Misty Mountain Training

05/23/2023

CONVERSATIONS WITH LUCIA

Q: How do you deal with pushy clients?
Example: When they ask if you've been on the horse for the first time or wanting a precise forecast of a horses training.

A: First of all, you have to be a good judge of character. Some clients are seriously just excited to see their horse learn and become a good citizen in society. Some clients are pushy because they are financially limited so they want the most bang for their buck. Some clients seriously don't have a clue about horses, (They think they do, but thats another conversation) so thier exceptions are completely uneducated or you have old timer that wants things forced...

I've had all of the above. My advice to you is to be as honest and straight foward the first conversation with that client. I make absolute no guarantees in a horse's progress. But I guarantee that I will try my best with each horse. As you gain experience over the years, I do promise that you will have an accurate estimate timeline of a horses progress. Just remember, the horse comes first, client second. Meaning my job is not to match the horse to the client or client to the horse. My job is to determine where that horse is best suited. And its also my right to not put myself in danger. Dont ever let someone push you to confirm their theory if the horse is rideable or not. Trust the process. Trust your abilities.

-Lucia Clemetson

Have a question? Shoot me a message!

05/23/2023

🙊Don’t be fooled by quick, flashy training⁣🙊

You clap 👏🏼 at the guy standing on the horses back cracking a bull whip all while the horse displays fear in his eyes because 2 days ago he was wild and untouched being forced into a reality show!
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⁣Speed training isn’t impressive. What’s admirable is:⁣
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🦄Being *thorough* rather than fast⁣
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🦄Staying below the fear threshold⁣
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🦄The horse feeling relaxed and enthusiastic throughout the session⁣
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🦄Training results that last long-term, rather than producing flashy yet fleeting outcomes⁣
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🦄The horse is excited to train again the next day⁣

🦄The horse will be good for whomever climbs onto their back

Training fast (using force, manipulate behavior and hours and hours of daily unnecessary rides) is that even a skill? It makes them tired for sure! But in the end are they even trained?

It’s a mutual respect between trainer and horse! When that is met the horse can be and do his best!

We are not perfect in any way,
But trying to be better for the horses is the upmost thing that we strive for everyday as trainers!

The only person that i compete against is myself! As long as i can be better each day, that’s all that matters!

04/10/2023

Training horses…..the reality.

Anyone who puts their horse in a boarding stable with full board pays an average of between $400 and $500 a month. That corresponds to a daily price of $15 average.

To be deducted from this:

-feed (Alfalfa/Grain)supplements (in Colorado) alfalfa $14 bale x 10, safe choice grain $25 x2, amplify $45, gutx $25 = $260
- shavings $8 bag
-salt/protein blocks $15 each
-Staff
-Insurance
-Energy/utilities
-Water (not on a well I pay for water here)
-Fuels (diesel / gas)
-Repairs to stall fences
-mats/footing in stalls
-Manure disposal
-And don't forget the taxes

This leaves the stable operator with around $2.00 to $3 per horse per day. And that number drops in half in winter in Colorado when water tank heaters are used, shavings tripped, blanket laundering and repair and extra feed used.

That's less than the cost of a coffee, a visit to Mc Donald's, a sack of carrots, or apples.

Thank you that there are idealists and animal lovers who run this business 24/7, take care of the owners and their worries, maybe in case of illness of the horse, check on the horse day and night.

Let’s say for training
$500 a month this means 20-25 rides

That Gives the Trainer:

$25 per ride

But first we must:

Pay for insurance
Pay for Groom / Assistant
Pay for arena footing
Pay for arena maintenance
Pay for tack repair
Pay for fly grooming supplies, bathing supplies, fly spray, hoof oil, wound cream, etc.
Pay for diesel for tractor to drag arena
Pay for water to control arena dust
Pay for round pen repairs and maintenance
Pay for tack supplies needed and used
Pay for training tools, poles, flags, barrels, jumps, arena drags, cross ties, lunge lines, side reins, etc.
Pay for business license
Pay for taxes

Being generous, this leaves is paying ourselves $8 a ride per horse.

Eight dollars, to ride in heat, snow, rain, wind. To get bit, kicked, drug, to take spoiled miss flicka poo and make her a decent law abiding family horse, to take untouched fire breathing dragon pony and turn it into your next futurity prospect. To watch it destroy our tack and our fences, to spend hours soaking a abscessed feet for free or walking your colicking horse for hours. To blanket it in blizzards and hose it in hot days. To love it like it’s ours.

Don’t even count the time spent sending written updates with photos and videos of each training horse.

‼️remember this, we do this cause of the love for this Job, we rode for the outcome NOT the income‼️

04/07/2023

Super Excited To Announce This Clinic!

Limited Space!

Let’s have a BLAST 💥

03/30/2023

03/16/2023

People wonder why I only have a list of a handful of people in this world that I would allow to start my personal horses for me under saddle. People also wonder why I would rather adopt untouched mustangs and train them myself than try and buy a horse that’s started already. It’s simple, it’s because I’ve gotten too many horses that people claimed “have a solid foundation“ and just want miles and I have to do a complete restart on a horse and retrain them before I ever consider putting them to work.

