Monday, October 3, 2011
CP: BOFA
Promo: HBR
Title: Mind Your Trail-Riding Manners
Deck: Learn to be safer and more polite on the trail, Part 2.
Issue: America’s Horse? Journal?
Photo: Trail photo
Photo credits: Journal
Author: By Essie Rogers of the Kentucky Horse Council
Need to review Part 1 of these trail tips?
Part of good trail etiquette is ensuring that you are respectful of trails and land areas. This
begins with your arrival at the trail head. Ways to become a better land steward include:
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Park only in designated areas.
Keep your muck in the trailer and dispose of it at home or in a designated area.
Tie only to your trailer, designated tie areas or using a safe high tie (do not tie
directly to trees).
Keep your horse moving while he passes manure on the trail.
Take out everything that you bring in. Pack it in, pack it out.
Stay on the trail – do not create pass arounds.
Only enter waterways at designated crossings.
Avoid muddy trails. If you have to pass through mud, do so at a walk.
Obey all signage. Do not ride in non-horse areas.
Abide by all voluntary trail closures.
Collect muck and scattered hay from your tie site and dispose of it at home or in a
designated area.
Fill in any uneven areas created by you or your horse.
Follow the Leave No Trace ethics.
Courtesy is another important part of enjoying the great outdoors on horseback. Many
trails are open to a variety of users (hikers, mountain bikers, dog walkers, etc.), and it is
important that we communicate with others in a productive manner. When you encounter
other users on the trail, make it a positive experience by:
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Talking to them.
Asking them to step off the downhill side of the trail while you pass.
Sharing the number of riders in your group and asking them how many are with
them.
Desensitizing your horse at home.
You should be courteous to other members in your riding party by:
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Waiting for gate openers/closers.
Waiting for all horses to drink before leaving a watering area.
Moving downstream to allow other horses ample room to drink.
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Waiting for riders who might be having a hard time crossing water with their
horses.
Waiting for riders who have dismounted or are off for any reason.
Not running up behind or alongside other riders.
Passing on the left.
If your horse exhibits behaviors that require special consideration, you should tell all
members of the riding party about those issues and place a ribbon of appropriate color in
your horse’s tail and mane. The following are common ribbon color codes:
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Red = Kick
Green = Novice
Blue = Stallion
Remember to keep an eye on safety, obey land stewardship rules, be courteous and wear
all the right ribbons to have an enjoyable ride every time. More information on safe trail
riding can be found in the Certified Horsemanship Trail Guide Manual. Additional
information on trail-riding etiquette can be found online at
http://njaes.rutgers.edu/pubs/publication.asp?pid=FS370 and
http://www.kentuckyhorse.org/attachments/wysiwyg/5/Trail_Etiquette_Reminders.pdf.
Tuesday, October 4, 2011
CP: John Deere
Promo: Showing to Win: Trail
Title: Jump On the Trail Wagon
Deck: Put time into training your horse on trail obstacles.
Issue: QHJ July 2000
Photo: WS Trail picture
Photo credits: Journal
Author: From The American Quarter Horse Journal
So you want to show trail? Whether you have just bought a young horse as a prospect or
are converting one you’ve been showing, you have to start at the beginning.
If your horse is well broke (as far as leads, side-passing, backing, turning, etc.), curious
about his surroundings and has a mellow personality, chances are he could make a great
trail horse.
AQHA Professional Horsewomen Liz Place and Sandy Arledge say it doesn’t take a
high-dollar horse to be competitive in trail classes. However, whether you have a 3-yearold or a seasoned show horse, it takes time, patience and practice to reach world-class
levels.
Liz trains out of Del Mar, California. She grew up under the tutelage of Sandy, an AQHA
director emeritus.
Looking for the right horse
Whether a young or seasoned horse, the qualities to look for in a trail prospect are the
same. Liz says expression should be high on your list of priorities.
“You want you horse to walk in there, keep his eyes up and prick his ears,” she explains.
“He needs to challenge an obstacle and think, ‘What’s down there?’ But he shouldn’t be
stupid.”
