Question on De-Sensitizing Horses

Aldoberto wrote to ask, “Can you set me straight on desensitizing a horse? My friend say's that (is) something we should not be doing. He says professional trainer(s) stay away from this.”

I can't set you straight Aldoberto, I can only give you my opinion. If you were in front of me, I would ask “what do you think desensitizing is?” before I would answer. There are some people who either do not like the term (desensitizing) or do not like what the practice of desensitizing is. I have heard Ken McNabb, who is a phenomenal trainer by the way, say (words to the effect) that he does not like to desensitize horses because he wants a sensitive horse in order to get the most out of him. I have heard others say that too much desensitizing will make a dull horse. I don’t know if that is possible or at least I haven’t done it yet.

I have used that term, “de-sensitizing” in the context of exposing a horse to different situations simply to teach the horse that he doesn’t have to react instinctively, but he can think through a problem. Such as flapping objects like flags, tarps or signs which can spook a horse causing him to react instinctively by fleeing. In fact, I think it would be difficult, even near impossible, to total de-sensitize a horse to all situations simply because their survival instinct is so strong.

I previously wrote a post about giving a horse time to think, or a pause between exposure from one situation to another. I think the time to relax, before being stressed again, is important to a horse's learning process. Hope this answered your question. If not, we can try again. Safe Journey, Aldoberto.

Horse Pasture Next to Gun Club

Anonymous sent a question on your post “Exposing Your Horse to Gunfire – Part III”,....”I am in need of advice. I live in the country but my home is next door to a gun club (and) the pasture is 500 yards from the club. I have not purchased a horse as of yet. But I am getting one. How do I desensitize from the loud noises from the gunfire?”

It’s good of you to think of your horse. I would think that 500 yards away is a decent enough distance for rifle shots, even from big bores, to not scare any horse.

One time I started a horse out on gun fire by taking him closer and closer to a Army rifle range where troops where conducting basic rifle marksmanship. I approached within about 50 yards of the firing line where the crack of the rounds being fired was still pretty mild. My horse was very alert but not really anxious about the noise, so rifle fire at 500 yards may not even concern a horse after he hears it once or twice.

These days when I start a horse on gun fire, I’ll throw some hay in the feeder then I’ll fire black powder blanks into the ground from about 25 yards away. At first they will alert to each shot, but soon ignore the sound and give the feed all their attention. Having the range nearby, you may actually have a training opportunity if you can take your horse towards the sound of gunfire and get him sacked out on that.

I would be more concerned about the principle direction of fire of the gun club or potential ricochets, which would be rare. And, while it is an unalienable American right to own and bear firearms, it is up to the individual to use any firearm in a responsible manner, which is not always the case.

I would also be sure that it would be near impossible for my horse to get out of his pen or corral and end up in the impact area of otherwise down range from the gun club.

I used to manage a large horse stables on a military post next to an airfield where every year an air show was held. Imagine all sorts of aircraft, from the Blue Angels to lumbering cargo aircraft flying over head, to sonic booms and crushing jet engine noises, to low levels approaches to the airfield......all the horses quickly became sacked out and I think it made for better horses.

In fact one day, as an Army Range Rider heading into the Mountains with two other Range Riders to check on the Mule Deer Population, a large cargo helicopter on a training flight saw us and decided to hover over us. Imagine an object the size of a school bus and making a hell of a racket hovering thirty feet above your horse. Being sacked out on all sorts of aircraft made a difference that day.

Army Scout - John Colter

I was taken to task by Jumpin Johnny on the post about Army Scout Jim Bridger. Johnny wrote: “Jim Bridger was a consummate liar. The Yellowstone area was first discovered and explored by John Colter. It was known for many years as "Colter's Hell". Colter was intrigued by accounts of the area when the Lewis & Clarke expedition he was a member of in 1806 skirted the area to the north on their trip west. Colter returned immediately to investigate after the expedition returned to the St. Louis area in 1807. Jim Bridger is the only person to say he "discovered" Yellowstone ... and it was a lie that seems to persist today.”

