horseback magazine december 2012

2 HORSEBACK MAGAZINE - December 2012 www.horsebackmagazine.com

www.horsebackmagazine.com December 2012 - HORSEBACK MAGAZINE 3

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10 Horse Bites

14 Parelli

16 Dream BiG & Believe - Kelly Kaminski

44 Whole horsemansiP - Dianne Lindig

46 TACK TALK - Lew Pewterbaugh

48 on the enGlish Front - Cathy Strobel

50 horse sense - Dr. Jessica Jahiel 52 the CoWBoy Way- Corey Johnson

54 COWBOY CORNER - Jim Hubbard

PUBLISHERVicki Long

EDITORSteven Long

NATIONAL NEWS EDITORCarrie Gobernatz

LIFESTYLE EDITORMargaret Pirtle832-349-1427

[email protected]

EVENTS EDITOR Leslie Greco

ADVERTISING OFFICESCORPORATE OFFICE281-447-0772 281-591-1519 [email protected]

BRAZOS VALUE BUREAUDiane Holt936-878-2678 Ranch713-408-8114 [email protected]

GULF COAST BUREAUCarol Holloway832-607-8264 [email protected] [email protected]

Volume 20, No. 12 Horseback Magazine, P.O. Box 681397, Houston, TX 77268-1397, (281) 447-0772. The entire contents of the magazine are copyrighted December 2012 by Horseback Magazine. All rights reserved. Material in this publication may not be reproduced in any form without the expressed written consent of the publisher. Horseback Magazine assumes no responsibility for unsolicited manuscripts, photographs and other material unless accompanied by a stamped, self addressed envelope. Horseback Magazine is not responsible for any claims made by advertisers. The views and opinions expressed herein do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher or management. Subscription rate is $25.00 for one year.

POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Horseback Magazine, P.O. Box 681397, Houston, TX 77268-1397. Fax: (281) 893-1029

Email: [email protected] Phone: (281) 447-0772

December 2012FROM THE EDITOR’S DESK

You don’t have to have millions in your back pocket to be a philanthropist. Every charitable gift counts. Let’s be frank. You wouldn’t be reading this magazine if you weren’t a horse lover. So we have a few suggestions for you.About 300 emails per day pour in to the Horseback Magazine office. Many of them are appeals for funding by

organizations devoted to equine welfare – some are desperate pleas. A few are written by charlatans attempting to fleece folks with soft hearts of their money. We read every one of them in hopes of finding a story worthy of our reader’s attention. As a result, we have become well acquainted with many in the lonely world of horse charities. And that prompted us to come up with the idea of sharing our knowledge of who is particularly worthy of funding with our readers. We have chosen 12 charities that outshine the rest. They aren’t the giants such as the ASPCA, horse shows, Humane Society, or rodeo associations. Those organizations have vast resources and scores of volunteers raising money. The charities we are talking about are smaller, much smaller. Some struggle just to keep the lights on and hay in the barn. As such, we urge our readers to give generously in the spirit of the season. Whether your gift is large, or small, it will be fully appreciated. We have been astonished at the support this issue of Horseback has brought in advertising. Thanks to those who have never advertised with us before. But special thanks to those who are there with us month after month. As tough business people, those advertisers know when money is well spent and results in a full cash register because of an ad. Advertising in Horseback Magazine is just good business. And sometimes it allows us to do good works such as giving prominence to the charities you will read about in this issue. Special thanks go to Kathy & Clay Parker of The Parker Ranch, Chapel Hill Texas for their help in making this issue possible. From myself, Vicki, and the entire Horseback family, we say thank you.

Have a wonderful Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, and do it on the back of a horse.

By Steven Long

staFF

Cover Story: 28 12Worthy Causes - Steven Long

Lifestyle Feature:40 The West at the Tip of a Pencil, Margaret Pirtle

Philanthropy Begins With You

NORTH TEXASMari [email protected]

NEW MEXICO BUREAU Laurie Hammer505-315-7842 [email protected]

CONTRIBUTING WRITERSJim Hubbard, Steven Long, Vicki Long, Dianne Lindig, Roni Norquist, Pat Parelli, Lew Pewterbaugh, Cathy Strobel, Dr. Jessica Jahiel, Cory Johnson, Margaret Pirtle

Special Sections:26 Holiday Recipes 28 Holiday Gift Guide

On the Cover:Gray Andalusians at play in the snow.


Off the Track Race Horse Program Renewed by Jockey Club

LEXINGTON, ( Jockey Club) – The Jockey Club’s Thoroughbred Incentive Program, which encourages the retraining of Thoroughbreds into other disciplines upon completion of careers in racing or breeding, has been renewed for the 2013 show season. “T.I.P. sponsors Thoroughbred classes and awards at horse shows, horse trials and other events to motivate riders to showcase their Thoroughbreds and to remind people of the versatility of the Thoroughbred as a sport horse,” said Kristin Leshney, legal associate with The Jockey Club. “The Jockey Club also sponsors a Thoroughbred of the Year Award for Thoroughbreds that excel outside of

the show ring and a Young Rider of the Year Award.” During a pilot program in 2012, $100,000 was committed to T.I.P. for horse show s p o n s o r s h i p s and non-c o m p e t i t i o n awards, and 190 horse shows signed up for T.I.P. sponsorship. To date, more than 1,700 Thoroughbreds have competed for T.I.P. prize money, ribbons, and saddle pads.

