RIP Susan Kay Guile 1961-2024

I haven't been very active on this site for the past year or so as my wife was in her 12th year of fighting cancer. That battle ended 21 October 2024 when she passed peacefully at home. Her entire life was spent with animals. Rescuing some 70 plus dogs and cats in the last 20 years and even a few horses. Susan was a talented horsewoman. She grew up horseback riding with Charros and Escaramuzas in Del Rio, Texas. Escaramuzas are basically female Charros who ride in special side saddles executing intricate patterns in the arena wearing beautiful, colorful dresses sombreros. It's certainly something to watch. She barrel raced in local rodeos in Pennsylvania as well as doing other competitive events. She spent two years in Germany riding classical dressage from one of the last World War II era dressage masters. Then she moved to Southern California serving as a horsemanship instructor, wrangler and trail guide on a Dude Ranch near Barstow, California. There she adopted a chestnut foal named Ande (Andromeda McCue) a granddaughter of Pan McCue, who was with her for 26 years.

Moving to El Paso, Texas where I met her in 2001, Susan taught horsemanship and riding to dozens of adults and children at High Desert Riding Club at Fort Bliss, Texas one of the last of the US Army's horse stable facilities. A weekly occurrence was her riding someone's horse to get it sorted out or to trailer load a horse that the owner's couldn't. For the last 23+ years she continued to be a friend and mentor to many of her horsemanship students who would often call her for advice even up to a few weeks ago. One of those students moved to Hawaii, and who we shipped a couple of nice horses to, came to El Paso to be a 24/7 nurse to my wife in her last days. I am forever indebted to Arlene for that.

A talented artist, Susan painted mostly oil on canvas and was active in the El Paso International Museum of Art, El Paso Artists Association and local painting groups where she was celebrated for her western art featuring Cowboys and Horses, although she did other subjects as well and won awards for her work. She only painted from pictures she owned so most of her work was me and my horses which was unfortunate at some level. This is some of her work below:

I tired like hell to get her home from the hospital just as soon as I could so she could see her horses again. We did get home before she passed but she was too weak to be moved from the hospital bed we had installed at the house. Two days after she passed we put her horse Charlie down. He was 37 years old and suffering from bowed tendons, arthritis and his rapid descent mirrored Susan's. I think he knew anyway. That's him in the photo below with my wife during better days 10 years ago. Even suffering from cancer then, she never let it define her or limit her until the last couple months. She was comforting us as we cried over her.

As a testament to the life she lived, dozens of old friends and remote family members visited her both in the hospital in Houston and at our home. During the last five weeks of my wife's life, she had to have a trichotomy as the cancer had ravaged her head and neck occluding upper airway. She communicated by writing in a notebook, often drawing some funny cartoons, much at my expense. What gives me peace and comfort during these days of grief is when our Pastor asked my wife if she felt God's presence, she wrote. "He has told me that I should have faith through all tribulation and trials. If His Son could bear all his pain we could do so was well." She passed wo days later. Rest in Peace at Jesus' side Sweetie.

The Evil West Texas Goathead plant

If you live in the desert Southwest you are invariably familiar with the Goathead Plant, which is actually an obnoxious weed that grows really, really fast with minimal water. The scientific botanical name is Tribulus terrestris, which really should be Tribulus terrible as it terrorizes people and dogs on a daily basis.

There is a reason that one of it's nick names is devil's thorn as it's fruit - more like a booby trap - bears two or more painfully sharp spines. Even with leather soled western boots, they find a way to stick to the boots so you bring them inside your house where they fall off in strategic pathways and you find them when you walking bare foot. Even the most Christian among us will utter a few select cuss words when stepping on one of these caltrop shaped "fruits". Have you ever watched someone have a big bore needle and syringe driven through their back into a lung to remove fluid? The cussing that ensues is nothing like what emits from deep within the vocal bowels of someone who has deeply and fully onto a Goathead with their bare feet.

While I don't use Glyphosate chemical weed spray like Roundup anymore, as I have seen too many cancer warning television commercials, I do use about every other method to get rid of these evil spawns of Satan. I've spread salt; tried propane burners; employed battery powered and electric weed eaters; used the big rake on my John Deere tractor - and No, I don't look sexy on my tractor, just pissed off. I have tried dragging a weighted and spiked grate with a truck; used all manner of manual tools such as garden hoes, shovels, etc......the best manual tool I have found is a type of garden hoe but with a stirrup resembling working end that has a sharpened edge that cuts the roots off below the ground, but your arms go numb after awhile.

Pulling those weeds by hand is far and away the best method of ridding these good will robbing weeds for a decent length of time, but who among us has a strong enough back for several days of that kind of soul crushing work over acres of goat heads? But you have to do something as they can spread fast and even grow 10 feet in diameter. Anxiety and the countdown clock begins when you see small yellow flowers blooming as the rapid growth and release of the caltrop shaped spikes is imminent. Some people call these things burrs, but that does not do justice to the pure evilness of them.

I don't know how these things got started growing on this earth, but I'm leaving room in my thoughts that they may have been brought here by aliens....or just maybe demons brought them up from the underworld. I pulled up several of them this morning that grew up seemingly over night next to one of my stock tanks. I intended to come back in 30 minutes or so with a bucket to collect them for the dumpster. As I approached the area of pulled Goatheads, I could have swore I saw one of the pulled weeds, with an unusually long tap root, moving. There was absolutely no wind, so I did a double take and looked again, and I believe that the tap root was moving trying to dig it's way back into the ground where it could grow anew, and again sprout those pain causing spikes to terrorize dogs and people. Right now I'm on hold with the local US Air Force base asking how a citizen in moderately good standing can order a napalm strike. If anyone has a better idea, please contact me.