Horses that haven’t been started with a finished horse in mind are dangerous. I’ve had more wrecks from horses with a poor start on them and just need miles than I have had from starting untouched reactive mustangs. Horses started in mechanical hackamores, Tom Thumb bits, grazer bits, nylon halters etc. horses that have no idea how to give to any pressure, that are bracey, that run through the bridle, that are heavy on their front end, no body control, over flexed and noodle necked, I could go on and on.

Just because you’ve started horses and they never bucked or you “rode out the buck” and now are puppy dog gentle doesn’t mean you put a foundation on them. You got them gentle, not broke. All you’re doing is creating way more work for someone in the future and putting others in danger.

03/03/2023

“If I was your client, I’d be disappointed in you.”

Those words still hurt as much as they did back in December. Especially from someone that supposedly loved me. I’ll be the first one to admit that I’m not perfect but I do try my best. Authenticity and being genuine is my jam and because of it, I’m not for everyone. 2022 was so hard for me. I struggled bad, from raising the kids basically alone to starting the summer alone with the future absolutely unknown.

But as I did my best in improving myself and heal, those words ultimately did break me. But not in the way that most people break….

Sometimes getting kicked hard in the teeth, cut off at the knees and salt thrown in the wound is what it takes to persevere. I’ll admit that I’m probably a little salty and bitter right now in this season of my life. Who wouldn’t? I was manipulated to think I was the problem.

All I have to say to this person is THANK YOU.

Thank you for the lesson. It’s the fuel I needed to get back to my career. I have a deeper understanding now of why things like this happen. It was the push I needed unfortunately. I know you suggested multiple times that I should quit but those words is what ultimately prepared me to quit you. Thank you for bringing out a stronger me that I had no idea that existed.

Thank you,

LC

02/19/2023

You will never outperform your own self image.

If you talk poorly about yourself and your abilities, you are only making your starting point further away from where you want to be.

The most important thing you can have for your horse is to have confidence in yourself. Pure confidence means knowing that you are absolutely capable of doing what you need to do to create a desirable outcome.

This is the kind of unshakable confidence that can only come through experience. You have to do the things that are uncomfortable so that, one day, the uncomfortable things become part of your comfort zone.

02/02/2023

Good read!

I am always urging you to stretch your horses, to teach them to arch their toplines like the upward span of a bridge.

“But my horse has a naturally high head carriage!” some of you say.

I get that not all horses are peanut rollers, which actually isn’t active stretching, by the way. Horses who are arching upwards are tilting their pelvises to step further underneath from behind. It comes from the backend, no matter where our horses’ heads are, always the back end.

But here’s the thing. Even if you are riding an Arabian, a Morgan, a Thoroughbred or a Tennessee Walker, a Saddlebred or a Hackney, a Percheron or a Friesian—all higher or more ‘upright’ horse breeds, by nature of how they naturally go and are built—for longevity and wellness, our horses must learn the release of tension—aka working in discomfort—if they are to go their very best.

Such horses are softer and easier for us to ride, as well.

I have shown enough harness ponies, even among the high-stepping Hackneys, to learn that the champions are always the ones who have learned to push off from behind, with their energy lifting through their backs and coming down and around in front. These horses all move roundly, more like locomotives with huge drive wheels pushing upwards and forwards… rather than the up-and-down action of sewing machines.

If you have a good horse—including those that are gaited—with a naturally high head carriage, stretching the topline while moving forward will be the one thing that elevates your horse far beyond the pack of other ‘upright’ showy horses. Yours will go powerfully, yet effortlessly, as though on springs. Those who judge will recognize—whether or not he or she is in full understanding of the reason why—that yours is the horse who is above and beyond all others.

So many people who ride Arabians, to use one example, say that their horses just go naturally with heads and tails in the air. That to try and shape this, in any way, is to fight who and what they really are in nature. Thing is, when we ask them to carry us, they are no longer in a natural situation. When both ends of the horse are ‘up’, the place where you are sitting is hollowed out, like a hammock slung between two trees. These horses can need our help in relaxing, stretching and strengthening their carrying muscles if they are to go comfortably and with longevity. They, too, will release endorphins when stretching that will calm and have them bravely swinging forward with rhythm and beautiful ease.

Being comfortable will not dim their sparkle! Sadly, a lot of ‘fiery’ horses are exhibiting classic pain signals, whether in real life and in so much of art. It is time for us to train our eyes to really see this!

The horse who uses himself, swings through his back and roundly goes forward is the happier, healthier horse. No matter his age or breeding, no matter our riding goals. Training is all about comfort, longevity and correct biomechanics… or, I believe it should be.

When we are feeling good and working well, we all can shine from within.

We maybe didn't worry about such things in 'the good old days' but we know better now. Because of better care and our quest for knowledge, today's horses are living useful lives decades beyond eight or ten, which was equine old age in times past.

📷 The Museum of the Highwood.

01/30/2023

Something to chew on a bit.
I believe you can learn something from everyone, but you have to find a baseline as well.
What I like the most about this is the "homework", the work you do in between lessons, thats what separates those that progress and those that are on a slower path.

01/12/2023

With the new year upon us it’s time to start thinking about our 2023 goals for our horses! Especially the young ones! It’s time to start thinking about building their foundation!

I have a few spots still left for c**t starts, will be taking on behavior issues/spring time ups/trail miles/hunting preparation as well. Please PM what you are looking for and what I may be able to help with! Here’s to a great year and an early spring! Let’s get to riding!