Other characteristics she looks for include a mellow and willing attitude and willingness
to work through all the obstacles slowly – you don’t want your horse to be in a hurry.
When looking for a young trail prospect, both Liz and Sandy point out that a secondstring pleasure futurity horse could be a good choice.
“The second-string horses are already broke and go slow,” Liz says.
“We have to teach the pleasure horses to be handled,” Sandy says. “Most pleasure horses
aren’t accustomed to being handled in the face, and trail horses have to have a lot of
guide to wind and bend around a course. Also, an ex-pleasure horse has to be comfortable
off the rail to make it in trail.
Seasoned pleasure horses often get burned out on the rail, and trail courses rekindle their
interest in working as show horses.
“Some of the best trail horses are the ones that get sour on the rail,” Sandy says. “They
need some stimulus, something that interests them. I taught a sour pleasure horse to do
trail when he was in his teens, and he earned a Superior and placed at the (AQHA) World
(Championship) Show.”
But before you tackle your first obstacles, your horse has to be well broke.
“He has to know how to move off your leg, sidepass, pivot on the forehand and
haunches,” Liz says. “You have to be able to put his ribs, shoulders and hips wherever
you want.”
Sandy adds, “An older horse will usually get it faster than a younger one. If you don’t
have all the pieces installed, it takes more time. He has to be supple, relaxed and in
frame.”
Introducing the obstacles
Just like introducing your horse to any new object or movement, starting on trail
obstacles takes patience. Start out small with one pole, and then work your way up to
multiple lope-overs. Liz likes to start young horses over obstacles when they are 2, and as
soon as possible when starting an older horse. She likes to work obstacles every time she
is on a green trail horse, always introducing new and more challenging elements.
“When you start him over obstacles, walk him over just one pole,” Liz says. “Let him
look at it and get used to stepping over it, progression to trotting and loping over it. Make
a big circle and walk over it a few times. Pick up a jog and do the same thing. Just keep
doing big circles around this pole until he gets used to it. Then, add another pole and
walk, trot and lope.”
Liz starts a horse over the bridge during the same time period. “If he is afraid of the
bridge, lead him to it and let him smell it and look at it,” she says. “That’s the only time I
lead a horse to an obstacle, otherwise, I always ride up to them.”
When you introduce you horse to the back-through, Liz advices making it very wide – at
least three feet.
“Instead of starting at the end and backing him into the chute, walk him into the chute
and back up a couple steps and stop,” she explains. “Wait for about three minutes, then
back a few more steps. Try to spend 20 minutes in a back-through when you’re teaching
it.”
Learning cadence
Cadence is one of the biggest problems your green trail horse might face, according to
Liz and Sandy.
“I find that timing in the lope-overs is the hardest,” Liz says. “If he needs to shorten or
lengthen his stride, a common problem is dropping to the trot instead of sucking back and
slowing down. Changing leads is another thing he might do if he isn’t in stride.”
“Timing and position are the most important things,” Sandy says. “Your horse has to find
his cadence and adjust his stride to the obstacles. It takes time.”
Both agree that your horse has to learn his on his own by doing the obstacle over and
over again. Sandy points out that starting lope-overs on an arc is easier than on a straight
line because you can move the horse in or out and see where he puts himself.On a straight
line, you’d have to shorten or lengthen his stride to make it through without hitting any
poles. “You’ll see and feel the light come on,” Sandy says.
Show practice
“Don’t go into the warm up and try to do the course,” Sandy says. “Pick and choose your
obstacles, and don’t get in a hurry. Go in and pick what you think you’ll have trouble
with, and if you have extra time, do the others. Don’t rush through it and leave on a sour
note.”
Exiting the warm-up trail after a bad obstacle leaves you frustrated, your horse confused,
and you have created more problems than you’ve solved. That will make your judged
performance even more difficult.
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
CP: Markel
Promo: Clipping Horse FREE Report
Title: Tips From the Trail Man
Deck: Part 2 of Tim Kimura’s tips on trail mechanics.
