We are pleased to announce two new opportunities for horse lovers who have limited time and funds, but would love the opportunity to become involved in riding and various equestrian activities.  Baymount Farm has created and is offering a new Intro to Horsemanship class at Mitchell Community College this fall.   This class starts September 9, 2010 on Thursdays from 6:30 – 8:30 pm for six weeks.  The class will cover briefly many aspects of the equestrian industry, including various disciplines; hunt seat, dressage, equitation, western and gaited riding.  Also covered will be the different equestrian businesses, equine contracts and laws, grooming and demonstrations at local barns.  More information can be found at http://www.mitchellcc.edu/cec/forms/MCC_CE_Schedule_Fall10.pdf    on page 14 of the Continuing Education Booklet online. 

Also beginning in September will be special classes just for Mom’s.  These will cover learning to care for, tack and ride horses with trail riding for groups of 4.  Classes will be scheduled Monday, Wednesday and Fridays in the mornings.   This gives Mom’s an opportunity to treat themselves special while their children are in school and take a break from the humdrum of cleaning, shopping, planning and all the daily activities of managing a family.  Visit the LESSON page on www.baymountacres.com for pricing and more information.

All in all, I am expecting this to be an exciting fall for 2010.  Hope to see you soon.

Confetti acted as if she did not know how to be ridden.  If I had not known better I would have thought she was green, but given time to calm down I could tell she had training.  I spend a lot of time working with Confetti on a full cheek snaffle to get her responsive again.  I spent most of the time just walking beside her suppling one side of the bit then the other to see just how responsive she could be.  What I found was, she knew how to ‘give to the bit’ but didn’t know for ‘how long’ or in other words, how to stay on the bit.  So we kept walking and giving until she had it down.  That was basically all it took to teach her to rein properly.  After that, it was saddle up and practice in the ring.

I know she had been ridden before because she picked up on turning on the forehand, haunches, backing, side passing and half passing very quickly.  She was just rusty and protested to being back in work.    My daughter and I took her out on the trails and she loved that!  Oh my gosh, she was wonderful.

Ok, it was time to sell her.  We had way to many horses, my daughter was going to college and wouldn’t be home to ride her, so we found a home for her.  A wonderful family bought her, took her home for their 14 year old daughter.  But,  they have walking horses and Confetti had a hard time keeping up.  They decided to stick with walking horses and have offered Confetti up for sale again.

Now Confetti is back with us and continuing her training.  I have been working her on the obstacles for competitive trail riding and she has been doing quite well.  She is now ready for another home.  Confetti is being offered for $2,000.  I have a 14 year old student who has been riding her to keep her in shape.  This particular student just recently learned to ride and has been having a wonderful experience on Confetti.  Here is her recent video Red Confetti on You Tube

Confetti would make a wonderful trail riding competition horse or just a pleasure trial horse.  She is sound, easy to work with, stands for the farrier, hauls easily, has no dental issues, stays outside year round, has a very thick coat in winter and sheds out smoothly in the summer.  I don’t normally grain her except a small amount for extra nutrition in the winter.  She can go barefoot or wear shoes for the rocky trails.

Confetti loves people and gets along well with other horses.  I would love to keep her myself, but have too many now.  So, if you are interested or need more information you can reach me through my contact page.

Happy Riding.

One: Since you already know your horse knows how to bend when it wants to, what are you, as the rider going to do to teach those ques while enjoying the ride without making it seem like a boring lesson?  (Personally, I like boring lessons, it gives me a chance to let go and think about nothing except what I am doing and not feel pushed to do a million things at once.)  On the trail, ask for your horse to move his nose slightly to the inside of the circle as you are going around a tree.  At the same time, use your outside rein to rate his speed and keep him from bending his nose too far to the inside.  Also, use your inside leg on the girth and your outside leg behind the girth.  Your inside leg gives him a point of reference to bend around and keeps him bent.  Your outside legs keeps him from moving his haunches to far to the outside.  It is that simple. That is all you really have to do.  However, don’t force and if he does not do it the first time, fine.  Keep giving him the same aids and cues every time you go around an obstacle and you will be surprised at how fast he picks this up.  Be aware that most mares will pick this up quicker than geldings.  Especially if the geldings have been cut early in life.  So take your time.

Secondly, set up a line of barrels or posts any obstacle that you can wind your horse in and out of in the ring or pasture.  You can also use a series of trees to wind through.  It is the same as making serpentines in the ring, but it gives your horse a visible obstacle to bend around.  Use the same cues but be sure to switch your leg and body position with each turn.  Take your time and do this at a slow walk so you can be sure to train yourself to pick up the cues also.  We can teach our horse the wrong thing by using the wrong cues, of course.  So be sure you have your aids and body language down pat.  Don’t expect your horse know what you want.  He is totally dependent on you to tell him what, when, how and how fast.

