Do You Have Horseman Syndrome? It's Not What You Think

Horseman Syndrome as early as 3,500B.C.E. in Western Russia

Note the position of the legs to denote a horse rider.

 I've come across an article Humans Started Riding Horses 5,000 Years Ago, New Evidence Suggests - Scientific American

I Wish I Had Done That Years Ago! Efficiency.

 Have you had one of those times where you had a break through, a time where you found out a great new way to do something in your life, often a small thing and you thought to yourself: "Gee I wish I had done this ages ago!" It made that much of a positive difference to your life. And! It wasn't actually that big of a change when you look back at it. It's just getting into a new habit.

I've been having those little changes a lot lately especially the last year. I've always looked for more efficient ways to doing things throughout my life.  This isn't necessarily about minimalizing but more of efficiency. I'm a big fan of minimalizing myself but this is different. I will explain.

The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up (Marie Kondo):

 This of course is a great way of talking about removing clutter and minimizing useless stuff in our lives. There is a famous lady named Marie Kondo who invented a wonderful new way in 2014 of looking at decluttering and a method to do it if you're having trouble. I highly recommend it. There's even a Netflix program on decluttering.

Photo Credit: Konmari Media Inc.

A More Efficient Kitchen:

     I had this great idea to 'pear down' my kitchen cupboard contents to make it easier to keep it clean and easier to find things. It's the usual cycle where your cleaning out an area when you notice that you're collecting 'stuff' and not using it any more. It also bogs down my time in the kitchen when I'm making meals. Times change and so must our cupboards! :) HaHa.  I'm just not making as many meals as I used too and I want my kitchen to reflect that. A more smooth running express kitchen type of idea. So enough about kitchens - what about horses.

Horses, Hay & Snow Blowers:

   Last summer, I wanted to solve the problem of me having to dig my way through waist-deep snow to get to my hay shed for hay in the winter. Living on a windy hill deposits too much snow between my barn and hay shed. My snow blower can't tackle it and I can't wield those big gas powered snow blowers. They would take me for a ride! :)

And unfortunately, the snow plow neighbour can't get back there. So I was brain storming a way to fix that problem and making hay retrieval easier.

So I ended up making room in my barn for about 60 bales of hay and when the snow level is low, I keep topping up the hay inventory. Great!

Don't you notice the beauty of applying life's lessons in one area of our life - like horses to another and visa versa. It's just a matter of practicing the habit of changing things up to make our life easier.

Putting My Spin on Personal Improvements Filtering Into Our Horse Lives

Reinersue

@KISS Reiners

Let's Start At The Beginning (of The 2023 Year) With Foundation Training

 

Body Control, Foundation Training, Safety Training

Putting basic training on a horse has been around forever. A smart somebody was thinking!  (Though not all horses receive it. :() The ability as a rider to be able to move any of the horse's body parts around through cues. It's not only important for the horse but it's very important for the rider including safety. It's communication. It's your car's emergency brake, first aid kits, engine tune up, brand new tires, etc.. You have a sense of calm in the pit of your stomach knowing you've got everything covered should a blow out happen.  Our horses are a joy - a stress relief. Who wants to screw that up but not having a well trained horse? Oh gosh, the things I've seen...

Its what my horse training business was all about. I used to have students come for lessons on safety. To be able to ride their horse (primarily on the trail) knowing that they had some skills they could use in case things went awry. Not only that, its also such a JOY to ride a horse that you assuredly know you could communicate to and take control in case a bear or scary ATV showed up.

According to Bob Avila, 2 time World's Greatest Horseman Champion, multiple Hall of Fame inductee (and too many other wonderful accolades to mention) but certainly one of my mentors:  "No matter what your training goal, inside or outside the show ring, body control isn't a big thing. It's everything. When you can isolate and control all the individual parts of your horse's body, you have a horse that's really, really broke." --Bob Avila ."

Being in the show pen doesn't need the rider to have basic foundation skills on their horse for safety. (I hope not. The horse should be well trained by then. That's another story). But they do need the foundation training in conjunction with those advanced training skills to expertly perform whatever it is they're demonstrating in the show pen.

A Rose by any Other Name Would Smell Just as Sweet
Another common names: 

1. Putting A 'handle' on a horse
 2.  'the basics'  

 3.  basic horse training 
  4. foundation training
  5. body control,

  6. And I'm going to say basic safety training.

My Definition of Body Control 
Foundation training is the term used to describe the type of basic training that is put on a horse after the horse has been started under saddle and before the horse is then finished in a specialty.

