Horsemanship = Sportsmanship

After attending an Extreme Cowboy Race today, I feel like I made an important connection between horsemanship and sportsmanship. After observing and hearing one competitor make arrogant and rude comments throughout the event, I was upset by his lack of humbleness and sportsmanship. Instead of congratulating others on their successful obstacles in the race, he compared his success to their faults. Although the man I am discussing ended up winning the event because his horses truly were the best in the class, I wished that part of his overall horsemanship score had been docked for his lack of sportsmanship.

I started thinking about the reasons why we ride horses. I've never agreed with the notion that riding is about winning blue ribbons, collected purse prizes, demeaning competitors, or downplaying the participation of the horse in the actual event (many people like to think that they are the reason for the ribbon, not the horse). A horseman is not like any other sportsman-- a horseman's success completely depends on his ability to nonverbally communicate with animals large enough to kill him at any moment's notice. For most athletes, game day performance can be completely controlled by personal goals, verbal communication between teammates, and effective planning. Horseback riders have many, many more variables to consider every single time they attempt to communicate with their horse. Here are just a few:

• The temperature: Does your horse become excited or nervous in wind? Does your horse become lethargic and irritable in heat?
• The venue: Has your horse ever been in an indoor arena? How does he handle being in a warm-up arena with tons of other horses? Mules? Donkeys?
• The footing: Is your horse used to being worked on a certain depth of sand? Do his feet prevent him from working effectively on certain surfaces (barefoot versus shoes)? Does he prefer one type of footing over another?
• Time: How long will you need to warm up your horse before you perform? How long will you have to wait between your warm up and your class? Does your horse become impatient or worried when his schedule changes?

It's important to note that none of these variables can be completely controlled by the rider or the horse. Most other athletes can discuss their concerns with teammates, coaches, and intrapersonally. Horsemen have to make decisions quickly and calmly in order to keep their horses focused and able to perform at their best. A pep talk doesn't work with a horse.

For these reasons, I was baffled by the rude man's ability to flawlessly communicate with his horses in a respectful, gentle manner and his apparent inability to offer the same kind of sportsmanship to his competitors. In my mind, he was essentially a giant oxymoron.

Although this man ended up leaving the event with a brand new lawnmower and a custom made saddle, he also left many people insulted and annoyed by his consistent negative behavior. In the long run, he is missing the true joy and purpose of riding-- for comradeship, partnership, support, teamwork, and sportsmanship. 

Western Pleasure: My Pet Peeve of the Western Industry

I have been involved with horses my entire life. And for my entire life I have always yearned to learn more- to constantly read, watch, and evaluate the different types of horses, disciplines, and people that make up that equine industry. As I have learned about the different worlds that combine under the horse industry, I have seen many amazing partnerships between horses and humans and I have seen many acts of violence, abuse, and domination between horses and humans.

Sadly, there are many show circuits that focus on ribbons, beauty, and dollar signs instead of partnership, understanding, and humble beginnings. One such discipline that has consistently bothered me in the equine industry is Western Pleasure. Although I have been a western rider my entire life, I am not biased towards one style of equitation over another. In addition, I am 100% aware that EVERY discipline has wonderful people and terrible people. I am not classifying the entire discipline of Western Pleasure as cruel, but the methods that are used to train the majority of the horses.

I have attended many Western Pleasure shows and have been less than impressed with the styles of training used by most of professionals in the discipline. Recently, I attended a Quarter Horse Futurity in Raleigh, NC. (I always go to the complex to do my homework and watch as many different horse shows as I can throughout the year.) For this show, I was particularly interested in watching the reining classes, which is a close cousin to cutting (my ultimate equine obsession). After watching some amazing reining runs in the morning, I decided to go to the indoor arena and watch some of the western pleasure competitors warm up their horses. If anyone reading this has been to a horse show, you know that the majority of abuse will take place in the warm up arena, not the show pen. Riders and trainers treat their horses as they see fit in the warm up arena.

As I watched rider after after come into the arena, I was so upset by their constant "jerking motion" on the horses mouths that I began to record the "Training Class" right after the warm up sessions. Below I have embedded the video into this post.

As you can see, the majority (not all) of the riders are consistently jerking on their horses mouths to get them to put their heads lower and lower to the ground. (Rider at 1:07 bothered me the most for obvious reasons.) Although I do not oppose a low head set (generally, Western disciplines focus on lower headsets rather than pole collection and contact), I was very upset to see how aggressively many of the riders "asked" their horses to bring their heads down.