Johnny you are right that John Colter first explored the Yellowstone in 1806 soon after he was released from his duties as a scout and hunter from the Lewis & Clarke expedition. From 1806 to 1812 (a six year time span) Colter went back and forth between the West and civilization in St Louis. He enlisted in the Army for the War of 1812, dying as a soldier from disease. John Colter is mostly well known for “Colter’s Run” where he was captured by Blackfeet, given a chance to run, and he was able to escape covering some 200 miles until he reached safety. Jim Bridger on the other hand spent over 40 years in the West, scouting, guiding, surveying and mapping not just for the Army but for gold miners, wagon trains, railroads and even the Pony Express, as short lived as it was.

I am not taking anything away from Colter. His escape from the Blackfeet is legendary. I had planned on writing a post about him as well. But I am prone not to judge historical features too closely as all we know of them is through the fog of time.

John Colter (1774?-1813) - An American trapper and guide, Colter was born in Augusta County , Virginia about 1774. Sometime around 1780, Colter's family moved to Kentucky near present-day Maysville. In 1803, Colter enlisted in the Lewis and Clark Expedition as a private and during the expedition, Colter was considered to be one of the best hunters and scouts in the group.

As the expedition was returning to St. Louis, Missouri in 1806, Colter met up with two trappers, Forest Hancock and Joseph Dickson, who were headed to the Yellowstone River. Colter was granted a discharge and join them heading into the Yellowstone country.

After this expedition Colter hired on to guide trappers from the Missouri Fur Company taking them into Big Horn River country. This expedition lead to the establishment of Fort Raymond on the Yellowstone River.

In October, 1807, Colter was sent out to linkup with Indian tribes in their winter encampments to negotiate Missouri Fur Company trapping and intent to trade with the Indians. Colter is thought to have traveled traveled by himself crossing the Wind River Mountains, the Teton Range, and was probably the first white man to see Jackson's Hole and Yellowstone Lake. About six months later, in 1808, Colter described this trip alerting other white men on the Yellowstone country and the hot springs.

Later in 1808, Colter joined another trapping expedition in Montana where he and another trapper named John Potts were wounded in a fight with Blackfoot warriors. About a year later another fight with Blackfeet resulted in Potts being killed and Colter captured. This was the start of colter's famous run where the Blackfeet stripped Colter and set him free so they could have sport chasing him.

Colter evaded the Indians, reportedly killing one Indian brave, successfully escaping and covering some 200 miles over the next 11 days until he made it back to Fort Raymond, albeit half dead.

History finds Colter guiding trappers again in 1810, surviving attacks from Blackfeet and probably Crow as well. Reportedly Colter provided much information to William Clarke for Clarke's development of maps.

Colter married and in 1812 enlisted in the Army during the War of 1812. He is known to have enlisted and fought under the name, Nathan Boone, and subsequently died from disease.

Here's where the Colter story takes a strange twist. Colter's wife, Sallie, receiving his body but unable to bury him for some reason, apparently kept his body in a cabin on their farm in Missouri where it remained until 1926 where his bones were found, linked to Colter by possessions with his name on it, and buried at a site over looking the Missouri River.

Bit or a Hackamore

AshSnapClick asked on question on the FH YouTube channel which I'll have to answer here due to length restraints on YouTube replies. "Re: Bosals and Hackamores: Does a hackamore give you the same amount of control a bit would? My boy doesn't like the bit but he's also kind of a trouble maker. I would love to switch over for him to be happier but I also don't want to give him an opportunity to take advantage of me."

AshSnapClick, I would try to find out why your horse doesn't like the bit. It usually is a process of elimination. Often when we change from one bit to another, or from a hackamore to a bit or vice versa, we are often trying to treat the symptoms rather than the problem(s).

But assuming you are riding in a fairly benign bit like a snaffle, or broken bit with small shanks, or a grazing type bit, there are many reasons why the horse is uncomfortable, including:

~ Bit seated too deep. Check for more than just one wrinkle in the corners of the mouth which may indicate bit seated too deep. I like the bit touching the corners of the mouth without any wrinkle.
~ Wolf teeth still in, or coming in, or other teeth problems that make carrying a bit painful.
~ Rider too quick or harsh with their hands. The horse maybe expecting or anticipating pain or discomfort with every slight change of tension with the reins.
~ The horse hasn't been afforded the opportunity to learn to carry the bit.

In addition to eliminating the possible reasons outlined above, if the horse has not been taught to give to pressure by getting a timely release from that pressure, then you are going to see problems that may lead you to believe he is fighting you. This would be a very common reason.

