Protecting and Treating Hooves

How many times have some of us used a combination of gauze pads or cloth soaked in Epson salts, duct tape and a few cuss words thrown in to treat some sort of hoof ailment like a puncture?  Hoof Wraps makes a multi-use, multi-purpose bandage constructed from 2200 denier ballistic nylon and is flat and small enough to fit into your saddle bags so you can carry this on trail rides for the times you lose a shoe, get a bad stone bruise or a hoof puncture. I have been carrying the Hoof Wraps Equine Bandage in my saddle bags for years now. Even used it once on someone else's horse, but was glad to have the Hoof Bandage and EVA foam pad on hand to cushion the hoof that lost the shoe during our ride out of the rock mountainous area.

Hoof Wraps now makes a gel pad infused with Jojoba and Tea Tree oils, so this pad can be used with a Hoof Bandage to treat many hoof ailments. These natural oils has been used for centuries for fighting bacteria. Makes good sense to me. I have used mixes of Tea Tree Oil and Mineral oil to coat hoofs and provide some much needed moisture to soles and frog since the arid desert dries up hooves, and when they are dry they chip more easily. Go here to see Hoof Wraps products. It's worth a look just to see the great pictures they have on their pages.

Best Kind of Cinch?

Aaron wrote to ask about cinches. “My saddle tends to twist quite a bit on my paint gelding even when I tighten down so much that I think I may be hurting him. Do you have an opinion on the rubber cinches that are supposed to keep the saddle from tourquing to the side?”

Aaron, since you are writing you are obvious aware of the dangers of a loose saddle rolling onn the horse. Saw that on a high dollar horse and higher dollar saddle and it wasn't good for either. Sometimes a horse will hold air in his lungs or otherwise tense up a little as you saddle him up and once he relaxes the saddle will be a little loose. I always warm my horses up, usually in the round pen, then I’ll check the cinch and it always tends to need a little tightening. If this is not the case for your saddle rolling problem, then maybe it’s a saddle fit problem,.....too much (too thick) of a saddle blanket,.....bars of your saddle too narrow for your horse, or if you have a mutton withered horse, then maybe too wide of bars can all contribute to this.

As far as Neoprene cinches go, I don’t like them. However, alot of professionals I respect use them. I don’t use a Neoprene saddle pad either. I’m worried that the horse’s back or belly can’t breathe as well as other material. And as traditional as I’d like to be, I don’t use Mohair or cotton cinches either. I use a sheepskin lined cinch. I think it is more comfortable to the horse.

However, I would think that a Neoprene cinch would hold the saddle in place better than a traditional cincha or the sheepskin lined ones. I would also look into your saddle fit. See if they are any gall marks on the horse’s back such as spots where the hair is turning white as the saddle rotates and rubs. You can put white marks on a horse’s back even on one ride with an ill fitting saddle or even a saddle pad that has been caked with sweat and now has a sand paper type area that can run the horse raw. Good luck and safe journey.

Tracking: Rain Affecting Sign

Juwar1974 has made a comment on sign cutting and tracking horses.wmv: "I have a question. How does a heavy rain affect the tracks in the dirt? Does it wipe it out or flatten it. Would it be more difficult? Could you answer this for me, I'd really appreciate it."

Juwar, the worst that a real heavy rain can do is to wash away any sign as well as present obstacles for the tracker that could range from a nuisance to the dangerous such as bad footing for a horse or flash floods in an arroyo.

From the time the tracks are made, from the pressure and release of that pressure on the ground, until the rain washes away all evidence, various sign may be visible such as pooled water in a print depression.

If you are tracking a man and you have some definite direction he is going, leap frogging ahead to an open area such as a field or road may allow you to see him crossing or signs to indicate he crossed. I would also look for and at shoulder or roads or slopes of arroyos or gullies where the disturbance of the wet ground made by the man crossing is very likely to be evident.

