Murray Horsemanship LLC

05/23/2024

Mouse and I learned a lot at our third clinic with John! I’m looking forward to putting it to use in our rides and helping others learn as well💗

04/11/2024

Mouse absolutely LOVED her massage from Daisy’s equine therapy she had a couple big yawns and practically fell asleep😂💗 thank you Shania for coming out!

04/08/2024

Remember when your parents used to tell you to wait 30 minutes after eating before going for a swim? Unlike us, horses can actually benefit from eating forage before they exercise, as it may help reduce the risk of gastric ulcers.

While a variety of things can contribute to the development of stomach ulcers (medications, diet, stress, etc.), one train of thought is that these areas of irritation result as a consequence of the acid of the stomach splashing against unprotected parts of the stomach lining. When a horse eats forage, the hay can help absorb some of that acid and thus reduce the risk of ulcer formation.

It is important to note that a forage meal (one comprised of hay or grass) provides the most benefit, while eating large volumes of concentrate feeds (such as oats, corn, or other cereal grains) can actually increase the amount of acid within the stomach.

As always, please be sure to consult with your vet regarding further diagnostics and treatments if you have concerns that your horse may have gastric ulcers.
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Brought to you by the AAEP Horse Owner Education Committee

04/08/2024

02/28/2024

We love a quiet first ride😍 Cera Sorensen doesn’t he look so grown up?!🥺

02/17/2024

Went with Heart Horse Training to pick up their new mustang today! Was just wanting to see the holding pens and get an idea of what the process looked like. With some trailer problems we ended up having to walk through the corrals while the trailer got fixed instead of driving.. and the rest was history😅 a little gangly black looking filly came and met me at the fence begging for loves. I asked the staff about her and they said she was as born in holding and had to be bottle fed, then she was adopted but got returned and has been there for a year since. SO everyone meet Iggy😍 she is almost 2, pretty darn gentle and has my entire heart already. I will do my best to keep y’all updated on her progress!

07/23/2023

BRN4D finals was a blast! Mouse gave me three clean runs three days in a row and came into the arena calm and ready to do her job each time👏🏼❤️ Something I wasn’t sure she’d ever be capable of with all of her anxiety! She has become a whole different horse over the last few years, the slow road is what she needed to keep her confidence and enjoy her job. Thank you Kelsey Bault Horsemanship for her massage and taping Saturday night and Usher Brand Silver & Saddlery for my new to me saddle😍 between those and PEMF Mouse was feeling amazing for all three days.

07/14/2023

Strider is headed home today🥺 sure going to miss seeing his sweet face on the daily! I’m so proud of how far he came in 60 days and I feel really confident that him and his owner can continue to grow together from this point on💛

His owner came out nearly every day this week for a lesson and we plan to continue with weekly lessons at home to help with a smooth transition from full time training!

07/07/2023

Really proud of how far this little mare has come❤️ Doing the first half of our ride bridle less was not something I thought she would ever be capable of. Looking forward to our clinic this weekend😍

06/28/2023

Duke here deserves a book written about him.. but I’ll settle for a wordy Facebook post today😂

Dukes owner has had him for a little over a year now, he came to her mostly still wild. In that year he’s had some unfortunate experiences with vets and farriers in general (not their fault at all, this boy knows how to be explosive) and unfortunately hasn’t been able to have his back feet trimmed.

So they took him to the vet, had him sedated so those years worth of hoof could be trimmed away... or that was the goal😅 Duke made it very clear he would rather go down fighting than peacefully, no matter the amount of sedation.

We re grouped and between me, his farrier and his vet, we came up with two options. Get permission to haul him somewhere that had a “stock” to lay him down to be trimmed, or he came into full time training with me to try and overcome his fears. We decided option two would be kinder to him even if it meant his feet being in poor shape a while longer.

On day one Duke would pin his ears if I came within two feet of him... so that’s where we started.