I recently taught a 5 year old green broke mare how to do this just by walking around barrels in the ring every day.  Now, every time I ride her all I have to do is ask and she bends perfectly.  I use these aids on every turn regardless of how short, small, or long is the circle.  Once your horse gets used to this and does it on cue it will be much easier to teach him/her to move off your legs.

Happy Trails

I had a wonderful client who brought his TWH to me to be trained as a trail horse.  This horse was a little spooky to ride, but boy did we have fun together.  She taught me a thing or two, like how to get over my fear of losing my seat when horse gets excited on the trail and wants to take off running and bucking.  She went back home at the end of her session at Baymount Farm and has become a favorite of my client.  Jazzy Plays Soccer  This same client has asked me to come to his farm and hold a two day clinic for his family.   I am happy to comply and very excited about this opportunity.  I plan to hold many more clinics in the future. 

This particular clinic will be customized to my client’s needs.  I will be teaching harnessing and driving TWH’s, giving riding lessons to his family, giving trail lessons and teaching how to handle horses properly.  The wonderful thing about clinics is that they can be tailor made to fit the needs of the individual.  Not all clinics need to be so organized that they become boring or a show of trick training skills.  I won’t be starting out by round penning, then moving onto sacking out, tacking up, etc.  I will be using their horses that they are already familiar with to teach them how to become better riders and drivers.  How fun is that! 

When I finish I am hoping the whole family will be confident enough that individually they can go out saddle up, or harness up and take off for a wonderful time with their horse.   Watch for the video of this clinic.  I think you will find it interesting. 

Happy Riding!

I have decided that ex-race horses really don’t like staying in the stall, which is quite alright with me.   My other one, Sera, a thoroughbred stresses and walks the stall if I try to keep her in.  Sir Alex just chooses to try to crib.  There isn’t a place in the stall he can sink his teeth into except the buckets, so out he goes.  I don’t need my buckets torn up.  Also, one less mess to clean up, you know.  As long as he is happy outside, so be it.  His coat is thick enough and he is heavy enough that I doubt he will even notice the cold.  He is also barefoot, which I like during winter.  Ice, snow and mud doesn’t get so clogged up on his soles and I don’t have to worry so much about him getting hurt cavorting out in the pasture. 

My daughter rode him two days after he arrived and he was wonderful.  Sir Alex raced his second year and won a fair amount, but started to get sore so his conscientious owners decided to retire him rather then risk his getting hurt.    After that he went on to being a lesson horse.  He trots and paces which makes him perfect since he is so versatile.  I finally rode him a few days ago and decided that I needed to work with him on the snaffle bit to see what he would do.  In the video he was wearing an eggbut snaffle.  I put a full cheek snaffle on him which is my choice in bits when I get a new horse to try out.   I have been suppling him and asking him to walk straight without all the chewing.   Alex does like to chew, so I think I will try a snaffle with a french link and see how that works for him.  Today we had a great day!   Obviously  he has been very well trained by his previous owners and is a pleasure to ride. 

Sir Alex has quite a smooth trot, doesn’t canter, but that is ok, he does pace and is very smooth.  That’s all I need anyway.  He was a nut today when I was riding him in the ring.  My dachshund, Izzy, came out to say hello to me and Sir Alex thought he was going to get attacked.  I never dreamed he would be frightened by such a small, unassuming dog, but by golly if he didn’t spin around and try to run.   Thankfully, he is very, very well behaved and trusting of humans.  He settled down easily and we just kept going.  That is a good training technique with a spooky horse.  If you can stay on, just ride it out all the time trying to gain control and give the horse something to do that he does well to get his mind back on work and off whatever scared him.  They have a one track mind, so stay calm, regain control and keep going.

Anyway, to me Sir Alex is special and I really look forward to giving lessons on him.  I think my students will love him too.

I have several trail horses of my own.  Some of them are field trial horses, some are pleasure horses.  Most of them are familiar with the gates being opened while I am on their backs, but a few aren’t familiar with side passing over logs, turning on the forehand with their feet in a square, etc.  So, I set up a trail course in my ring.  It has most of the obstacles they need to practice on.  It always amazes me how quickly the horses pick up these new “tricks”.  Horses are so smart and willing, especially if you are having fun and letting them adjust at their pace to anything new you want them to learn.

Here is a tip:  when introducing a new obstacle, calmly walk your horse up to it first, if they seem apprehensive about it, let them stand and face it, smell it, paw at it (as long as they don’t tear it up – pawing allows them to see that it isn’t something that will jump up and attack them), then walk them around it until they are comfortable with it.  Look for signs of submission like, sighing, licking and chewing, dropping their head, looks of boredom and just standing there.  Once they are comfortable ask them to perform the task at hand, one step at a time.  Please don’t force your horse or you will find that training will quickly become frustrating for YOU and the horse will likely balk and become defensive every time you ask it to do something.  Remember your goal is to get your horse relaxed and willing.  You are the leader and must set the attitude from the beginning.   If you are relaxed they are likely to relax much more quickly.  Take your time, there is no rule that says your horse has to learn a new trick in one minute, one hour, one day or even one week.  If you feel you are going backwards or not making any progress, then stop, re-evaluate what you are asking and break it up into little steps.