           Sometimes a light rain can enhance your ability to determine how fresh the sign is. You will be able to tell if the pocked mark patterns in a print depression are pre-rain or post-rain and this will give you a timeline. Sometimes in a tracking class I will use a water hose or a spray bottle of water to demonstrate what rain can do to a print or disturbed ground.

Comment on Loose Horse Manure

Bill M. left a new comment on a previous article about Common Horse Problems – Loose Manure: ”I have a 30 year old quarter horse who has the patience of a saint for this. His manure is sometimes loose because of his age and digestive tract. I first learned years ago that the condition of the poop was the condition of the horse. He also likes his butt to be washed and baby oil on it after washing. Probiotics does help and it seems he will get it till trails end.”

Hey Bill, I also have an older former roping horse (Roy) with a loose manure problem. He’s coming 28 this year. I think his problem is a combination of both ingesting sand (hey, I live in the desert), and his reduced or compromised immune system. I give him a bran mash once a week and once a month I put him on Sand Clear for a week. After this his manure becomes more solid, so ingesting sand has to be some of his problem, even though from time to time I place some of his manure balls into a glass jar and fill with water to see how much sand I can separate from the manure.

Roy does well. He is rideable and has a lot of energy. He is the horse I posted a recent video on tying the Mecate reins into a lead rope. I too, have to clean his butt a couple times a week and spray mineral oil. He’ll get this care until the end of his natural life.  And he's worth it as he's a damn good horse.  As my wife says, "Put a child on his back and Roy thinks he's transporting fine china."

I have used probiotics quite bit before, I think I used Pro-Bios last, but currently am not on a regular routine with them. Thanks for the reminder on them. I would be interested to know what brand or type you use. Thanks for the comment. Safe journey.
  

Cathy wrote with me with the following questions: ”My Palomino gelding Jimbo just graduated from the snaffle to a correction bit. His head (or it could be his neck) seems to be stiffer. Should I expect him to perform immediately like he did in the snaffle or is there usually some type of delay in a horse getting use to the new bit.”

I am not going to have much of an answer for you Cathy, but my question would be – if your horse did well in a snaffle why would you want to go to a different bit? To me there is no mandatory path of bit progression where your horse must transition to a correction bit, then possibly into something else. And I have to ask   “what are you trying to correct?”

I am assuming that the correction bit you are trying is a shanked bit with a broken mouthpiece. The mouthpiece probably has a rounded or square port. You are probably using a curb chain on this bit as opposed to the probable curb strap you used on your snaffle. The correction bit, with its sharp corner of the ported mouthpiece, the shanks and the curb chain all will allow much greater leverage than a snaffle bit. Meaning the force (and pain) on the horse’s mouth, given the same amount of pull on the reins by the rider, is much greater. Add in the shanks (being pulled rearwards) tightening up the curb chain under the jaw could all combine to give you a different horse than the one you rode in a snaffle.

I don’t know what you mean by your horse having a stiff neck or head, with the correction bit. He may be bracing against the bit, or maybe his head coming up trying to find a relief from the pressure in his mouth or under his jaw. If your reason for going to a correction bit is to be able to ride one handed with more control better, you may want to try a less severe bit such as a solid bit with a low to medium port, sometimes called a grazing bit.

How you handle the reins, your quickness and force has a lot to do with the horse’s reaction. My wife thinks that before a person rides a horse with a bit in their mouth, they need to carry one in theirs for awhile. Sorry for not being much help. I’m probably the wrong person to ask about the correction bit. I’m pretty happy with a snaffle bit and a hackamore and don’t think I’ll be using anything more severe than that. Good luck and safe journey.

