Horses Stopping to Eat

I received an e-mail from Lacy in California who wrote ”I have a rescue horse that I am hoping can be a dressage horse. I got him after he was rehabilitated. When I walk him he pulls away to eat things on the ground. I have to pull very hard to get him to stop. A couple other boarders tell me not to let him do that and to never let him eat when he is saddled or I am in the saddle. I guess because he’ll stop to eat when I am in the saddle. I don’t know how to stop him from doing this. Do you have any ideas?

Hey Lacy. This is actually another common trait for horses. We insist on keeping them in pens and feeding them a couple times a day when they are born with the instinct to eat (graze) most of the day. I always say “horses only think about one thing – food, but they think about it in two ways – where to get it and how not to become it.” So your horse is only doing what he is, by nature, is inclined to do and what you are letting him do.

To be very frank, when you are leading him and he stops to graze – this is your fault. As you know what his tendency is, you have to be ready for him to stop and try to graze. Don’t let him stop, keep him moving. When he pulls his head away or down to the ground, rather than you trying to pull on a 1,000+ lb animal, instead give him a couple of sharp, quick bumps on the halter lead. I would also use a verbal que as well. I use a verbal que to warn the horse he is doing something wrong.  It is the disrespect or the lack of your horse seeing you as the leader that you have to fix.  

I haven't seen much, if any, of a horse with a rider, ever stop on his own accord and start feeding. I do see, all the time, riders who stop their horses, the horse drops his head to investigate if there is anything worth eating on the ground.

There are some people who think that horses under saddle, with you in it, should not graze at all – they consider this a bad habit. I think that if you control it, it can work for you and the horse. I routinely position my horse over clump of grass (however sparse it is here in West Texas), ensure he is standing quiet, then give him a head down cue so he knows it okay to graze. If I’m on the trail for many hours I think that a occasional source of food in their gut is probably a good thing.

There are also some horsemen who think that when you feed your horse, you should leave him alone. This is something I also think differently about. I routinely pick hooves, brush or just rub on my horses when they are feeding. Sometimes I ask them to back off their feed so I can put a fly mask on.  I think this is all good. I think it helps gentle them at a time when they feel safe and content.

Carrying Handguns on Horseback

Trailblazervi asked: "Would you please address the handgun which you have holstered. Would that be a good choice and can it be carried on the horse rather than on your person?"

I now carry or have carried several handguns when horseback. When I was an Army Range Rider I carried a Smith & Wesson Model 686 .357 Magnum revolver in a cross draw holster as well as when the Agency changed to one standard handgun I carried a Beretta Model 92 semi-automatic 9mm in a strong side holster. Both holsters were carried on 2 1/4 River Belt.

These days when I'm horseback I normally carry a Ruger Vaquero .45 Long Colt Single Action Revolver which is the handgun in the bottom of the picture at top. Going clockwise from the Ruger are the S&W Model 686 and a Beretta Single Action in .357 Magnum. The most common belt I use today is a canvas and leather cartridge belt and I wear it with the buckle in my back so the cartridge loops are in my front for easy access. I'll carry .45 Long Colt 250 grain lead cartridges, .45 LC snakeshot and usually 6 rounds or so for the rifle I am carrying. Some days I carry blank cartridges if I was planning on doing some gun training on my horse.

Cross draw holsters are seldom used today outside of competition where the ease to grip, draw and re-holster the gun are desired. Other than wearing a holster on your belt, another option is to wear a shoulder holster. There are several excellent makers out there, the two that come to mind are El Paso Saddlery and Classic Old West Styles, both based out of El Paso, Texas. The picture to the left is a shoulder rig from El Paso Saddlery called the Doc Holiday Rig.

Another option is a Pommel Bag. I have never used a Pommel Bag and probably never will as I carry a lariat and a canteen around over the horn of and hanging on the swell of my saddles. El Paso Saddlery not only makes a Pommel Bag with one or two holsters (see picture at right), but also makes saddle bag holsters, although these may be harder to access especially when riding at any speed. Pommel bags, or carrying holters around the swell of the saddle, were prevelent in the Civil War which was the first war that the U.S. was involved in that used large units of Cavalry. Pommel Bags allowed soldiers to carry several handguns, for close in fighting on horseback, because re-loading black powder revolvers took too much time. 

I have seen Craig Cameron carry a flap holster secured to his saddle on the right hand side where the cantle meets the skirt. These seems like a good rig. The flap holster protects much of the gun from dirt and debris. I am not sure how Craig Cameron secures the holster to the saddle, maybe with a saddle screw through where you would normally find one in that saddle position.





I prefer to carry a handgun on my body, but I'm sure either the Pommel Bag or Flap holster would be viable for you.  Most makers can provide a holster for any common handgun you have.  Good luck and let me know what you decide on. Safe Journey.

Fly Management: Spalding Fly Predators

Anonymous left a new comment on a previous post on answering questions on Fly Spray and Gun Training."The fly predators are not predators at all. They are little wasp that lay eggs in the fly larva and kill the larva before they hatch out. I started using them for the first time early this spring and get a new shipment every four weeks. So far we have not had much of a fly problem. I think I can notice an increase in flies toward the end of the four weeks and a decrease in flies about a week after we put the wasp out. I am considering moving the shipments up to every three weeks. Not too scientific, just reporting what I see."