I am a huge advocate of Natural Horsemanship and I know for a fact that jerking on horse is never the right way to teach them to be soft. And needless to say, it is the opposite of good horsemanship and ethical behavior towards an animal. Jerking on a horse's face/mouth gives them no chance to place their heads lower without being forced to do so, instead of using steady pressure and release, many of the riders in this video can be seen jerking time after time without ever letting the horse find a release.

I hope that many trainers in the Western Pleasure industry use more humane methods to teach their horses the correct headset, but all of my experiences tell me otherwise.

My Idol: Stacey Westfall

Hands down, without a doubt Stacey Westfall is one of the most accomplished reining trainers, if not horse trainers, in the history the equine world. Ever since I first saw her ground-breaking, unbeatable 2006 Freestyle Reining run, I have been inspired to be 1/10 of how awesome she is. She was also the first woman to ever compete in and win Road to the Horse.

In my opinion, the caliber of Westfall's talents as a trainer and rider have yet to be met.

Below is the video of her 2006 run on AQHA mare, Roxy.

How will the Government Shutdown Impact the Horse Industry?

Since Congress has failed to pass any of the annual appropriation bills that fund government agencies and projects for the 2014 fiscal year (October 1, 2013 to September 30, 2014), "non-essential" government operations have not been allocated any funds for 2014. As expected, the Federal Government shutdown at midnight on October 1st, 2013, causing many public service and recreation programs to close. For the horse industry, the shutdown impacts vital components to keeping the industry safe and effective for all horses and participants. 

• Without proper funding, the U.S Department of Agriculture's (USDA) response to disease outbreaks is significantly delayed (if not stopped all together), potentially putting the lives of thousands of horses and humans in danger. 
• The USDA is also responsible for the enforcement of the Horse Protection Act and for the regulation of equine slaughter transportation programs. The shutdown greatly effects its ability to ensure the ethical treatment and safe transportation of thousands of horses to foreign markets in Mexico and Canada. 
• In addition, procedures for the import and export of horses, are severely limited and ill-equipped to deal with the transportation of horses that must be quarantined for public health and safety reasons. 
• Lastly, many equestrians depend on federal parks and programs for equine recreation, and without finds, government employees are not present at the parks to keep them open to the public. 

All of the factors of the government shutdown can, and will, have profound effects on the horse industry. If  funds are not allocated and agreed upon quickly, the equine industry could become less effective at preventing and curing foreign diseases, lose millions of dollars in recreational events, and leave federal parks empty.

If one industry can be this negatively effected, imagine what the effects could be on the entire U.S. economy.

For more information: http://www.horsecouncil.org/government-shutdown-could-impact-horse-industry

Amazing NCHA Open Futurity Win

Many days in class, I find myself watching cutting horse videos on YouTube instead of highlighting the lecture notes. Although I'm an A student, extremely active in on-campus activities, and love learning, I can never keep myself from being more interested in cutting than Managerial Accounting or Chemistry.

Everyone always says you can reach your dreams if you just persevere and try hard enough, but they always forget the last part of that encouragement-- if you have enough money. Let's face it, cutting is not an inexpensive hobby and you don't just show up at Futurity show. Sadly, there are not many underdog Seabiscuit stories in cutting, but there are many great legends like Secretariat.

This morning, I found myself clicking through cutting horse videos again, and I found one that really struck me as amazing. At the National Cutting Horse Association's (NCHA) Open Futurity in Fort Worth, Texas, rider Kathy Daughn rode Royal Fletch (Jae Bar Fletch x Royal Blue Dually) to a record breaking 229 winning run. I included the video below to show just how athletic, intelligent, and quick Royal Fletch really was.

To me, the sport of cutting is huge in popularity for its consistent ability to keep getting better, to keep breeding more amazing horses, and the endless adrenaline rush that comes with its 2 1/2 minute series of rollbacks, sliding stops, and fake outs between horse and cow. Royal Fletch emulated the purpose of cutting in his 2000 Futurity run, one that will never be forgotten in cutting history.

Watching these videos almost every day makes me wish even more that I could be like Daughn or ride the next Royal Fletch. For now, I'll stick to my dream of writing about these amazing riders and their horses, and maybe one day they'll let me hop on and take their pony for a spin-- literally.

Reflection on My First Week at Horses for Hope

After completing my first week of volunteering at Horses for Hope, I have come away with a deeper understanding of the human-horse bond more so than ever before. Since I have been giving horseback riding lessons for several years, and my brother was in a therapeutic riding program for a short time, I regret to admit that I have never considered what it would be like to work with a child or adult that has special needs-- whether it be physical, mental, or emotional.