Body control is a more elaborate and detailed version of this foundation training where the horse is taught to move all their body parts via cues. The training goes into a lot more detail, with a lot more exercises to get a horse really trained in the basics.
Western performance horses development is a term that maybe used for this type of body control foundation training. And of course, it exists in the other horse disciplines as well though I can't speak on their behalf as I have no knowledge in that area.

A Quick Check:

Is the pit of your stomach telling you that things are good, that you have an emergency plan OR does the pit of your stomach feel like it's tied in knots, a little 'oogy' then I'd be checking your basic training or looking into that car engine light if I were you. 

Gosh, I really miss putting that foundation body control training on horses. You can see from the photo, that the last time I did that was 2 years ago when I was 60. And I'm glad now that in my 60's, I'm still riding my good ole mare Jackie, who had the foundation training in 2003 - 20 years ago!

I'll be doing more articles on this as the year progresses. The Year of the Rabbit. The Year of the Basic Horse Skills.

My 15th year writing for TheRider Magazine. Thanks Barry Finn.

Questions and comments are always welcome.
Putting my spin on Body Control Foundation training or western performance horse development. 
Reinersue - Celebrating 15 years writing for TheRider.com magazine.  Thanks Barry!
©Copyright KISS Reiners 2023

Christmas Time in The Country 2022

 Christmas in The Country

It will be a new year soon. By habit, we set new goals. Rethink things over, perhaps determined to make some positive changes in our life which is good. Horse people do it too. But should we? I find myself thinking more about holding tight and getting through this crazy time in the world with this war.  What about you? I will leave that one up to you.

Motivational Goal Setting Just Got a Whole Lot Easier

 When setting a goal, a way that can backfire is to set really large goals and a tight deadline. We've all heard this before. We don't realize the time it takes to train that new horse or get a new skill established before that non-moveable deadline sets in - like a horse show or a scheduled trail ride with freinds. The horse show committee isn't going to move the date for you so, What to do - What to do?

 There's new research to explain this and what to do about it.  I think this is very fitting in the horse world. We're always settings goals and wanting to achieve them.

Scenario:

  You're ready for change, you've set a goal, and you get this euphoric feeling of 'Let's Do This! Yeah! Let's go". 

  You're excited and motivated. It feels so good to start a new goal. You decide to pile on the goal and make it bigger. The goal expands. We want to get lots done.

According to Dr. Caroline Leaf, (https://drleaf.com) a cognitive neuroscientist, that rush of feelings is due to a rush of endorphins or feel-good hormones. Not a bad thing.

Dr. Caroline Leaf YouTube: youtube.com/DrCarolineLeaf

What's Next: Naturally, the Hormone High Doesn't Last

 This is where careful planning and understanding of the human body comes in. We will not be able to sustain the feel-good feeling indefinitely (at least not by natural means). It's inevitable. So how do we keep going when the hormone motivation fizzles out - return the tack? lol

First, we have to understand that it's not our plan or goal that has gone wrong, or that something is wrong with us. It's simply the way our body works.  We don't want to ever get into the destructive habit of self-doubt, or self- criticism, or worse yet, blame the horse.

 Adjust the Plan:

 One easy and quick thing to do is to change or adjust the plan and goal. Perhaps by analyzing, you've found out that the plan got too grandiose or noticeably too large to complete in the time. Why not try less classes or go into a beginner class instead.  Try a 1-day trail ride instead of a camp over. Things like that.

 The big take-away I'm trying to say here is to be ready to make some simple yet effective changes to your plan and/or goal when your motivation naturally fizzles out and have a good realistic plan going forward. It will carry you to your goal! Good luck.

That's one of the beauties of the horse world, to learn how to set and meet non-movable dates. A great skill to have!

Putting My Spin On Goal Setting

Reinersue

@KISS reiners.

You Just Can't Rush Things

 I took on a project this summer to restore all my hardwood floors in my house. It's an exercise in patience and waiting long periods of time. The photo shows how I've had to push some of my furniture onto one side so that I can work on 1/2 the floor at a time.  At the time of this photo, I'm waiting for the floor gloss to cure for 24hrs before I can move my furniture back. 