Week 2 I could pet the front half of his body comfortably

Week 3 I could pet all over his body and started to work towards picking up his feet

Week 4 I could pick out all 4 feet most days and he had his first farrier appointment since starting training. He didn’t want the farrier touching him.

Week 5 aka today! Duke had his second farrier appt since starting training. We did 90% of his trim at liberty, this gave him confidence that when things got to be too much for him he could just leave calmly. Instead of his signature blow up and bolt. He was still more comfortable with me holding his back feet than he was the farrier so we decided to improvise and he coached me through a nip line.

Overall we still have a long ways to go before Duke is past his fear and he is a good citizen to trim BUT he finally has some of that length off his hind feet! We also made it through the entire trim without one single blow up, kick or really doing anything Duke wasn’t ok with.

Huge thank you to Colby Nelson for your extreme patience with Duke and willingness to work around his “special needs”😅

06/22/2023

Not too shabby for a 3 year old with less than 30 rides, who wouldn’t even walk more than one step at a time last week! Strider is a true testament to how important groundwork is. In 30 days he has gone from a horse with a bit of a bucking problem, cinchy-ness and absolutely no forward motion under saddle. To a horse who you can tack up without a thought, hasn’t bucked in weeks and will trot off with light calf pressure! All of these things just took a little bit of patience and minor tweaks because of the amazing foundation his owner had on the ground.

06/19/2023

Big congrats to Laura Rodello and Andrea Rodello-Kindt on the sale of Dexter aka Gunners Smokin Patron! He and his new person Haley have a very bright future ahead of them👏🏼❤️ it was my pleasure being part of Dexters journey and helping him find his next home.

06/03/2023

Last night we had our Sheldon OHSET end of year party. As a volunteer position I expected to get nothing out of this experience, I just wanted to give back to a club that gave me 4 years of really amazing memories. I was so wrong😂 these girls made me a better coach without a doubt! Watching them succeed in their goals was worth every late night freezing cold practice. But to top it all off they gave me some really amazing heartwarming gifts last night🥺❤️ I can’t wait to see what we can do next year!

04/02/2023

When Denise told me she’d NEVER had a horse of hers stand at the mounting block to be mounted. I knew right then I needed to teach Ari to pick her up at the mounting block.

I worked on this for the last 5-10 minutes of three or four of our sessions and she nailed it. Showing just how much she loves to please!

Today I got to show off her new trick to her mom😍 looking forward to swinging a leg over this sweet girl in the near future!

03/27/2023

Finally made it to a barrel race with Beth Harrison and Illoria Painter on Mouse! After what feels like forever of staying home and going back to the basics. Then working through Mouse’s major anxiety in the barrel pen, we finally put a decent run together in competition! I’m so proud of this little horse🥺❤️

Thank you Mom and Lori for always being so supportive or my journey and cheering me on every step of the way! I couldn’t do anything I do without the amazing community I have backing me❤️

03/20/2023

A day well spent schooling Mouse, coaching Chloe through her first gaming show (and Dottie’s first in 4ish years😂) and helping Ashlyn navigate her first outing with her big guy.

I was over the moon to have both my mares in a show together🥺❤️

12/19/2022

*** WINDGALLS, and WHEN YOU NEED TO WORRY ***

I’ve seen a fair amount of scary advice being handed out on social media recently, about tendon sheath effusions, so I have decided to write a little article all about “windgalls”, which is the basic term for a tendon sheath effusion.

I would like to start by saying that a windgall is ALWAYS something to show some concern about. If it’s in just ONE leg, it is something to be VERY concerned about, as it indicates damage to the tendon sheath, or the structures within the tendon sheath.

If a windgall is present in both hindlimbs, both forelimbs, or all four limbs, then it’s more likely to be of idiopathic origin, and less likely to cause any future lameness concerns. But it’s still essential to note it, and essential to know what is “normal” for your horse; for example, if he always has mild tendon sheath effusion in both hindlegs (windgalls), but one suddenly becomes much larger than the other, this would be concerning. Windgalls are far more common in the hindlimbs, compared to the forelimbs, and if I find them in the forelimbs when the horse hasn’t just done a lot of work, such as a big event, I would be concerned about poor conformation or foot balance in that horse. If I find them in the hindlimbs, the horse is sound, and the swelling is soft to palpate, then I wouldn’t be overly concerned.

