Keystone Horsemanship

09/21/2024

Day 5 in the Young Horse Development Program 🏆

09/19/2024

C**t starting week!
Our absolute favorite thing in the world.
All the 2-3 yr old c**ts successfully ground worked, saddled, first rides and walk/trot/canter in the arena. Trail ride, obstacles and farrier as well.

Make sure you contact us for your training spot in 2025.
Limited space available

09/17/2024

Horses exist in the present. They're not thinking about tomorrow or yesterday. They don't even have to try to be present, while most of us do.

Their present is also shorter than yours. One of the best tips that I could ever give you is to take more breaks, more often. If you "trained" your horse for an hour and only stopped twice to let them rest and soak, you just wasted 50 minutes of both of your lives.

09/16/2024

09/12/2024

Sharing again 5 years later. Because we can't say it enough

Have any of you purchased a well trained horse that just made you feel like a million bucks when you handled and rode him? Were you 110% in love and trusted this horse knowing he would never put a foot wrong under saddle or on the ground? Did you maintain his training by continuing to lesson with a trainer and or have a trainer ride your new horse to keep him tuned up? No? You mean you just brought this horse home and thought with all his training he is just programmed to be good (great even) all the time and never go back to the young testy horse he once was?

Let me tell you about the story of when I got my truck detailed. I paid big bucks to send my truck to a guy who spent 6 hours on cleaning the interior polishing the the dash and conditioning the leather seats. He washed/waxed and buffed all the paint, and he shined up my wheels and tires. Pretty sure that truck wasn’t that clean and shiny when I drove it off the lot brand new. My truck was beautiful. For awhile I took my shoes off before I got in and I wouldn’t leave garbage behind, I even vacuumed it and wiped down the dash and seats. Then I started to get busier and just drive my truck because well let’s be honest I had to use it. I didn’t stop to clean it once a week quite honestly not even once a month 🤦🏼‍♀️. My beautiful shined like new truck had dog hair on the floor, trash in the door pockets, dust on the dash and mud all over the wheel wells! Had I took the time to clean it like I was in the beginning, the truck would have stayed clean and beautiful like it was when it was returned from the detailer.

You see folks our horses are the same way. If we don’t constantly keep up training our horses won’t stay the same or improve. If we don’t train a little everyday (yup, every single day) or at least one good professional ride or lesson a week, we can back track so quickly. Your amazing new boy might try and bite you and maybe even think he’s going to buck you off during his circles. We want to get mad at the horse when they behave this way but you have to think in your mind “have I done my job as his handler?”
Make sure their ground manners are good, halter them everyday even if you just have time to feed them. Work with a trainer once a week and maintain the animal someone or maybe even yourself poured endless hours of blood sweat tears and dreams into. Someone believed in your horse, you owe it to them to keep that horse going correctly.

09/10/2024

What's the most clever registered name you've ever heard for a horse?

09/05/2024

Introducing for 2025
Young Horse Development Program
Commit your 2-year-old to us for
8 weeks -12 weeks

In this time we will cover all the foundation work necessary for success.
Starting under saddle to include no less than:
Lounging, respect of the halter, Ponying, hobble training, walk- trot- canter. Lateral work, softness in the body and bridle.
We will work in the roundpen, indoor, outdoor and trail and obstacle work.
We will haul out occasionally for exposure.
We have a farrier and dentist on call..

References and performance record available .
Message us for more details!

09/04/2024

𝐊𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐭 ❌

The quickest way to take effort out of your horse is not knowing when to quit.

Think about this scenario:

A football coach tells his players to run up-and-backs down the field as fast as they can. The players respond, put out their best effort, and run the sprints to the best of their ability. Then, the coach says "Great job! As your reward, let's do that again."

Now, apply the same scenario to your horse:

You ask your horse for a specific response. The horse responds correctly and gives you the 'feel' you were looking for. You say, "Great job! As your reward, let's do that again."

In both scenarios, the players and the horses put forth maximum effort thinking that their reward would be to rest once they completed the task at hand. But instead, their reward was more work. That has to be frustrating, right?

I know that when you finally get the 'feel' you are looking for, it is tempting to keep repeating that feel over and over again to make sure that your horse has that skill mastered―but, you have to remember to 𝐫𝐞𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐝 their effort first, then 𝐫𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐜𝐞 the skill later. 𝐃𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐝 𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐝 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐝 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤.