What to do? What to do? I think I'll go riding in my back bush. The leaves are just starting to turn this fall and I have all those autumn landscape scenes.  Times are a changin'.

Timing Your Horse Cues

I was watching some exhibitors at a reining show and over the course of the weekend I saw many things, but one thing I always see are a few exhibitors or horses start their stopping maneuver too soon. They rush their rundown - charge off like a bullet too quickly and miss their marker. They start their stop (:?) too quickly.

 This sounds like it should be an easy thing to do - to know when to cue your horse for the rundown. Famous last words isn't it!  'If you been there - you know.' The timing seems to work in practise but when you're actually in the show pen, it's easy to get anxious to start to increase speed on the straight away. I haven't shown in years but I still remember how important it is to time the cue to have your horse increase their speed going to the sliding stop.

As many of the famous trainers like Bob Avila say: "Timing is Everything."

About Timing

Missing a marker is a 2 point penalty and in reining that usually makes a difference between being 'in the money' or not. "Gotta hate when that happens." It's always about timing and feel isn't it?

When I was watching this, I was reminded of a saying I used to tell my students. I would mention it when students got too quick with their hands. This would often rattle the horse causing a failure on what the horse/rider combo were doing. And the rider would get frustrated. I developed a saying to explain on how to time their cues better.

"A Little Sooner, Not Quicker"

 If a rider were to plan their cues a little earlier and start cueing a little earlier then what they had previously been doing then the results were what they were looking for. There's also the problem of the horse deciding to take it upon themselves to increase the speed when they think it's the right time. That involves having to 'check' your horse with the reins if need be.

I believe learning how to time cues in the show pen or while riding in general helps with other areas of our life and visa versa.

Have a great fall everyone!

Putting My Spin on Timing.

Reinersue

@KISS Reiner

Effective Bits Example #2: My Name is Tom Thumb

 

This is one of my favorites. Back by popular demand... Meet 'ole Tom Thumb. I like to pick on this Tom! :)  When I was a kid back in the '60's in Essex County Ontario, almost every rider was using this bit. I remember my Dad having this bit.  Before I get started on why this is NOT an effective bit, I want to point out to you an article I did on my website on the history of bits to refresh your memory on why we use bits. History of Bits. (www.reinersuehorsemanship.com/2009/03/history-of-bits.html)

Bottom line is: It's about communication.  I've been fascinated about bits for decades. If you want my take on busting myths and disinfo on bits, I would highly recommend you search for the numerous articles I've written on my website www.reinersuehorsemanship.com for more information. 

Will The Real Tom Thumb Please Stand Up

A lot of people still use this type of bit - at least in my area here. It's generally called a transition bit - transitioning a horse from a snaffle bit to their first curb (or leverage) bit. I would call it a 'stuck at this level' bit. Is it a 'training snaffle' - even though it's not a snaffle at all!? It's technically in the category of a 'combo' type of bit. I will do a separate series on combo bits soon. I really like combo bits.

I remember doing a bit evaluation many years ago for a local lady rider and her father showed me a tom thumb training snaffle - similar to the one shown at the end of this article (only not with the copper roller in the middle). I told him jokingly how I use those types of bits for wind chimes and/or toilet paper holder decorations! :) I kid you not! He had a really shocked look on his face but it got him thinking!

a Little Bit Better

The original Tom Thumb bit is not effective because of the jointed mouthpiece (any bit with a jointed mouthpiece) will have the now famous 'nut cracker' effect. I really hate this. It causes pain. This bit was made a little bit better with the addition of a copper barrel in the mouthpiece to prevent the bit from having the nutcracker effect and with the shanks being slightly curved back. 

So if you're going to stay loyal to Tom, I would suggest getting the version that has the copper roller in the mouthpiece, the curbed back shanks, the 1/2 rings on the shank (to make it a combo bit). And of course the curb chain (not shown).

Good luck in your relationship with Tom.

Putting My Spin On Curbs Bits Who Want to Be Snaffle Bits

Reinersue

@KISS Reiners

Is Tracing a Horse Allowed?

 There is a very heated, ancient debate in the art world about whether tracing an image onto your art surface is ok. It's a testy subject. Crazy, if you ask me.