Windgalls can be “articular” - associated with the fetlock joint - or “tendinous” - an excessive amount of fluid in the tendon sheath. Both types indicate changes/inflammation within the structure. So although many horses have tendinous windgalls, especially in the hind limbs, they are never “nothing”. Some inflammation has caused that excessive synovial fluid to form, and a “swollen” tendon sheath is sometimes just as important as a “swollen” joint, especially if it’s in just one leg.

The tendon sheath “houses” several important structures, the most important of which is the deep digital flexor tendon (DDFT). Injuries to the DDFT are never good, as this tendon is very important, and very hard to fix. More on this in part two.

In the absence of any effusion (swelling), so in an uninjured, uninflamed tendon sheath, it is almost impossible to see or feel at least the upper part of it. You can only ever feel where a tendon sheath sits, when it has an excessive amount of synovial fluid in it, which is when it is inflamed. A tendinous windgall is therefore an inflamed or injured tendon sheath.

Part two of this mini series, will include the structures in the tendon sheath, and how we go about diagnosing which structure is damaged. I will also explain why I use contrast radiography, rather than ultrasonography, to diagnose which structure is damaged in the case of a single limb tendon sheath effusion, and why ultrasonography (US) of a tendon sheath can be very inaccurate. (Note I am talking about the tendon SHEATH and not tendons outside of the sheath, for which US is the gold standard).

Please share, as I don’t want to see another post with someone being advised that a single limb tendon sheath effusion, is nothing to worry about! The photo also shows you exactly where the tendon sheath is on the leg.

11/09/2022

Today Lou finished up 60 days training with me, it was a little bittersweet honestly!

She came to me because after her first ride she would bolt as you stepped into the stirrup. After a lot of bouncing in the stirrup and going back to some groundwork basics she accepted me getting on with no fuss. However that all took about 3 weeks (trust me it felt like forever) and she was originally only with me for 30 days.

Luckily her owner decided to keep her in training a little longer and gave me another 30 days with her! She blossomed in those next few weeks. Today they were able to get some amazing trots under saddle after two days off and maybe 20 minutes of lunging. Something that I almost guarantee we could not have accomplished in 30 days if I didn’t take 3 weeks to get her 100% comfortable with being mounted.

I can’t wait to see what Lou and her mom accomplish in the years to come and I hope to get to continue to be a part of that journey❤️

08/05/2022

I’m still trying to find the words to describe how cool today was, bear with me as I do my best to explain.

I started working with Cannon 4 days ago. His owner has done a great job teaching his groundwork skills, but she said he could be explosive and it wasn’t always predictable. On day one Cannon was on high alert, he couldn’t stand still, held his head high at all times and when you did ask him to stand still he would while really lightly weaving his head back and forth. He was walking around at a level 9/10 anxious without being asked to do hardly anything.

So we took our sweet time, long breaks between every little ask. Lots of waiting for him to let go of his stress. On day two we accomplished all of the things we did on day one in half the time. Day three all of those things came easier and we added a couple. By the end of the day Cannon was 3/10 anxious and I was very pleased.

Today, Cannon started out at 3/10 he started up right where we ended. It was feeling like he’d been doing these things for weeks. And about halfway though our session he had stopped and just kept yawning and yawning, over and over. So I waited and waited.. then he walked off and ever so calmly laid down (something I would not normally let happen with the saddle on but I was right there as you can see and reading the situation I somehow knew what he was going to do) and then he took a nap. Laid there for (what felt like) 5-10 minutes while trucks and trailers drove by and the chaos that is a show barn ensued. Cannon finally reached 0/10 and I feel so lucky to be the one the help him get there

07/21/2022

Cruise and Dottie are LOVING their new barn💛🙌🏼. Now that they are all settled in I have some availability for lessons and one spot open for training! PM me for more info☺️

01/29/2022

01/18/2022

Probably one of the most difficult things for me as a horse trainer is when I gain a new hater. It’s actually something I’m working on, to not let it affect me too much. While I want to be the type of person that cares, sometimes it won’t matter what I do, that person is going to dislike me. And to be a little more specific I’m going to just talk about clients that end up deciding I’m not worth the dirt on my boots.

