Does Performance Dictate Training, and Training Dictate Performance?

I was thinking about this subject the other day when I was remembering trail rides I would go with my late wife, and thats been awhile since she was unable to ride for the last few years of her life. But, God Bless her and her thoughts for the horse, she would kind of nag on me for working on things with my horse rather than what she termed as just enjoying a trail ride. So I would go back and forth on the question of 'when is riding just riding, and not training'?

It's been said by many much more learned people than I, that giving your horse a job where he can focus on performing what he needs to do, to assist the rider in getting that job done, is a strategy on making a better horse. When people hear that, like I do, we all nod our heads...that makes sense. But invariably, the thought comes up on what is the difference between teaching a horse or giving him an understanding on something like doing a turn on the hocks or crossing a bridge, and an actual job like moving cows or checking fence?

One of those differences may be the level on which the rider holds himself/herself and the horse responsible for how they do something, as opposed to the focus on just completion of the task. If we are trotting miles to get to a pasture gate, we would very likely be much more forgiving to the horse on their straightness then we would if in an arena trying to achieve straightness. I am not advocating riding with acceptance of poor performance, nor am I suggesting that we have to correct small imperfect movements in the horse, but it does seem to me that 'training' and performance (doing a job) are sometimes, maybe a lot of times, different.

If you are at a competitive event, which is performance, at some point that ends and what you are left with is your memory on what you need to work on. Same thing with doing more traditional work, like gathering or sorting cows, you would finish that and look back on how and what you need to do to improve.

Decades ago, when I discovered that there was more to riding horses than pulling on the reins and kicking them in the belly, everything was learning what my holes were in what I could do horseback. Sometimes giant holes, and today if seems like I haven't filled too many of holes up sufficiently. But those difficulties shaped what I would work on.

When I was an Army Range Rider, my horseback patrols would highlight many things that I would work on when riding for myself off duty. It was just necessity as I did not want to find myself without skills or tools to handle the difficulties I had just experienced. Riding on a narrow trail with a steep drop off into an arroyo (a dry river bed) and uphill on the other side with thick Cholla and Prickly Pear cactus, I learned that my horse and I needed to be able to back uphill a bit, walk forward in a very small circle and/or do short, sharp serpentines in order to get turned around when that trail ended. And through necessity a horse just can't back up hill without being soft in the poll, head down and vertical so his weight is balanced and he doesn't drag his front end and fall with the back. A horse can't do small circles with balance unless he is soft and giving to lateral flexion and the rider has to b able to control his feet with the reins and use his legs to bend the horse and get the hind end to untrack. I'm here to tell you that the first time I looked at a 20 foot drop off and did not have those tools sufficiently to be pretty sure that we could get out of such a predicament, I worked on that until my horse and I were sure.

Another time, I was checking wind mill fed stock tanks in grazing units when I saw a dead cow blocking the sluice from the wind mill tank to the dirt tank. To make a long story short, there was no way because of the uneven and steep terrain that I could throw a rope on the dead cow and pull her out of the sluice so I had to dismount, put a loop around the dead cow's hind end, loop the running end of my rope around the saddle horn and ask my horse get his dead cow pulled out by getting my horse to back up with me helping to pull on the end of the rope around the dead cow's hind end. While I had pulled logs on horseback on this horse I wasn't sure we would be able to do it from me on the ground, but eventually did, so what did you think I did at home? I practiced getting my horse to back on a feel on the lead rope from me in front of him and then pulling short logs then railroad ties in the same fashion. Funny thing is that have never had to have a horse pull or drag something with me on the ground since.

More thoughts on pre-ride ground warmup

I have written before about owing it the horse to get him warmed up in both his body and mind before throwing a leg over and heading out. I recently listened to a podcast where the speaker talked about working on a crew at a large outfit where most of the cowboys after saddling their horses would spend the available minutes, before trotting out behind the boss, talking and telling stories rather than warming their horse up then wondered why some of them would be bucked off.

It's also pretty much common knowledge that lunging, or other ground work warming up, won't necessarily get the buck out of a horse by itself, but certainly a quality warmup allowing the horse to operate off a soft lead rope or rein can get him to looking to the handler, getting his mind on following direction, and getting blood flowing to his major muscle groups. It also allows the handler to discern any stickiness in the horse's gait which could indicate lameness. I have never had a problem having to wait on people to saddle up whether they were taking their sweet time grooming, tacking up, warming up,.....whatever. And I can't remember anytime when I hurried saddling a horse when I thought people were waiting on me. Didn't bother me much as I was there for my horse and not to satisfy people I was riding with or people in a clinic. Of course, that wouldn't be proper nor tolerated working for a cowboying outfit as you need to be ready to ride before the Boss is, but being ready to ride before the last man would get you a few minutes to get that horse warmed up and to his mind ass well.

