“The Equine Miracle Harness is sewn by our shop out of heavy duty nylon which has a strength of 6000lbs.  Would that be the same nylon that halters are made from? The harness is made of 2 colors, red for those pieces that go around the body and blue for those pieces that go under and over the horse for easy installation. The one size fits most harness is completely adjustable, allowing a custom fit for horses from foals to a 1000 pounds.

While standard halters allow control of the head only, this harness allows the handler total control of both the head and body at all times. It is designed to be used with a halter and lead rope with chain which are not included with this product. In addition to the front lead rope attachment point, each harness has 4 additional tie points (2 on each side at shoulder and flank).

This is a great product for young handlers also, increasing their control, power, and confidence where as they might have otherwise been easily overpowered by even young horses. You know what else increases “control, power, and confidence”?  Actually learning to properly handle a horse.  Which, if they can’t do then they probably shouldn’t be around young horses!

Safely teach your horse the following concepts and commands while instilling confidence in the animal and handler, and making training more enjoyable for everyone!

Leading
Whoa
Backing
Loading
Stalling
Shoeing
Washing
Cross Tying
Trotting
And MUCH more!

Each order includes an instructional DVD. The harness is durable and easily cleaned, and will be an asset to your training for years to come! We will ship internationally, please contact us with your postal code for a shipping quote.

Check out our website for more information on the product. www.equinemiracleharness.com “

Ok, we can kind of see how this might help people teach a young horse to lead – but then again so does a lead rope around the bum.  The lead rope doesn’t require $65 and the extra time and hassle of training the young horse to accept this contraption.  If you’ve ever tried to halter a horse that has never had a halter on you, then you know that most of the time they’re none too pleased about it – imagine how this thing’s going to go over! The lead rope also doesn’t leave nylon straps hanging down around the horses legs and straps and buckles around its body just begging to get caught on something.

What we don’t understand is how this thing is supposed to help with teaching the whoa, backing, loading, shoeing, washing, cross tying or trotting.  We’re going to go ahead and include lunging there as well – it’s not mentioned on their list but they do include a picture of it.  We’ll forgive them this oversight, kind and benevolent people that we are.

They have a video of a young girl leading a young horse and having trouble stopping it – so this miracle harness is supposed to give her control and a “whoa” command because it pulls the horse’s nose to its chest and eventually makes it stop.  Congratulations you’ve taught it an evasion technique and not the correct response to a command.  Kudos.  Really.

The only way we can even fathom that this contraption helps with backing a young horse is that it has already broke them to the feeling of a girth-type-thing.  But in terms of accepting a rider’s weight and aids – well not so much.  If we accept that this harness helps lead a young horse forward then we guess it could be used under the saddle with a person leading the horse while another sits in the saddle?  Personally, we prefer the method of breaking that utilizes ground driving to teach steering, halt and go before a rider even sits in the saddle but that’s another topic for another time.

We’re sorry, you want to load a young horse onto a trailer wearing a buttload of nylon straps?  Are you fucking kidding us?!  You know, we’d be a little more understanding if you had designed this piece of shit with even just a little bit of safety in mind.  You could have made it out of leather (which a horse can typically break free of whereas nylon is definitely not going to break) or put in some sort of quick release mechanism as opposed to the current system that requires the handler to undo two buckles.  If When a horse catches that harness on something and panics, good fucking luck getting it safely out of the death-trap harness.

They next state that the harness can be used to teach a horse to be shod, bathed and cross-tied.  We’re guessing these are just extensions on the “whoa” concept.  Weaksauce.  Talk about an attempt at a marketing ploy by just listing as many uses as they could possibly think up!  If you can make a horse halt you can make it stand for the farrier, stand to be bathed and stand in the crossties and to make a horse halt you need this product!   Yup, we’re sure there’s no way for a horse to hurt itself while wearing this thing in the crossties…  S’all good.

Check out their video of how to teach a foal to lead into a stall.  With mad skillz like those, how have you not run out and bought like 10 of these already? Clearly he knows what he’s talking about and has assuaged any concerns and/or misgivings we had through this informative video.  Neither of us have ever tried to pull a horse of any age into a stall but we certainly believe it to be a next to impossible task.

While we typically wouldn’t want to put someone down for their ingenuity – it takes courage to put yourself and your ideas out there -but this one receives two thumbs wayyyy down.  It’s not safe and the only aspect of training it is actually effective at (teaching the horse to lead forward) can be easily accomplished by using a lead rope or lunge line – two items 99.9% of horse owners already own.  Thanks, but no thanks.  And please don’t try to sell these anymore because eventually some dumbass is going to buy one and their horse is going to get caught on something and end up hurting itself.

Somehow my previous post was put up before I had finished it, much less edited it for content, so if it seems awkward and well, unfinished, I apologise. Guess that’s what happens when you don’t hold the reins of the horse you’re riding.

Anyway….

I’ve been thinking about the BYB a lot lately.

When I  hear the term I immediately think of run down barbwire pens, rusted out sheds, packs of roaming dogs and unweaned two-year-olds breeding their mothers.

BYB has expanded to mean anybody with a stupid or useless breeding program. I’m guilty of it myself.

10 acre farm producing 5 friesian/pintabian/walkaloosa crosses every year? BYB

Rich man breeder wannabe with 700 unregistered   running on 10,000 acres in Montana? BYB

The term has become rather broad, which is probably what got me thinking about it.

What I originally thought defined the BYB was somebody who had a mare in the backyard they liked enough to want a foal from her. This horse owner would find a local stallion to breed their mare to and have a foal.

The problems which arose came from a lack of understanding of genetics, inbreeding, raising and training a foal, the risk of losing the beloved mare, the foal or both and whether there would be any value to the horse once it was on the planet.