 Countless centuries have been spent arguing over this. The traditionalists say it's taboo to trace - literally. Sacrilege.  That you must go through the painstaking process of hand drawing the image. Like an initiation or earning your dues, so to speak. Some people say it's cheating. Yet, the masters like Michael Angelo and his kind did forms of tracing. That's not widely known for some reason.

Still, others, mostly modern artists have found a very beneficial reason for tracing and highly encourage it! Such a huge difference of opinion like we see today about vaccines. I'd like to explain. Do I trace? Sure for extreme accuracy and I like hyper-realism in my art work. And over the years from tracing, I now trace the proportions for accuracy and free hand the images I'm familiar with. I'm going to describe how this applies to horses in a minute.

Why Trace?

  Tracing your image onto an art surface helps you build muscle memory when you do that. So I highly recommend that you practise tracing and encourage your kids to do so if you want to learn how to draw - especially horses :). More importantly, it gives you accurate muscle memory. If you don't have assistance when you're learning to draw free hand, you could run into the problem of developing muscle memory that's inaccurate. Yet, it really feels accurate because it feels so familiar. That's why tracing helps to learn how to draw correctly. It's speeds up the learning process and you can start to freehand images that you're very familiar with in the future.

How Does This Apply to Horses?

 It does apply to horses.  Taking learning to ride for example. If you choose to go the DIY method of learning to ride where you are at home alone using the method of learning by trail and error, without having someone watch you to make sure you're learning how to ride accurately, you could end up learning the wrong thing.

Back in the day, I saw students swear they knew how to ride correctly but they didn't. They hadn't had any formal lessons and they inadvertently developed bad habits or wrong ways to ride. They were so convinced that they were riding properly, that some didn't come back after a few lessons. Blessings to them anyway. We are all here on different paths of learning.

So I highly recommend that a rider learn by a method where someone can give them feedback. What would be equivalent to tracing? I guess the closest thing would be videoing yourself learning to ride and have someone else view the video and give feedback.  

The main take-away here that I'm trying to convey is to make sure that by whatever method you use for anything, horse related in this case, is have a method to get feedback so that you develop accurate muscle memory and not learn the wrong thing.

Putting my spin on Tracing for accuracy.

Reinersue

@KISS Reiners

Effective Bits Example#1: A Useless Curb Chain

 I was thinking about a good article topic for June, when horse shows are well under way, that I thought it would be good information to remind people. So I had the thought to go on Pixabay (www.pixabay.com) a free reference photo site that I use all the time for my art, to see if I could get an interesting photo of a curb bit and this is what I came up with. 

Can You Spot The Problem?

It's a good example. I'll share my thoughts on why this bit setup is useless - yes useless. The great thing about this photo is that it's anonymous. I just picked it from the website so I'm not offending any one as I don't know them. I wouldn't do that anyway. It's about the bit setup - not the person. We all learn. If you don't know, you don't know.

We all want to know about the bit we're using especially when it's not working. It's one of the most important questions to ask yourself as a rider and especially a trainer. We want to use one that will communicate the best to our horse and yet, not turn the horse off to using one. Or worse, turn our horse into a bad behaviour horse. eek!

Before I describe the bit to you, I want to make a point about all bits....

The bottom line is: If the bit is effective, then it's the right bit to use.

That's it. Just remember that and you will do fine! 

Not Effective Curb Chain

In the case with the above example, this bit is not effective.  The curb chain is so loose that it cannot work as the fulcrum in a curb bit. Curb bits work on the principle of a fulcrum for leverage. I encourage you to research it for yourself especially if you're having problems.

Doesn't matter how many parts, whether it's an english pelhum or a Tom Thumb, is the mouthpiece broken, jointed, solid, brass, copper, bla, bla, bla.  Is it effective? Is it effective for you and your horse.

In this case, the horse will just ignore this bit and quickly too. Depending on the mouthpiece, the horse will feel discomfort in at least the corners of his/her mouth. The rider will inadvertently have to pull harder and harder over time to get the response they want and that's not something we as riders want to learn. We want to have quiet hands. That's a topic for another day. Please see my website www.reinersuehorsemanship.com for information on quiet hands. There is a great search function if you need it.

Formula for the Right Bit

Part of the formula of the right bit is to have the curb chain situated to act properly as the fulcrum of the curb bit. That's why curb bit's are often mentioned with a ratio to describe the relationship of the rider's pressure to the pressure felt in the horse's mouth. If it's a 2:1 ratio, then if the rider exerts 10lbs of pressure through the reins to the bit and the curb chain is working properly, the horse will feel 20lbs pressure through the mouthpiece. The point is for the rider to have/maintain soft hands.