Horse's Foul Breath

Jessie asked about a foul smell from her horses mouth. She said she feeds alfalfa and sometimes treats and doesn't know what makes her horse smell like that. I cannot ever remember smelling anything foul in a horses mouth. If I did I would be concerned about an soft tissue infection, maybe a cracked tooth. In any event I would not delay in having a Vet look at your horse. Jessie, when is the last time you had a Vet look at your horse's teeth and/or had your horse's teeth floated? I would suggest that routine dental exams are a good idea. Every horse is different so with a dental exam and floating a Vet can not only correct the horse's teeth but give you an idea of a particular horse's potential teeth problems and suggest timelines for periodic exams. I have one horse, an older horse, who needs to have an exam and corrective floating about every 6-8 months. My other horses usually get an exam and floating about every 12-14 months. I have written about the importance of dental exams and floating but since this is a periodic necessity, it doesn't hurt to write about it again. I recently had my Vet, Amy Starr DVM of Paws and Hooves Mobile Vet Clinic, come out to do dental exams and powerfloats on nine horses, as well as draws for annual Coggins tests and giving Spring vaccinations. The horses are mildly sedated, and using a special harness to keep the mouth open, the Vet can quickly reduce the points and waves in the horse's back molars using a power drill with a special rotary bit. You can see from the video below that it is not that invasive to the horse. The Vet Technician is holding the horse's head to keep it from rotating and from the horse from pulling back off the stand. The "smoke" you see coming from the horse's mouth is actually dust from the teeth as they are smoothed out. One of my favorite smells is a horse's breath when he is eating hay. To keep it that way and keep the horses healthy routine dental exams are necessary. Good luck Jessie and safe journey.

Tying a Mecate Into a Lead

After posting an article and video on the rigging a Mecate (or McCarthy) to a slobber straps and a bit, I neglected to show a method for tying the lead end of the Mecate to the portion you are using for a one piece rein so that you can lead the horse without pulling on the bit or otherwise causing the bit to bang around their mouth. I received several e-mails asking for me to show how to do this. I’ve been guilty of leading horses by reins,......far more than I would be willing to admit even when faced with threat of torture such as eating Aunt Edna’s tuna casserole.....and we all know the chance, we take when leading a horse by reins connected to a bit, of causing that bit to bang around the horse’s mouth. I think a person can lead by reins connected to the bit and be safe about it, but there are times, especially on a young horse, where you may want to be safer. A more dangerous thing would be to tie the horse to a rail using the reins. Seen that a few more times than necessary as well. There are several ways to take the lead end of the Mecate and tie it to the one piece rein section so you can lead a horse without pressure on the bit. What I do is to double the reins around the neck then tie my lead end of the Mecate around this doubled one piece rein with an half hitch. This secures the lead end of Mecate to the reins so that I can now lead the horse by the tie in under the neck and not from the reins. You could use other knots such as a clove hitch, in fact I usually use a clove hitch, but from my experience a half hitch works well and is easier to tie for most people. I think my best advice, if you are riding in a Mecate now, is to practice a few variations and see what works best for you. The idea to for the lead tied into the reins is to put pressure on the horse’s poll but not to slip over the horse’s head. And to answer the question on what length of Mecate I use, it's a nineteen foot section of rope from end to end. A twenty-two foot length is pretty standard, but the shorter Mecate is easier for me to handle and gives me enough excess for a good length of lead line when I dismount. Hopefully the video below shows what I am describing. Safe Journey.

Cowboy Humor: German Still Spoken in Texas

Unless you have studied Texas History you may not know that Texas was populated and tamed, such as it is, in part by German immigrants. In fact there is a town called Muenster (image that) where there is still a section of the population that speaks German.

Well one day, a local rancher driving down a country road noticed a BMW parked off the side of the road, then he noticed a man in the pasture kneeling at the edge of a stock pond using his hand to scoop water to drink.

The rancher pulled off the side of the road, rolled down the window and shouted: "Sehr angenehm! Trink das Wasser nicht. Die kuehe haben darein geschissen." Which means: "Glad to meet you! Don't drink the water. The cows have pooped in it."

The man shouted back: "I'm from New York and just down here campaigning for Obama. I can't understand you. Please speak in English."

The rancher replied: "Use both hands."

Question on Round Pens

Randy L sent me an e-mail and said he has never had use of a round pen but was thinking about buying a round pen and wanted to know what size (diameter) and what manufacturer would I suggest?