My first quality horse was the result of a BYB. A girl who showed well inthe “morning classes” at our local riding club decided to breed her mare to a local, extremely popular (in our club anyway) paint stud. The resulting foal was a cute, decently built minimal white paint colt. I ended up buying him. An Oklahoma Star grandson on one side and a Leo grandson on the other, he was a better bred horse than I could possibly have hoped for, considering I was a poor college student.

Oakie was sweet, easy and willing. He survived our treating him more like a dog than a horse, broke out nice and became a handy little guy. By 6-years-old he had been diagnosed with navicular and by 8 he was dead from a bleeding disorder that was exacerbated by the medication I gave him for the navicular.

There is some argument whether or not navicular is hereditary, but his dam had navicular. The sire ended up finally being gelded because the blood disorder kept cropping up in his foals. This should be a good argument against BYB’s, but the paint stud couldn’t of had more than 15 foals on the ground before the blood clotting issue was discovered and he was gelded. The mare wasn’t bred again.

Professional breeders are still cranking out HYPP horses without apology.

Navicular doesn’t seem to stop many professional horsemen from breeding their horses either, especially when they only need a horse to make it through futurity season before they  retire to the breeding shed.

I see crooked legs, too long pasterns, and bad temperaments, not only being ignored because a horse was a high dollar winner, but eagerly being sought after by hundreds of horse owners who buy from a show record and bloodlines alone.

I see an ever shrinking gene pool.

Your average, responsible BYB’s is going to breed their horse because it’s sound, gentle, fast, or pretty, something redeeming in their eyes. If the cross doesn’t work out, it won’t be repeated. I have a hard time faulting this approach. Good legs, kindness, talent on the trail or in a gymkhana, these are using horses and should be bred.

If only the very elite horses are bred then there won’t b e any Regular Joe family horses to pick up for a decent price and have live in the backyard.

My other thought is, how much damage is the BYB really doing to the horse industry?

If a responsible, caring woman keeps a few mares on 5 acres and breeds one or two a year, she know her horses. She understands the mares faults and weaknesses, but also knows the strengths and quality she wants to pass on. If she breed two horses one year and  can’t sell them, chances are she will stop breeding. If you only have five acres you can only stuff so many on the property.

If a family owns a mare who has raised the kids, done well in Pony Club and has never offered to kick, are they wrong to decide to breed her? And what if a new fugly does hit the ground. It’s one foal compared to the hundreds produced by some of the larger QH ranches in the west.

Breeding,mare care and 3-4 years of waiting before you can ride is not going to lure a family with two horses into breeding hundreds of unneeded horses..

So how bad is it?

Is the BYB such a terrible thing, or has it become a scapegoat for an industry run amuck?

It seems the cheesiest ads, for the crappiest horses, especially studs being sold as appropriate kids horses, show children on their backs, often without shoes, always without helmets and obviously with minimal training. For some reason this is supposed to lull the potential buyer into thinking this gaurantees the horse is safe for anyone to ride. I have also noticed the horses in these ads are almost always called “studs,” not stallions, or what they should really be called, “desperately need to be gelded but I’m too cheap to pay for it.”

Stud advertised as not started under saddle, but great with the kids.

All it means is the child is lucky to be alive, at that moment, and might not be the next.

When I was a kid, puttering around at the gymkhanas, you had to be 18-years-old to show a stallion. Period. It didn’t matter if Ol’ Rex had raised three generations of kids on his back (probably three and four at a time), or if the young rider was the next Olympic Champion, if you were under 18 you didn’t ride a stud into the arena.

The logic was simple. Kids spend way too much time screwing around and not paying attention to their horse or the horses around them. Stallions think about sex. It’s what they do.If they’re not thinking about sex, they’re thinking about taking offense at any other horse that bumps them, looks at them,or God help us all, squeals in their direction.

I don’t see how that was a bad idea.

There are great stallions out there. Some are dead quiet, always mannerly, never look at a mare out in public, the list can go on and on. I think it should be one of the prime reasons to let a stallion keep all his parts. But I would never expect a child to be responsible for a stallions behavior. I would never turn a kid loose on one, ever, ever, ever.

“Pally was BORN to ride. He loves to have people on His Back. He is gentle to mares and Has produced Gaited Colts that have either sold fast or found permanent homes with their breeder! Flashy in Show With confirmation Plus! He is NOT Homozygous but throws beautiful colors most often. My grandkids Ride Him around other horses and mares without any trouble. He is a splendid color and has a little saddle blanket on His back! Pally needs to be placed with a family that can share his love for a lifetime!”

I let my daughter ride different studs through the years while growing up. She was always supervised, I always knew the horse and how he was raised and she was well versed in how to handle one. It still made me as nervous as a mama cow watching her calf get dragged to a branding fire. She never showed one or had the responsibility  of a stallion’s primary care.

I’m not afraid of stallions, but I never forget I’m around one. The biggest problem I’ve had with them, is not trying to breed at innappropriate times, it’s been striking, kicking or biting at people or horses. These are horses I’ve had in for training, not one’s I handled from the get go. A properly trained stallion, which starts out with a good temperament,  can be as easy to get along with as any gelding and much easier than a lot of mares I’ve known.

The thing is, there is more to them, and their reactions can be dangerous. If they’ve been mishandled by their owners, through cruelty, spoiling them or just stupidity, then their reactiveness is going to be through the roof.

They can be kind and well mannered, but there is still more out in the world they can react to, and when a stallion reacts he doesn’t tend to go halfway. I don’t want a barefoot, goofy little kid to get stomped because Ol’ Rex took off through the fence after the neighbors smart alecky gelding.

Horses and their riders tend to operate in three different ways. The rider leads and the horse follows, the horse leads and the rider follows, or they work in tandem, still with the rider as the primary influence.