“We were delighted with the level of interest and participation in the T.I.P. program in 2012, and, with greater awareness of it now, 2013 should be even more successful,” Leshney said. The deadline for shows to apply for T.I.P. classes and awards for 2013 is December 15, 2012. Applications received prior to December 15 might be considered for awards prior to the deadline. Only shows being held from March 2013 through December 2013 will be considered for sponsorship.

“Horse Bites is compiled from Press Releases sent to Horseback Magazine. Original reporting is done as circumstances warrant.

Content is edited for length & style.”

Brazile Puts His Numbers in Perspective

COLORADO SPRINGS, (PRCA) – Trevor Brazile has got numbers: Sixteen world championships, nine all-around titles,

39 Wrangler National Finals Rodeo qualifications, over $4.5 million in Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association earnings – and counting.

But Brazile counts things differently these days than he once did, because these days, different things matter.“The numbers that were important to

me were one, seven, eight and nine,” Brazile said of his all-around titles. “One, because it was the first. Seven, because that was the bar Ty Murray had set. Eight, because that was my goal for a long time. And nine, because that was the first one that wasn’t tied to someone else’s number. Maybe that was the first time I wasn’t trying to measure myself against something someone else had done, and I could really enjoy it for what it was.” After 16 years as a pro and the countless miles traveled, hours practiced, horses trained, goals accomplished, spotlights shined and treatments taken, one might think Brazile would be burned out. Think again. “I’m having a blast,” Brazile says. “I don’t have to do anything I don’t want to, and I know what I want to do. As long as I’m making a living and enjoying what I do, why would I quit?” For many years, as Brazile chased history, he couldn’t get the


Horse Bites - Con’t. on pg. 18

pages of the calendar to turn fast enough. Now, at age 36, he tries to slow the calendar down. “When I won my first (all-around championship in 2002) it was great, but it seemed like it took so long to get to eight. Maybe I didn’t enjoy them enough along the way.” Then came a kernel of wisdom from the man he tracked so relentlessly for all those years. “Ty’s (Murray) advice to me the year I tied him at seven (all-around titles, in 2009) was that I should enjoy the ride, and try

not to let it go by so fast. I really take that seriously.” Part of enjoying the ride, for Brazile, is having his family along for it. “My family comes with me most of the time, and they love it, too,” says Shada’s husband and Treston and Style’s dad. “I don’t want to take this time for granted. I know how special it is to be doing what we’re doing and how I’m blessed to have this time with my family.” The man who’s running out of

records to break – that aren’t already his – is more comfortable with his status, and that’s proving to be a bonanza for some of the next generation’s young guns. “I always liked it when Joe Beaver or Roy Cooper or guys like that took notice of me and tried to help me,” he said. “It was the hardest thing for me to see myself as one of those guys, but now I’m starting to embrace


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Arcola Feed & Hardware Arcola TX www.arcolafeed.com [email protected] (281) 431-1014

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HORSEBACK MAGAZINE: I recently saw a man ride a horse using a mechanical hackamore in what I would consider a severely abusive manner. I am aware there are two schools of thought on the device, one group of folks love it, another think it is the height of cruelty. What are your thoughts?

PAT PARELLI: I just read a book the other day. It’s called, The Book of Oxymoron’s. Page 1, Jumbo Shrimp; Page 2, Awfully nice; Page 3, Terribly Good; Page 4, Military Intelligence; Page 5, Mechanical Hackamore. For those of you who don’t realize it, that is a contradiction in terms. A hackamore by definition is a nose piece with a set of loop reins that has no metal in it. It can be made of either rope, rawhide, leather, or a combination thereof. In hackamore classes by the National Reined Cow Horse Association, they actually take a magnet and test to see that there is no metal.

HORSEBACK: Agreed, it’s a contradiction in terms when we are speaking of the traditional hackamore that hangs on the horse’s nose in an

oval with a round ball like object on the bottom with a mecate rein attached. It’s a Bosal in the vaquero tradition.

PARELLI: Absolutely correct. Again, the word mechanical hackamore is a contradiction in terms. That said, it’s something that is in the marketplace. I remember back in the ‘60s it was a

piece of equipment that was used all the time. The whole idea of a hackamore is to stay out of a horse’s mouth. A hackamore means bitless bridal. You are communicating with the horse while riding without having something in its mouth. The whole idea of it originated back in the early California days of the Sixteenth Century, It was meant to ride a horse through his primary years without injuring his mouth. After he had a good schooling and basic understanding, they started introducing the bit.

HORSEBACK: So getting back to the two schools of thought about the mechanical hackamore.

PARELLI: There are people who are traditionalists and oppose it, and then there are other people who realize the amount of leverage that can be applied using the device.

HORSEBACK: I’ve seen those things take a variety of forms, from reasonably gentle to harsh bordering on brutality.

PARELLI: They are all different – from leather nose pieces and chin straps, to bicycle chains that go over the nose. There are longer shanks and shorter shanks, so again this is a broad spectrum term so it’s pretty hard to know the concept without knowing there may be a lot of different variations. So, the mechanical hackamore, or in some areas known

as the mechanical hackamore bit, is probably best used in knowledgeable hands. It takes a gentler touch than somebody who is riding the same horse all the time with the same amount of leverage used on a bit in his mouth. It’s one of those “come see, come saw” things. But no matter what we put on a horse’s head, we need to remember three things – what’s in our heart, what’s in our head, and the timing of the release in our hands.