Round pens are a great tool to have. No corners such as a square or rectangle pen for the horse to get himself in trouble with, the round pen also allows the horse forward momentum which of course is necessary.  I think the little bit of freedom a horse has in the round pen quiets the troubleness in him sometimes.

You can do so much in a round pen. Start to build the respect from the horse to you, and vice versa; first exposure to a pressure and release to a un-broke horse; the round pen is a safer place to saddle and ride him for the first time; you can use the panels of the round pen as a barrier or a reason to learn to side pass; exposure your horse to a lariat and to a rope around his feet so he can learn that he doesn’t have to panic.

My round pen is indispensable to me. As far as diameter of the round pen, I have used as small as 35 foot round pens and as large as a 75 foot round pen, but I prefer a 40 foot to 50 foot pen. My current round pen is 45 feet, although one time I put a wild as a bronc paint horse in the round pen overnight and the next morning I had a trapezoid shaped pen. The picture at right is a round pen manufactured by Red River.

The cost of round pens, that come in panels you lock together, has greatly increased in the last five years. I think you will hard pressed to find a quality one under $1,200 now. If you need to have a paneled or solid round pen you’ll probably pay 3 to 4 times as much. Solid round pens with walls the horse can’t see through help keep the horse from getting distracted by events outside the pen. Having solid panels that the horse can’t put this hoof through are safer as well. I was lunging a horse one day and all of sudden he got it into his mind to take off about as fast as he could go and after a couple rotations he stepped out too hard and put his foot through the round pen panel. It stopped his momentum causing him to somersault. Ever see a horse somersault? It ain’t a pretty site. I imaged had a broken leg at a minimum. We both were lucky as hell as he stood up, shook off the dust and was okay. He ended up breaking a stirrup strap on my saddle however. In fact this paint horse is the one in the picture at the top of this post. The picture, upper left, is a paneled or solid walled round pen from Centaur.

Here are some, not all, round pen manufacturers:

Centaur

Powder River

Priefert

Red River Arenas

Trition Barns

Reader Questions: Mounting and Horn Wraps

I am having a hard time answering questions that come across as comments on the Functional Horsemanship YouTube channel, so I'll use this forum to answer a couple of short questions from readers.

Ladyirish1860 has made a comment on Correcting a Horse that Moves when Mounting.wmv: ”My horse does the exact opposite of what most seem to be asking about. He backs up!!! How do I correct that? Backing him more? Walking him in circles? Learn to jump into the saddle fast like Ninja? This is really the only problem I have with him. Thanks!

I’ve tried that Ninja stuff once without any luck. I think that your horse backing up when you mount is the same bad manners or avoidance behavior as moving away. When a horse moves away from you when you are trying to mount, the idea of pushing him around in tight circles causes him some pressure, then you can stop and offer him a chance to stand still, which is the release. When you move him around put some energy into it making him move, again this is the pressure. He gets his release when you stop and offer him a chance to stand and when he stands still then you can mount.

I recently helped a woman who horse was moving forward when she was trying to mount. Same thing. I had her put some energy in moving her horse around in a tight circle for three or four rotations, then she offered him a chance to stand. She had to do this a couple times, but within a few minutes her horse got the idea and it was easier to stand still and stood still for her to mount. Then her horse wanted to move off before she cued him, so I had her back him a few steps quickly, then offer him a chance to stand still until she cued him to walk off.


Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Horse Training – Wrapping Your Saddle Horn": ”Can I modify this and use sheet rubber? I don’t plan on using it for roping; I tore up the leather on the horn of my aussie saddle (long story) and hoping this would keep the leather from deteriorating further.”

Many team or tie down ropers will use rubber wraps on their saddle horns as this not only protects their saddle horn, the jerk on the rope when dallied is slowed down by the rubber compressing. If you would rather use rubber to wrap and protect your saddle horn, then I suggest either using the store bought horn rubbers or getting a bicycle inner tube and cutting it into a long strip to wrap much like you would with a conventional horn wrap.