National Day of the Cowboy 2024 - 20 Year Anniversary

Today, 27 July 2024, marks the 20th anniversary of the annual National Day of the Cowboy. While many Americans think of Cowboys as what they see on television, or even maybe the hit series 'Yellowstone', nothing the film media can produce does justice to the hard working men and women who raise, protect, produce and live to work with livestock and in the best of times, do it horseback.

Cowboys and Cowgirls are much more than that trading an easier life with chances of financial security for the hard work and freedom of doing hard work over long hours. Its about getting the job done and doing it right even when no one is watching. A good snapshot into Cowboying and the work ethic they live, albeit not much on horseback, is the way these men and women risked their lives to protect cattle, other livestock and facilities in the threat of the Texas Panhandle fires. Western Horseman Magazine lines out one such example in the July 2024 issue in the article 'From the Flames' with the Abraham family and the Mendota Ranch during the Smokehouse Creek Fire.

Go to their website for more information on The National Day of the Cowboy. This organization works hard to keep the Cowboy spirit alive and in the hearts of Americans, including working with State Legislatures to adopt 27 July as the National Day and partnering with the famed Henry Repeating Rifles to produce commemorative edition rifles for fund raising.

Keeping a horse straight or changing his mind

25 years ago I was discussing with another what we really needed in a horse and I remember saying something to the effect that I really valued straightness when moving forward....I needed a horse to move out on a fast walk or trot going forward and straight. These days I'd answer differently. I value softness and response and tend to think more about straightness as balance. Anyway, that memory popped up when a gent asked me about keeping a horse going in a straight line when walking. He said that half the time his horse is looking left or right at anything or nothing and end up moving in a serpentine all the time. Of course, if a horse turns his head and neck so much to one side it can have the tendency for that horse to short stride the side he is looking to as he ends up tightening his neck and shoulder. In fact, some riders when asking for a lead departure or doing lead changes will tip the horse's head to the side opposite the front foot they want to extend. Anyway, I said I would address what I thought about this and for what it is worth, here it is, but this is really not about straightness,...it's about  changing a thought in your horse.

It can be really annoying when riding a horse at a walk and the horse bends his head and neck either left or right so both eyes are looking in that direction. We all know the vision horse's have, around 340 degrees if I remember correctly, but anyway they have a wide range of vision with one eye. Much like when a horse raises his head at something, to determine if it's a threat or not, so they can get elevation and look straight out the middle of the eye, so they will also turn their heads left or right so they can put two eyes on something. If they turn their heads too much left or right they bend their necks enough that affects their shoulders, balance and foot falls. Rider's end up pulling on the reins opposite the horse's head turning to get their heads back straight. That seems to be the 'go to' tool a lot of rider's have. But it can worry a horse, all this nit picking. 

I try not to make a felony if my horse's look left or right for a second or two then brings their heads back straight - they are naturally more comfortable with their heads straight and will usually get there on their own, but again there is the balance aspect, and the rider should be able to keep the horse between his legs and reins. But if they don't get their head back straight quickly, instead of pulling their head straight with the opposite reins (I used to do a lot of that) I do two other things which are not physically or manually putting them back into position, but rather trying to get his mind back to thinking straight. I kind of think of it as the age old human trick or sneaking up on someone's right side then tapping their left shoulder to get them to look left.

If the rider is in contact with the bit or hackamore, or riding in a loose reins (preferably), the rider can simply put a feel, meaning a light bump or vibration in the opposite rein to get the horse thinking opposite of where he is looking. One way to do this is to slightly cant the wrists outside or down, or briefly close the last two fingers of the rein hand opposite of where the horse is looking. Not too long ago, I wrote a response to a reader who was asking how to correct a horse who was always looking to spook,....just waiting for something to jump out at him. And I replied much to the same thing, to get the horse's mind on something else such as asking for softness or vertical flexion. All the same idea, just change his mind, change what he is thinking about for a brief second or two. Then you'll likely have to repeat and repeat.  But this is subtle and doesn't wear you or your horse out.

Another thing to try, and you can try this just sitting on your horse, is to apply just as small amount of leg pressure as you can get away with to get the horse's opposite ear tipping to that side to correct. I am going to try and illustrate that in the series of photos below. Again, you need to use as little pressure as possible to get his ear to tip to show he is thinking about that side and good timing to release any pressure as he is thinking about or beginning to tip his ear, or he may even move his nose to that side.

photo below: As I am applying just a bit of pressure to my horse's barrel on the right side his ear begins to tip to the right. As soon as I see him begin to think about tipping his ear or beginning to tip (or turn it if you prefer) I'll release my light touch on his barrel. I tend to use my calf, but you could use the inside of the heel of your boot or touching them with your spur (and I mean just touching them). You may get a bigger response of using your spur though.

photo below: You can see my horse follow his ear with his head, but by the time he is actually beginning to move his head I have already released the pressure, but he continues to follow through with his thought.

photos below: Same deal on my horse, just to the left side.  So the next time you ride your horse, try this out and see just how light of pressure you can use to get your horse to change his mind.   

The Power of Petting Horses

I recently had a discussion with a lady who asked me if I thought petting and rubbing horse would create a pushy, spoiled horse. She told me people at her barn warned her about that would give her horse bad manners. Over the years I come to believe that men, for the most part, are really much more likely not to be as hands on petting and rubbing horses as women are. Men make not have that type of contact with a horse foremost in their mind, or may think that's it's not very manly or such. I don't. In fact, I get a lot of ribbing like "you sure do like petting and rubbing your horses." But as far as petting and rubbing on your horses, I believe it's much in how you do it. It's like riding with spurs. If you use spurs judiciously and softly, they can help you and the horse, but used wrong, just to gouge or punish the horse, then you and your methods are going to be detrimental. Same as petting on your horse - do it in a manner that encourages pushiness is not good and getting the horse's head where it can smack you could be dangerous.