Sometimes, when I pull a horse from his pen, the 2-3 minute walk to the tie rail can become a ten minute walk as I check him out enroute.....positioning up correctly when leading, stopping, backing, coming forward one foot at a time as I ask, swinging a front leg out, untracking his back end, etc.. So if he is not accurate on leading up, we'll correct that. All this reinforces the horse listening to your direction on the end of a lead rope. So if it's necessary to lead a horse, it's worth doing it with quality.

After saddling, and before I throw a leg over, I'll back the horse up using the as soft a feel as I can get by with and ask him to stand quiet, reinforcing ground tying, then ask for him to come forward sometimes using the lead rope of my mecate and sometimes using a hand signal. I'll ask for a front leg to step out laterally and sometimes ask for the hind end to untrack away from me. Again, getting the horse to look to you for direction.

Lastly, I'll direct the horse in a circle, first at a walk then a trot, getting the proper bend for that size of a circle and doing so on a loose lead, then untrack his hind feet with the hind foot nearest me stepping underneath his body and in front of his outside hind foot, then bringing his front end over and heading in the opposite direction.

So I do all this, usually spending 5-10 minutes at maximum, because I think I owe it to the horse to get a it warmed up and prepared for the ride.

The Cowboy and Western Art of Susan K. Guile

I wanted to do something so people other than locals could see the Cowboy and Western artwork of my late wife, Susan K. Guile. Susan, 5 March 1961 – 21 October 2024, was a native Texan growing up in Wichita Falls, Abilene and Del Rio, Texas, and other states as well, in a military family where she developed a love of animals, especially horses. She graduated from Shippensburg State University in Pennslvania with a Bachelors Degree in Fine Art. While in Texas, she rode with the Escaramuzas (female Charros) in South Texas, rodeoed in Pennsylvania, Virginia and Alabama, and rode Classical Dressage in Germany with one of the last Prussian Dressage Masters.

She also worked for several years as a wrangler and trail guide at a ranch in Southern California. Settling in El Paso, Texas in 1999, Susan taught horsemanship for over 20 years instilling a love and respect for horses for many adults and children. She used her love of horses and the western lifestyle to paint realistic oil on canvas scenes of horses and cowboys and other iconic western scenes for which she was well known for in the El Paso Art Community. She would only paint from photographs she owned, aside from the occasional commission piece, so man of her painting were of her husband (me) which is unfortunate as she could have had better subjects. These are some of her works below:

This piece (above) is titled "Jubal" of me and a Mustang gelding who proved to be a difficult horse, even dangerous at times, but taught me so much. Took me awhile to make friends with him, but I actually used him to teach a couple clinics off of. The original painting was 30x36 inches oil on canvas.

I'm old, with many wrinkles, but Susan used to accuse me of telling fibs when the corners of my eyes would crinkle up. She called this my tell. So the title of the painting is "The Tell". I have to admit I cannot keep myself from making up ridiculous stories and get gullible people to believe me. She painted this painting of me. The original was 22x26 inches oil on canvas.

This piece (above) is called "The Last of the Range Riders" when I was a Conversation Law Enforcement Officer, colloquial called an Army Range Rider and riding a young horse (Chance) breaking him into duty. The location was the Otero Mesa in New Mexico on Bureau of and Management grazing units where we had enforcement jurisdiction. The original painting was 30x54 inches oil on canvas.

Susan also painted from time to time in water colors, and this work (above), which she called "Best Friends", is me introducing Jubal the Mustang to my best friend Petey, a Gordon Setter. The original painting was 18x24 inches oil on canvas.

Susan took a photo, hard to do at night, of me drinking coffee by the fire pit, and turned it into this painting she titled "Campfire Contemplations" above. The original painting was 22x28 inches oil on canvas.

Althoughg she painted many others, old barns, homesteads, longhorns and horse, the last ne which I'll share here is titled "Welcome Breeze". From a photograph taken in the hot desert summer, you can tell there is a light breeze blowing my wild rag and the horse, Junior's, tail and mane. The Franklin Mountains Noorth of El Paso, Texas are in the background.

One of Susan's last was to get her artwork available for her family and friends to get prints and what not. I finally got that done, putting her work on Fine Art America where the images can be made into prints and posters, note cards, t-shirts and even coffee mugs. I already warned her family they better not get a coffee cup with my likeness on it only to drink weak ass coffee from it. Anyway, I hope more than a few people can enjoy her efforts. She was as good as a woman, wife and rider as she was an artist.