Branded Horsemanship

16/10/2023

Everyone has been asking for some more advanced clinics so here you are 🙂. This is a 2 day clinic open to complete beginners or people farther along. The goal with this clinic is to keep it small, and really get a great foundation at liberty with you and your horse. We will be working off line at liberty.

Also if your interested in hosting a clinic please pm as fall/winter dates are filling up quickly.

15/10/2023

To say it was an amazing weekend is an understatement ❤️, rumor tried her heart out for me. We’ve still got things to work on but slowly I see improvements. She was nervous all weekend, but instead of leaving she looked to me for guidance. We’ve got things to work on but I’m excited to push harder for next year and already have ideas in the works. We’ll be back Kentucky!

10/10/2023

This is so true! Babies are wonderful but they are a long term project and commitment

Replacing Old Faithful

The best horses are built over years of hauling, hard work, tough times, good times, bad times, big spooks, little spooks, their mistakes, our mistakes and continual love and care.

No, your c**t starter can not turn your young prospect into your old faithful in 30, 60, 90, or even 365 days. It takes years.

I’m plagued with the problem of trying to impress on people how long it truly takes to build that dream partner. There’s not a smooth paved path. Your green horse will embarrass you, frustrate you, and maybe even hurt you. For some of y’all buying a $20,000-$30,000 horse is going to be worth it and SAVE you money. Even that more finished horse will take a year or more to sync up with.

In Texas right now, a cheap rate for horse training is $1,000 a month.
1 year of training: $12,000
2 years of training: $24,000

Many of you won’t believe this but your dream horse is on the other side of two years of training. It’s likely around two years of training and two years of seasoning (hauling them to town). Will that horse still make mistakes? Yes, they all make mistakes until the day they die. But that horses mistakes probably won’t put you in serious danger and that horse will probably pack your grandkids around.

If you’re trying to decide between a $3,500 prospect or a $15,000 proven horse. My advice is to do an internal inventory and figure out what you want. Buying that prospect is like the first roll on the Jumanji board. You’re entered up, get ready for a journey of ups and downs (possibly quite literally!) If you’re buying that finished horse decide what you really want, get ready for a lot of shopping and painfully overpriced sh💩tters. Take a friend or a trainer on this journey with you and try to double your budget (that’s right, 30k). Be smart and buy something OVER 8 years old. Don’t buy that pretty 5 year old they only want 20k for. He isn’t old enough to be proven for you. Lots of horse traders are trying to flip horses, anything under 8 is likely twice as green as he looks in the video. Maturity, both mental and physical will be key when looking for a safe horse.

If you want a project and a challenge I’m not hating, that’s what I want in a horse too, so I buy young ones. If you need a safe one, bring lots of money and quit thinking you need a 6 year old. You probably don’t have what it takes to mentally support that 6 year old through new situations.

The biggest reason I bring this up is because as folks retire their old faithful they are so far removed from when that horse was green and did dumb stuff. They forgot how tough those two years were back when he was 4-6. They only remember the amazing horse he was when he matured. The 3 year old they just bought is YEARS from filling that horses shoes when it comes to training level and safety level. I see people hate on trainers because the trainer couldn’t make their young horse, “finished” in 90 days. It’s honestly the biggest reason I like taking c**ts for 30 or 60 days. The expectation is shockingly lower than when I take one for 90 days. It’s weird what people expect from a 90 day start. Most people should commit to sending their young horse out for a full year. Two years would be even better.

Green horses do green horse things, don’t blame others for the challenge you bought yourself. Accept the challenge or pay the price for one further along. No matter which path you choose with horses, it’s going to cost you.

The horse in the photo is Katie’s horse Tater and this photo happened after 8 years of her owning this mare.

📸: Karen Perry

27/09/2023

Some of the new obstacles in the back field

22/09/2023

Marcella Hube dragged frauke and I on 8 miles of the worst trails ever, but this mare put up with it all. And bridleless at that ❤️.

20/09/2023

Someone Must want this amazing pony prospect! 3 yrs old 14 hands welsh pony, they don’t come more flashy. Wonderful winter project for someone to have ready to show next year. Pony boy leads and loads, wears tack, lunges, ground drives, he has been ridden a handful of times with no fuss how ever that was 3 months so he’ll need a re start. I’m just too busy for this guy and he wants a job.