Since working with only a handful of children this week, I cannot explain the joy it brings me to contribute to the equine community in such a positive way. Instead of showing off my own knowledge or competing for a ribbon, I am actually using my skills and passion to help others.

So far at Horses for Hope, I have assisted in catching lesson horses out of the pasture, teaching children and other volunteers the basics of grooming a horse, tacking horses both English and Western, leading horses with children and side walkers, and walking down trails with fun obstacles for the kids to interact with as they ride. I don't feel like the tasks I have completed are anything monumental or amazing, but just being able to say things like, "Yes, I taught someone how to tack a horse today," and "I love the way that child smiled by the end of his session today," and especially, "I made a difference today," are priceless rewards.

Craig Cameron Soft Loping Hackamore

Are you having problems with your soft horse becoming more and more stiff? Does your horse chew on the bit when he's nervous or annoyed? Does he hang on the bit when asked to flex? Does he just seem to ignore you sometimes? I had these same problems with my mare Velvet, and I figured out a very simple way to fix it.

When I first brought Velvet home, she was as soft as feather and would react to the slighted movement in my reins, hands, and legs. She was wonderful to ride. But as time went on, I started to notice that she was losing some of her softness, like chewing on the bit when she got nervous, resisting to flex (her head and entire body), and lazily collecting at the pole. I began thinking about the first horse I trained, and how exactly I taught him to be soft. When I was teaching him how to flex I only used a soft rope halter and a long leadrope, and for the first few rides that's all I used as well. I wanted to minimize the pressure on his face so that he learned to respond with little force. So I decided to take Velvet back to square one-- as if she had never been ridden before-- and get rid of the bit altogether.

Even though I always worked Velvet on the ground before riding her, I began working her more effectively. By teaching her to how to free lunge, essentially taking away all the pressure from her face and asking her to react to my body language alone, Velvet became much more sensitive to my movements again. We had finally taken the first step to solving the softness issue.

Then I started making a point to flex her with just a halter anytime I took her out of the pasture, so it became so ingrained in her mind that she would bring her head around as soon I touched the leadrope and stepped behind her shoulder. Once we had made huge progress on the ground, I began riding her with just a rope halter and leadrope. She was a different horse the first time I got on her again. Her softness was not only back, but even better than before. Since she had nothing to chew on, I could work her through any anxiousness or stress that she was feeling in any environment without compromising her softness.

After a few weeks of flexing and riding in just a halter, I wanted to find an alternative to Velvet's twisted wire snaffle. I thought about putting her on a larger, softer snaffle, but I knew that her nervous chewing habit and tendency to lean on the bit would not change no matter what bit I used. One day, I went over to a friend's farm and rode his horse in a Craig Cameron Soft Loping Hackamore. His father had just interned with the famous trainer, Craig Cameron, and brought home the hackamore as a gift. The horse I rode had a tendency to be full of energy, but he was completely under control in the hackamore because he was so soft. And bam, I had found my solution.

Instead of putting something in her mouth, why not continue to work her as if she's wearing a halter? I thought this idea was genuis. When I got the hackamore as an early birthday present from my parents, I was estatic because Velvet and I had a Cowboy Race the very next day. We were going to officially test out everything that we had been working towards in a competition---probably not the smartest plan.

On the day of the race, I tacked Velvet up and worked in the huge arena next to the obstacle course, fully expecting her to be nervous with so much commotion going on around us. To my delight, she never fought my reins, hands, or legs and loped the prettiest circles that I could've asked for. When it was our turn to race, I was worried that she might begin to resist my cues because of her adrenaline to move through the course quickly. Yet again, she amazed me with her softness and her desire to listen to what I was asking of her. We ended up placing 5th out of 16 riders.

Velvet Before, on a twisted wire snaffle bit:

Velvet After, with the Craig Cameron Soft Loping Hackamore:

For these reasons, I 100% recommend the Craig Cameron Soft Loping Hackamore to anyone looking for a simple solution to their horse's loss/lack of softness. No matter what discipline you ride, this bridle can be the solution to your issues. Instead of going back to the old cowboy way of "puttin' a bigger bit in his mouth and he'll stop," I went in the other direction. Sometimes taking the pressure away is all a horse needs, and wants. Going back to the basics is never something to be embarrassed or aggravated about, giving your horse the chance to think instead of constantly performing is key to making them more confident. And a more confident horse is a better performing horse and a better partner overall.

For more information or to purchase a Craig Cameron Soft Loping Hackamore, go to: http://www.craigcameronstore.com/product2.html