Issue: QHJ July 2000
Photo: Trail photo
Photo credits: Journal
Author: From The American Quarter Horse Journal
Tim Kimura has been designing trail courses since he was a young boy growing up in
Reedley, California. He is now on the road weekly designing and setting courses at shows
and putting on clinics to educate newcomers to trail. That’s how he earned the nickname
that he sports proudly on his ball cap: “Trail Man Tim.” Now, he’s sharing his expertise
with America’s Horse Daily readers. Need to review Part 1 of his tips?
Tip No. 5; Let it flow.
Once you get on course, Tim’s drama (in the form of a trail pattern) will encompass the
next three minutes of your life. Generally, he says the first minute is pretty easy – it’s the
“get-to-know-you” phase of the story. But the last minute is when the drama hits a
climax, and he is going for the kill (not that he really wants to ruin your perfect go). If
you get the rhythm of the course, you’ll have a much easier time keeping your nerves in
check and knowing when to ask the most from your horse.
“Can you suck it up for the last 30 seconds?” Tim asks. “That’s when all the surprises
start happening. I know the first part is easy to remember. It’s the middle and the first
part of the end that are hard. A lot of times, I will surge you,” Tim continues. “I’ll make
your heart get going. I’ll give you a lot of lope and turn and trot. Then we get to the slow
stuff. Can you slow your heart down? Can you relax and be careful for a while? At the
end, I almost like to hurry you out the gate. I have a favorite X-bar that I use all the time.
It’s a relief to get over that last pole, but a lot of you quit riding because you’re almost
out of the gate, and you rub that last pole.”
Tim’s sixth tip is to ask questions.
Always ask if there were any changes to the course.
“At a lot of the biggest shows, we run multiple pens, so you might be showing in another
arena when we do the walk-through,” Tim says. “During the walk, a judge might want to
change something – like take a pole out or eliminate an obstacle. It’s your responsibility
to ask if there were any changes. We usually post and announce it, but you might not hear
it in the other arena.”
He also says to not be afraid to ask the course designer questions, even though he might
not give you the complete answer you’re looking for. Tim says he mostly gets questions
concerning distances between poles, which he answers freely. But he probably won’t
expose the best line between obstacles.
“Use the force” is Tim’s seventh tip.
Tim points out that a lot of trail has to do with feel – feel of your horse, of the pattern and
where the obstacles are – all without looking.
“You have to know that ‘Master Yoda’ has established all these pieces and parts around
you, and you have to know where everything is,” Tim says. “You have to know where
the front legs are, back legs, the standard, the poles, the cones, the plants – all without
looking. If you can feel where everything is, it’s a lot easier to focus on what’s going on.”
Don’t lean. Leaning one way or the other to see where the poles are makes your horse
lose balance. He has to compensate for your weight shift. Tim says the best way to know
where you are is to watch your toes because the poles are parallel (in slow obstacles such
as a side pass or back through). Their distance apart is the same as you move through the
obstacle.
The eighth and final tip from Tim is to not get frustrated by the learning curve.
When you first get into trail, there are so many things to learn, and you’re learning it all
at a fast pace. You can see improvement in your skills and your horse’s every time you
head to the barn.
But as you progress, the amount you learn starts to drop off. You thought you were on the
fast track to a world championship, but now you feel like you’re in a rut. Tim says it’s
completely normal.
“Learning trail goes in plateaus,” he says. “At first, you learn quite a bit, then you
plateau, and you think you’re there forever. During this stage, you are re-establishing the
basics, and the climbing increments are smaller after that. Don’t get impatient. As you get
to the top, it’s a little steeper, and I won’t give you as much information.”
Friday, October 7, 2011
CP: Ford
Promo: AI FREE Report
Title: The Shed
Deck: When breeding isn’t as easy as it should be.
Issue: Jan. ’99 QHJ
Photo: Only In The Moonlite or Certain Potential WC photo
Photo credits: Journal
Author: From The American Quarter Horse Journal
It seems simple enough. Lead a stallion past a few mares and into the breeding shed. His
natural desires will take over, and shortly you can ask him to mount the breeding
phantom. In just a few minutes, you have enough semen to inseminate a number of
mares.