There is a secret, really several, on petting and rubbing horses,  but it basically come down to, yes it can help calm and horse, and 2 - no amount of petting will replace getting a horse to understand what you are asking, or what most people would say, training a horse. Two weeks ago, I brought home a 2 year old gelding from a horse auction. As you can imagine, he was very nervous being trailered to a new home absent of the other 2 year old geldings who had been his paddock mates for his young lifetime. Once I got him in his new pen and before I took the halter off, I rubbed on his nose and cheeks until his demeanor changed just a bit and I got his head to soften. It was just replacing his anxiety with some comfort, just changing his perspective for a bit.  And his first inkling that I was there to take care of him and he can trust me.  

Another time I was in the arena judging an event when a man rode his horse in to make his run. This horse, being in place without the support of the other horses, became very scared and would not continue move forward. After a few minutes, which probably seemed like an hour to the rider, the rider said he was going to dismount and lead the horse out. I asked the rider to wait a minute, then I approached the horse and petted on him stroking his nose then putting a hand on his poll and hand on his nose and getting him to soften a bit. After a short time, I told the rider, when I walk away he may follow, and if so, just give him his head and let him follow me. So I walked away and that horse followed me from one obstacle to another. I think I changed his thinking from being troubled with being by himself without his buddies to liking what I had to offer him and wanting to buddy up with me. It did not change his perspective on being by himself from here on out, it just was one small step in the process of letting him accept new things.

Like the 2 year old gelding I just brought home and the horse I described above, this is one of the first things I'll do with a horse to introduce softness in their head and neck. It's hard to do when they are scared and focused on the new environment or situation, but it can help get a change in the horse. But between rubbing and petting on their nose, around the eye socket and poll, I'll stop with one hand on their nose and the other on their poll and put just a bit of pressure until they drop their head. I always have a hand in position to block and discourage movement that is pushy or could be dangerous.


In the beginning, I'm just looking for the head to come down a bit. It may come down slowly and they may be bracy at first, but in just a few times that improves much. And like I said, in between the asking for softness, I do the rubbing and petting. Again, this is where you can encourage or preempt pushiness. A horse will likely turn his head towards you and you need to be prepared to block that. You want your hands and forearms in a position where you can block that. So one or both hands and forearms are always between your face and the horse. This is especially true if your horse likes to put his lips on you, nibble or even bite you. And I told MH that while it feels good to us to pet and rub on a horse, our enjoyment can't be the primary purpose.....it has to be good for the horse and used to relax the horse and change his thinking to create a window for learning. You can feel that change when the tension or rigidness goes out of them....that's the time to get out of there, before they get bracy.

I remember a very well known and universally respected horse trainer who said never rub or pet on your horse while they are feeding. I disagreed then and now, with the caveat that it's how you go about doing it. While a green or new horse is relaxed and feeding, I'll use that time to touch and rub him to see if he has any trouble areas. Sometimes a horse will pull his head up, turn and look at me, but they rapidly go back to their feed. By the time I pull that horse to do ground work or saddle him, he has already been touched about everywhere.

The often repeated saying. “There’s something about the outside of a horse that is good for the inside of a man”, which has been attributed to various sources, including Winston Churchill and Ronald Reagan, to me isn't necessarily limited to riding a horse. The feeling we get, and especially the joy that people new to horses get, is just good for our souls. When riding back from open country and crossing a road to see a vehicle stop and people watch me, I never hesitate to ride over to them and have a chat which almost always results in the people getting out to pet my horse. One of my favorite stories was when I saw a car stopped and rode up to find a lady, probably in her late 30's, with her elderly mother to had Alzheimer's in the front seat. She said she was just driving her mother around to change her routine and decided to drive into the country. Her mother was wheel chair bound so she couldn't get her out of the car on the shoulder of the highway, so I asked her to roll down her window. I rode around to the passenger side and had my horse stick his nose into the car. I'll always remember the look of joy of that elderly women's face as she raised a hand an touched my horse's nose.

So yes, petting and rubbing on horse's is good for us and it can be good for the horse. Make it so.

Tying Up Young Horses

Sometimes people will contact me and ask about the Functional Tie Rings, sometimes just to make sure they are still available or they are skeptical about ordering on line. Having been scammed before, I get it, and I always enjoy those conversations anyway. I always follow up a phone call with a email to lessen the chance of our conversation being taken out context, especially when it comes to using a Tie Ring or addressing other issues with horses. So in that vein I am including most of an e-mail response I sent to a lady named Colleen who was asking "when is it appropriate agewise to use a Tie Ring on a horse?" Apparently she was told that it is generally okay to start tying up young horses so they can get used to stand being tied. And although she has a Clinton Anderson tie ring, she has not used it yet nor does she know anybody in her circle who uses tie rings. The horse in the photo at right is tied using a Functional Tie Ring, but for the first 6 months or so of saddling him, I did not tie him at all, instead I would lay the lead rope over my arm or simply lay it on the ground as in ground tying. I highy valye a horsee that is comfortable at ground tying so I work at this. So bottom line is that I would highly suggest never saddling a green horse when he is tied.

Unfortunately it's pretty routine to see tying mistakes. Some of the common one's are: hard tying to non-anchored points like temporary panel fencing; hard typing without a quick release; and, hard tying horse's who have never been tied much nor stand tied well - and this can be a tragic mistake when a young horse's seeming calmness belies his lack of experience. I have seen or know about several young horse's that were hard tied and pulled back flipping over or falling and injuring themselves badly.

And I can't talk about tying horses without this story. I was doing a demonstration and clinic a few years ago at an indoor arena. I entered the arena and hard tied my horse (with a quick release) to the permanent rail fencing. He was the only horse in the arena. Shortly, a rider attending the clinic entered and tied her mare up just feet away next to my gelding despite having plenty of room to tie elsewhere. Her mare started turning her butt towards and trying to kick my horse. The rider returned to move her horse but ended up tying the mare to a long hinged gate on wheels. Her horse started pulling back and pulling the gate towards herself. The rider got in between the gate and her horse and every time she reached for her horse, the horse would pull back and slam her with the gate knocking her down. This happened a couple times until she was able to get to the side of her horse's head. Anyway, could have ended up with more than just embarrassment.