For instance,  if you are asking your horse to turn on the forehand and he has no idea what you want, try these steps.

1.  Teach him to stand still first.

2.  Teach him to move one foot over at a time by tapping him on the side just behind the girth.  Ask for one movement, let him rest, ask for another movement, let him rest, repeat, repeat, repeat and soon he will be moving over until you ask him to stop.

3.  Next apply this to the bit.  I use a full check snaffle bit with a bit keeper to keep the bit from moving around so much in his mouth.  Pick up the rein and just take the slack out, when he moves over, let the rein pressure off immediately and pet him for being right.  Do this until he is moving over everytime you ask.

4.  Apply the two aids together.  Stand at his side, pick up the rein and tap him behind the girth as he moves his hindquarters over.  If he moves forward, stop, ask him to stand still, then apply the aids again.  Soon he will be moving his hindquarters over and then;

5.  Mount up, pick up your reins and ask him to stand, apply the reins by picking up one rein and taking the slack out, apply the leg aid behind the girth (you may have to use an active leg at first) and he should move his haunches over.  The idea is for him not to move forward.  He may get slightly confused at first and this is ok.  He will be thinking he is supposed to move forward since that is what he is usually asked to do.  Just gently stop him and apply the aids again.  Soon enough he will pick it up.

I have never come upon a horse that did not pick this up quickly and sufficiently when I took my time and made sure the horse understood what I was asking.  Rewarding for getting the right answer and practicing until he is 100% always works.

You can apply the same theory to whatever you are teaching and have fun doing it.  Make learning simple, rewarding and relaxing for you an your horse.  You will be amazed at how quickly you will be teaching new things and enjoying your ride much more.

Riding lessons are a wonderful way to shed a few extra pounds.  You will have fun, learn better balance, feel great, build muscle all while you are loosing weight and you won’t even realize it.  I lost 15 pounds this summer riding horses.  I sat for years on my, well you know, and gained more pounds than I cared to.  I picked up running and ran a few half-marathons for a few years and lost weight just to have it come right back.  I bought an elliptical machine and still have yet to use it religiously in order to keep my weight down.  Then I picked up riding.  I loved it, loved the horses, loved being outside, loved the activity and lost pounds….and I am talking serious pounds.  Pounds off my stomach, thighs, hips, back.  All where it counts for a female!  Guys, you will lose weight too.  Feel better and treat yourself right.  There is nothing like learning a new skill to make you feel exhilarated and confident.

What style of riding do you pick up?  Depends on what your interests are.  Trail riding is relaxing and fun and can be ridden in any discipline; western or english.   The basic skills are the same.   Most people just starting out are more comfortable in a western saddle or endurance saddle.  But don’t stop there, learn hunt seat and increase your skills.  Equitation is another step up, as in dressage, saddle seat.  You decide what makes you the most comfortable and where you are having the most fun.  Exercise should be fun, otherwise, we just won’t keep up with it.

Need a lesson barn?  A great place to look is NewHorse.com where you can search by state and zip code to find your nearest stables.    Have fun, go out and shed those holiday pounds!

Recently I purchased a Haggis Saddle made in Canada by Jack Haggis.  Awesome saddles, but I wasn’t sure how it was supposed to fit my horses.  Each horse should have it’s own custom fitted saddle, but like me most of us have more than one horse and less than a few dollars,  so several horses have to share a saddle.  That’s one of the things I like about the Haggis Saddle.  With a little padding it can fit more than one horse comfortably.

Notice that the saddle is sitting  just behind the large muscle over the scapula.  This saddle could be moved back slightly to give a more comfortable and secure fit.  The bars at the withers are tapered out upwards to the withers to allow more freedom of movement of this large muscle.  Gaited horses have a longer stride and therefore, that particular muscle has a longer length of movement and needs more room to avoid pinching.  That is why the bars are tapered on gaited saddles, unlike english or western saddles.  The withers on gaited horses, particularly TWH are usually higher and narrower.   Some gaited horses like Kentucky Mountain horses have withers more like the quarter horse, but still need a gaited saddle.    The gullet at the withers is higher allowing for the height of the withers.

The back of the saddle should still fit at the 18th rib and not past it.  The bars  angles upward on these saddle to take pressure off the kidneys.  The bars do not sit on the horses back at this point.

The saddles come in standard tree with pretty much fits the TWH or mountain horse tree for the wider or flatter withers like quarter horses.

