Sierra Vista Riding Club. I hope to see you. Please stop by. Cheers- Travis