Last year I trained a horse for a person, probably one of the best horses I started all year. Heck I was pretty happy and dang sure proud of that horse. But despite how I felt...I believe I lost that client and that client was one of my least happy clients of the year. I actually considered that person a friend until not long after they got their horse home. If I had to guess that client may very well hate me and be telling people what a lousy job I did with that horse.

Now from where I was sitting, that horse was as smooth as butter on a warm biscuit when it came to training. Very little resistance and wanted to be good. But the client got the horse home and couldn’t bridle it, and couldn’t work a gate from the horses back. So being a typical person they figured it wasn’t them, and they sure weren’t going to blame fluffy, so it had to be that dang trainers fault!! What this client didn’t realize is that they didn’t want c**t starting, they wanted c**t finishing. They wanted this horse to fill in any and all gaps when it came to their poor timing and feel. Well when it comes to getting a horse used to poor timing and feel I’m not your guy. I don’t offer that to a horse very often.

Also, when you take a horse home and try to work a gate, we need to realize that to the horse this is a brand new thing. Yes, he has worked two different gates at my house, but in his brain he hasn’t generalized that all gates are the same. This is the seasoning part of horse training. It takes time, and new, but similar scenarios before a horse generalizes that this is, in fact, the same thing we’ve done before.

In all c**t starting scenarios there’s going to be some time that it takes for a horse to get used to the way you offer things. You will offer things to that horse in a different way than the trainer did. Just like if your friend rode the horse he would also offer a different feel to that horse. With time and consistency a horse can figure out that even though it’s a slightly different feel, we want the same response. That’s why we recommend lessons. As riders we can help bridge the gap for the horse so he understands what the new rider wants. Be patient, spend time and effort allowing you and your horse to get on the same page. Whether your horse is finished or not, it’s going to take time for the two of you to be dancing to the beat of the same drum.

Another thing that I found interesting is that some of the toughest cases I’ve had, ended up leading to some of the happiest clients. These were the horses that I was not at all happy with where they were at in their training when they went home. But it was like I blew the socks off of these clients they were so impressed! So it turns out that not all clients are created equal. I like the realistic clients that understand horses are living, breathing, thinking animals. Just like us, there isn’t a perfect one out there. They don’t expect to get a push button, kid safe, and perfectly obedient in every way, type of result. Horses have good days and bad days just like us. And their progress looks more like the stock market than a perfectly straight upward rise.

If I really sat down and tried, I could name off several clients that no longer like me. Sometimes it’s timing, or bad luck, or they brought me a very tough horse and expected a unicorn in return. As tough as it is to overcome being disliked by people it is just another piece of my personal development journey. If a person is going to do anything worthwhile in life they are going to acquire haters. Sometimes the more haters you have, the more successful you are becoming. At the end of the day it’s not my job to fix how other people feel about me. It’s my job to be the type of person that I’m proud to be. To sit down and criticize myself, praise myself, hate myself, and love myself. I try to love where I am but also know where I’m going and know where I’m growing.

The balance between self criticism and self praise is never going to be 50/50, but make sure it comes from the conversations within you, and not the conversations happening without you.

10/15/2021

Rosa loves her PEMF so much we don’t even need a halter✨👌🏼 Talartha Parkins

10/14/2021

Everyone meet ✨Cruise✨
I couldn’t be more excited to have him in the family! He’s got the sweetest personality and is an all around gentleman. Thank you so much Amber Dawn Doughty for selling him to me, I think he’s going to make a lot of kiddos very happy🥰