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Everyone has been asking for some more advanced clinics so here you are š. 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.
To say it was an amazing weekend is an understatement ā¤ļø, rumor tried her heart out for me. Weāve 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. Weāve got things to work on but Iām excited to push harder for next year and already have ideas in the works. Weāll be back Kentucky!
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.
Iām plagued with the problem of trying to impress on people how long it truly takes to build that dream partner. Thereās not a smooth paved path. Your green horse will embarrass you, frustrate you, and maybe even hurt you. For some of yāall 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 wonāt believe this but your dream horse is on the other side of two years of training. Itās 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 wonāt put you in serious danger and that horse will probably pack your grandkids around.
If youāre 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. Youāre entered up, get ready for a journey of ups and downs (possibly quite literally!) If youāre buying that finished horse decide what you really want, get ready for a lot of shopping and painfully overpriced shš©tters. Take a friend or a trainer on this journey with you and try to double your budget (thatās right, 30k). Be smart and buy something OVER 8 years old. Donāt buy that pretty 5 year old they only want 20k for. He isnāt 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 Iām not hating, thatās 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 donāt 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 couldnāt make their young horse, āfinishedā in 90 days. Itās 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. Itās 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, donāt 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, itās going to cost you.
The horse in the photo is Katieās horse Tater and this photo happened after 8 years of her owning this mare.
šø: Karen Perry
Some of the new obstacles in the back field
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 ā¤ļø.
Someone Must want this amazing pony prospect! 3 yrs old 14 hands welsh pony, they donāt 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 heāll need a re start. Iām just too busy for this guy and he wants a job.
We have some spots open for this Sunday š
I canāt 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. Heās 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 donāt have the time to give him that right now. Pm for more info
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.
As the Blm and mhf part wayās remember horses going back to holding isnāt a bad thing. Obviously finding them homes is better but holding isnāt a bad place. So please donāt add a horse you canāt afford to feed, get itās 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. Iām seeing a lot of ārescueā these horses, they donāt 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 donāt 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.
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.
This guy has finally put some weight on, 2 yr old from sand wash 14.2, nice bone, SUPER EASY CHILL GUY. Heās what everyone hopes for when getting a wild, heās only had about 2 hrs of time out on him and heās gotten his feet done, halters, leads, easy to catch, pain in the butt to clean his paddock as he just wants scratches š. This guy is far from trained so he is a project, Iāve gotten him to the point where heās easy for our set up but he needs a lot more, but heās ready for more. Goes on Blm contract.
Rumor and I got accepted into the freestyle š¬I guess itās time to work on my equine affaire ptsd š
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.
This little mare is now named Liah and has a little girl of her own to love her ā¤ļø. Liah will stay here in training thru the winter while these 2 figure each other out. Couldnāt have asked for a better solution for this mareā¤ļø.
Another baby looking like a horse except this one is only a year old š¤© south steens yearling standing at 14.2! Heās grown 3ā in the last month š³ I have a feeling this guy is gonna be huge.
Rumor and I will be doing liberty and mustang performances at the blandford fair! Iāll be bringing along a few others as well! If you have a mustang and would like to come out and play please pm me. š 9/2 and 9/3
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 ļæ¼and some groceries before we start breaking her out but once sheās broke to ride sheāll be available. Stay tuned!
2 spots just opened up for this clinic on Aug 27th pm if you want a spot!
I have a couple spots open for our trick and liberty clinic on august 27th! Pm for more info!
Both these guys go on Blm contracts.
Locket- silver pal 3 yr old from salt wells creek about 14-14.1 hands loves scratches. Hasnāt been halter broke with no fault of her own, people keep committing to her and backing out. Available to someone who wants a āwild oneā 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. Heās easy to catch, halter, and groom, picks up all 4 feet. Heās just seriously a wonderful boy and is going to go far. Beautiful mover.
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 thereās enough interest weāll make this an event!
Drawing is this Saturday! All proceeds go to Branded Heroes!
We will be having some raffles at our open house this Saturday july 22nd. But we will have 2 grand prizes that I thought Iād 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 youād like to enter either of these please pm me.
My PayPal is [email protected]
And my Venmo is -Deitner
We played with our new lights a little last night ā¤ļø
This is an amazing article and worth the read!
THE DARK SIDE OF POSITIVE REINFORCEMENTā¦
āFAUX COUNTERCONDITIONINGā
Over the years, Iāve 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 āperforming wellā 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 āover threshold,ā 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 āovershadowing.ā
The animal isnāt 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 itās Barbara Heidenreichās work in particular, with āpositive reinforcement gone wrongā 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 animalās true feelings and behavior around a stimulus.
If the context changes, or the food reinforcer isnāt 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 itās working if I can halter without the food reinforcer present, because it means the horseļæ¼ actually has a neutral or positive association with the halter.
If the food reinforcer isnāt present, and the horse shows a fear response, I know that I was merely overshadowing/masking their true feelings about the haltering process.
Thereās 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 thereās 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.
Whatās frustrating is that the pro trainers and amateurs whoāve reached out to me about the accidents and injuries theyāve had due to overshadowing, they donāt feel safe having a public discussion about.