There are seven places of pressure on the horse's head that we can use to get a response:

~ pressure on the tongue, bars of the mouth, and corners of the mouth all coming directly from the bit....I am calling this three separate places of pressure. 
~ pressure on the roof of the mouth - using a bit with a high port called a spade bit.  Some horseman will spend years getting a horse trained for a spade bit and it should be used only by very experienced horseman......for a novice to use this bit would be like giving a razor knife to a two year old baby.     
~ pressure under the jaw from using a curb chain or curb strap - comes into play when using a shanked bit.
~ pressure on the nose or side of the nose - such as using a halter, bosal (hackamore) or even a noseband.
~ pressure on the poll- the portion of the neck just behind the ears, that allows the horses head to swivel and bend, usually comes into play with a shanked bit.

Using a Hackamore really only gives you pressure on the horse's nose or sides of his nose. There are different diameter bosals or nose bands in a hackamore, and different material as well, usually either rawhide or rope. The smaller the diameter, the more pressure. The material of the bosal (rope or rawhide usually) and it's finish or smoothness can enhance that pressure if it is of a rough finish. The hackamore is not something I would go to, first off, just because the horse is hard to control in a bit. I think I would first try figuring out why he is hard to control and uncomfortable in a snaffle.

Hope this helps. Let me know what you figure out. Safe Journey.

Update on Starving Horses

Growing up, my Pa gave me some good advice, "Don't argue with an idiot", unfortunantly I'm gonna ignore that and respond to a couple comments dropped under the post "Starving Horses in El Paso Texas" which I wrote on February 3rd. And like I've written before, I am not against the slaughter of horses,...I'm just against the inhumane treatment of horses.

Anonymous left two comment's on the post "Starving Horses in El Paso Texas " and they are the text in BOLD TYPE FACE....someone told me this means he is shouting. Similar ranting, also in bold type face and using similar verbiage, appeared under on-line news articles about these starving horses. I'm going to re-post Anonymous' comments with my followup comments and that will be the end of it. I will not longer allow these horse abusers to post any comments to stand more than momentarily.

The good news is that after public scrutiny the horses are now being provided some care. Horse Rescue people in and around El Paso County are monitoring this situation.

Anonymous: U.S.D.A DR.WEESE, RAMOS D.V.M,TEXAS ANIMAL HEALTH COMMISSION REPRESENTATIVE AGREED THE HORSES ARE SKINNY AND MALNOURISHED. THEY ALL AGREED THE PROBLEM STARTED ELSEWHERE AND NOT AT THE MH RANCH. AND,EXTENSION PEOPLE FOR TEX A&M AND NEW MEXICO STATE REPORTED FORAGE IS ADEQUATE AND REASONABLY GOOD FOR CATTLE. THE VETS AGREED, THE FORAGE IS GREAT FOR HORSES IN THIS CONDITION.

FH: No one is saying the problem of malnourished horses started at the MH Ranch - it was just getting worse there and that's what brought passers by to alert horse rescue people and the County Sheriffs Department. Dr Weese of the U.S.D.A. never said the forage was adequate. The pasture, if you can call it that where the horses are, is nothing but mesquite, cresote and some chamisa. If the horses were moved up on top of the Mesa there would be better forage with what blue grama and indian rice grass there is up there, but still unsufficient for that number of horses.

Anonymous: THESE HORSES WERE REJECTED AT THE EL PASO AND MEXICAN BORDER DUE TO THEIR POOR CONDITION.A FEW EXAMPLES, PREGNANT MARES, SKINNY HORSES AND MALNOURISHED HORSES. THE REPS FROM THE BORDER GAVE 45 HORSES TO THE RANCH. ALL 45 HORSES WERE GOING TO THE SLAUGHTER HOUSE.THE MEAT WOULD BE SHIPPED TO EUROPE AND JAPAN FOR HUMAN CONSUMPTION. TWO MEXICAN-AMERICAN MEN GAVE THE RANCH 35 HORSES TO THE RANCH.ALL THESE HORSES HAD NO HOME AFTER THEY WERE REJECTED FROM THE BORDER.MH RANCHES TOOK THE HORSES. MH RANCHES WANTED TO GIVE THE HORSES A SECOND CHANCE. OUT OF HIS POCKET, HE PAID FOR ALL MEDS,SALT,HAY,SUPPLEMENTS,VET BILLS,CITY WATER AND MOLASSES TUBS.