Kids and beginning riders don’t lead, they follow. A good horse for beginners and kids accepts this, takes care of the rider, or at least doesn’t take full advantage of them. A stallion is going to understand he’s in charge and either start doing what he wants, or get frightened and become reactive.

Handsome is a 32 inch red roan pinto stallion. 9 yrs old. Quiet to handle. Broke to
ride. Since he is a stallion, parental supervision is recommended for small
children. Sound. Very good ground manners. Easy keeper. Good in the stall or on
pasture. No bad habits. Has been pastured with mares. Sales are cash only.

A beautiful woman kissing her fuzzy wuzzy widdle horsey friend right on his pretty widdle nose. Or her arms are wrapped around his neck in an embrace that exudes love, confidence, security and super mushy hugs and smooches.

Often this woman will be giving the camera a coquettish glance, over her shoulder of course.

This is a typical advertising gimmick used for sale catalogs, horsemanship clinics and western jeans.

When a photo like this graces the first page of a horse rescue site, for me anyway, red flags begin waving, alarms go off and a few cap pistols pop off around my head.

I am always suspicious of rescue sites which immediately highlight the people running the rescue instead of the horses themselves. When the spotlight shouts, “Look at me! I’m pretty and I still love horses!,” instead of the plight of the horses, I can’t seem to stop my eyes from rolling, or curb the sarcasm that wants to come bubbling out of me,  like a good Diet Pepsi burp.

When People Helping Horses (PHH), a horse rescue in Arlington WA was brought to my attention, the first thing I did was look up their website.

My oh my, what a beautiful, tastefully done site. Here’s a rescue which has done such a good job it’s got the backing of RFD T.V. and one of their favorite clinicians recently rode in a charity event just for them .

Of course, I immediately noticed the tastefully muted photo of the pretty woman (Miss Gretchen?) kissing the horse.

The complaints sent to me from former staff and volunteers, didn’t gibe with all the upbeat imagery, and as I began looking into things, my eyes about rolled into the back of my head and the vile taste in my stomach turned out to be just pissed, no diet soda needed .

HPP is run by general manager Gretchen Salstrom. She has proven herself to be a money making machine, beginning with receiving almost 12K in Farm Subsidies for a horse farm, prior to opening the rescue., ( http://farm.ewg.org/sites/farmbill2007/person1614.php?custnumber=011971096), to amassing over $1,334,667 in revenue for PHH last year.

You’d think this would go a long way towards helping a lot of starving horses, wouldn’t you?
Apparently it doesn’t. Gretchen only adopted out 10 head last year, with a reported 14 more horses kept out on pasture, waiting for “ enough funding” to be trained and considered ready for adoption.

WTF? How much money does PHH need to get a horse ready for a new home?

Granted, our pal Gretchen does have some mighty high expenses, it costs a lot to run TV ads, and we all know good PR is much more important than feeding, training and finding homes for rescue horses.

Her administrative expenses were $72,624 and her fund raising budget was reported to be $545,991. http://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?bay=search.summary&orgid=12632industry.

A former PHH employee wrote, ” Day after day I would hear the Executive Director say that we couldn’t afford to put the 14 horses, that we had on a 1 acre pasture, into training because PHH is xx amount of money in the hole.

“But 3 weeks before I left the Executive Director brought 13 of her personal horses to the PHH facilities. She had the staff and volunteers take care of these horses and her other 5 personal horses as well.

“At that time there were only 7 rescue horses at the facility being worked with and the 14 on pasture. Staff as well as volunteers were subject to focusing on the executive director horses and not the rescues”

Wow Gretchen. Even with your obscene fundraising budget you still had $32,443.50 per horse to see them to health, give them some training and find each a new home.Even if you were letting your nonprofit rescue pay to keep your own personal horses, which I understand is in reality a breeding operation, you would still have $20,684 FOR EACH HORSE.

Of course we all know using rescue money for your own personal expenses would be unethical, don’t we?

She sure isn’t putting it into safe or ethical adoption practices.Maybe she’s just too busy running around raising money to actually do her job…it’s gotta be hard finding enough time.

A paint gelding, which was reported to be been permanently lamed when caught in barbwire on the PHH pasture, was adopted out to a family who keeps their horses in a stinking mud pit.

There is an open well in the pen, covered by a few boards. When the horses are allowed out of their stalls, they run down a trash loaded cement runway to the mud hole called their pasture.

This dung heap was inspected and approved for the adoption.

Do you like the front gate? Me too.

It was tempting for me to bring the new owners of this horse into the fray. The thing is, they were truly “new” horse owners with no prior experience. I’m not excusing their ignorance, but it pisses me off to no end to think a horse rescue would adopt to these people. The opportunity for education was there, but how are they going to know they aren’t providing adequate care when the beaming Miss Gretchen not only lets them adopt the horse, but never says a word about the conditions he’ll be kept in?

Obviously relieved to unload the lame hay burner, she didn’t tell them the horse was too crippled to ride. The pretty paint gelding was to be used for jousting and some vaulting. This piece of information was shared on the “success stories” of the PHH website, along with the fact he went into saddle training 4 months after arriving at the rescue. He was a partially blind, never handled yearling when they got him. You do the math..

When we get into stories not considered a PHH success it gets worse.

Savannah came to PHH with 5 other horses in March of 2010. The following November Savannah was adopted out to a man who picked up the mare without having a background or site check, even though it is the protocol of PHH to evaluate, rehabilitate, and adopt the horses to people who have both a background and site check. PHH retains ownership of the horse for the first year in order to do spontaneous wellness checks on the adopted horses.

Once at her new “forever” home Savannah was starved. A  kind neighbor stepped in and fed through the winter. By August,2011, the Pierce County Animal Control (PCAC) seized Savannah and a pasture mate which had been abandoned. PHH had never followed up on this mare.