It's not the age of a horse that dictates when they are ready to be tied, either hard tied or using a tie ring, but their ability to understand coming off of pressure. When a horse pulls back, or even when we pull on a horse from the front, the biggest part of that pressure they feel is from the halter (rope or web halter) on their poll - on the neck behind the ears. Again your horse needs to come off of pressure from the halter before you tie him up, so at a minimum this would be if you pull the lead rope taunt and the horse changes his body weight forward or takes a step forward towards you, to relieve the pressure. I'd like them even much better than this, so when they feel that pressure it's always a step forward to obtain their own release. And even then I like to use a Functional Tie Ring for weeks or months before I start hard tying.

If you are beginning to lead your horse and you have to bump on the lead rope until he starts moving forward, he is not giving to pressure very well and you need to do more work on getting him to follow the feel of the lead rope willingly and in a timely manner. Sure, in the beginning of ground work on a green horse you will likely have to bump him some to follow the feel, but you don't start right off bumping him. Instead, you would draw a loose lead rope taunt slowly and allow a chance for the horse to understand before you start bumping him.

The Clinton Anderson Tie Ring, previously known as the Blocker Tie Ring will work just fine. Just remember the hinged center bar falls away from you. If you insert the lead rope with the hinged bar rotating towards you then push the bar up to the magnetic lock, a small amount of pressure on the lead rope by the horse will pull the hinged bar down and the horse is loose. Should not be a problem to remember to use it correctly and with any tie ring you have to be concerned of where your fingers are if the horse pulls back when you are securing the lead rope! I know two people who have lost the tip of a finger tying a horse and having the horse pull back. One of them owned up to not paying attention, the other guy blamed a pretty girl diverting his attention. The results were the same, loss of a tip of a finger and it could have been the good finger that you use to clean your ears out with.

The sequence of photos above (click on the photo to enlarge) show: Figure 1 - Normal hookup of the lead rope using the Functional Tie Ring. This allows for the rope to feed through the tie ting if or when the horse pulls back. The lead rope I am using in the photo is a Double Diamond standard lead rope and it will start moving through the tie ring around 15-18 pounds of pressure. Figure 2 - the arrows depict pulling the bite of the lead rope that is through the tie ring around the bottom of the tie ring which creates a girth hitch and a hard tie. This is wrong if your intention is to tie a young horse or any horse who has pull back issues. Figure 3 - using a girth hitch on the lead rope with a tie ring, again, creates a hard tie. Make sure if you use it this way that your horse is good about being hard tied.

A Horsemanship Epiphany on Patience

Webster's Dictionary gives the following definitions of an 'epiphany': "a usually sudden manifestation or perception of the essential nature or meaning of something"; " an intuitive grasp of reality through something (such as an event) usually simple and striking"; "an illuminating discovery, realization, or disclosure"; and, "a revealing scene or moment".

Having the practice trying to set up a situation where a horse can gain an understand of what you are asking of them, I recently came a roundabout way of getting an new understanding myself of this. One morning when reading a daily devotional sent out by a friend of mine about not asking God to give you patience, but rather ask Him for a chance to practice patience.

I recently brought in a highly bred, two year old gelding. Still nursing a back injury I thought I could begin some progress on my new horse, barn name 'Zeke", so hours later when I was in a pen with him, I had him on a lead rope and was trying to get him to follow a feel. I really like this little sorrel horse. He's small at 14.2 hands and will likely top out at 14.3, but his chest is decently wider and he has good bone structure and feet.  He has a good, curious mind and I look forward to many years and miles with him, but it all starts at the beginning. And like always, I hope and try to do right by him.   

I first try to get a horse to come to me on a lead rope with gradually increasing pressure then moving to use a little bumping on the lead until the horse's body weight shifts forward. I give the horse a pause to absorb what he did to get the release of a taunt lead line, then ask again and build on that so then he moves a foot, then again a release. Then all four feet, and again another release - always with pause. Then before you know it, the horse will follow that feel to me. Once I have that going for us, I work on backing a couple steps. Using the fiador knot of the halter I apply a bit of backwards and side to side pressure until his body weight shifts. Then same as moving forward, I work for a foot to break loose, then a couple feet. Eventually, the side to side and backwards pressure just becomes a wiggle of the lead, first when standing by his side, then standing in front of him. So that description on beginning to follow the feel of the lead rope was necessary to get on with the story.

So the two year old was not getting the idea of coming forward. He was not getting troubled, jut not understanding. Sometime when this happens and I'll change my position relative to his head slightly. I take a step right or left and end up at the 11 o'clock or 1 o'clock position relative to the horse. Anyway, he was not sorting it out. I could have used a flag to create some energy so he would move forward, but I wanted him to concentrate on the feel of the lead rope and react to that as opposed to reacting from a flag at his flanks or behind him just scaring him forward. And then I remember the message of that morning - 'don't ask for patience,...ask for an opportunity to practice it".

So I thought it's as much for me to sort out as for him. So every time I would ask him to move forward and he started to step sideways, I would make a noise and he would stop and look at me as I continued asking him to follow the feel of the lead. Then we would begin again. He got it. Look at the change of his expression above before he takes steps forward. So my opportunity in patience was realizing that each time he failed to understand was actually necessary to his understanding. I have heard some people call this failing forward, meaning you have to have failures before you get success. Anyway, works for me. We were both better off for it. So next time I ask for something, it'll be the opportunity and not the result.