In the above example, that would not work. It would be a 1:1 radio and work like a snaffle bit (which is a 'direct pull' bit and not a leverage bit. Notice I don't mention anything about the mouthpiece. It's not about the mouthpiece.) Sadly, the horse would learn to pull against this bit, get heavy handed in other words and would not have any 'brakes'.

What to do? What to do?

Ok. This is an easy fix. Simply tighten up that curb chain so that it sits comfortably in the chin groove of the horse. The tighter fit to that chin groove, the quicker the horse will feel the pressure of the bit against several parts of their mouth including the tongue. And that is a good thing IF the rider's hands are soft. Talk about a horse whisperer! :)

I hope you enjoyed this. I did. Reminds me of my passion for an understanding of bits and their function. I think I will do more of these. If someone wants a bit evaluation, please contact me.

Putting my spin on effective bits. 
Reinersue - Myler Bit Technical Certified
©Copyright 2022 KISS Reiners

Why I Do What I Do Too

 

Why Do We Have a Life With Horses?

I receive a regular email from a new-to-me equine artist, Adeline Halvorson from Saskatoon. She paints mostly horses and farm life. Adeline Halvorson Fine Art website. Photo is of a recent painting from Adeline's website where she has many fine paintings for sale. Waters Edge by Adeline Halvorson She sent an email recently titled: "Why I do What I do" - explaining how as a little horse-crazed girl would sit at the end of her lane on Fair Day, hoping to catch a glimpse of a horse's head pop out the top of a truck box as it headed to the fair.  Adeline described a childhood with horses where she had a typical obnoxious pony who would buck her off.  And how she went on to have some very pleasant experiences with a colt she had to share with her sisters and mother. She explains that she would dedicate most of her life to painting these beautiful animals. IMO, she does an amazing job. I was a little sad to hear that she was not fortunate to have what she calls a 'heart horse' - that special horse we share a deep bond with. Humbly, I am fortunate that I have one of those special horses. I've had my retired reining mare now for 19 years this October. I can relate to what she's talking about. I figure that my special mare has 5-10 more years left and I'm not so sure that I will get another horse to replace her. She can't be replaced. Reflecting by Adeline Halvorson Adeline Paints Horses "It occurred to me that painting horses is my way of creating that connection that I so wanted with a horse. The horses on my easel always look back at me with affection. Or at the very least with interest. And I will continue to do it. Perhaps because deep inside, I am still that little girl that just wanted a pony of her own!" I, too share that desire to paint horses. For some of you, it's showing your horse, or having a horse as a pet. How many of you are reflecting on your experiences with horses as a child or that special horse in your life. This hits my heart for me right now as I lost my old, beloved dog Logan that I talked about in my last article. We just gotta hug those special 4-legged family members more often. Putting My Spin On Capturing Our Beloved Horses Reinersue @KISS reiners

Time for Family and Regrouping

 

You know when you hear that saying: "Some times the event finds you and sometimes you find the event." Last year I was unable to be a NRHA judge's assistant. It would've been my 30th year. I was a little disappointed but I knew in my heart that it was obviously best to decline.  I will have to decline again this year for the same reason. It's interesting what life brings.

Time moves on and people and our loved ones get older.  My pet sitter was not able to farm sit for me last year due to his health. He now has someone to look after him full time which is good. Life happens. So I'm still looking for a pet sitter.

In the meantime, my beloved dog Logan turned 17 years old last month. That's the main reason why I couldn't work as a judge's assistant last year and now. As you can see from the picture, Logan is still here surprisingly and I cherish every day he's still around. He's a big part of my family. He needs a lot of looking after so I couldn't leave him. I think of him like an old man who can still basically function but has a lot of trouble getting around.

So when life changes our daily routines, we go for it. With an incursion going on in Ukraine and innocent people are getting killed, I think we need to hug our loved ones closer and regroup. We need to be thankful for our health.  Who knows what's going to happen this year especially in Canada.

Wintertime Manure Handling

On a positive note, I've been inventing new ideas for handling my horse's manure - believe it or not.  The snow was getting too high for me to walk outside and spread my horse's manure so I thought of a great idea.