“The Use & Abuse of the Mechanical Hackamore”

By Pat Parelli with Steven Long


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We were in Washington state, staying at an English barn where

there were constantly lessons going from morning until evening. I was clustering my rodeos in the area and my daughter being around 7 years of age wanted to ride English. We were there for about a month so she took lessons daily starting out on one of the school horses then using her own trusty horse, Shine. He was a well preserved early 20’s horse. I had bought tack for her to ride. I found a bridle with a bit of a port and was putting it on when someone remarked on how harsh that bit was for a horse. Biting my lip, I kept my mouth shut at the time. For over the 40 years that I have been involved with horses, I have always heard how using loose ring snaffles and D ring snaffles would be the lightest things to put in horse’s mouths when riding. Always one to want to learn more for the betterment of our sport and horses, I made it a point to study. I too followed this train of thought until a few

years ago. After studying how bits are supposed to fit and function through the pressure points on the head, I could write a book and am currently in the process of doing so, but for this article’s sake of space, I am focusing on the two bits mentioned above. While we introduce these bits when starting young horses, we have them usually on a long rein, giving pressure then letting off as a release to reward and let the horse know that he

is performing the desired effect. The problem starts when we continue using this type of bit and the horse gradually starts to push out or lean more and more, causing the rider to “hang” on the head or bridle without

realizing it. This in turn starts behavior and physical problems with horses. What is happening is the two piece snaffle of the O and D ring bits pinch the tongue causing the horse to pull his tongue back to his throat. Sometimes he will put his nose in the air, eyes will be wide, and what do we do as riders? We pull or hang even

more making this a torture device. Some go even further “bitting” a horse up by tying his head around or down for hours because they think the horse is being naughty. Here is an example of what is actually happening: Put your tongue in the back of your throat and try to swallow. Hold it there for a while and think of how your horse feels. It’s difficult to breathe and swallow. I panic thinking about it. Imagine how a horse feels. Over the last several years teaching clinics, I have been blessed to witness countless horses that had personality changes due to just a bit change to make them more comfortable. It’s amazing to see progress with both the rider’s attitude and the horse’s as a team just by making a bit change. A three piece in the mouth is better than a two piece. What was once

thought a terrible offensive bit, the chain mouth piece is actually softer because of the flexibility on the tongue. A medium port gives tongue relief as well, especially if all the pieces of the bit swivel and there is no pinching. If a bit has shanks, there are differing degrees of pressure depending on the length. To clarify some confusion, some horses are fine staying in a two piece O or D ring their entire career. There are always exceptions.

hB

Kelly Kaminski has twice won the WPRA World Barrel Racing Championship, and has also won the Reserve Championship twice at the National Finals Rodeo. This great American horsewoman continues to compete, hold clinics, and train worthy

horses. She is currently accepting a limited number of horses for training.

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“Changing the mindset when it comes to using bits”


AAEP, AVMA Call for Passage of H.R. 6388 – Amendments to the Horse Protection Act

WASHINGTON, (AAEP) – The American Veterinary Medical Association and the American Association of Equine Practitioners issued a late November joint statement of support for Amendments to the Horse Protection Act, H.R. 6388. “Soring is an unconscionable abuse of horses that is used to produce a high-stepping gait—the “Big Lick”—and gain an unfair competitive advantage in the show ring. For decades we’ve watched irresponsible individuals become more creative about finding ways to sore horses and circumvent the inspection process, and have lost faith in an industry that seems unwilling and/or unable to police itself. The AVMA and AAEP are committed to strengthening the USDA’s ability to enforce the Horse Protection Act and ending this abuse for good. We strongly encourage everyone who cares about the welfare of horses to contact their member of Congress and urge

them to pass H.R. 6388,” said Dr. Doug Aspros, AVMA President.Specifically, H.R. 6388:

• Makes the actual act of soring, or directing another person to cause a horse to become sore, illegal;• Requires the USDA (rather than the industry) to license, train, assign and oversee inspectors enforcing the Horse Protection Act;• Prohibits the use of action devices (e.g., boot, collar, chain, roller, or other device that encircles or is placed upon the lower extremity of the leg of a horse) on any limb of Tennessee Walking Horses, Spotted Saddle horses, or Racking horses at horse shows, exhibitions, sales or auctions and bans weighted shoes, pads, wedges, hoof bands, or other devices that are not used for protective or therapeutic purposes;• Increases civil and criminal penalties for violations, and

creates a penalty structure that requires horses to be disqualified for increasing periods of time based on the number of violations; and• Allows for permanent disqualification from the show ring after three or more violations.

“The passage of H.R. 6388 will strengthen the Horse Protection Act and significantly increase the effort to end the abuse of the Tennessee Walking Horse,” said AAEP President Dr. John Mitchell. “The AAEP encourages all veterinarians to contact their legislators to voice support for the bill and help end the cruel soring of these beautiful animals.”