Compact Tractor Hack

I don't know what I would do without a tractor, needing it to move sand that the ever present West Texas winds blow from one end of my property to the other, grading the arena, as well as using it for a host of other tasks such as moving telephone poles, pipe and panel fencing around. Only having a bucket and no fork attachment, it was always a chore to tie up poles, pipes and fencing to the bucket to move from one location to the other. Enter a friend of mine, Bud Reno of Hammer Performance, a high end automotive shop in Santa Teresa, New Mexico, who built a set of forks that attach to the bucket, which are much quicker than removing the bucket and putting an original manufacturer's fork attachment on, if I even had them which I don't. Bud's fabrication were very well built and much cheaper than buying the fork attachment from John Deere.

Bud is a master fabricator and mechanic who kept my trucks and trailers repaired and operating when I was a Range Rider hauling horses on rough roads and dry river beds into the Sacramento, Hueco and Organ mountains, so it came as no surprise that what he built works really well. He welded a short length of square steel tubing onto flat steel pieces drilled for mounting onto the top of the tractor bucket, where I can slide slightly smaller five foot lengths of square tubing to serve as the forks. He drilled and welded a set bolt into each of the short tubing pieces so once I slide in the square tubing forks, I can tighten them down in seconds with a crescent wrench.

I can make a couple easy rope loops over poles and pipes and can transport them anywhere I need to, and moving panel fencing to set up guest horse pens or catch pens is an easy one man job.

There is a cottage industry making all sorts of bolt on attachments for compact farm tractors, such as D rings, chain hooks and such, but Bud Reno's fabrication is the first set of forks I have seen offered. If you have a compact farm tractor and have a need for such an attachment, it should be easy for a local fabrication and welding shop to get something working for you. I also just installed an aftermarket set of chain hooks so I can drag heavy bridges, lift telephone poles to position wherever and to pull mesquite roots up. These after market chain hooks are under $100 and available from several manufacturers. Anyway, maybe someone can benefit from this tractor hack.

Riding with a Halter under the Bridle or Using a Get Down Rope

CJ, who I have previously known for working with him and his horse, dropped me an e-mail asking about the 'properness' of riding with a halter under the headstall so he would of course have method to lead his horse on the ground without using his reins. He rides with split reins and a broken bit with shanks, sometimes called an Argentine snaffle.

I wrote CJ back with pretty much the following: I don't know the properness of riding with a halter underneath your bridle but of course I have seen it done many times. In fact, about 15-20 years ago I was riding in a competition where a young lady carrying a clip board was going around to each competitor and asking them if they carried a halter and lead with them. I was sitting on my horse and riding in a hackamore and mecate reins, so I replied "No Ma'am, I don't need to carry a halter and lead as I have a built in lead rope" lifting the lead portion of my mecate up so she could see. She continued "So you don't have a halter and lead?" I gave her the same response a second time. She walked off and apparently I did not get 'extra points' for having the foresight to carry a halter and lead.

The photo above is my horse Hays with the snaffle bit outfit with slobber straps and mecate reins. The lead end of the mecate, as you can see is drapped around the saddle horn until I tuck a bit of it underneath my belt so it's readily accessible when I dismount. If I come off the horse unintentionally (always a possibility) I have a chance to grab that lead tucked under my belt before a horse has a chance of running off. By the way, I sometimes free lunge my horse or put him in a pen while saddled and bridled up, by tying the lead end of the mecate around the saddle horn using a clove hitch. Go to this previous article to see how I tie up up the mecate lead using a clove hitch.



You likely have a bigger chance of seeing that (halter under the headstall) with recreational trail riders and even competitive trail events. I do not have a negative opinion of it, it's just unnecesary for me as I ride in hackamore or snaffle bits with slobber straps and always mecate reins. Mecate reins are, of course, a continious rein usually 22 foot long, but I have ridden with as short as 19 feet on short necked and smaller horses. The mecate is connected to the right side of the bosal heel knot or snaffle/slobber strap then goes around the horses neck, coming back through the left side and continuing on to provide a 8-10 foot lead rope that the rider secures to his/her saddle or loops the end through their belt loop or a ring on their leggings. When I dismount or otherwise lead my horse on the ground I can use the trailing or lead end of the mecate just like a halter lead rope. I also sometimes tie up the snaffle bit and slobber straps so there is no chance of having the snaffle bit banging on the horse's mouth, with is the reason that riders will ride with a halter underneath the bridle, so they can dismount and lead the horse without having to lead with the reins and exposing the chance of banging the bit around the horse's mouth. By the way, something I do have a negative opinion on is hard tying your horse with a bit by using the reins. If a horse pulls back, the bit can cut his mouth or damage his teeth.

If I was going to ride in anything other than hackamore or snaffle with a mecate, say using rommel reins, or with one piece roper or split reins, I would use a small diameter bosal, called a bosalito, with a smaller diameter (maybe 1/4 inch) lead rope as a get down rope. If had no other option then maybe a 1/4 inch halter under the headstall, I've just never ridden with halter under a bridle as I have always had a bosalito with a small diameter lead available.

The photo above shows a bosalito using a hanger (think saddle string) connected to a 10 foot 1/4 inch diameter paracord or other rope, as a lead or get down rope. You can use any smaller diamter rope. Having having placed this on my horse, I could now bridle him. Another, option is to take a section of paracord r other smaller diameter rope, maybe 10-12 feet, and tie a bowline around the horse's neck behind the poll and secure the running end of the paracord to your saddle or tuck it in your belt as you would a mecate. And lastly, if you do use a separate get down rope to lead your bridled horse from the ground, make sure you tie the reins up so they won't get loose, drop on the ground where your horse could step on them and have the bit cut up his mouth or damage his teeth, and potentialy tear up your gear which is a secondary consideration to the horse in my view.

Go to his previous article to see how to tie a bowline (same link as the one above).