Take the stallion back to his stall. He is satisfied and, after appropriately dividing the
semen, you have completed your daily duty as stallion breeder.
But wait just a second. Do you honestly think it’s that easy every time? Many, if not
most, times, it is that easy with an experienced crew – horse included. But sometimes this
15-minure process lengthens to an hour or more. And sometimes it doesn’t even happen
at all.
Not every stallion walks into the breeding shed and performs his favorite function with
no trouble. Whether it be because of injury or previous bad experiences, some stallions
do not breed, or do not breed well.
Amy Gumz will stand nine stallions at Gumz Farms in Morganfield, Kentucky, this
breeding season. Several more will come in from time to time for collection. With that
many stallions coming to the farm each year, Amy has seen most any problem you can
imagine.
“The most successful farms manage their stallions very simply,” Amy says. “You should
try to keep your program consistent, calm and confidence-boosting.”
Turn on the juices
The vast majority of show stallions are taught from early on that any sort of sexual
behavior – from whinnying to mares to showing an erection – is not allowed in and
around the show arena. When it’s time to go to the breeding shed, the horse is confused.
He doesn’t realize that now is the time he can get excited. Now he can nicker at mares.
“People make these stallions show horses; they live in a heated barn and completely
controlled environments, and then they are supposed to perform a very natural act,” Amy
says. “The stallion is expected to act like a gelding 99.9 percent of the time, and then the
owner wants some semen. Showing and breeding can work hand in hand, but you have to
give the stallions some time to be a horse.”
When a show stallion arrives at Gumz Farms, the first thing Amy does is turn him out in
a paddock and let him see mares. Many people think show horses should never be turned
out in a paddock or stalled in a mare motel, but Amy has a different opinion. “It’s hard
for people to understand that stallions can go outside but keep their blankets on, their
shoes on,” she explains. “They can still look like a show horse, but they need to be a stud
horse, too.
“They learn very quickly that the turnout paddock is the place to (act like a stallion),”
Amy says. “He learns that when he goes to the breeding shed or the turnout, he can act
like a stallion. He knows he can’t do that at a horse show or if someone wants to ride
him. And he knows that if a mare owner comes by shopping for a sire, he must stand
quietly.”
It is important for stallion owners to realize that it might take some times for their show
horses, particularly young stallions, to turn into breeding horses. Usually by a stallion’s
second or third year of showing and breeding, he understands the process and is able to
produce viable semen.
Illness
A stallion produces sperm as much as 60 to 90 days prior to its collection. Pretend it’s
March 1. You have 50 mares at the farm waiting to be bred and another 50 across the
country that will get shipped semen. You collect the horse, run his semen through the
appropriate high-tech sperm-counting machines and see that there is nothing in there that
will get a mare pregnant. Panic sets in.
Before you get hysterical, think back a couple of months. Was the stallion sick for a few
days? Did he go off feed and act lethargic?
It wasn’t anything major at the time, but you are seeing the results of that sickness today.
When your horse is sick, write that on the calendar so two or three month later, when he
doesn’t give you good semen, you can look back and know why.
Injury
There are times when a stallion just physically cannot mount a breeding phantom or it’s
painful to mount. Maybe his feet or his hocks hurt. Perhaps his back hurts. Like people,
he won’t be in an amorous mood when he’s in pain.
If the cause is a temporary injury and the mares can wait a few days for breeding, no
problem. However, is the stallion’s injury is so severe that he won’t ever mount the
phantom; you’ve got a decision to make. Do you consider the horse finished as a breeder?
Most of the time, these horses are still quite capable of getting mares in foal. What do
you do?
Amy teaches many of her horses to ground collect. The horses go to the breeding shed
just like always. They’re prepared as usual, but the artificial vagina is used while the
horse stands flat footed, rather than when he is on the phantom.
Ground collection usually takes a bit longer and will probably require some manual
stimulation to the horse, but it works just as good as when the stallion mounts the
phantom. Do not be surprised if you do not get the horse collected the first time you try.
Be patient, and soon he will learn.