 

Everyone I have talked to has had very good results using the Spalding Fly Predators. They come in a one time order or an automatically shipped order based on your interval for use and number of horses you have. I guess number of horses you have is an easier way to calculate the amount of Fly Predators as opposed to the amount of manure your horses produce.



Spalding produces a free Equine Fly Control Cuide on their website. The link to this free guide is here, Spalding Equine Fly Control Guide 2012.


While Spalding advertises that "Fly Predators have helped keep flies to a minimum without pesticides for hundreds of thousands of customers over the past 35 years. They're the smart way to avoid Fly Season. Simply sprinkle them near all manure areas every four weeks during spring and summer. It just takes a few minutes and you’ve done your fly control for the month." Spalding will also advise that a complete fly program includes conventional fly traps,...."No single trap will catch every kind of pest fly. Most horse owners will usually need three different traps; Odor and Sticky Traps for House Flies and Biting Stable Fly Traps (stinky, sticky and stable) and each type should be put in a different place."

  

More Beginning Neck Reining

I received a couple of questions on training your horse to neck rein recently. Themizuwolf asked "Does it matter how old your horse is? Mine is 19. Can I still teach him to neck rein or do you only have a window of time when they're young? Thank you." And Jerri, via e-mail, asked "I was watching a clinic two weeks ago and the trainer kept saying something to the effect - do not let you left hand cross over to the right side of the mane or neck, and viceversa. I really did not understand what this was about. Can you explain this rule?"

First of all I think a 19 year horse still can learn to do many things if made clear to him what you are asking. Some older horses have had several owners and are now a compendium of mixed signals and bad habits. Lesson horses are great examples. Having many riders of all levels, usualy beginners, pulling on them and kicking on them can make them somewhat dead sided and hard mouthed, but I still think you can overcome this.

If direct reining is a pull - pulling the horses head to the direction you want to go, then using a neck rein is a push. I really don't like using the terms "pull or push", but I'll use them to explain neck reining. To get a horse to neck rein is simply a process of the horse associating feeling the rein on his neck as pressure and he moves in the opposite direction.

Predominant in past years, people used reins made from horse mane or tail hair which are prickly and this provides a better feel on the neck, but make no mistake, the horse can feel smooth reins as well. I start the process of neck reining by laying the neck rein on the neck (this is the push) just before I tip his head in the opposite direction with a direct rein (this is the pull).

What the clinic trainer was talking about saying not to let your hand cross the neckline, is because it can put the rider out of position or balance, and, can cause that rein to become tight giving the horse a mixed signal. Hopefully, my demonstration of this in the video is understandable.

When I ride, I am not too concerned about using a neck rein and my hand crossing over the neck line since I try to ride on very loose rein. This to me is functional neck reining.

Fly Spray and Gun Training Questions

LadyM wrote: "I do not want to use a chemical fly spray on my horse. Do you know of a natural type of horse spray that is effective?"

I have tried two natural fly sprays as I have an older horse who breaks out in black bumps when I use a Permethrin based fly spray on him. The natural products I have tried are Vinegar and Water and the other was a commercial product called Marigold Spray (made from Marigold flowers I assume). Neither were as effective as I would have liked. The Marigold Spray was probably more effective and you did not have to put up with that vinegar smell. Marigolds are the type of flower you are supposed to plant around your plants as a barrier for rabbits, however the rabbits out here in West Texas don't care if it's Marigold flowers or toxic waste,...it won't keep them from eating about anything they want.

An additional product which I have used, on that older horse who will not tolerate permethrins, is called M-T-G. This stands for Mane-Tail-Groom which is a sulfur based liquid intended for things like fungus control to fly bites. It actually works pretty well as a fly repellant. Although you have to put up with the smell. I wrote an article about using MTG earlier. You can find it here. I think an overall fly control strategy must also consider good manure management, use of fly traps and possibly fly predators. Previous article on natural fly sprays.


Josh wrote: "First of all thanks for a great site! I'm gun training my horse right now and he is doing really good. I noticed you started with a larger caliber than I'm using. Am I messing up by starting with the 22 round? Day one he continues eating when I fire within a few feet. I plan to work him up to my 1894 30-30 for white tail."

Josh, thanks for writing and your comments. I started with a larger caliber, .45 Long Colt, because blanks for that caliber are available. This negates the need to be concerned with where a projectile is landing. I think you can use live rounds in practically any caliber as long as you are safe with the impact zone of the projectile. When I was a Conservation Law Enforcement Officer, I fired live .357 magnum rounds, while on horseback, into a cardboard target in front of a mesquite berm with a safe area in back of that.

There is a danger called "sympathetic response". This is where one hand involuntarily closes or tightens on something, such as a gun grip and trigger, when the other hand (the off hand) also closes or tightens on something like the reins. I would think that if you can rope,…meaning throw a loop with one hand and control the rope coil and reins with the other hand, then you probably can be safe enough to shoot multiple shots off horseback.