Leigh Reports on BLM Conference Before Judge

RENO, (Wild Horse Education) – We gained another step on the path to getting that humane handling standard in court. Just before Thanksgiving a federal court in Reno advanced the ongoing


Horse Bites - Con’t. from pg. 11

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case against inhumane conduct by the Bureau of Land Management. The judge set a deadline requiring the BLM to provide plaintiff Laura Leigh, president of Wild Horse Education (WHE), a complete record of BLM’s activities and documents in question in her case. The court also set aside a tentative date to conduct a settlement conference. In the usual course that gives the BLM the upper hand when filing the final brief that could decide the case without a trial, the court acknowledged the unfairness of the process and instead, required the BLM to file its briefs at the same time as the plaintiff. WHE’s two court cases, if successful, will require BLM to give the public access to the horses and burros (for example during roundups and in the currently “off limits” long term holding pens) and create a humane handling standard that could put an end to the cruelty. WHE has an ongoing investigation into BLM collaboration with well known slaughter buyer Dave Phillips. WHE has already WON one case for wild horses in the Ninth Circuit Court and STOPPED two BLM operations with restraining orders and court injunctions in another case.


Opinion: Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility Says “Time to Go”

WASHINGTON, (PEER) – In late November Interior Secretary Ken Salazar apologized to a reporter he had threatened to “punch out” for asking him pointed questions about the (BLM) scandal-plagued wild horse program. His frustration may be understandable, as the wild horse program is one in a corral-full of knotty problems that Interior has not resolved. In fact, Salazar’s tenure at Interior has been one fiasco followed by another. One of his first major decisions was to embrace Drill Baby Drill, then the BP Gulf spill happened. Salazar’s first reaction was to scapegoat


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his own Minerals Management Service Director who had been told to stay away from the oil issues and concentrate on alternative energy. Next, he broke up MMS in ways that kept the same pro-development biases in place. Salazar is often mistaken for the Secretary of Energy but not just for pushing oil and gas. His zealous pursuit of an “all of the above” energy approach appears to have left no resource un-bruised –One central problem is that Salazar thinks he is entitled to cut deals with public resources like they are his to bargain away. In his press conference on Wednesday, President Obama made it clear that the environment (at least climate change) would not be a second term priority. If he does not plan to spend political capital on the environment, at least his administration should not make matters worse. It does not seem too much to ask that for the second term he appoint someone who actually understands Interior’s mission and will follow the law. So despite the reelection, some regime change is definitely in order


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www.horsebackmagazine.com November 2012 - HORSEBACK MAGAZINE 25


An easy Cornucopia centerpiece for your Thanksgiving table. Fill the

cornucopia with the assorted raw vegetables directly on table and let them

spill out of opening. Recipe yealds 1 large centerpiece.

Cornucopia Centerpiece

Ingredients

• 3 (11 ounce) containers

refrigerated soft bread stick

dough• 1 tablespoon water

• 1 egg

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly

spray a 17x14 inch (or lager) cookie sheet with non-stick

cooking spray.

2. Tear off a

30x18 inch

sheet of heavy

duty aluminum

foil. Fold in half

to 18x15 inch.

Roll diagonally to form a hollow cone, about 18

inches long with a diameter of 5 inches at the

widest end (Cornucopia opening). Fasten end

with clear tape. Stuff cone with crumpled regular

foil until form is rigid. Bend tail of cone up then

down at end. Spray outside of cone with non-

stick cooking spray. Place on cookie sheet.

3. Beat the egg with the water to make a glaze.

Open and unroll the first can of breadstick

dough on work surface. Separate breadsticks. Begin by wrapping one breadstick around

tip of cone. Brush end of next breadstick with Glaze and press to attach to end of first

breadstick. Continue spiral-wrapping cone, slightly overlapping dough until there are 3

breadsticks left.

4. Pinch one end of the 3 breadsticks together, then braid. Brush bread around opening of

cornucopia with glaze. Gently press on braid. Brush entire cornucopia with glaze.

5. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 45 minutes or until bread is a rich brown. (If

parts start to darken too much, cover them with pieces of foil.)

Remove from oven and let cool completely on cookie sheet on a wire rack. Carefully remove

foil when cool. (If freezing, leave foil in bread for support. Remove when thawed.)

Favorite Holiday Recipes!


This makes a great gift for friends and neighbors. Decorate with a pretty label and a circle of Christmas fabric under the jar ring.

Recipe yealds 8 (1 pint jars).

Banana Bread in a Jar

Ingredients

• 2/3 c shortening• 2 2/3 c white sugar• 4 eggs• 2 c mashed bananas• 2/3 c water• 3 1/3 c all-purpose flour• 1/2 tsp baking powder• 2 tsp baking soda• 1 1/2 tsp salt• 1 tsp ground cinnamon• 1 tsp ground cloves• 2/3 c chopped pecans

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Grease insides of 8 (1 pint) straight sided, wide mouth canning jars. 2. In a large bowl, cream shortening and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, bananas, and water. Sift together flour, baking powder, soda, salt, cinnamon, and cloves. Add to banana mixture. Stir in nuts. 3. Pour mixture into greased WIDE MOUTH pint jars, filling 1/2 full of batter. Do NOT put lids on jars for baking. Be careful to keep the rims clean, wiping off any batter that gets on the rims.