OUT OF 80 HORSES, 6 DIED TO STARVATION SYNDROME AND 1 DIED FROM A UNTREATABLE CONDITION . THE 45 HORSES WERE AT THE BORDER HOLDING PEN FOR OVER 3 DAYS AND FEED ALFALFA. FEEDING ALFALFA TO THESE HORSES IN STARVATION MODE , NOT GOOD! FATAL FOR HORSES THAT HAVE BEEN STARVED FROM PREVIOUS OWNERS AND GO INTO STARVATION SYNDROME. THEY HAD NO CHANCE BY THE TIME THEY REACHED THIS RANCH. THIS IS A SLOW PROCESS FOR THE HORSES TO RECOVER.THEY HAVE FRESH WATER, MINERALS, SALT AND MOLASSES TUBS. THESE HORSES LOOK GOOD.THE MH RANCHES ARE NOW SELLING THE HEALTHY HORSES TO THE PUBLIC.SOME OF THE SOUND AND BROKE HORSES WILL GO TO TRAIL RIDE BUSINESSES IN NEW MEXICO AND TEX..SOME OF THE WILD HORSES WILL BE SOLD TO RANCH RODEOS.AND, YES, THERE WILL BE HORSES GOING TO THE SALE BARN.

FH: U.S.D.A. Doc Weese got involved, not because of the violation of Texas Revised Code 42.09 (Animal Cruelty) but because of the inter-state movement of horses not only without health certificates, but the movement of horses who had strangles, which is contagious. It is a slow process bringing horses back to health,....what was slower, was the process of getting feed and water out to these horses when they were first turned out at the ranch, when the original idea of taking them to Mexico for slaughter became an non-option.

Anonymous: SHOWING AERIAL FOOTAGE OF THESE DEAD HORSES ARE FOR SHOCK VALUE FOR TV AND WEB VIEWERS. GET THE FACTS BEFORE YOU START POINTING FINGERS. ANIMAL ACTIVIST, AVERY AND SAGE AND SOMMERS DID NOT DO A COMPLETE INVESTIGATION ON THIS MATTER. THE TAHC TOURED THE RANCH ON THE 13TH AND EVALUATED ALL THE HORSES AND GAVE THE RANCH A RELEASE TO CONTINUE BUSINESS AS USUAL. I BELIEVE, MS. SAGE, AVERY AND SOMMERS ARE MISLEADING THE VIEWERS.THIS IS NOT DISNEYLAND, THE
STARVED HORSES FROM PREVIOUS OWNERS NEED 4 TO 6 MONTHS OR MORE TO GET WELL. SAGE, AVERY,SOMMERS AND STARR WANT RESULTS IN A SNAP OF THE FINGERS..NOT REALISTIC GOALS. AVERY SHOULD KNOW ITS A SLOW PROCESS, SHE HAD A FEW HORSES DIE ON HER IN THE SAME CONDITION..SHAME ON HER TO POINT FINGERS! GET THE FACTS, BEFORE YOU JUDGE.

FH: From your earlier comments under the on-line news articles, you claim that the law was violated flying over the ranch taking pictures of the horses. But someone must have explained to you the "right to be, right to see" doctrine. Now you claim the aerial photos are just for shock value. No, it was for investigative and evidentiary reasons. The Sheriffs Department, as fine an organization as they are, are not trained in animal abuse investigation and that came straight from the Sheriff. Besides, the County is not interested in confiscating these horses as the costs for transport, vet care and feed would be enormous. They just want this problem to go away. 300,000 non-horse owning tax payers would be pretty mad.

Diane Avery has been saving horses for a long, long time. She has taken in horses in terrible condition and may have lost one or two. She is well respected for her efforts. Any failure of horses to survive under her are the fault of those who neglected those horses before she took them in.

It is true that there is now some feed, stock tanks with water and salt blocks out for the horses,...too bad it took the negatively publicity to force that to happen. Glad someone paid for those brand new stock tanks.