I use a plastic toboggan as my manure cart. In this photo, you can see my mare tied to the cross ties and the manure toboggan tied to the back of her winter blanket.  

After the cart is full, I attach reins to my mare's halter and walk her outside to the yard. Using a mounting block, I hop on bareback and we ride out to the field. I have a rope that I use while still on my horse's back to tip the manure cart over to dump the manure once I get to the spot in the field that I want to dump. I kid you not. I then ride back to the barn and repeat the process.

My mare doesn't mind as she gets a bit of crunch on each return. I've really enjoyed it as it's given me many short rides and time with my horse. Again, keeping our loved ones close. By the way, my mare is 20 years old this year so I cherish every day I'm with her also.

 My your life be filled with close family as we deal with the difficult times.

Putting My Spin On Keeping Our Loved Ones Close

Reinersue

@KISS Reiners

Ole Smokie and Catch Up On Goals

 January Blahs.   I don't seem to have time for the blahs.  Don't you find that time really is speeding up.

I like the idea where people aren't making news years resolutions any more. Seems like it's passé.

One goal I gave myself after I sold my 2 yr. old reining filly last Sep. was to complete a fine art certification.  After 3 months, I can proudly say that I have completed it.

Do The Small Chores Around The Farm

  My old reining mare Jackie will be 20 years old in April.  I remember more than 15 years ago when I used to burn old papers in a burn barrel at the farm I had at the time. I remember someone cautioning me about not having a fire close to horses as it would scare them.   

Scare them!?!  I had to catch myself from laughing out loud. I was having to keep my horses away from getting too close to the fire. I was always introducing new things to them for training and entertainment.  I still do it today though I'm down to only 1 ole mare.

This winter I'm having to burn some weedy hay I have that the horse doesn't like. In the first photo you can see my mare just eating good hay while I improvised and am using my old round bale feeder as the burn barrel.

  Just to prove that my mare really doesn't care about the fire, I have another photo of my mare having walked past it.

  I think 2022 is going to be a crazy year with all the things happening in the world. I want to give a big shout out to all those truckers , at the time of writing this article, heading to Ottawa to save Canada. My dad was a trucker and my brother is one also.  I'm very proud of those truckers.

Putting A Spin On Things To Do In The Wintertime

Reinersue

@KISS Reiners

Learning Skills Elsewhere

 SusieQ

I wanted to give you an update about my 2yr old filly SusieQ that I featured in this column for 2 years now. We watched her progress together. I sold her a month ago and she is going on to be a reining horse. I'm looking forward to seeing her next year at the shows.

 I want to share with you that I felt so proud on how well she rode for me and the new owner the day she came and bought her. I will always remember that.

So what do I do now?  AT 60, I've decided not to start anymore horses under saddle - been there, done that 50 times. I can proudly say that throughout my horse training career I never got bucked off from starting a horse under saddle. It was clients being less than truthful (down right voiding their contracts) that sent me to the hospital a few times with broken ribs and other damaged parts. And why I got out of doing that. I have the on-going physical problems as constant reminders from those experiences. How many of you can also recall a similar story or know someone who does?

A Well Trained Horse

There is something to be said for a well trained horse. I still have my 19yr old retired reining mare Jackie. She's been with me 18 years and I plan on looking after her until she passes on. Most or all of you know that it's a labour of love for us horse people. It's in our DNA. 

Bush Wacking

I have used my mare to bushwack many times. I wonder what she thinks about when we do that. "Oh Mom is at it again!" lol.

 I bought this mini chainsaw I call it. Works great for cutting small branches in the bush. See if you can picture this - I've just side passed Jackie up against a tree where I then stand up in the saddle and use this mini chain saw to cut the low hanging branch. It's great fun!

  I had a chuckle at myself when I decided to tie a knot at the end of my reins. I hated to do that but I wouldn't loose them when I stood up to cut a branch. You can see in the picture the knot in the reins and a roll of orange trail marker ribbon with me to better mark the trails.

Learning New Skills

  This is what I like to do. I have to create new projects or I get bored. My mare's used to it! lol I hope you got some inspiration from this article on learning new skills with our horse!  Happy fall!