Neither PCAC or Save A Forgotten Equine (SAFE) were willing to give her back to PHH and SAFE took her in. This time the mare was actually rehabilitated and adopted out to an appropriate home

When challenged by an employee,  Gretchen said she put a call into PCAC, trying to get the horse back. Further investigation by the employee showed PCAC  never received a call. Lucky Savannah.

So where is all the money Gretchen? What exactly are you doing with it?

The PHH claims full financial accountability, and on their website points out with pride they made the $500,000 a year required to be on the charitynavigator.org . But they only received a one star rating, because of a lack of financial transparency and an uneven balance in the use of funds.

Their books are supposed to be available through Guidestar, ( http://www2.guidestar.org/organizations/c/68-0513133/people-helping-horses.aspx). But Gretchen can’t quite cut it here either. PHH did not receive the Guidestar Seal, again, because the annual revenue and expenses was not reported.

I’m guessing she figures nobody will actually bother to read these reports, I mean, if Gretchen says they’re all available, I guess that’s all anybody needs to hear. It seems PHH is a pretty obvious front for Gretchen’s personal backyard breeding business.

Gotta hand it to Gretchen though, she is one money making machine.

People Helping Horses Contact Info:

http://peoplehelpinghorses.org/

360 435 9393

Many of the people who read this blog think I hate them.

There are cavessons designed purely for looks, much like the tassels (shoo-fly) hung on every available nook or cranny  western gear has to offer.

Wickipedia must be wrong.

(Wickipedia) Uses of the noseband

Today, the noseband has several uses:

First, to give a balanced and traditionally correct appearance to the horse’s turnout at shows. When raised high, it can make a long-nosed horse’s face look shorter and more proportional. Various positions up and down the nose may help the face look more handsome, and a wide noseband can make a heavy head appear more delicate.

Second, to keep the horse’s mouth closed or at least prevent a horse from evading the bit by opening the mouth too far. It can sometimes prevent the horse from putting its tongue over the bit and avoiding pressure in that manner

Third, the noseband is also used to help stop a horse from pulling. A stronger noseband can many times be used instead of a stronger bit, which makes it a valuable option for riders that want more control, but do not want to back their horse off, that is, to make the horse afraid to go forward, especially when jumping, which is often an undesirable consequence when the horse is placed in a strong or harsh bit.

Fourth, it can be an attachment for other equipment, such as a standing martingale or shadow roll.

It is also valuable for young horses just learning to go “on the bit”, as it supports the jaw and helps the horse to relax his masseter, and flex softly at the poll.

In some riding styles, a noseband is added simply for decoration and is not attached to the bridle or adjusted to serve any useful purpose.

Nosebands may add some pressure to the nose when the reins are applied, depending on adjustment, style and the degree to which the horse resists the bit. With a soft leather noseband on a well-trained horse, the effect is minimal.

A bridle does not necessarily need a noseband, and many bridles, such as those used in Western riding, flat racing, or endurance riding, do not have one. Some horses shown in-hand do not use a noseband in order to better show off the animal’s head.

Many old paintings also depict a hunting horse without a noseband, since it was not always deemed useful by certain riders.

However, even in disciplines such as western riding, where it is considered a sign of a polished horse to not require a noseband or cavesson, one is often used on horses in training as a precaution to help prevent the horse from learning bad habits such as opening the mouth and evading the bit (which is where I developed my opinion that nosebands are a cheat).

I also appreciate that there is a lot to be learned from the readers of this blog, the arguments gave up some incredible information and the indignant raging made for some great reading.

On the flip side of things I hate, if this horse had decent food, care and an owner with a 100th of the passion I’ve seen on this blog, I wouldn’t care if he was ridden with a noseband on each foot, just as long as someone filled his feeder every day and kissed his nose at night.

This is one of three horses rescued in Alabama earlier this month. The sore on his hip is the result of the hip bone coming through his hide.

3 horses neglected
Enterprise, AL (US)

Incident Date: Wednesday, Oct 12, 2011
County: Coffee

Alleged: Donnie  Lavon Adkison

An Enterprise-area man was placed behind bars Wednesday after Coffee County  Sheriff Office deputies arrested him on charges he allegedly neglected three  horses.

Donnie Lavon Adkison, 45, of County Road 731, was charged with  second-degree cruelty to animals. Photos of the animals show they were not fed  well, and one horse was so malnourished that its hip bone had rubbed a hole in  its side, CCSO chief deputy Ronnie Whitworth said.

The horses were  adopted, and a state veterinarian gave the horses a checkup while he was in the  area Thursday, Whitworth added.

Animal cruelty reports, especially those  involving large farm animals, are increasing in the county, Whitworth said.

“There’s getting to be a lot more of this stuff,” he said. ‘When you take in  a large animal, it takes a lot of feed and upkeep. You can’t neglect these  animals.”

Read more: Animal Abuse: 3 horses neglected – Enterprise, AL | Pet-Abuse.Com Animal Cruelty Database http://www.pet-abuse.com/cases/18719/AL/US/#ixzz1cBKhLxsk

What do you think the percentage is of  ignorant, cruel, horse- starving, 45- years- old yahoos still go by childhood names like “Donnie,” or “Petey,” or better yet, nicknames like “Bubba,” or “Duke?”

There are so many differences in riding styles, training approaches and where our horses fit in our lives, that I can’t pretend to know or completely understand the philosophy behind each.

Personally, I have studied western riding, with a smattering of first and second level dressage and some basic hunt seat thrown in for good measure.

The dressage came in because Ray Hunt told me to, the jumping came in from curiosity. I am by no means an expert in these areas, but I have ridden with qualified instructors, read like crazy and combined my new information with my own knowledge from riding western.