At any rate, the fitting is the same as for other saddles, you just need to understand that the bars on the Haggis Saddles will not make contact at the 18th rib.   The rigging come in english or western and is adjustable.  Wonderful!  This allows a proper fit and less chance for rub behind the elbow.  On these saddles you don’t have to worry about the width of the gullet on the spine or if it is sitting to close to the spine.   Gaited horse saddles come in the western style or endurance style also.   But that doesn’t mean that any english, endurance or western saddle will fit the gaited horse.  You must remember that the gaited horse needs a saddle with a gaited tree or flex tree.  Also, there are Tarpin Hill Saddles which are field trial saddles that are made similar to these.   Other than that, Tucker makes a good gaited horse saddle.   Hope this helps clear up any questions you have about fitting the gaited horse.  Happy riding!

Why use the round pen to teach these things?  Have you ever watched a herd of horses communicate with each other?  They use their ears, eyes, nostrils, facial expressions, tail switching, legs for kicking or threatening a kick, nose out for pushing, etc.  Obviously, we as humans can’t mimic some of these things, so what does this tell us?   Horses use lots and lots of body language to communicate and are very specific with some of their commands towards each other.  The ones we can mimic are our legs (arms for pointing), eyes ( for pushing), chest (moving towards a specific body part for pushing), voice and of course, the dreaded crop (as an extension of our arm only).  A word here about the crop.  Please, please don’t use it for punishment or in anger towards your horse.  Use it as an extension of your arm to reach specific body parts of your horse while your body is out of the way, or to tap specific body parts to teach a cue.  The only time I would ever crop a horse to hurt it is if I were being attacked and needed to protect myself.  Horses in a herd have the freedom to move away from each other to show submission and acceptance.  However, since we want our horses to stay with the lesson and not have to chase them around, the round pen allows your horse that freedom of movement to move away from us without going too far.   When they submit and accept, they will lick, chew, drop their head, move their ears forward to listen to us, start to look at us with both eyes and want to come into us and follow us around.  Some call this joining up.   That is what we are after when I talk about getting our horses to look at us for direction.    And we don’t have to kick them, bite them, beat them or chase them around until they are about to drop to get this attention.

The first thing I want to do to establish myself as the lead mare in my two “horse” herd in the round pen is to push the horse away.  Watch how horses push a new horse away from the herd when first introduced for days until they gradually let that horse into the herd.  I am doing a shortened version of that.  I push the horse away asking it to move whatever direction it wants to say, I am in control here.  Then I start telling the horse to change directions, inside turn or outside turn, it doesn’t matter, just as long as it turns when I say.  They choose the speed in which they go around the pen.  That is their freedom.  After telling the horse to turn then I get more specific about which way to turn.  Again, just stand in the middle of the ring quietly to let the horse know that it is doing it’s job and you are in control.  When asking it to move or turn, walk towards it’s rear or shoulder pointing the direction you want it to turn.  It will quickly pick up on your hand signals, because you are also pushing with your chest to move it away from you in a certain direction.  Horses don’t like to be pushed and are more than willing to do what you ask rather than be forced to perform.  Play with this, take your time and practice, practice, practice.  The more you repeat the lesson, the more firm it becomes in the horses mind and the better you get at training.

Watch for more on round penning in the future when I will go into more detail about specific requests such as; standing still (round tieing), walk, trot, canter on voice command, going over poles, etc.

I go out everyday and get on a horse unless it is pouring down rain. If it just sprinkles, I put on a rain coat and ride anyway. The horses don’t mind and actually they would rather have something to do than stand in the stall or the moisture all day.   How many people do you think let their horses stand all winter with very little exercise then expect them to be ready for riding in the summer months when we always want to take advantage of the long days of sunshine and warm weather?  About 80% of us I would guess.  Unless you have your horse in training it is doubtful they will be ready for those long trail rides in the summer.  And who wants to get on an out-of-shape horse that is lax in their training and struggle with getting them to do what they have been trained to do, but clearly balks at the aids because they have had it ‘good’ all winter just standing around?  Most of us want to get on and go, so…

Winter is absolutely the best time of year to pick up an extra month or two of training to keep your horse fit.  Reinforce those cues he has learned or teach him something new.  The more a horse learns in communication with a human the better the ride you will have.  Even high strung horses can be ridden confidently if they know what is expected of them.  The better trained a horse is, they more they learn to depend on the rider for cues and security, therefore, less likely to spook or run away.

Consider putting your horse in training over the winter months and be ready for the riding season that will be upon us quick enough.  Contact me for monthly and partial month fees on keeping your horse fit, training for trail riding and cues from the rider.  After training I always make sure the owner knows what the horse has been taught so they can continue the process and have a safer ride.

Ride safe,

Sherry Mills