4. Bake at 325 degrees F (165 degrees C) for 45 minutes. Meanwhile, sterilize the lids and rings in boiling water. 5 .As soon as cake is done, remove from oven one at a time, wipe rims of jars and put on lid and ring. Jars will seal as cakes cool. Place the jars on the counter and listen for them to “ping” as they seal. If you miss the “ping”, wait until they are completely cool and press on the top of the lid. If it doesn’t move at all, it’s sealed.

6. Jars should be eaten immediately or kept sealed in refrigerator for up to a week.

“This cranberry orange bread is great for breakfast or a snack. You can also

make muffins; just spoon the batter into greased muffin cups and bake at

375 degrees F (190 C) for 15 to 20 minutes.”

Cranberry Orange BreadIngredients

• 2 c flour• 3/4 c sugar• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder• 1/2 tsp baking soda• 1/4 c butter, cut into small chunks• 3/4 cup orange juice• 1tbs grated orange zest• 1 beaten egg• 1 c chopped cranberries• 1/2 c chopped pecans

Directions1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a 8

1/2x4 1/2-inch loaf pan. 2. Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and baking

soda in a bowl. Stir butter into flour mixture until combined.

Add orange juice, orange zest, and egg; mix well. Fold in

cranberries and walnuts. Spoon batter into the prepared pan. 3. Bake in the preheated oven until a toothpick inserted into

the center comes out clean, 60 to 75 minutes. Cool in the pan

for 10 minutes before removing to cool completely on a wire

rack.


This is the first in, hopefully, a long line of December stories Horseback Magazine will do on charitable giving. A smart fellow (or maybe it was a woman) once said, “Where you stand on

something often depends upon where you sit.” Well, where we sit, we get to observe a whole lot of charitable organizations attempting to do some good for our equine partners. Some are good, some just adequate, and some are downright bad.

Over a long period we have determined who the really outstanding charitable organizations are – and for the novice, this task can be confusing since any organization worth its salt will at least attempt to make itself sound good to the outsider.We have found the area of animal rescue has low hanging fruit for charlatans. Not so long ago stories poured into the Horseback offices of a Wyoming woman who was doing fabulous work rescuing horses from the meat man. From across the nation anti-slaughter activists were singing her praises to the point we could have been led to believe she was in the league with the late Mother Theresa. Money poured in to her, and even some well meaning souls persuaded the

12the

12 Very Special Needs

for the 12 Very Best Days of the

Year

By Steven Long



more well-heeled among us to part with substantial cash. Well, to make a long story short, she is now doing time in a Tennessee lockup. The crime: theft. Had our friends (ourselves included) done due diligence in investigating this woman, we might have learned that she had a history of arrests and convictions. The last we heard the woman was sitting in a prison cell while advocates and law enforcement in other states chomp at the bit for their chance at her when she gets out.

We have known and worked with most of our choices for years. Some have been the recipients of cover stories. Others, we have followed from afar with tremendous admiration. Herewith,

“Horseback’s 12 Very Special Needs for the 12 Very Best Days of the Year.”

Our close friend, author R.T. Fitch first introduced us to The Cloud Foundation in 2009 when he called us from a mountaintop in Montana. Nearby was a woman named Ginger Kathrens who Mr. Fitch was telling us was an Emmy Award winning producer for PBS “Nature” series. At that time our closest encounter with wild horses was to see some of them grazing sparse desert grass during a trip to Virginia City, Nevada.

But Fitch and Ginger awakened a healthy disrespect for government

agencies when they told us the federal Bureau of Land Management was displacing these beautiful horses, Cloud’s Herd, from their ancestral home high in the Pryor Mountains. Worse still, we learned that the BLM had 242 million acres under its control and was holding horses they had captured at taxpayer expense in giant pastures leased from agency favorites. We cried foul.

Our lives haven’t been the same since. For the uninitiated, the government is systematically ridding the American West of its wild horses and burros and replacing their habitat with what wild horse advocates call “welfare ranchers” and their cattle.

This story isn’t trivial...It’s not about sport, or agriculture, or breeding, or any one of a host of subjects you might expect to find in a horse magazine. It’s about good works and the kind of very special charities Horseback has chosen. We believe these are the best places for our readers charitable giving - if they want their gifts to help horses. These are not the giants. Groups such as the SPCA and Humane Society do works that speak for themselves. And we would be remiss if we neglected mentioning rodeo associations and horse shows from coast to coast that provide millions of dollars in scholarship programs to deserving college bound kids. No, the nonprofit groups we are talking about in this article are all organizations with field outreach that do hands on work with horses. They labor, often unsung, from the countryside to the great cities of our country. We urge Horseback readers to support these charities in any way they can, but support them they must.



Habitat for horses We first met Jerry Finch, founder of Habitat for Horses on the steps of the Texas State Capitol when I testified before a House committee. I was there to talk about the state’s antiquated Animal cruelty laws which provide virtually no protection to horses. That year Texas horses had suffered maiming, torture, and death at the hands of people wanting a cheap thrill by inflicting pain. The events had happened in Fort Worth, College Station, and in Brazoria County on the Texas coast. I had heard of Finch and already had profound respect for him. From that day forward we have been fast friends, soul mates in the realm of animal welfare.

Habitat provides equine rescue services to law enforcement, physical and mental rehabilitation, education services, to horse owners and potential adopters. It has been instrumental in the adoption of 5,178 horses since 1998. Habitat is currently caring for 160 horses. They were instrumental several years ago in the rescue of former BLM animals in the Nebraska wild horse killing fields case.