The horses I train do regular cavaletti and pole work and the foot control I work towards is taught using exercises I learned while riding dressage. I still use rail exercise I learned while riding pleasure horses to create drive and you can’t beat a good barrel or pole pattern to get a horse thinking and using his body while going full speed.

While taking on this cross-training approach I learned to keep an open mind to different disciplines, but I also developed some pretty strong opinions on what we, as horsemen, do totally wrong. There are training practices across the board that drive me CRAZY!

So here’s my first post on Stuff I Hate.

Cavessons/Noseband- designed to keep the horse’s mouth closed or at least prevent a horse from evading the bit by opening the mouth too far. This includes drop, flash, crank, figure-eight etc.

When I began exploring the mechanics of horse training beyond the pull and crank approach I was in my teens. The very first concept I was taught was to control a horse’s feet through my legs and hands.

“If you’ve got the feet you’ve got the horse.”

I have heard variations of this theme from every worthwhile horseman I have ever worked with, no matter what the style of riding.

The next hard cold fact I learned was if a horse opened his mouth against my hands it was ALWAYS because I didn’t have the feet under control.

I realized horses open their mouths in resistance, in pain or both. It was an effective communication from my horse, I didn’t have to be an advanced rider or a successful trainer to understand the problem. Mouth open, something’s out of whack, mouth closed, something is working.

So why in the world would I tie his mouth shut?

A noseband restrains the freedom of the lower jaw by literally tying it to the upper jaw.This pretty much kills the concept of a supple or relaxed jaw.

To my mind, I’d use a noseband so I can cheat. I could jump ahead to the fun stuff without being thorough in my basics. I could ride without worrying about my hands. I could force my horse to perform maneuvers we weren’t ready for. I could ignore his pain.

I am just not that kind of rider.

None of my horses wear nosebands of any kind, ever.

From chronic gapers to brand new babies, I let them tell me what the deal is through their mouth. My job is not to gag the horse to shut him up, it’s to work on gaining control of the feet and watch his gaping maw gradually relax and close.

I have found that bending and flexing through the ribs with my legs, lots of hold and release and pretty much ignoring what’s happening with a horse’s mouth works best. As the feet get where they need to be, the neck begins to relax, the poll flexes as it should and the mouth closes.

If a horse is gaping and dragging my hands forward, it’s not a matter of tying his mouth shut and pulling back, it’s figuring out how to push him forward and release the drag, again, this is done with my legs, not my hands, I know we’re getting somewhere when the mouth closes and I don’t feel like I’m water skiing in the La Brea Tar Pits.

Nosebands suck. Horses don’t need them. What they need are riders who take the time to analyze the problem from an open mouth and learn to ride well enough to help the horse close it….through the feet.

There are also a lot of good ones.

There are a few great ones.

I considered myself a good one.

I was good if my client wanted a quiet, easy to ride horse with good manners and a nice handle.

I could build a pretty decent cowhorse too, but I wasn’t fast enough. My three-year-olds ran like the other trainers two-year-olds, but weren’t worth much to show until they were four.

People in my circle knew this and liked me to start their colts, fix a problem or give them lessons. But when the colts were started and the problems fixed they took them to a cow horse or reining trainer who got more done at a faster rate of speed.

It used to really chap my hide too, but it was my lot. On the upside, I am proud to say I never lamed a horse. Ever. Not my colts, not the horses who came in wanting to kill me, none of them. But I was too slow.

I was a good instructor. I always assumed owners were as eager to solve the puzzle of the horse they owned as much as I was. I loved getting a horse and rider working together, headed for a common goal.

I offered one free lesson a week with each horse in training. The client could ride the horse in training, another one of theirs or one of mine. I wanted them to understand how I was training their horse and how to ride it when they went home.

Maybe 20% took me up on those free lessons. The majority dropped them off and picked them up and seldom rode during the 30, 60, 90 days I had them. Most never came out to watch the horse be ridden, unless it was at a show.

This was not unusual. I didn’t get it, but not visiting, riding, or watching a horse be worked was the norm. In many ways it made my job easier, but it was sure strange.

This is why I am slow to jump on the “let’s out the trainer bandwagon.”

I’m not saying things don’t go wrong. I’m not saying there aren’t a myriad of cruel boneheads out there training horses. I agree the horse training business is filled with liars, braggarts, scam artists and lazy fools.

But I am saying this, it’s the clients damn fault.

Yes, you, the client, is at fault.

Horse got skinny? Why weren’t you there the during the 30 days it took to get him that way?

Your horse is covered with spur and whip marks?

A careful check of the horses in stalls will reveal rubs from a snaffle, lumps from a spur, bumps from a whip, sore backs, dead eyes, hanging heads, depression, anxiety, all of it. Again, regular visits and time spent just petting your horse in the stall would reveal the first time the hide of your horse was opened. That’s when it’s time to start asking questions, not when the horse is dying from abscessed wounds.

If you don’t check the other horses before you bring yours in, it’s on YOUR head. If you don’t check your horse personally, it’s on YOUR head.

Sometimes, people will scrape up their money and send their horse out to a highly successful trainer in another state. The excuse I get then is (insert appropriate indignant whining here), “I couldn’t afford go out there, I put all my money into his training.”

I don’t care how successful a trainer we’re talking about here, if you hate the way they train, then you won’t be happy with the end product. Some trainers are extremely successful and  extremely abusive. Some trainers are extremely successful, but still happy to rip you off by taking your money even though they’ve kicked your horse to the curb.

Believe me, it’s not unusual for a horse that isn’t going to make it in the show pen, being handed off to an assistant to learn on, or better yet, to stand idle in a stall for months.

If you don’t regularly go out to visit and watch your horse being ridden, then there is nobody to blame EXCEPT YOURSELF.