Desensitizing Horses or letting them Learn

If you asked a dozen people about desensitizing a horse, their description would be alot closer to each other than if you asked the same people how does a horse learn. I realized this as I had a fairly long phone conversation with a lady named Marti about desensitization. She contacted me on email then we had a phone conversation discussing desensitization as she said she was (in my words) casting about to get many opinions on desensitization as someone advised her that desensitization would make a dull and unresponsive horse. I told Marti I would followup our phone call with some written comments about what we talked about, so here it is.

Desensitization, certainly had a bad name in some circles, but it is much like riding with a leverage bit (or any bit for that matter) - it's all about how you use it. And when I use the term desensitization, I am meaning getting a horse not to be scared, to accept a situation or stimulus. Much like using pressure and release to get a horse to understand what we are asking with cues, be it using the reins, our seat or legs, or really any kind of pressure, and providing a release of that pressure when the horse responds even just a bit - then building on that. We also come to understand that the horse needs time to process his response to the pressure that gains a release in order to figure out what he did that gained that release. The time or pause after the release is kind of understood by the handler, but to be clear about it I tell riders in clinics that we use 'pressure, release and pause' so it is understood that the horse needs that time after the release to understand. People will sometimes ask "How much time? How long should the pause be?" Well, I don't know,......more than a couple seconds, usually less than a minute, but the horse's posture and body language, head and ears, and position should give you an idea when he is ready again.

So, in being redundant (I'm not to insult anyone's intelligence) but we use pressure, release and pause when exposing the horse to a stimuli such as a flag, tarp or an obstacle. So, the most common error is to take the stimulus away or to take the horse away from an obstacle when the horse gets scared. Then he learns that he was justified in being scared of that object. I suppose we can expose a horse to a stimuli, an example would again be a flag, where we overuse the flag - don't use it in a meaningful or accurate way - and the it becomes not much of a signal anymore. I just don't think that happens much, at least not what I've seen. What I think is more likely is confusing a horse with a lack of use of cues and a lack of accurate timing of the release.

What Craig Cameron said over 20 years ago was one of our major responsibilities was to create a brave horse. I think about this practically daily. I try to apply the concept of letting a horse figure out the situation when he shows anxiety or fear. The latest example is that I had a horse tied to a trailer and I pulled out a metal tape measure to measure the length of a rear cinch I need to replace. My horse did not like the noise the tape measure made being extended or the crinkling sound that the metal tape made when bending. He did not pull back, just stepped back a couple steps as was very alert on the tape measure. So I extended the tape measure and laid it on the trailer fender. He was not about to approach it anytime soon. So I just left the tape measure there on the trailer fender, brushed him, got the saddle and bridle ready and let the horse generally get used to the tape measure being there. A few minutes later, I asked him to take a step forward and he did. I let him settle for a bit then asked him again to step forward. I finished saddling, got his snaffle bit in place and rode off. Coming back, we did it all over again. I also sat on the step to my trailer, held the extended tape measure in my hand and asked my horse to step forward to me. Soon I was touching him with the tape measure then using it to measure the circumference of his nose when a bosal would go - I really didn't need to do that, just wanted him to accept what he was skeptical of earlier. This is simply giving the horse think to think without alot of pressure. I can't tell you how a horse reasons, but it is obvious that they can learn to accept things as a non threat given adequate time. This is desensitization and learning at it's root.

When we are riding or even leading a horse in hand we have all experienced a horse stopping and tensing up, alert to some item or obstacle be it a trash can, a bucket or whatever. We have also all experienced the same when we have rode or led a horse to or through an area time and time again only for the horse to stop because there is something new. There is actually a term for this - coherant change detection - it comes from the military comparing imagery of terrain and things over a period of time to detect, even minutely, what has changed which could indicate enemy preparations of capabiities. In fact, this is what the horse looks at too.....what is changed and what threat does it present. So if we give the horse some time on such an obstacle, are we desensitizing him or giving him time to think and learn to figure things out?

I think we have all been successful at some point, whether intentional or not, when the horse stops at some perceived threat, and we don't get all worked up about it and give him some time, he'll move forward again towards that object. If we force him to move forward too soon then we build on that anxiety.  Just keep him straight. Give him some time and we're usually talking about a minute or two, the horse will figure it out and we now have a braver horse.                      

Texas Wildfires devasting Families, Ranches and Livestock - How you can help

The largest wildfire in Texas state history has scorched close to one million acres of land, burned hundreds of homes, barns and other buildings as well as killing tens of thousands head of cattle. To date, at least two Texans have lost their lives. All this on top of hundreds of people and families trying to find a path to recovery after losing everything. Texans and people throughout the United States are coming together to help but much is needed. If you are of a mind to help there are many avenues to do so.

Panhandle Disaster Relief Fund. You can mail a check to the Amarillo Area Foundation administering the fund to Panhandle Disaster Relief Fund, 919 S. Polk, Amarillo, TX 79101. Or you can donate online at this link Panhandle Disaster Relief Fund.

Texas A&M University Agrilife Extension is working the Disaster Assessment & Recovery Unit and County Extension Agents to help the residents of the Texas Panhandle who sustained wildfire related losses and has an online page devoted to Panhandle Wildfire Relief Resources listing livestock supply collection points and information on monetary donations.

The Working Ranch Cowboys Association are collecting donations for the WRCA Foundation Natural Disaster Relief Fund, which will help livestock producers who have been devasted by these historic wildfires. Donations can be made at this link WRCA Foundation Natural Disaster Relief Fund.

Leadership and Horsemanship

A friend of mine, retired Army Sergeant Major Kyle Lamb, who had a distinguished career with what the public know as Delta Force, wrote a book called "Leadership in the Shadows". I couldn't reading that book in the lens of what I wish I knew 30 and 40 years ago, and, also through the backdrop lens relationships with all the horses I have had since then. Kyle makes several great points in his book which directly relates to the successful horseman or horsewoman.