08/29/2024

A bit late - but that's a wrap on Crawford County Fair 2024!
We had a great week with the Stoney Creek Ranch family.
Snow Bizness and I managed to take the Snaffle Bit trophy home and Smart Senora Dunit did well at her first ever event. Pale Face Patty was slightly off in the LF early in the week and missed the showpen but excelled later in the week in the practice pen.
It rained, we wore all the sweatshirts we brought and enjoyed every minute.
See ya next year!

08/27/2024

Here's a question I see asked alot.

What’s the expectation you have for a how much work a trainer puts in when you pay for 30 or 60 days at the trainer's facility?
Either starting a c**t or dealing with problem behavior such as bolting/bucking/rearing.
How soon into training would you expect your horse to have its first ride?

Is the expectation they work with the horse every day, every other day? Or more frequently, or less?
Is an hour enough? Too much?

Do you think there is a difference in 30 "days" vs 30 "rides?"

Should there be a different price for different ages, goals?
Should you be allowed to watch the trainer work with your horse everyday?
Do we have unrealistic expectations?

08/24/2024

08/23/2024

Reports out of Bowie, TX, regarding the possible case of Equine Infectious Anemia are stating the final results are back and are NEGATIVE.

False positives do pop up from time to time and require additional testing to determine if the result was false or legitimate.

As always, it is a good idea to have a coggins pulled on your horses annually to check for EIA. There is no cure for this disease, but annual testing can assist with tracking down where the disease originated and who might have come in contact with any positive horses.

08/23/2024

This is why I don't go to someone else's facility to work their horse.
This is why I don't take 2 week tune-ups.

No amount of physical manipulation can make up for a poor foundation ❌

When it comes to training, foundation is everything.

I’ve seen it time and again—owners send horses to trainers and expect them to become proficient in a discipline within 60-90 days without having a good foundation to start with.

The truth is, your trainer will probably need at least that long, if not longer, to correct the bad habits that horse arrived with and put some foundational elements in place so that they can progress that horse through its training.

When we skip the critical steps of developing trust, communication, and understanding with these horses during the early formative periods of their lives, we are costing ourselves significant time, effort, and investment down the road.

If we don't take the time to handle these horses correctly at a young age, we are putting ourselves (and our trainers) in the position to rely on physical manipulation later ― and, that simply doesn't work.

Do yourself, and your trainers, a favor and make the time to build a relationship with your c**ts. Even a few minutes a day can drastically improve your starting point and set them up for long-term success.

08/18/2024

Bowie TX auction....

You guys do understand that EIA is not spread through contact, right?
Maybe if the infected horse is actively bleeding nasally, which would be pretty obvious.
Before you spread inflammatory rumors - wait for confirmation

08/13/2024

Your badly behaved horse is probably not in pain.
There.
I'll be the one to say it.
He's lacking training, and you don't know how to do it, and you're making it worse. Then you're trying to label him with a pain issue rather than admit you're past your skill set..
People are telling you it's his spine, it's his teeth, it's his feet, it's saddle fit, he doesn't like the bit, he's been abused.
Don't get me wrong, these things happen, but in my 25+ years of c**t starting and problem horse reform ~ pain comes into play in less than 5% of bad behavior.
Don't go to the internet and ask for help on a training page.
Don't go to a friend of yours down the road that has a horse and think that they can help you.
(Again, maybe they can help you. But it's unlikely unless they're a professional.)
For the sake of the horse, please consult a knowledgeable professional if you're having issues.

It is very important for us to put a foundation on every horse in training. Building blocks!

08/12/2024

We love our happy students ☺️!!

08/11/2024

Thought for the day:
I still get asked regularly if I can take a young or green horse to further it’s training.
Often as not the request includes a story about how everything was going ok but then one day outside pressures caused it to act up.
The request is generally to enhance it’s knowledge or change their mindset so that they can handle all types of scenarios and be calmer and better behaved.
Often these requests are never attached to an aside like “can you teach me how I should handle and ride a green or inexperienced horse?”.
The onus is all on the horse to be able to carry (no pun intended) the rider through any situation that may arise and keep them safe.
That is too much responsibility for a young or green horse.
Your horse needs some support and help while it gains experience.
Regardless of your knowledge of horses or riding or a particular discipline you may find a green horse a challenge if you are inexperienced with them.
Many older horses can be much more forgiving of mistakes and have more experience of the world.
It takes more than a stint at a trainers to make an experienced horse.
Often there is a way through but it takes the help of people with the experience. Hands on help.
It also takes a little fortitude and the ability to not make your horse feel trapped with your hands or legs no matter what occurs.
Most of what is called acting up would not have occurred at all if the rider had acted the way the horse needed them to.
The first thing that it takes is the recognition that to ride young or green horses you may need to have yourself trained.