I received a letter from a woman who had her horse in cutting training with one of the better cutting trainers in the country. A big winning, money earning guy who came with fantastic recommendations. Her horse was there for two years. Yes, that’s right, two years.

When the horse came home it was barely broke.

She had spent thousands and thousands of dollars having a very expensive and well bred horse trained to cut. And ended up with a horse not even suitable for every day riding.

What happened? My guess is the horse wasn’t going to be competitive. It was bumped from the program and nobody thought to mention it to the very regular writer of those fat monthly checks. This is not honest. This is not fair.

The whole mess could have been prevented by asking for monthly videos of the horse’s progress. Written analysis, by the trainer, of his prospects in the show ring. Surprise visits. Asking for a show date and going to it. trust me, the trainer will either ride the horse like he should, or send it home - if you are there, in his face, getting what you are paying for.

If you are going to send your horses away for training,  then do your research and follow their progress. If you’re not happy, yank them.

Ask what to expect in a certain amount of time. What will my horse know at 30 days, 60 days, 120? When can I ride him/watch him work?

Ask what you can expect of the finished product. Depending on the trainer, you could easily end up with a half wild billy goat that only knows how to work a cow. Nothing else. Not every trainer works on ground manners, most don’t take them out of the arena, and unless a nice jog comes with the sport, it might never be taught to the horse.

A rope horse will put himself at a cow’s hip, but he won’t necessarily know his leads. Some cutters forget how to lope because their training consists of a trotting warm up, cutting practice and back to the stall. A Parelli trained horse might side pass around a barrel and put his nose on a stick, but that doesn’t mean you can get on hip.

I usually recommend looking at show records, finding an up-and-comer who is hungry and building a reputation, and then begin to watch her. Check the facility, is it safe and clean? Are the horses content, fat and shiny? Is there a healthy horse to rider ratio? Ten horses per rider per day is not unusual. Are there assistants? How do they ride? Take some lessons, talk to owners, go to shows. being an integral part of a barn will go a long way to protecting your horse.

Most of all, accept responsibility for your horse, take the time to find a good trainer you can access. Believe me, they’re out there. If you’re offered free weekly lessons, well, take the dang things.

It’s time to for me to take a deep breath and plunge hard into the side of this blog which takes on bad rescues and trainers in the equine world.

It seems the transition between Fugly/Mugly is smoothing out.
Readership is up, we’ve broken a record or two, in a good way, and the boss is happy.So I might as well start rocking the boat.

I’m learning to navigate the minefield that came with this blog, and the potential explosions from the people who read it, and am feeling brave enough to start to tackle some of the tougher questions.

I’ve been asked about specific rescues which are falling on their faces and trainers who, well, seem to suck at their jobs.

Personally, I am in the process of trying to out a rescue in my area which has gone from barely hanging on, to neglecting the horses in their charge.

The rescue I’m after was one that I was personally involved with while still a reporter for the Fountain Valley News here in Colorado.

I have been frustrated at every turn in my attempts to bring attention to what is going on at this place.

The rescue has a stamp of approval from the humane society, police and media.
This is in the face of horses which go downhill instead of improving after being brought to the rescue.

There are healthy horses which are turned into starving wrecks, crippled horses turned out to pasture with healthy ones and left to fare as best they can, unsafe
treatment of volunteers, selling horses to anybody who shows up with a trailer and cash, I could go on.

Believe me, I understand the frustration of watching this go on and getting nowhere when you try to sound the alarm.

When it comes to bad trainers, I have covered this ground pretty extensively cross the street at my other blog, the Mugwump Chronicles.

I’m more than happy to cover it again over here, and will begin to post my thoughts and opinions on client/trainer responsibility.

In order to out a rescue I’m going to need more than disgruntled, uncorroborated complaints. It has nothing to do with not believing the writer, it has to do with what it takes for me to unleash the power of the readers of this blog.
You guys have a huge voice and can be an incredibly effective tool in increasing awareness or putting pressure on public officials.

This voice can only be diminished to a weak joke if we go howling after people or institutions that don’t have a documented history of abuse.

How do we get this documentation? This is where I am pretty green.

I have looked at a few rescues and one trainer pretty thoroughly since I’ve begun writing over here and haven’t found anything on them which allowed me to write about them in good concience.

The rescues I looked at seem to be in trouble. At this point in time I don’t know how they can’t be.There are horses in trouble everywhere and sound business practices (as in only taking in the amount of horses you can support) don’t seem to go hand in hand with people crazy enough to run a rescue.

The good ones are turning horses away, the bad ones, or the rescues on the edge, keep taking them in. All of them seem to be at capacity.

I’m planning on approaching the problem of when to out a rescue by exploring the subject like I would any story, as a reporter.

Here is a list of the interviews I have either set up or am in the process of arranging.

The founder and head trainer of an accredited, award winning horse rescue, which I have 100% faith in and am able to whole heartedly support, Front Range Equine Rescue.

The brand inspector who inspects stock at the worst sale barn in my area.

The biggest kill buyer in my area.

The cowboys who work the yards and ride the horses during the sales at the auction.

People,other than myself, who have experieced local rescue nightmares.

Veterinarians I respect.

Cathy Atkinson, one of the best researchers I know.

This will get me started and I will share each step with all of you.

In the mean time, your thoughts and suggestions on how to nail these “rescues” would be much appreciated.

Want me to nail a rescue? Give me dated photos of horses when they came into the rescue and after they’ve been there 90 days or so.

News stories, court records, police reports, any type of public, legal documentation will make me willing to write about these schmucks.

I’m open to any and all research techniques and tips you want to send me.

When it comes to trainers, I definitely need more than a note saying, “My club hates so and so, please reprint the stories we wrote dragging his ass over the coals.”

I need proof folks. My idea of cruelty and yours could easily differ.