I think thereās a fear that admitting to these accidents and injuries will somehow hurt the acceptance of positive reinforcement in the mainstream, or that theyāll 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 itā¦
https://thecognitivecanine.com/when-well-executed-counterconditioning-plans-fail/
āTalk to ten qualified trainers about their experiences using counterconditioning and desensitization (CC/D) in the field and youāll 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 succeedāif not more so.
Less-experienced but well-read trainers will scoff and assume the protocol wasnāt 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 thoughtā¦ā
By the way, thatās me in the picture, shaping forward movement off a hand target with a āreverse round pen.ā
I love training with positive reinforcement!
Iām 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 itās a drag hazard.
This beautiful girl unfortunately arrived unsound, so we didnāt sign up for Texas. Being a 7 weeks behind everyone else and then an unsound horse I just felt it wasnāt meant to be. She has been sound the last 2 weeks but I havenāt pushed her hard as I donāt know what her soundness issue was. Sheās available for reassignment if anyone is looking. Beautiful 3 yr old from salt wells. Sheās still āwildā although she loves scratches and her mane brushed, she will be starting halter breaking this week if no one wants her āwildā.
Come join us July 22nd!
Happy 4th of July!
Whoās still looking for their next partner? Individual ads to come. This is a wonder group of horses šā¤ļø
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 canāt 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.
This Saturdays clinic has been moved to January 8th!
We have a few dates left open from now till April, once these are filled weāre 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!
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 ā¤ļø!
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 listā¦ 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 Iām very careful who I give this information to, as it can become a dangerous thing and not every horse should be taught to rear. Itās 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**
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!
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 heās going to be a lot of fun! As always were busier then we may like to be at times š¤Ŗ but happy to be busy!
I often get asked how young is too young, my answer to that is itās 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.
Another fun clinic coming up! With a few spots open, reach out today to join!
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This is my absolute favorite part of training. When the once spooky, flighty, bounce off the walls mustang see you coming and gallops to you ā¤ļø.
Iām so proud of miss letti! Letti has been here for quite some time as most of you know, about a year and a half now. And anything rope related always just sent her into react mode. Iāve been haltering and unhaltering her every day for the past 2 months at least 100x a day. A morning lunch and dinner session and any I can fit in between, just putting it on and taking it off putting it on and taking it off over and over again. Today is the 1st day she hasnāt had a reaction towards it and has just let it happen. ā¤ļø I canāt wait to see what she becomes once this wall is completely down.
Another day off the farm working with a large variety horses today. And although days away are hard long days to fit in my trainers at home along with all my chores I wouldnāt trade it ā¤ļø. Caitlyn and Willy have been amazing students and started working on teaching the recall today and totally rocked it! I absolutely love being able to share this magical feeling with anyone but the kids definitely touch me a little more. Good job Caitlyn and keep up the awesome work!
Bullwinkle has been trying his heart out for me ā¤ļø we leave for Ohio in less then 2 weeks so what we have is what we have. I donāt like to add anything new when weāre so close because I donāt want them to be confused. So for the next week and half we will revisit the basics and try and come up with some sort of a plan for freestyle incase we make top 10.
Rumor really likes to be held in her circles so weāve been working really hard on building her confidence without me holding her together. Iām so happy with her progress so far and canāt wait to see what she looks like in a month.
Hereās a clip of bullwinkle working on the lay down, no ropes method. If you watch youāll see how fast my timing was to reward when he started to go down, that allows him to build confidence and show him he is in fact in the right direction. As for the tapping on his legs Iām stimulating a fly to get the reaction Iām looking for. Often people donāt stick out the moving around or āuglyā as they call it and miss and opportunity. ļæ¼
Itās gets a little sappy Iām sorry š¬, but holy rush of feelings. Petting a mustang for the 1st real pets is always a rush, but this girl is held that from me for 11 MONTHS! Now I know we still have a long way to go but this is HUGE. Many donāt believe sheās as hard as sheās been, Iāve had comments of clearly your just not working her, or tell her owner to send her here Iāll take the money, just tie her up and call it a day, the list goes on. To be honest she gets 2-3 sometimes even 4 sessions a day Iāve had to think so far out to the box with her and some days she drives me absolutely insane. But she literally has the best owner in the world so I just keep throwing new ideas out hoping they work. I honestly have no idea what the switch was today maybe just the calm air of a winter storm who really knows but Iām so so so so happy with what ever it was and I canāt wait to see if weāre here tomorrow. 2022 is your year riddle you got this! šŖš»
Rumor and I playing at the beauty starwind stables ā¤ļø
We may have had a little too much fun today š Queso is the perfect jump rope partner! ļæ¼
This is honey a beautiful Morgan mare owned by Cathy Drumm and leased by Liana who is handling honey in this video. This pair has been so much fun to play with to say the least. Honey and Liana had target training in their tool box which made teaching the bow so much easier. Today was my 3rd session working with them and I think we can all tell theyāve been doing their homework while Iām away. We were able to put all the pieces together today and get a very nice bow! These guys have a very bright future ahead of them. š¤©ā¤ļø
Bullwinkle got all of last week off, because he started getting very sour about working and being handled in general. We started him on some ulcer treatment since he was showing some signs but honestly I think I was just flooding his baby brain. With him being a competition horse Iām moving at a much faster rate then I would with a horse his age and doing a ton of sessions a day. This morning he came out and seemed to want to play again like he used to so I took him up on the offer and called him over. I was very happy to see him have energy and spice to his recall again, before giving him a week off his recall was basically gone and if he did come it was at a very slow walk. Weāre going to ease back into working slowly and really keep it to the basics the next few weeks and see where we get.