To contribute to Habitat for Horses visit: www.habitatforhorses.orgLocated at: 6034 Terrebonne Road, Hitchcock, TX 77563

The Cloud Foundation

The Cloud Foundation is dedicated to preventing the extinction of Cloud’s herd in Montana’s Pryor Mountains through education, media events and programming, and public involvement as well as the wild horses of the American West. But their work, and the selfless crusade of Ginger Kathrens, goes well beyond one horse and his band.

She works relentlessly on behalf of all wild horses. Ginger is an articulate spokesperson for the growing movement to save wild horses from clear cut mismanagement, if not extinction by the BLM.

To donate to The Cloud Foundation visit:

www.thecloudfoundation.org/about-us/donate

SIRE

We first heard of therapeutic riding back in the early 1980s when the Moody Foundation originally launched Texas’ first successful program in Galveston. Foundation Chairman Robert L. Moody’s son was in a terrible accident that resulted in a head injury. Bobby put the Moody millions behind helping head injured kids and the rest is history. So when we heard of SIRE (not affiliated with the foundation), we were pretty familiar with what therapeutic riding is about.

Last year we went on a site visit and talked to SIRE families about the miracles they had witnessed. Better still, we spoke with a remarkable American war hero. His progress was remarkable enough to result in a red white and blue cover story. SIRE’s mission is to improve the quality of life for people with special needs through therapeutic horsemanship activities and educational outreach.

To Donate to SIRE or for more information visit:

www.sire-htec.org



LOPE

LOPE (LoneStar Outreach to Place Ex-Racers) We are huge fans of Thoroughbred and Quarter Horse racing. However, one of the great tragedies of the sport is the attitude among many breeders, owners, and trainers, that these magnificent athletes are disposable commodities.

The sad truth is that many of these horses go to a cruel death across the border in Canada or Mexico. The horses are slaughtered at a very young age if they don’t finish in the money, sometimes as young as 2-years-old.

LOPE believes that every ex-racehorse is waiting to be someone’s special champion, whether as a trail horse, jumping competitor or just plain pet.

We first discovered LOPE about six years ago and were immediately taken with the dedication of the organization’s adoption program.

To Donate To LOPE or For more information visit: www.lopetx.org

The Mustang heritage Foundation The fastest growing movement in equestrian sport is the adoption of Mustangs and their adaptive re-use as ranch horses, jumpers, barrel racers and even elegant animals used in the intricate maneuvers of dressage.

Each year these magnificent animals are put in the spotlight as trainers and would be trainers temporarily adopt them and in 100 days turn the horse from being a wild animal into man’s helpmate.

By performance time these creatures which a little more than three months before were running wild and free, are standing on pedestals, jumping through fire rings, and standing still in a coliseum with thousands of spectators watching the “Extreme Mustang Makeover.”

Founded in 2001, the mission of the Mustang Heritage Foundation is to help promote the Bureau of Land Management’s National Wild Horse and Burro Program and increase the number of successful adoptions.

Since 2009, Horseback Magazine and Horseback Online have given extensive coverage to the federal Bureau of Land Management’s controversial Wild Horse and Burro Program. While we were, and still are, critical of this wasteful government program, Horseback firmly believes that once the agency has captured a wild horse and taken it from its natural habitat, they are wasted grazing in vast pastures with BLM warehousing them at taxpayers expense. The federal agency controls 242 million acres but claims the horses are overcrowding the vast lands of the west.

To Learn More about the Mustang Heritage FoundationPlease Visit:

www.mustangheritagefoundation.org



Nokota Horse Conservancy

We first discovered the Nokota horse of the northern plains a couple of years ago when we were researching a story on Indian horses. Horseback did a cover story on this distinctive breed which is tiny in numbers and is being preserved by a dedicated team at The Nokota Horse Conservancy.

It’s a wonder the horses exist at all, according to their champions.“Nokota horses are descended from the last surviving population of wild horses in North Dakota. For at least a century, the horses inhabited the rugged Little Missouri badlands, located in the southwestern corner of the state. When Theodore Roosevelt National Park was created in the 1950s, some of the wild bands were fenced in, an accident that proved to have far-reaching consequences. While the raising of federal fences provided the horses with a measure of protection, the National Park Service (NPS) does not allow wild or feral equines, and is exempt from related protective legislation. Consequently, the park spent decades attempting to remove all of the horses. During the 1980s, Frank and Leo Kuntz began purchasing horses after N.P.S. round-ups, named them “Nokotas,” and started to create a breed registry.”

The vast majority of the remaining Nokota horses now survive on the overburdened Kuntz Ranch. The goals of The Nokota Horse Conservancy are to preserve these important horses by caring for them, promoting awareness of their plight, value, and use to others, and by working to establish a sanctuary where they can survive into the future.

To donate & preserve an important part of American history visit: www.nokotahorse.org

bluebonnet Equine Humane Society According to their website at www.bluebonnetequine.org, the Bluebonnet Equine Humane Society was formed in March 2005 by a group of horse enthusiasts who felt there was a need for a new rescue to help horses and other equines throughout Texas and Arkansas. The new organization was publicly announced on March 12th by President Jennifer Williams as an introduction to her talk entitled “How Rescues Help Unwanted Horses” at the American Quarter Horse Association’s annual convention in St. Louis, MO.