There is a specific trainer I have in mind, a John Lyons certified trainer, Randy Byers. I’m willing to post his name because he has already been a guest of this blog. Do you remember when Cathy posted a video of him riding a young draft type horse (maybe a Fjord or Haflinger?)

He was riding this horse like an absolute idiot. The horse was loaded down with a cavesson, running maringale, his fat ass and very rough hands, which were handily using a whip. I do believe he also was using spurs.

He was jerking and sawing and whacking this poor baby around. The video was taken by the owner who yanked her horse out of training. If I remember right she had specifically stated she did not want any of these training “tools” used on her horse.

My trainer brain kicked in immediately as I watched the video. I was taught, and firmly believe, to be the most quiet on the least responsive horses and the most deliberate on the flightiest.

In other words, I work hard to sensitize a slow moving horse and to desensitize a quick and jumpy one.

Draft breeds tend to be friendly, amiable and willing to tune out their trainers. It doesn’t mean they don’t feel pain, are dull, or stupid. It means they need to learn to respond to a feather light touch and to work to understand their training, not shut it out. This takes time, thought and patience.

In essence I felt Byers was an insensitive clod, a bad trainer and deserved what he got.

The next time I heard about our friend Mr. Byers, I was sent a video of him riding a resistant, adult and very high strung mare.

I didn’t care for his technique, which was about the same as his approach to the draft, but I understood what he was doing. The horse was resisting moving its hindquarters in response to his legs. It was very locked up in the shoulders and neck and wanted to rear. He was using his whips to force the horse to listen to his leg and unlock the hind end. The horse was arguementative and angry. He got after her pretty hard but did release her when she finally gave in.

I suspect this horse was there because she was a problem. He was tackling her problems in a way I understood, even if I didn’t agree. I did not consider his approach abusive, just kind of stupid.

The first video I would have posted, the second I would not.

Byers was recently busted hiding in a trailer load of horses he was trying to illegally take into Canada, so he seems to be self destructing quite nicely on his own.

Again, want me to out a trainer? Give me substantiated proof, I’ll be happy to help.

So there’s my outlook on just a portion of the the sad world of equine abuse. Many of you have more experience than I in this area and I would really appreciate your advice and expertise.
Let’s work together and go get the bastards.

They were all competent riders and had years of horse experience behind them.

I was enjoying our ride immensely until the group stopped for a lunch break.
There was a lot of meandering and picking the perfect place to stop to eat and rest the horses.

All well and good, although I’m a “eat a granola bar and boogie” kind of rider. I put my impatience aside, loosened my mare’s cinch and spent some time taking some photos of the beautiful fall day.

Then I noticed the box of wine. I have to be honest, I’m not a tee-totaller by any means, but I never drink when I’m riding. It seems incredibally unfair to make my horse deal with the mind changes that happen when alcohol is involved.

We were also at altitude, which doubles the impact of a glass of wine.

The group ate lunch, had a great time and nobody seemed drunk.

There was a 76 year old man riding a three-year-old colt. He is a long time appaloosa breeder and was on one of the horses he had raised.

His daughter and son-in-law were also on the ride.

The group began to move around, gathering up their food, packing up trash and getting their horses ready to go.

As I was swinging into my saddle the Appy colt went trotting past.

“Man down!”

The worst thing you could ever want to hear on a ride deep in the wilderness. The elderly rancher was flat on the ground.

There were two nurses on the ride and they ran to his side. He was disoriented and had a large gash on the back of his head.

After a thorough assessment they were sure he had nothing broken, was reasonably steady and definitely had a concussion.

I was told by one of the riders who saw the accident it was a tragic comedy of errors, if such a thing is possible.

The daughter and son-in-law had him mounting his horse from a rock on the downhill-side of an extremely steep slope. He was tired and the wine had him about on his ass. As he lugged himself into the saddle the colt lost his balance and fell over backwards, flipping him in the air and head first onto the rocks.

The group began to argue among themselves. The rancher said he was fine and wanted to continue the ride. Some were saying listen to him, let’s just go.

A woman who had not been drinking kept repeating, “He should NOT get on the horse. We need to call for help.”

She was ignored.

When the rancher asked for the fifth time, “What happened? Did I fall off my horse?”, the group finally conceeded he shouldn’t finish the ride.They still refused to call for help.

It was decided to take him back to a parking lot we had past about two miles before we stopped and try to get him a ride back to his trailer.

The sober woman kept saying, “He should not get on his horse, he could fall off any time.”

The old man was put on his horse and the group rode out, heading for the parking lot.
Another rider said to me, “If he had been wearing a helmet none of this would have happened.”

Maybe.

All I could think of was, Or the idiots could have used some common sense!

First and foremost, why were they drinking alcohol?

Was the rancher truly in condition to be on this ride?

Why on God’s green earth was he riding a three-year-old?

If his kids hadn’t had a drink would they have helped him get mounted on the correct side of the hill, or were they just stupid?

There were not one, but two nurses on the ride, why didn’t they join in on the insistance he not be moved?

My second story involves a helmet devotee who I firmly believe is setting herself up for disaster. She won’t even lead a horse without a helmet on.

Her potential danger lies much deeper than the protection she feels is guaranteed by her helmet. It’s a combination of a deep-seated fear of all horses, no matter how gentle, and a refusal to try to learn to actually ride and handle them.

Instead she jumps from one training or communication “method” to the next, convinced she can mold the horses to her expectations without actually sucking it up and learning about what makes them tick and how to get along with them.

If a horse sucks back while tied once, it must have been abused and should never be tied.

Won’t pick up it’s feet? Then it must have been abused and she will spend months teaching the horse to accept her presence,she never rides while she’s being accepted into it’s presence.

Cold backed? Lots of chiro.

Won’t bridle? Takes a week long clinic on reading the horses emotions through massage and meditation.