Putting My Spin on New Skills

Reinersue

@KISS reiners

Bits Do Help If You Let Them

 What Do You Wrongly Know About Bits

  I got a nice phone call from a lady who does trick riding and wanted some advice on perhaps needing a different bit for her horse. She said that my friend Brenda Gagnon of Lazy G Ranch recommended me.  We talked for hours!  

I love talking about bits.  The first photo is of me during my Myler technical bit certification. Dale Myler is adjusting the bit on the horse.

I take a lot of pride in reeducating people on bits as there is a lot of misinformation out there. And disinformation. So Barry Finn, editor of TheRider.com magazine and I agreed that it would be nice to write a series of articles busting the myths about bits.

So here we go...

 Scare-De-Cat

A lot of riders just use whatever bit their fellow riders of their sport use. It's easier that way. I would agree that it's a good place to start. I know I did. I got the reining bit for showing that reiners used back in the 80's and still use today.

 Nothing wrong with that, if it works. That's the key... if it works. But what if it doesn't - what then?  You can ask the local tack shop owner or someone else but the problem is that misinformation is taught to everyone including trainers. Usually without their knowledge. Whether its pride or ignorance that people don't want to know technically about bits, I can't say. I'm not going there but I have studied that too to know the source of why riders are hesitant to 'go down the bit route'.

My Latest Change

 So the snaffle bit that I was using on my 2yr. old was not working any longer. The horse was dull on that bit and basically ignored it. I made her pay attention to the bit better but I knew that I didn't want to have to get after her for not responding quickly. Her mother was like that.  So there are family lines or horse genetics where some horses have naturally thicker tongues and usual bits can be ignored. 

A horse with a thicker tongue easily learns to ignore the cue from a standard bit. Generally speaking, for example, draft horses have thicker tongues. When I have a lazy horse and they are not responding well to the bit, I first think of checking their tongue. Believe it or not, some horses have tongues too big for their mouth. Great Pine bred horses were known for dull mouths and dull sides. My Whizard Jac mare for example is very sensitive to a bit as do hotter bred horses. The horse is always one part of the equation obviously, in determining what bit to use.

For my filly, I wanted to stay soft with my hands. I've seen too many riders having to be rougher with their hands to get the response they need from their horse. That's another clue - needing to be rougher with your hands than you want to be. I don't like it at all so I tend to go to a curb bit faster than most riders.

Be An Educated Rider

I use the analogy of a 'hot knife through butter'. For the rider's sake and the horse's sake, you don't want to learn to be rough with your hands. Educated hands can use most bits and not have a problem.

Most riders are taught to consider only the horse and the event they want to do with their horse and not realize how important the rider is in the equation. I always shock people when I mention how important that is. I will get into more detail in the next article about that.

Back to my filly, so it was time to put my filly into a curb bit. I choose the Myler 3-ring combination bit. See photo.

Myler 3-Ring Combo Bit

I use this bit as a training bit and introduces leverage to a horse. A rider can keep their hands softer while having more effect on the horse. More information to come. Lots to talk about with the trick rider who called and wanted to see if a different bit could be used for her horse that was running through the bridle - another common problem.

Putting My Spin on Using The Equipment That Works Best

Reinersue

@KISS Reiners

Tips For Getting Back Into the Saddle - Part 3 In The Saddle

 This is the third part of a series on how to get motivated to get back into the saddle again.  Next month I will focus on more training tips. I also have a very interesting story to tell about bits.

Today I'm going to focus on actual riding tips.

My 2yr old filly is now for sale so I want to keep training her until she's sold. And I believe introducing her to as many new situations as possible will make her a better horse and more interesting to potential buyers. (If you are interested, please see contact me.)

Pre-Ride Check

 I learned to do this with horses that I was not familiar with. I would lounge the horse to see where the horse is at mentally and physically. As I became more familiar with them then not so much.

I also did a pre-ride check. I would flex the horse from the ground on both sides. Again, checking the horse over to make sure they were ok and mentally ok to ride. It's a pain when you're out in the back bush or have trailered over to someone's place, only to find out that you're missing equipment or your horse is lame. Argh.

In the first photo I am showing how I also make the horse stand still when I first get on by doing some flexing from side to side. This, I feel is necessary for unfamiliar horses or young horses. I never have to do this with my old, retired reining mare.  

I started this because I'm short. I kid you not. It's generally a bit of a hike to get on my horses even if I use a mounting block. For my safety, I didn't want the horse to walk off while I was getting on or just getting settled in. I really don't like it when they walk off.