Since that time the organization has become a household word in Texas horse rescue circles. Their mission is “to improve the lives of equines by educating and helping owners, assisting law enforcement agencies, rehabilitating abused and neglected horses, and placing them into safe, permanent homes.”

The group offers both fostering opportunities and adoption.

To make a Tax Deductible Donation to Bluebonnet please visit: www.BEHS.org

or by check via mail to: Bluebonnet Equine Humane Society P.O. Box 632, College Station, TX 77841-0632

Old Friends racehorse

Former Boston Globe film critic Michael Blowen, saw a need – a place for distinguished racehorses – mostly stallions – to safely retire. That’s when He founded Old Friends Racehorse Rescue in 2003. Currently there are 120 named racers residing there.

While some are distinguished; others are like Zippy Chippy who never won a race in 100 starts. Known around the farm as a “mellow old warrier,” Chippy has now earned a well deserved rest and is lucky to have escaped the dinner plate.

To donate to Old Friends please visit: www.oldfriendsequine.org

or by check via mail to: Old Friends

1841 Paynes Depot Rd. Georgetown, KY 40324


www.horsebackmagazine.com December2012 - HORSEBACK MAGAZINE 35

Peaceful Valley Donkey

While horses get a lot of support, the lowly donkey usually stands, with its long ears and sad face, in the shadows. Peaceful Valley Donkey Rescue’s mission is to “provide a safe and loving environment to all donkeys that have been abused, neglected or are under threat of destruction.”

The plight of donkeys was brought starkly to public attention when Horseback Magazine exposed Texas Parks and Wildlife’s habit of shooting the animals and cruelly leaving them to die in the desert at Big Bend Ranch State Park. After our story, and others by the crusading Big Bend Sentinal newspaper, the agency temporarily suspended their effort to annihilate the critters to make room for wild Big Horn Sheep, prized by well heeled big game hunters.

The state’s parks department recently began to kill the donkeys again and didn’t stop until the whistle was blown. Groups like The Peaceful Valley Donkey Rescue find safe homes for these animals.

To donate to Peaceful Valley Donkey Rescue please visit: www.donkeyrescue.comor by check via mail to: Peaceful Valley Donkey Rescue, National Operations Ctr., PO Box 216, Miles, TX 76861

TruE Blue Animal rescue

A lot of folks around Brenham, Texas have called this lush country of gently rolling hills, lush grass, and abundant spring bluebonnets, by a biblical name. It’s well justified when folks describe the land of Texas’ own Bluebell Ice Cream as a “land of milk and honey.” But for too many animals, it can be pure Hell on earth until, if they are among the lucky ones who find their way to True Blue Animal Rescue, a no kill facility that takes in all manner of pets and potential pets, including horses. We like the no kill part of their mission and believe that most rescues euthanize far too many adoptable animals.

True Blue Animal Rescue is the only purely local charity we have placed on our list this year.

To donate to True Blue please visit: www.t-bar.orgDonations may be sent via mail to: True Blue Animal Rescue PO Box 1107, Brenham, TX 77834

www.horsebackmagazine.com December2012 - HORSEBACK MAGAZINE 35


wild horse education Finally, Laura Leigh first came to our attention as a photographer working tirelessly in the field without pay taking pictures of wild horses near Reno, Nevada. Since that first 2009 encounter, we have watched her grow in importance to become an internationally recognized crusader for the health and safety of these animals. More importantly, she and Reno lawyer and cowboy Gordon Cowan, have waged a two person war on their behalf against the Bureau of Land Management.

Moreover, they have won as often as they have lost in the courts. And the wins have been important ones. This year Leigh had a case remanded back to a trial court that had issued a bogus ruling. The powerful Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco ruled that a Reno judge had erred on First Amendment grounds by preventing Leigh’s access as a reporter and photographer to horses during their frequent and secretive “gathers” by helicopter stampede. (Leigh is on assignment by Horseback Magazine). In a second case, Leigh and her organization Wild Horse Education sued BLM to force humane treatment of the horses in their care. Help keep Laura Leigh in the field, and fund her important work in the courts...

TO Donate online Visit: www.wildhorseeducation.orgor by check via mail to: Wild Horse Education, c/o Cowan Law, 10775 Double R Blvd., Reno, NV 89521

CanterThe Communication Alliance to Network Thoroughbred Ex-Racehorses, CANTER, is the granddaddy of the organizations dedicated to re-homing off the track Thoroughbreds. CANTER provides the means for the public to view thoroughbred racehorses that are ending their racing careers and are available for purchase or adoption. CANTER volunteers walk the shed rows of the racetracks taking listings and photographs for posting to their website. The movement began after race fans, owners, trainers, jockeys, and track personnel discovered that 1986 Kentucky Derby winner and 1987 Breeders Cup Classic winner, Ferdinand, was cast aside as useless after failing at stud by his Japanese owners and sent to slaughter for pennies a pound.

Since the first CANTER Michigan program started in 1997, it has grown to include affiliates in Arizona, California, Colorado, Gulf South, Illinois, Kentucky, Michigan, Mid Atlantic, New England, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. CANTER programs are all-volunteer organizations with 501c3 non profit status.