She spends weeks relaxing the back or softening the poll of a very gentle, national champion who will soften and collect on a breath.

At a get together not so very long ago she was eager to show us how spectacular her riding skills had become. She began with a series of lead changes, but never noticed her horse had only changed in the front. 10, 11, 12 “changes” and never felt the bump of the cross-fire.

It was fairly spectacular to watch. She didn’t want any input because her current trainer had assured her she was correct. I’m guessing her current trainer had given up.

She then proceeded to give very esoteric instruction to everyone on whatever they were working on. How to breath, how to sit, how to use their hands.

After our arena work we headed out on a trail ride. This ride was on flat ground, with a few gentle slopes, one water crossing and wide, well-groomed trails.

After the first slope, which her 20-year-old mare plodded up at a sedate walk, head low, ears and tail relaxed, she became so frightened she dismounted and led her the rest of the way.

When one of the horses (not hers, this mare is a gem) refused to cross the water she jumped in with her advice. She stood in the water, directly in front of the horse, offering it cookies. If the gelding had decided to jump for it he would have squashed her flat.

After 10 minutes of this nonsense I asked if the owner of the horse wanted help. She said yes and three minutes later we were across and on our way. Sheesh.

During our ride and her hike she worried about flags on a flag pole across the park, across the street and at the back of an apartment complex. She worried about a non-working construction site two blocks away. She worried about hikers with dogs and without dogs, areas where the trail wound through the trees and areas in the open. Her mare never looked left or right, just plodded along in complete disinterest. She never got on her horse.

She screams if a horse jumps, she jumps off and runs if her horse raises it’s head, it goes on and on.

Yet she continues to present herself as a trainer, continually working on horses which need no work and never trying to work on herself.

She gives riding lessons.

This woman is going to get hurt, I don’t care if she wears two helmets and full body armor.

A helmet can’t save anybody from their own stupidity.

I don’t have a problem with helmets. I know they save lives. I also know knowledge, logic and solid riding skills are what truly keep horses and their riders safe.

The rancher is still in the hospital with a major concussion, but should be OK.

The fearful yet faithful helmet wearer is still awaiting her doom.

I love having people jump in to talk about how, when and why their horses are trained.

Can I please point out I have yet to knock a style of riding. I don’t care what kind of saddle is tossed on a horse’s back, or if one is at all, my goal has, and always will be, to give the horses in my life the best chance at a successful  future I can possibly give them. I like to get input from all sides of the horse world, it helps me keep my tool box filled.

I can’t see into the future. I want to think my two remaining horses will be with me until the end of their days. But reality tells me I have very little control of what may happen to me or my beloved animals in the coming years.

A year ago I would have told you I hoped to keep my final three until the end of their days. When a former student made a solid offer on one of the three I ended up selling her so I could afford to keep the other two.

What made this student offer me a decent price for a horse living out on a field? It wasn’t her show career, which was extensive, it wasn’t her breeding, which was random, it was her basic training.

The mare is kind. She tolerates mistakes. She stands tied. She loads, she’s good with her feet, she doesn’t jump, leap, crowd, bully or ignore the people who handle her. She will live in a stall, pen or pasture. She knows her leads, even if the rider doesn’t, stands to be mounted from a block or the ground, and doesn’t require a perfect seat to perform. She behaves for the farrier and the vet.

Yes, she has a good mind. She was also trained in every way I could come up with to make her a delight to deal with. The reasons were not to show off or to be right, they were to give her the best chance of survival in a world that, for the most part, offers the majority of horses a shortened life span at the least and a very brutal end at the worst.

Don’t get me wrong, I love to show off, that’s where the fancy spins and slide stops come in. As far as I’m concerned, that’s just icing on the cake. How the cake is baked is the important part. I feel  it is the duty of every person involved with horses to do their best, at whatever level they are at, to improve the chances of survival for the horse or horses they spend time with.

I have taught horses at all levels to stand tied. During my time as a trainer I only managed to rise to mid-level in my chosen field, reined cow horse. When this is as high as you go,  you earn a lot of your living starting colts and fixing problems. Horses who couldn’t or wouldn’t tolerate pressure were the bread and butter of my business.

If a horse had no previous issues, but no training either, I began teaching them to give to pressure by ponying them from another horse. They were turned, pulled, towed, turned some more until they were jogging along comfortably with the horse.

My next step was to teach the horses to respect my space and move their hips and shoulders away from me while I was on the ground. We then got into leading, stopping and standing while I moved around them etc.

When it was time to be tied the horse knew to find relief from pressure by moving forward.  I would tie the horse with a rope halter and a stout 10 foot lead. I tied to something that I knew could withstand a struggle.

My rope was wrapped several times, but not tied off, so I could step in if things got ugly, give the horse room to pull out some rope and still have him connected when he quit pulling. I tied him and moved off far enough for the horse to know I know longer held him.

As soon as the horse stood quiet for a minute or two, no pawing, whinnying or fussing of any kind, I would let him go for the day. I increased time each day and had them tied with the gang by the end of the week.

Horses who panicked or sucked back were treated differently. I had a fifty foot rope for them. I tied the rope off on the halter (no snaps) and wrapped the rope like I described above. If the horse freaked or flew back I had a good forty-five feet of rope to let him reel out. When the horse was done, why surprise, surprise, he was still tied. I reeled him back in and we began again.

When it comes to horses I have the patience to watch paint dry and grass grow, I did this with a horse for days if needed. I never had it not work. The key was to always stay calm, never yell or scream, never run or panic, no matter how wild the horse got. Just reel them out and back in and never, ever, have the horse become untied unless I chose to untie him.

So, now you know what I did. What do you guys do? How do you teach a horse to ground tie? How about standing in cross ties? How do you handle a horse that won’t tie? The more information shared the better off the horses will be.