18/09/2023

We have some spots open for this Sunday 🙂

15/09/2023

I can’t believe no one has scooped this guy up. Pony boy is a beautiful 3 yr old welsh pony who does all the things a 3 yr old should do. He’s been to some shows, leads, loads, bathes, stands tied, good for the vet and farrier, wears tack, lunges, ground drives, has been sat on and ridden wtc a handful of times with no fuss (this was 3 months ago so needs a restart). This guy wants a job and unfortunately I don’t have the time to give him that right now. Pm for more info

13/09/2023

I hope one day you meet a difficult horse.

A horse that frustrates you and sometimes says no.

A horse that shatters your dreams and makes you feel hopeless because you cannot solve their problem with what you know.

Why would I wish this upon you?

Because this horse will show you the limitations of your understanding and challenge you to step up and learn.

Sometimes the lessons you will need to learn are to improve your knowledge, skills and self awareness and how you directly impact the horse and make them feel.

You will work hard spending hours in the dust, sun, wind and rain making yourself better to help this horse - and you will do it.

Sometimes the lesson will be one of acceptance that the horse you love and have poured so much time and money into is not sound.

Your heart will break as you now see your difficult horse was just telling you it was struggling.

This horse will teach you to see and know things about horses that you will never be able to un-see or un-know. You will see horses struggling and people (no different than you past self) blind to that struggle.

But this horse will make you a better horsewoman or man, and you will be grateful they came into your life and what they taught you.

The story of you and this horse will always be a hard story to tell. Sometimes when you tell it, you will get tears in your eyes. But it will be one of the most meaningful stories of your life.

You will share this story with others with the hope that it will help them with their horse. So that your horse, can help their horse too.

From Dr. Shelley Appleton, and so very true.

07/09/2023

As the Blm and mhf part way’s remember horses going back to holding isn’t a bad thing. Obviously finding them homes is better but holding isn’t a bad place. So please don’t add a horse you can’t afford to feed, get it’s feet done on a schedule, give it yearly vaccinations and the proper care it deserves. Living wild in a pen with 20 others is no different then sending it back to holding, other then in holding they will actually get some hoof care and yearly vet work. I’m seeing a lot of “rescue” these horses, they don’t need rescuing they have a safe place to land. Now by all means if you have the time money and space and have been on the fence nows the time to jump.

I will not be adding any horses in fact for the 1st time in 6 years I don’t have any wilds and it feels amazing. How ever I am happy to share and help home horses that are in need of finding an adopter before September 30th.

06/09/2023

Rumor has been working harder then ever the last few weeks as we prepare for Kentucky. She absolutely blew me away at blandford fair, and the late night practices definitely showed.

24/08/2023

This guy has finally put some weight on, 2 yr old from sand wash 14.2, nice bone, SUPER EASY CHILL GUY. He’s what everyone hopes for when getting a wild, he’s only had about 2 hrs of time out on him and he’s gotten his feet done, halters, leads, easy to catch, pain in the butt to clean his paddock as he just wants scratches 😂. This guy is far from trained so he is a project, I’ve gotten him to the point where he’s easy for our set up but he needs a lot more, but he’s ready for more. Goes on Blm contract.

23/08/2023

Rumor and I got accepted into the freestyle 😬I guess it’s time to work on my equine affaire ptsd 😅

22/08/2023

Everyone has been asking for an obstacle clinic so here it is! September 17th from 10-1, you may do this in hand, mounted, or both.

20/08/2023

This little mare is now named Liah and has a little girl of her own to love her ❤️. Liah will stay here in training thru the winter while these 2 figure each other out. Couldn’t have asked for a better solution for this mare❤️.

20/08/2023

Another baby looking like a horse except this one is only a year old 🤩 south steens yearling standing at 14.2! He’s grown 3” in the last month 😳 I have a feeling this guy is gonna be huge.

18/08/2023

Rumor and I will be doing liberty and mustang performances at the blandford fair! I’ll be bringing along a few others as well! If you have a mustang and would like to come out and play please pm me. 🙂 9/2 and 9/3

17/08/2023

We welcomed this little mustang mare a couple days ago as a resale project, when she found herself in need of a new home. She needs a little boot camp and some groceries before we start breaking her out but once she’s broke to ride she’ll be available. Stay tuned!

10/08/2023

2 spots just opened up for this clinic on Aug 27th pm if you want a spot!

02/08/2023

I have a couple spots open for our trick and liberty clinic on august 27th! Pm for more info!