Just remember the universal gun safety rules,.....1 – Guns are always loaded until you physically determine they are not, 2 – Finger stays off the trigger until you are sure of your target and intend to shoot, 3 – Do not point a gun at anything you are not willing to destroy, 4 – Be sure of your target and anything that may be close to your gun to target line – this includes what may be in back of your target. I am sure you are aware that the noise generated by a center fire rifle caliber, like a .30-30, is going to be substantially louder and cause more concern to your horse. Good luck and safe journey Josh.

For The Love Of A Horse - Horse Rescue

I have never heard of this organization, For The Love Of A Horse (FTLOAH), until a recent newspaper article caught my eye. This organization is based in Roswell, Georgia and is a registered non-profit 501(c)(3), tax-exempt organization of volunteers dedicated to the resuce and rehabilitation of horses specifically having critcial care needs who would otherwise be euthanized.

As if caring for abused, neglected and sick horses is not enough, this organization has a "horses healing humans" outreach program visting the elderly and children.  We all know that the outside of a horse is good for the inside of a person, and FTLOAH is putting it into practice. 

One of the rescue stories is a miniature paint pony named Bishop where the previous owners, trying to cut costs, tied Bishop to a tree while they gelded him without anesthesia. Bishop ripped away from the tree in pain severing his ear and part of his lip in the process. If I found found someone doing that, I think I would whip them raw with my lariat then drag them a few miles through cactus,.....people who mistreat animals are a disgrace to the human race.

Anyway, for anyone looking for charitable cause, FTLOAH accepts donations,...in fact needs donations,..in order to help these horses. Donations link is accessible through their website, http://www.fortheloveofahorse.org/and you also "like" them on Facebook.

Mustang & Burro Update, June 2012

The American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign (AWHPC) is a coalition of more than 50 horse advocacy, public interest, and conservation organizations dedicated to preserving the American wild horse in viable, free-roaming herds for generations to come. While Functional Horsemanship does not necessarily support all of AWHPC views, I would like to see a safe and humane program in rounding up and culling the herds. Some of what AWHPC writes is derogatory to the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). While I have ridden and gathered cows on Federal grazing allotments with BLM cowboys, who are good hands and who I respect, I understand that the larger Federal Government doesn't do a lot of things well. Sometimes, what they don't do well is is the management of Wild Horse and Burro herds.

Arizona Burro Roundup Begins The BLM’s Cibola-Trigo burro roundup in southwestern Arizona began at 7:30 a.m. on June 6,2012. On the first day, the BLM captured 62 burros in 4 helicopter runs. Included were a number of foals. On day 2, the BLM captured 12 additional burros before calling the roundup in the late morning. The capture operation aims to remove 350 wild burros living in this remote region of the southern Sonora desert. Although BLM claims that burros are overgrazing, burro experts have stated that these animals regulate their population numbers in accordance with water availability. One wild burro population studied in the Mojave Desert showed a 7 percent reproduction rate — a far cry from the 15-25 percent rate of increase claimed by the BLM.
 


BLM Refuses Expert Offer for Humane Alternative to Dangerous Helicopter Roundup In Jackson Mountains, Nevada

Reno, NV – (June 8, 2012) — Despite the offer of experts to assist the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to provide a humane alternative, and under the guise of an “emergency,” the agency announced today that it will launch a helicopter roundup tomorrow in the Jackson Mountains Herd Management Area (HMA) in northwestern Nevada. The action violates the agency’s own policy prohibiting the helicopter stampede of wild horses during peak foaling season (March 1 – June 30) and fails to meet the agency’s own criteria for an “emergency” situation. This morning, the American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign (AWHPC) joined by The Cloud Foundation, sent an urgent letter to the BLM informing the agency of the immediate availability of an expert in bait/water trapping who works with the U.S. Forest Service who can assess the Jackson Mountains situation and begin bait/water trapping in the area.  

June is the height of foaling season, and the BLM’s decision means that BLM - contracted helicopters will be stampeding tiny foals, heavily pregnant mares and other horses who may already be compromised from lack of adequate water and forage with helicopters for untold miles over rugged terrain in high summer desert temperatures.

The BLM plans to use helicopters to roundup 630 horses from an estimated population of 930 horses (including 738 adults and 96 foals who were counted in April 2012) in the Jackson Mountains area. The capture operation will encompass over 775,000 acres – of which 286,000 acres are within the Jackson Mountains HMA.  


Pryor wild horse roundup could start this month Federal officials plan to thin by more than a third a wild horse herd that roams the mountain range along the Montana-Wyoming border. A planned roundup of dozens of wild mustangs from the Pryor Mountain Wild Horse Range along the Montana-Wyoming border could begin later this month. Federal officials with the Bureau of Land Management say the roundup is needed to reduce the size of the famous herd. They say the effort could begin no sooner than June 20. The roundup would reduce the 170-horse herd to 120 or fewer animals. Officials say that would keep the animals from overgrazing their 38,000-acre range — the nation’s first wild horse preserve. A petition from horse advocates seeking to half the roundup is currently under consideration. Two similar petitions have been denied.

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."