 Riding In The Bush

My first love was trail riding. Add rounding up cattle to that and it's fantastic. While I don't have any cattle at the moment, I do have 30 acres of bush to ride in. Last year, with the help of my hired guy, we put 4.5 miles of ATV trails in the bush.

So that it where I'm riding my filly. In the 2nd photo, you can see that we are riding down the side of one of my hay fields to get to one of the entrances to the bush.

When I get bored riding in a riding pen, I usually head out to the bush or the roads. That is what I would suggest to make it interesting to get back into the saddle again.

Why not try a trail ride? Why not work some cattle?  Why not try a new sport?

Pony Up SusieQ

  I didn't start by riding my filly on the trails. I pony'ed her. In this last photo, you can see that I took her for a nice walk in the bush.

Again, another way to make things interesting. I hope you enjoy the rest the of the summer.

Putting My Spin On Rides In The Bush

Reinersue

@KISS Reiners

Tips For Getting Back Into Riding Part 2

 

In part 1, I talked about why sometimes we get out of the habit of riding and need ways to easily get motivated again.  You can find the article link here. Part 1 focused more on tools and the process of getting ready to ride. Today I'm going to talk about other tips we can do with regards to actually riding or pre-riding.

So I'm working on my 2 yr. old filly to get her basic training done. I have my environment ready and now I want to work her.  The principle still holds that if I spend some time prepping and setting up the riding environment so that it makes it more enjoyable and easy to want to get back into riding or training and easier it is to get back into the saddle.  It's all mental preparation.

I do the same for my taxes. I don't particularly like doing my taxes so I do my books and leave the rest to my accountant. So I spend a day getting my office setup with my computer and my slips to do my books. I just find that it makes it easier for me to get it done. That and a big pot of coffee!

So that's it! To make whatever changes you need to do to make it exciting and enticing.  This article will focus on pre-riding specific tips.

Here are a few suggestions that you might find helpful. More detailed information on my website www.reinersuehorsemanship.com, if you're interested.

1. Sometimes I just don't feel 100%. Whether I'm too tired or a bit under the weather for whatever reason, I have found that if I do some GROUNDWORK exercises then I know that I've worked the horse and feel great about it. Here in this photo, I have saddled my 2 yr old filly and I've attached empty vinegar jugs to the side of the saddle. More DESENSITIZATION - one of my favorites! :)

It's also good for the horse to get 'back into the swing' of things as well.

2. I do use round penning and lounging as good exercises to teach horses many things. I teach all leg cues with the use of my stick-n-string, all voice cues, flexing... I have a list (see below). So I do spend time including when I need motivation to get back working my horse again by going through round penning and lounging. I also use them as a quick check to see where my horse is at. Here in this photo I show some lounging.

3. My training program has always been heavily based on reining principles and groundwork. I used to spend the first week with a customer's horse on groundwork to teach all the cues needed before I got onto the horse for the first time. I did that last year with my filly. Don't need to teach it again but it's still good to check everything before I get on. And get my mind into training again.

4. Here is some of what can be accomplished with groundwork.

• establish mutual respect and trust between horse and human
• establish communication between horse and rider
• getting rewarded for a positive response
• establishing good habits in your and your horse
• teach the horse to pay attention to you as team leader (& establish you as team leader)
• establish basic body control on the horse (lateral flexion, sidepassing, etc..)
• familiarize/learn the step-by-step progressive process in training (ie. training scale) 
• teach the horse to respect your space
• determining temperament of the horse to customize training program
• learn to read the horse's body language and visa versa
• establish a mental connection with your horse
• start to teach the horse to handle pressure in training
• teach the horse to follow you (hooked on you)
• establish & reinforce forward motion in the horse (which is so important)
• teach the horse voice commands like the 'kiss', 'cluck', 'whoa', etc.
• teach a horse to stop and backup using voice and rein cues
• to create confidence in you and your horse
• do a system's check to make sure everything is OK before mounting.
• make sure your cinch is tight enough before mounting.
• for the rider to really like being around their horse & visa versa!

I feel that groundwork has been invaluable in my training program and would ALWAYS recommend it - even for motivation. Next month, I'm going to continue with my filly's training and give more tips. 

Putting My Spin on Getting Back Into Training Mode

Reinersue

@KISS Reiners