I have often been asked by my former bosses (in a Federal Law Enforcement Agency) how to develop subordinates, and what a unit leadership course would look like. Right off the bat, defining Leadership is much like trying to define Soft Feel in handling and riding horses...you can spend decades pondering both, and both will mean different things to most people, but when we see good leadership or someone riding with Soft Feel, we know it. So, most often my replies were the leadership (of people) were likely best drawn from experience and developing job related competencies, studying the best traits of your most respected leaders, and recognizing the worst traits in your bad leaders. Kyle points out something similar when he wrote "Believe it or not, I learned almost as much from those weak leaders as I did from the great leaders." I think this relates to what several horsemanship clinicians likely mean when they say they can learn something from anyone. Circling back, it does seem like leadership has a lot to do with horsemanship.

One of Kyle's points is you may be a bad leader and still enjoy some success by having some really good people underneath you performing inspite of you. This reminds me that many horses fill in for a lack of guidance, bad handling or just a lack of fair leadership from their handler or rider. It's not wise to count on the horse doing so, but it happens, as we all kmow that when faced without guidance the horse will go his own way as this is survial instinct.

Another point in the book relates to truly great leaders not having to elevate their own importance but instead rely on the performance or the product of their endeavors. To me this relates to not putting much stock in what others say about you, but instead take guidance of those you respect and have the knowledge and experience to give you help and guidance, and, this point also directly points to the old horsemanship adage about "show me the horse and I'll tell you about the owner."

Kyle has a Chapter early in the book, titled "What is your word?" which basically becomes an exercise in self introspection about what is the most important leadershp trait to you. Exchange the word "leadership" with "horsemanship" and now you could cast about trying on different words. In fact, you really don't need to exchange leadership with horsemanship, since what we are trying to achieve with the horse cannot be accomplished unless the horse sees the handler/rider as the leader, and more specific, see's the rider as a fair leader. The true searching comes from defining what each trait means to you. Likely some of the best horsemen would decide on 'patience' as the most important trait. To me patience means several things.....'recognizing the smallest change in the horse'; 'waiting on the horse to understand what you asking of him - that means giving the horse time to understand'; and, having the patience to understand that it takes years to build the horse you want.

What may be useful about thinking about these traits is to see for yourself how you incorporate or perform the most important trait or traits, and maybe even more important is to recognize how or what you need to do to improve. And I just don't think it's a one time process. It's sometime we should likely revisit on a near constant basis.

By the way, Kyle points out how he pondered his word (his most important leadership trait) for a long time until he decided that his word was "credibility". He points out that you are not born with credibiity,....you must earn it by performing on a daily basis. That the leader builds credibility by being accountable to his/her people......just as how we are accountable to our horses, or should be. I have been told by military and law enforcement leraders that one'ssubordinates all need to be treated the same. I always disagreed. People (and horses) are different. You would not violate anything by treating them all different as a situation dictates, as long as that treatment was fair.

My word was "balance". I tried on different words identifying leadership traits, and that word - balance - seemed to fit best, although many other words describing traits were importqnt as well. To me Balance it means balancing or understanding the many needs, among them the needs of the horse to feel secure, treated fair, given time to understand what we are asking, and the needs of the rider to establish effective communications in order to accomplish the things he or she want to do on horseback.

Despite doing our best to utilize clear and fair communications through signals such as body language, feel on the lead rope or reins, cues with our seat and legs, if we are not the leader the horse needs we are being unfair to the horse and us both. One of the things humans do that I believe pushes them away from being a more effective leader, is assigning human nature to the horse. Ths puts artifical limitations on us and the horse, and often leads to creating excuses for both of us to justify behavior. I am planning on addressing that later as it was a big topic at a recent clinic.

I hope I'm making sense here. I sometimes use this forum to juggle my thoughts and practices, and put them in more a useable form. Sometimes it is not apparent that we could do better as leaders because the horse just fills in for us. That leads me to believe that the horse's leadership word is patience.

Anxious Horse - Looking to Spook

I received this question via e-mail and it is something that everyone of us has likely experienced. "Hello, I am riding a 6 year old mare, she is supposedly half Quarterhorse and half Tennesse Walker. She was someone's trail horse and ridden for a couple years before I bought her. She is very gentle and comfortable to ride, but she has a habit where  she looks left then right seemingly waiting for something to scare her. When there is a noise or something that does  scare her, she will flinch or take a quick step away, never jumping or really spooking but these rides are becoming tedious where I don't enjoy them. I thought if I rode her enough, the "wet saddle blankets make good horses theroy" she would come around but it isn't getting any better. Do you have any insight on this problem or what is going on? Thank you in advance, Blessings, Myra."

Momentarily, or for longer than a moment, a horse's fear or anxiety can take over where their mind is away from the rider. This is not an intentional deal of ignoring the rider,    it is just a simple instinctive reaction by the horse. You have to get back into their mind and you do so by directing them. Directing the horse, or what some would call putting them to work or moving their feet, usually brings them mentally back to the rider. You could think of it as distracting the horse from the fear stimulus by asking them to do something.

When faced with anxiety or fear, a horse's head will come up so they get elevation for sight and can look directly out the center of the eye. One of things I do when my horses mentally stray from me is to ask them to soften at the poll (the portion of the neck just behind the ears where the Atlas and Axis vertebrae are). 

 Notes on softness: I begin to build this softness in my horses from the first handling where I can use my hand on the poll to ask them to drop their head and I use a verbal command of 'drop your head', and getting the same with a hand on their halter or bridle, or even a loose lead line. I look to get their poll on or close to a level equal to the withers with their nose vertical. This is referred to as vertical flexion. In the beginning, you'll have to apply some pressure, not a lot of pressure but really a sugestion, but soon just a touch (think an ounce of pressure) will do it and even the voice command will usually work if the horse isn't distracted. You are going to need this good on a horse in order to get him collected and better balanced later on. IA lack of balance is really apparent when backing a horse if the horse's head is up, his back is hollowed out, so when the horse moves back he is pushing and falling with the front end. It's an ugly back to be frank. When the horse is soft, head down, his back is more rounded where he can back with the back end engaged and with the some of the weight taken off the front end, he can step with the front feet as opposed to pushing and dragging them.