Anonymous: TO GET THE REAL STORY. Read: THE EL PASO TIMES AND EL PASO INC. ISSUED ON THE 11TH OF FEB. EL PASO TIMES, TITLE: 2ND CHANCE FOR HORSES.THEY BOTH HAD ACCESS TO THE RANCH AND TOURED THE WHOLE RANCH. KFOX14 DID NOT TOUR THE WHOLE RANCH. KFOX STAYED AT THE HEADQUARTERS FOR 99% OF THE TIME. EL PASO TIMES AND EL PASO INC. LOOKED AT COGGINS, MEDICAL REPORTS, INTERVIEWED THE VET.,VIEWED THE HORSES AND GOT THE FACTS FROM THE OTHER DOCTORS AND SPECIALISTS. MS. AVERY AND MS. SAGE HAVE A HISTORY IN EL PASO FOR NOT GETTING THE FACTS.

FH: I did read the follow up article in the El Paso Times, from February 11th. It was a feel good article and not very good investigative journalism as it only contained the story from the MH ranch perspective. It looks to me as an attempt to mitigate the bad publicity of horse abuse. I have over 7,000 readers a month on this site, so your comments seemed oriented towards mitigation of the exposure from my first article. This is probably the same reason a lawyer and another gentleman (and I use that word loosely) claiming to represent the ranch owners have visited a least one feed store and tried to intimidate the owners. As far as you’re derisive comments concerning Diane Avery, Constable Angie Sommers, and Doctor Starr, you either don't know them or are straight up lying. They are all well thought of and have very favorable reputations in the area horse community. Can't say that about horse abusers.....nobody has much use for them.

Cowboy Humor, or Why We Shoot Deer

An old partner of mine, still riding and working cows at 70 years old sent me this and explained that he almost wet his britches reading this,....so be forewarned.

I had this idea that I could rope a deer, put it in a stall, feed it up on corn for a couple of weeks, then kill it and eat it. The first step in this adventure was getting a deer. I figured that, since they congregate at my cattle feeder and do not seem to have much fear of me when we are there (a bold one will sometimes come right up and sniff at the bags of feed while I am in the back of the truck not 4 feet away), it should not be difficult to rope one, get up to it and toss a bag over its head (to calm it down) then hog tie it and transport it home.

I filled the cattle feeder then hid down at the end with my rope. The cattle, having seen the roping thing before, stayed well back. They were not having any of it. After about 20 minutes, my deer showed up - 3 of them. I picked out a likely looking one, stepped out from the end of the feeder, and threw my rope.

The deer just stood there and stared at me. I wrapped the rope around my waist and twisted the end so I would have a good hold. The deer still just stood and stared at me, but you could tell it was mildly concerned about the whole rope situation. I took a step towards it, it took a step away. I put a little tension on the rope, and then received an education.

The first thing that I learned is that, while a deer may just stand there looking at you funny while you rope it, they are spurred to action when you start pulling on that rope. That deer EXPLODED. The second thing I learned is that pound for pound, a deer is a LOT stronger than a cow or a colt. A cow or a colt in that weight range I could fight down with a rope and with some dignity. A deer-- no Chance.

That thing ran and bucked and twisted and pulled. There was no controlling it and certainly no getting close to it. As it jerked me off my feet and started dragging me across the ground, it occurred to me that having a deer on a rope was not nearly as good an idea as I had originally imagined. The only upside is that they do not have as much stamina as many other animals.

A brief 10 minutes later, it was tired and not nearly as quick to jerk me off my feet and drag me when I managed to get up. It took me a few minutes to realize this, since I was mostly blinded by the blood flowing out of the big gash in my head. At that point, I had lost my taste for corn-fed venison. I just wanted to get that devil creature off the end of that rope.

I figured if I just let it go with the rope hanging around its neck, it would likely die slow and painfully somewhere. At the time, there was no love at all between me and that deer. At that moment, I hated the thing, and I would venture a guess that the feeling was mutual.

Despite the gash in my head and the several large knots where I had cleverly arrested the deer's momentum by bracing my head against various large rocks as it dragged me across the ground, I could still think clearly enough to recognize that there was a small chance that I shared some tiny amount of responsibility for the situation we were in. I didn't want the deer to have to suffer a slow death, so I
managed to get it lined back up in between my truck and the feeder - a little trap I had set before hand.....kind of like a squeeze chute. I got it to back in there and I started moving up so I could get my rope back.