30/07/2023

Both these guys go on Blm contracts.

Locket- silver pal 3 yr old from salt wells creek about 14-14.1 hands loves scratches. Hasn’t been halter broke with no fault of her own, people keep committing to her and backing out. Available to someone who wants a “wild one” would be the perfect 1st wild one for someone as she loves being scratched and loved on.

Cash- 2 yr old appy gelding about 14 hands from sand wash. Cash is absolutely the sweetest boy, loves attention. He’s easy to catch, halter, and groom, picks up all 4 feet. He’s just seriously a wonderful boy and is going to go far. Beautiful mover.

24/07/2023

Any interest in a games night august 11th? Starting at 6 pm. Games to include barrels, poles, key hole, flag race, jumping figure 8, 4 in a line, and bleeding heart. Pre entries would be $30 a rider, post entries $50 a rider.

If there’s enough interest we’ll make this an event!

19/07/2023

Drawing is this Saturday! All proceeds go to Branded Heroes!

16/07/2023

We will be having some raffles at our open house this Saturday july 22nd. But we will have 2 grand prizes that I thought I’d open up to people who may not be able to make it.

The 1st is a 50/50 raffle tickets are $10

The 2nd is to win a FREE month of training or a FREE clinic!!! Tickets are $25 if you’d like to enter either of these please pm me.

My PayPal is [email protected]
And my Venmo is -Deitner

14/07/2023

We played with our new lights a little last night ❤️

11/07/2023

This is an amazing article and worth the read!

THE DARK SIDE OF POSITIVE REINFORCEMENT…
‘FAUX COUNTERCONDITIONING’

Over the years, I’ve had several different horses come in for training, who, in spite of extensive positive reinforcement training, were still struggling with a lot of anxiety in their day-to-day lives.

By no means was this due to a lack of quality training.
These horses were ‘performing well’ within the context of a formal session, some with very experienced and educated trainers.

But outside of that context, they were reverting to almost feral behavior, and highly reactive, even with the same stimuli.

After years of training, they were plateaued in their ability to navigate the domestic world safely and be handled safely.

The assumption would be that their reactivity was a response to being ‘over threshold,’ or not generalizing, but in my search for answers for these horses, and in visiting with other trainers, including the dog training community, I became familiar with the idea of ‘overshadowing.’

The animal isn’t merely over threshold, or not generalizing, they were never OK with things in the first place.

Zoos are often used as the poster child for the implementation of successful positive reinforcement, but it’s Barbara Heidenreich’s work in particular, with ‘positive reinforcement gone wrong’ in zoological settings, that really opened my eyes.

Sometimes what we think is counterconditioning, is actually overshadowing, meaning the food reinforcer and associated behavior are masking the animal’s true feelings and behavior around a stimulus.

If the context changes, or the food reinforcer isn’t present, the animal shows us how they really feel about that stimulus.

A good example is counterconditioning haltering.

I use this all the time, and it works great, and I know it’s working if I can halter without the food reinforcer present, because it means the horse actually has a neutral or positive association with the halter.

If the food reinforcer isn’t present, and the horse shows a fear response, I know that I was merely overshadowing/masking their true feelings about the haltering process.

There’s a lot of discussion about learned helplessness in relation to coercive training and pressure and release, but overshadowing is just as prevalent.

Make no mistake, this happens even with top R+ trainers in the industry, but there’s a stigma about discussing it openly, and admitting that positive reinforcement can go wrong.

Positive reinforcement is just as vulnerable to human error as any other form of training.

There is a learning curve, and novices and even accomplished trainers can make mistakes that are dangerous to animal and handler.

What’s frustrating is that the pro trainers and amateurs who’ve reached out to me about the accidents and injuries they’ve had due to overshadowing, they don’t feel safe having a public discussion about.

I think there’s a fear that admitting to these accidents and injuries will somehow hurt the acceptance of positive reinforcement in the mainstream, or that they’ll be attacked by their peers.

This lack of transparency is not just hypocritical, but dangerous.

The truth is, the only way positive reinforcement is going to go mainstream is if we can be transparent about it.

Like any approach, checking in with our animals, and making sure our training is cognitive and emotional, and not just behavioral, is incredibly important.

I think this article does a great job of explaining some of the things myself and others have observed with overshadowing, as well as how to address it…

https://thecognitivecanine.com/when-well-executed-counterconditioning-plans-fail/

“Talk to ten qualified trainers about their experiences using counterconditioning and desensitization (CC/D) in the field and you’ll likely get ten different responses.