I prefer the cut strips of bicycle inner tube. You can wrap these around the horn then feed the end through wrap, or wrap in the conventional horn wrap method.

National Ropers Supply offers many different rubber horn wraps. One of their products is called “The Better Dally Wrap” and another is the “Dura-Wrap”. You may it easier to use the Better Dally Wrap as the Dura-Wrap is like a giant rubber band and the last wrap is tough to get on the horn.

Aging Sign and Seeing Shine

I was contacted a few months ago by Texas Monthly magazine to help with an article on Sign Cutting appearing in their regular column “The Manual”. It was a little difficult to discuss or explain sign cutting and tracking over the phone, but Texas Monthly did a good job and the article appears in their February 2012 issue. At least they didn't make me out to be a bigger idiot than I already am.

I was also riding in the desert with a group of ladies (much preferable to riding with men) and we came across Oryx tracks. If you have never seen an Oryx, google Oryx or click here. The Oryx is an African Antelope imported decades ago into New Mexico to provide a exotic game for hunters. The Oryx doesn’t have a natural predator here,...maybe Mountain Lions, so they do very well.

The soil underneath the top layer was fairly moist from a rain about a week earlier, so the toe of the Oryx’s hooves left a very sharp and deep pressure release. Combined with deeper and softer sand a few yards away I estimated that the Oryx prints were about 3 or 4 days old. The ladies were asking question on what I was looking at when determining the age of a track, so I explained that a pressure release softens and rounds over time. Comparison to other parts of the pressure release, the rounding or dispersion of the toe dirt kicked up with forward momentum and the evaluation of the same tracks in different soil will let you determine the rough age of sign.

While the photo to the right are horse tracks rather than Oryx, the single set of tracks on the left hand side of he photo are 7 days old. The horse tracks on the right are fresh. While the discoloration isn't too different or not different enough in lieu of the seven day difference, the tracks to the right depict a large amount of toe dirt and a deeper pressure release because the natural element of the wind has not degraded or reduced that yet. The horse that made the tracks on the left was walking slow and dragging his feet up from the soft sand - see the drag marks leaving the pressure release?

When I was discussing sign cutting with the Texas Monthly writers I talked about losing sign then changing the distance and angle from your eyes to the sign would allow you to see sign you may miss being over the top of it. Sometimes you can look in the general direction the tracks are going then see an obvious shine or color change, which may allow you to jump forward quickly (leap frogging) to save some time or to make up time. If an animal crossed through grass, even a suburban lawn, often the bruising of the grass or dispersion of any moisture will leave a tell tale path visibl from the shine.

You may have to change your distance and angle from the Sun to the tracks to see it. Look at the bottom of the photo to the left and find the disturbed ground, then carry your eyes up to towards the top of the photo and you would see a different in the shine or texture of the ground caused by the displacement of the natural ground.

The photo above shows one week old and two week old horse tracks. In the one week old horse tracks, A depicts the degraded walls of the pressure release caving in and gravity displacing that soil to the bottom of the pressure release; B shows the still evident pressure release of the frog of the hoof; C shows the deeper part of the pressure release indicating direction of travel; and D shows the degraded toe dirt after substantial displacement by the wind.  The two week old track is heavily filled in by wind blown sand and gravity.  The wind even blew some small sticks that settled into the pressure release, however the deepest part of the pressure release is still visible indicating direction of travel.    

Horse Performance Not Consistent

Jennie wrote and asked "I took my horse Hamanuri (Hambone) to a show and he was just terrible refusing to do this he has done over and over. Nothing in his routine was changed. I used the same snaffle bit and headstall and same saddle. It's not like he is a mare and has his off days, lol. This is the first time in over a year that I had a really bad day with him and I can't stop thinking about it. What should I be doing to correct him or the problem?"