Bull on the trails
Everyoneās favorite boy learning the wave ā¤ļø
Believe it or not bullwinkle can be quite the opinionated little guy, and a kicker at times. This exercise has not only helped me desensitize him, itās working on ground tying, and his kicking behaviors. If you watch close youāll see his kick, itās just a I donāt really like this kick in this video but none the less not an appropriate response. Heās getting better and better by the day ā¤ļø.
Playing with bullwinkle on what I hope turns out to be the cutting game. My horses donāt struggle with lagging behind like bull is here in the video, but they struggle with putting energy in the cross overs. So with bullwinkle Iām trying something new, and working on the cross overs before I worry about him staying with me. I can use me being a little a head of him to drive a little more energy in the cross over and shape that behavior. In this video you can see our first try and our 4th try which is where we stopped the session. By rewarding the cross over I quickly got offered a lot more energy.
Well these are kind of embarrassing š³š but I thought it would be good to show you guys where it starts. Itās not pretty and itās not fast. Bullwinkles 1st time working on liberty circles.
Kazoo working on his Spanish walk ā¤ļø
I have some big personal goals for bullwinkle, which include a complete liberty start. I do understand that may make it so we donāt make it to equine affair and Iām quite alright with that. Iām just enjoying the road Iām on. However I had to put a pause on my liberty work and teach him to wear a halter and lead tonight because of some health concerns I have. Iād rather be safe then sorry and want to have the vet be able to work on him so he has to halter and lead. I will say the liberty work Iāve done with him thus far made teaching him to lead an absolute breeze! Now back to liberty we go!
What most people donāt realize is training is just building confidence, just like people horses need to build confidence to continue to give us try. Roulette has done pedestals before but none quite as small as this one, itās very important that I keep that in mind and treat this like a brand new obstacle building her confidence and try. This is where we ended today, many would have continued looking to end with 4 feet on the block. But to me itās much more important to me that I end with a willing and confident horse. ļæ¼
Mr bullwinkle ā¤ļø Iām determined to do a liberty start on him purely because I want to see if itās possible. Any horse can learn liberty, any breed and size but can any age? I think the answer is yes! Well actually I know the answer is yes but to what degree? So bullwinkle and obi are my Guinea pigs. Iām curious to see how good of a liberty horse he can become in the next few months. I know his body and growing will restrict some things but Iām excited to see where this takes us.
Riddle the devil garden has been making some good progress lately. Sheās my hardest mustang to date and I can honestly say I never thought she would get to the point where sheād willing walk up to me. I canāt wait to see this mare blossom into something we never imagined possible.
This horse ā¤ļø she gives me so much try šā¤ļøš„°. I saw Dan James at equine affaire put his horse into a bow to a rear and I thought it was pretty incredible. After thinking about how to tackle it I came up with a little different of an idea. This was our 1st try at that idea ā¤ļø and she tried hard ā¤ļø. Iāve never asked her to rear from the side of her which definitely caught her off guard but she still did it š„°š„°š„°. It only got better from here!
Baby Obi is really starting to grow up ā¤ļø heās been working really hard with his ground tying and today we added hard tying. I personally think hard tying is a very important skill every horse should know how to do. And if done right itās really an easy task.
I just love this guy ā¤ļøā¤ļøšš
Iām pretty in love already ššā¤ļø
Miss Macy and I have been playing with the cutting game and although this is a really hard ļæ¼ maneuver for her sheās trying her heart out per usual ā¤ļø. She is the sweetest horse and has a heart of gold.
Maddie came by yesterday to play with some liberty work, she played with goose and rumor to get the feel of 2 totally different horses to prep herself to go home and play with her horses a bit more! She did a wonderful job with both the girls.
Kazoo has been here for a year now, and he has changed so much. Working with a zebra cross has been so cool, and if I could have a barn full of them I would. Usually everyoneās question is does he ride? And when I respond with no, itās followed up with then whatās the point of him? Hereās the simple answer he makes me happy. He makes me happier you could Imagine. At my barn an animal doesnāt have to ride to have a purpose in life and I wish more people would start seeing that as well. So many horses are thrown away because they donāt ride or theyāve been ridden their life away and now need a break. Thereās so much more we can do with these animals then just ride and thatās when you start finding true connection. ļæ¼ļæ¼
š¬š I said I wouldnāt teach him any tricks, and I swear I tried really hard not to. I just absolutely love trick training and playing with new things. Yogi offered this with something else and I decided to shape it into something a little more useful. Itās like an addiction I just canāt help it. This is where I find absolute complete happiness in life, sounds silly I know but trick training and shaping behaviors is my weakness ā¤ļø.
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