Back to ready to spook question,...when in the saddle and my horse starts to tune me out, I can use alternating pressure (sometimes very slight and sometimes more of a short bumping) on the reins to signal an ask for softness. Depending on how far along the horse is, the dropping of the head and the nose going more vertical, may last just a second. Or if the horse is well along in training he may hold that for several strides, in any case once you release and his head comes back up you can ask him for softness again. This works pretty well to get the horse mentally back to you.

Yet another way I would approach getting the horse back to me with his mind is to move the feet. I generally don't back a horse when he is looking for sonething to spook on, like Myra describes in her question. But I have before, and when I do I ask for a halt followed by a step backwards. Then I ask for a step forward and a halt, then before the horse can mentally disengage, ask for two steps forward. However, usually I try to get his mind back when moving the feet by asking for a short leg yield to one side then the other, or if the horse is further along, maybe a shoulder in movement followed by a reach with his inside front foot to get back straight on the line of travel.

Sometimes a horse can be distracted by things that normally don't bring up his anxiety like when he is looking to spook. This could be other horses in a distant pen, human activity, or whatever. So another thing I do is to stop my horse, bring the front end over 45 to 90 degrees then jump out to a trot or canter so a few strides, then stop, back several steps, bring the front end over in the oppisite direction and jump out to a trot or canter and repeat. This serves pretty well to get a horse mind back to you. In any event, when the horse begins to get nervous, looking for a threat and looks like they are about to spook, that fear is coming between you as a the leader and the horse. You have to get their mind back to you.

Horse Abuse and Rescue

Not really what I wanted to write ending this year and going into the promise of the next, but the inhumanity that humans do to horses is not confined by the calendar. The good people at Perfect Harmony Horse Rescue & Sanctuary in Chaparral, New Mexico took in three (3) severely neglected horses on 29 December, confiscated by the New Mexico Livestock Board. Their New Years and the weeks and months following will be spent checking on these horses and providing small amounts at feed at 2-3 hour intervals round the clock. 

 This Rescue, chaired by Marianne Bailey and staffed with her husband Dan and daughter Jessica as well as several volunteers, see the worst in humans and the poorest horses. They never say no, even though it is usually a costly endeavor in funds, labor and the emotional toll, to provide neglected horses with sometimes just days of relief.

To the readers - I'm sorry to ruin your day by displaying pictures of these three horses below, but this is what Marianne and crew deal with on a routine basis. Perfect Harmony is a 501 (c) 3 non-profit and can surely use financial help. No donation is too small as they face a mounting feed, Veterinarian and Farrier bill to care for these horses. 

 If anyone can donate, these are the modes they can accept: 

PayPal at their e-mail, perfectharmony1@aol.com

Venmo at Marianne-Bailey-8

Cash App at $Perfect HarmonyRescue

Checks sent to Perfect Harmony Rescue, 636 Palmas, Chaparral, New Mexico 88081

Merry Christmas!

Horses should be soft in the tail

A couple months back I was lifting the tail of my horse Hays,   and a clinic participant asked me why I was doing it. I replied I was just getting him soft in the tail and it was helpful for several reasons. The participant asked what getting a horse soft in the  tail would be good for. Not exactly my reply, but I told him and the group that you should be able to touch a horse all over including lifting his tail without troubling the horse. As far as practicality, you may have to take the horse's temperature with a thermometer (use one with a string!) without the horse clamping his tail down and not letting you have access to insert or remove the thermometer. 

And being able to brush out the horse's tail without having to fight for control is another good reason as well as holding the tail out of the way when a horseshoer is trimming the back feet. Few things aggravate a farrier more than to get slapped in the face by a horse's tail.

You should strive to be able to lift the horse's tail without resistance. Whether it is lifting the tail up or letting it down.     

Getting my horses sorted out with flag work, where the flag doesn't mean anything to them without directing them, I'll slide the end of the flag up underneath the tail as the horse is walking then trotting around me on a lead rope.

If you have thrown enough loops with a lariat, especially in the early days of roping off horseback, you have invariably rim fired a horse. That is where the rope gets up underneath the horse's tail and he claps down his tail, like Scrooge with his wallet, and gets the horse troubled. Sometimes goes off bucking. Once I get a horse decent about lifting his tail, and moving it from side to side, I'll start on the ground using the lead rope to rub around the tail and underneath it. Don't be in a hurry to get a rope up underneath the tail, as standing back where you can handle the tail, it is easy to get kicked. So, I wouldn't even start this until the horse is good at combing out his tail and letting you lift the tail.  

Once I am pretty sure this doesn't mean anything to them, then I can start dragging logs and such, as I need to be sure that when I turn away from the lariat that if it gets up underneath his tail, he won't be troubled. The photo above, while stagged, shows what that may look like if you turn the horse's hip into the rope. 

What's odd about Hays, the Dun horse in the photographs above, is that he has been the most difficult horse I've had when getting him soft in the tail, but the quickest and least troubled about having a rope or flag shaft clamped underneath his tail, whether it's standing or trotting out dragging anything. That's kind of underscores that horses have different personalities. The horse's I still have with me that I have sorted out on getting soft in their tails, are still soft even after years of not having their tails routinely handled. And while I was reflecting on writing this, I remember Craig Cameron saying words to the effect that 'he works to get a horse soft from the whiskers on his muzzle to the very end of their tail.'  Why wouldn't we all want to do this for our horses?