But what might surprise you is how many of them will somewhat bashfully admit that these protocols fail just about as often as they succeed–if not more so.

Less-experienced but well-read trainers will scoff and assume the protocol wasn’t carried out well; that pieces were missing, steps were skipped, etc.

Certainly this is the case some of the time, but what about when a well-designed expertly-executed CC/D protocol fails? Why is this happening?

Something *is* flawed. It may not the plan in the traditional sense, or the ex*****on.

It might be that our currently held information about CC/D is what is slightly off, and it might be that traditional CC/D protocols are less-capable than we thought…”

By the way, that’s me in the picture, shaping forward movement off a hand target with a ‘reverse round pen.’

I love training with positive reinforcement!
I’m NOT anti-positive reinforcement, and I spent several years using positive reinforcement exclusively, no pressure and release at all.

Every behavior I train now, I know I can train with positive reinforcement, but I choose to mix to best adapt to each individual and situation.

NOTE: If you plan on a reverse round pen setup like this, make sure you use rails from cone to cone that tip over and NOT rope as it’s a drag hazard.

10/07/2023

This beautiful girl unfortunately arrived unsound, so we didn’t sign up for Texas. Being a 7 weeks behind everyone else and then an unsound horse I just felt it wasn’t meant to be. She has been sound the last 2 weeks but I haven’t pushed her hard as I don’t know what her soundness issue was. She’s available for reassignment if anyone is looking. Beautiful 3 yr old from salt wells. She’s still “wild” although she loves scratches and her mane brushed, she will be starting halter breaking this week if no one wants her “wild”.

10/07/2023

Come join us July 22nd!

04/07/2023

Happy 4th of July!

20/12/2022

Who’s still looking for their next partner? Individual ads to come. This is a wonder group of horses 😍❤️

19/12/2022

We have set a date for our 1st kids horsemanship course! February 20th from 10-1 pizza for lunch will be provided and drinks. If your kid can’t have pizza or needs a special diet please send them with lunch. For this camp day we will do horse health and nutrition, basic care and handling of horses/intro to liberty and of course the fun things for kids tricks! I will do a more advanced liberty demo for them all and more! This is free, spots are limited so please message to reserve your spot.

This date is Monday the 1st day of February vacation. Please keep that in mind when reserving your spot.

14/12/2022

This Saturdays clinic has been moved to January 8th!

13/12/2022

We have a few dates left open from now till April, once these are filled we’re full! The following dates are available
February 11th
March 26th
April 1st
April 22nd
if your interested in hosting a clinic please pm us to discuss more!

12/12/2022

Another great weekend filled with clinics! One more weekend of clinics next weekend to end out the year of 2022 thank you to everyone who hosted or came to a clinic this year! We did 53 clinics this year ❤️!

07/12/2022

Thank you! Craig McCoskery for allowing me to play with your mare at the beach the other day and add another horse to my rear list… that makes 42 horses that have all gotten the concept in less then 15 min, most in under 5. I wish I could share this with more people because my method is just so simple, and to think I stumbled upon it one day asking for a different thing is crazy to me. But I’m very careful who I give this information to, as it can become a dangerous thing and not every horse should be taught to rear. It’s crazy to think the 1st horse I taught to rear took me 3 months until I came upon this way. Simple clear communication.

And as always Craig takes everything he does very seriously and is practicing away getting her better and better!

The decision to teach this trick was made with careful consideration. **Do not try this at home**

06/12/2022

We have 2 spots we need to fill to run it, anyone looking for a fun day to build your relationship with your horse? Pm today!

05/12/2022

2 new training horses arrived this weekend, majik the gypsy is one of our favorites here for a refresher and to prep to break out this spring. And Leo is a new guy who seems like he’s going to be a lot of fun! As always were busier then we may like to be at times 🤪 but happy to be busy!

29/11/2022

I often get asked how young is too young, my answer to that is it’s never too young to start liberty work. That being said you need to be realistic on your goals and have short sessions they can handle. This is obi and bullwinkle both boys are now a year old, I try to give them 1-2 short sessions a week individually and then every other week or so I work them together. They get basic handling every day but other then that they are eating and growing.

28/11/2022

Another fun clinic coming up! With a few spots open, reach out today to join!