Jennie, thanks for writing. It makes for long time between your bad ride and the next good one. I think horses can have bad days just like we can, and those bad days aren't just for mares. I wouldn't worry too much about it and carry that fretting into your next ride on him. I doubt that your horse did anything that he didn't think was right for him.

Sometimes just the change of location, which usually requiring a trailer ride, can be enough to get your horse off wrong. And I can tell you that doing things over and over at the same place does not mean that your horse will do that same task as well, someplace else.

I have a horse that goes willingly over bridges all the time but the last time I took him to a new place, that he has never been before, it was like he has never seen a bridge before, although he was very good at everything else. You have to appreciate a horse like that with the instinct to mistrust things or see them as a potential danger. I think the overall goal is to develop respect and trust between you and your horse so they can think through a problem and not just react instinctively,……. so that when you do ask him to do something that he'll won’t have so much over powering doubt and fear, and do as you ask because his trust and confidence has been built up and his past experience, built over time, is that everything turned out alright.

One thing that I think hampers horse owners is gaining the trust of their horse is respect from the horse to the owner. I have seen some owners, who in my opinion, equate trust with compassion or otherwise trying to get the horse to like them. I think the relationship between an owner and their horse should be more comparable to a parent and children. I do not think you can build trust before there is respect. I can’t help but think that your horse refusing to do things he has done before under the same circumstances may be disrespect in some aspect.

Building Simple Bridge Obstacles

One of the obstacles I sack my horses out on are bridges. I have three bridges on my trail course, all made from railroad ties and 2x6 inch slats. These are very durable, but basically once you have them built, only a truck can move them around. The bridge is a good obstacles to train your horses on and not just to accept walking on a bridge, but to develop trust in you not to put them in a bad position,....... to get them comfortable with having to step up which could be onto a rock ledge or a curb.  It is simply good for horses to have to pick their feet up and step onto or over obstacles.

At the request of my wife who wanted some easy to re-locate bridges and bridges more alike what you would see at some of our local American Competitive Trail Horse Association (ACTHA) competitions, I built some lightweight bridges out of common wood pallets. I say lightweight because a person can drag them someplace where you want them, however one person will sure get a workout at any distance over a couple hundred feet. Yet they are easily pulled from horseback.

I started with a common 40 inch by 47 inch wood pallet. Dimension will vary among pallets but this is close to being a common size. I drilled a 3/4 inch hole in the middle of the pallet support board so I could feed a 14 foot length of rope through and knot one end, so I had a line to drag the bridge around on horseback. I intentionally did not make a loop as I did not want an excuse for a horse to put his foot through it. Instead, it's just like dragging a log.

I used one eight foot length of 2x4 inch wood, cut to two 47 inch pieces. I used these two 2x4 inch pieces to insert in the pallet to strengthen it. I used 1 1/2 inch wood screws to screw these boards to the pallet. This give it the strength necessary for 1,000 pound plus horses to walk on it.

I cut a 40 inch by 47 inch section out of 1/2 inch plywood, then used wood screws to secure to one side of the pallet and this will be the side the horses walk on. I used wood putty to cover up a couple of the screws that I could not drive below flush on the plywood. I did not want anything that could catch a horse's shoe.  The picture at the top left of this article shows the completed bridge.  You can push the drag rope in between the pallet once you have it in place.   Another good exercise for a small square type bridge is to put your horses front feet on it and side pass all around the bridge keeping the front feet on it. 

Your wooden bridges are going to require some sort of treatment from weather sealer to paint,...be careful not to make them too slick. The bridges to the right are one I made several years ago (top) and another I recently made.  Before anyone thinks about commenting on my lack of carpenters skills,...be aware that I am not proud of myknow my rudimentary skils. It was my Pa who first brought this to my attention telling me, "Boy, there are two tools in the barn that I don't want you to touch,...one's a paint brush and the other is a hammer",....and if that wasn't clear, he would say, "Boy, you're so damn smart you must have two brains,....one the size of a pea and the other a little bitty thing."

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.