Did you know that deer bite?

They do! I never in a million years would have thought that a deer would bite somebody, so I was very surprised when ...... I reached up there to grab that rope and the deer grabbed hold of my wrist. Now, when a deer bites you, it is not like being bit by a horse where they just bite you and slide off to then let go. A deer bites you and shakes its head--almost like a pit bull. They bite HARD and it hurts. The proper thing to do when a deer bites you is probably to freeze and draw back slowly.. I tried screaming and shaking instead. My method was ineffective.

It seems like the deer was biting and shaking for several minutes, but it was likely only several seconds. I, being smarter than a deer (though you may be questioning that claim by now), tricked it.

While I kept it busy tearing the tendons out of my right arm, I reached up with my left hand and pulled that rope loose.

That was when I got my final lesson in deer behavior for the day.

Deer will strike at you with their front feet. They rear right up on their back feet and strike right about head and shoulder level, and their hooves are surprisingly sharp ... I learned a long time ago that, when an animal - like a horse - strikes at you with their hooves and you can't get away easily, the best thing to do is try to make a loud noise and make an aggressive move towards the animal. This will usually cause them to back down a bit so you can escape.

This was not a horse. This was a deer, so obviously, such trickery would not work. In the course of a millisecond, I devised a different strategy. I screamed like a woman and tried to turn and run. The reason I had always been told NOT to try to turn and run from a horse that paws at you is that there is a good chance that it will hit you in the back of the head. Deer may not be so different from horses after all, besides being twice as strong and 3 times as evil, because the second I turned to run, it hit me right in the back of the head and knocked me down..

Now, when a deer paws at you and knocks you down, it does not immediately leave. I suspect it does not recognize that the danger has passed. What they do instead is paw your back and jump up and down on you while you are laying there crying like a little girl and covering your head.

I finally managed to crawl under the truck and the deer went away.

So now I know why when people go deer hunting they bring a rifle with a scope ... to sort of even the odds!! All these events are true so help me ... An Educated Rancher.

Trail Riding Competition

Most horse people know about the American Competitive Trail Horse Association (ACTHA) and the “competitive rides” that ACTHA affiliates conduct. If you think you are put off by the competition aspect, I don;t think you will be so inclined with ACTHA as these are very low key events where you go on a trail ride of six miles or so with a group of other horses and riders and at every mile marker you have an “obstacle” to complete with your horse. These obstacle could be simply backing in a circle, side passing a short distance, opening a gate, riding over poles laid across the ground or other simply demonstrations of your horsemanship and your horse’s abilities.

On the plus side these events bring people together, share horsemanship and camaraderie, and the horses are probably grateful for a nice slow benign ride. Really, if you have been thinking about trailering to an ACTHA event – then go. The only downside really is the entry costs and sometimes a facility fee charged by the hosting ranch. But you spend that much eating supper out once a week.

Another like event is a Trails and Trials challenge that an area Horseman’s Association holds twice a year. Much like ACTHA rides with obstacles to test you and your horse, these Trails and Trials Challenge do not cover the distance than an ACTHA ride will, but offer more challenging obstacles.

My wife and I rode in one recently, at the Issacks Ranch outside of Las Cruces, New Mexico in the shadow of the Organ Mountains – simply a beautiful place. Some of the obstacles we faced were: entering a knee deep pond to open, go through, and close a gate; cross a bridge over a water obstacle; back uphill; dismount and lead your horse over a couple jumps; remount then throw a loop on a roping dummy; side pass over logs arrayed in a “Z” pattern; a little more challenging because of the one obstacles after another format.  The picture at right is my wife on her big Sorrel Gelding Charlie.  Charlie is not the bravest horse in the world, but he does well since my wife gives him time to accept things and he knows he'll get a fair deal with her.  The obstacles he is looking at is a couple of old horse blankets laying in a frame they had to step over.  Suprisingly several horses had issues with these blankets due to the smell.  Charlie is alert, but relaxed - note the loose reins.  After maybe 10-15 seconds my wife asked Charlie to move forward across the obstacle.       

These types of events is a way many horse clubs or associations could generate more interest in trail riding. I was happy to see some young people participating and one in a particular, a young cowboy riding a two year old mare who really impressed me with the time he took with this horse and how his horse responded.