To donate of For more information on CANTER, including a list of affiliates in the states where a program is located, visit:

www.canterusa.org

To donate via mail: CANTER USA,

8619 Edgewood Park Drive, Commerce Township, MI 48382



Lew Pewterbaugh • Bandera, TX (830) 328 0321 • (830) 522 6613

saddlerlew@ gmail.com

• Available for individual or group saddle tting & clinics. Will gladly work with trainers, stables & other clinicians to help with saddle tting issues.

Lew explaining how to do a set of templates of your horses back to take saddle shopping.

www.horsebackmagazine.com December 2012 - HORSEBACK MAGAZINE 39 www.horsebackmagazine.com September 2012 - HORSEBACK MAGAZINE 51

A Pasture Net!Freedom Feeder® , the original slow feed hay net MADE IN THE USA, is available in three sizes to create your feeding system. Horses are grazers, think of Freedom Feeder® as a “Pasture in a Net”. The 1.5” nylon mesh controlled free access feeding system can: Reduce: Colic, Ulcers, Boredom, Vices, Wasted Feed - Enhance Digestion - Improve attitude and peak performance - Free owners from meal feeding regimens - Better Support Easy keepers, IR, cushing and metabolic horse issues as well as Not-So-Easy Keepers

To order visit: www.freedomfeeder.com

A Little Piece of HistoryDuring the 1920s the British Royal Family sent their horses around the world eating local grasses that made their animals sick with respiratory and digestive problems. The result was a constant battle getting ailing horses fit enough to carry a queen. After a particularly devastating spell of sickness, a royal commission of scientists was charged with developing a feed that would stand the test of travel. What they came up with has stood the test of almost a hundred years. The nutritionists developed a forage product using supreme quality alfalfa and a kiss of molasses that was special and compressed it to ensure highly efficient fermentation. Now, nearly 100 years later Chaffhaye has built our product on this same foundation, based on solid science and the very highest quality ingredients.

You’ll learn a whole lot about Chaffhaye at www.chaffhaye.comLike us on Facebook for specials, news and updates

Oatmeal Molasses Horse Cookies

• 2 Cups Dry Oatmeal

• 1/2 Cup Grated Carrots

• 3 Tablespoons Molasses • 1/2 Cup Brown Sugar

Combine all above ingredients. Add enough water to make into soft

dough. Stir well.

Place into oven on 365 degrees until golden brown & crisp.

Your horses will love them!

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www.horsebackmagazine.com September 2012 - HORSEBACK MAGAZINE 51


A PENCIL is just a normal everyday effective tool for

tracing patterns, updating checkbooks and filling in bubbles in tests. That is unless it’s in the hands of Tom Greenwood. With just the tip of pencil lead, Tom has been capturing Texas, and Cowboys, in authentic detail which allows his art to tell a story to those who gaze at his works. Born in Waco, Tom moved with his parents to the Panhandle of Texas when he was still a tot. Growing up in the rural surrounding of the vast spaces of western Texas, Tom began drawing everything he saw that interested him from childhood till today. “ I’m a born and raised Texan and love the mythology of Texas and the Old West,” stated Tom. “ My parents really encouraged me and if there was a flat surface, I would draw on it. I even did drawing on the motorcycles of my friends.” Tom drawing deals with realism and captures moments in time. “With a pencil you can get the detail, using light and dark tones to bring out the visual character in the drawing.” In the 90’s, Tom was ask to do a poster for a Texas

Golf Tournament. He thought back to the golf course he remembered most - a little plot of land on the outskirts of a McClean, Texa,s which was home to a small nine hole course. Built using oil sand it had originally been an old pasture and now it was where the locals played the game with hats and boots on. From this memory evolved his art series of Golf Texas Style TM. Golf Texas Style has since developed into a collection of products and merchandise based on a series of true-to-life drawings by Tom. “It’s

about a cowboy and his horse,” he explains, “playing a never ending round of golf across Texas. You know the back forty…Texas.” While the pencil finds its home in Tom’s hands, it isn’t the only art medium of which he is proficient. From water colors, to oils, and even with a camera, Tom has the ability to take you off the freeway and into the lands and people he knows best. From portraits of children to photographs of the sweeping plains of Texas, his signed and numbered limited prints are available.

Capturing the



Tom’s varied life has led him from a small Texas Panhandle town to the advertising world of Dallas. He has created works for Jack Daniels and The American Paint Horse Association. He now resides in Hurst, Texas and while he still does commercial work, his collections can also be found on the internet. But in everything Tom does, he has one true passion - to honor the Texas Cowboy in his work and bring the joy of the west to all of us.

Tom can be contacted at:

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...with the Tip of a Pencil...with the Tip of a Pencilby Margaret Pirtle



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It’s Not Just Where You’re Going...

“Stop him deep”, I said, “then use your left leg behind the girth to support his haunches

and to direct his energy to the right”. “But my teacher at home said to move my right leg back in order to turn right”, my student replied.. “That’s for a turn on the forehand,” I replied, “not for a turn on the haunches.” I could see the confusion in his face, and it reminded me of how I’d struggled with similar questions years ago. “A turn on the forehand is usually a safety, or suppling maneuver that’s meant to take away the horse’s momentum and explosive power. You’re working cattle today. You want to maintain your horse’s power, (not take it away), by keeping his weight in his haunches while turning, so her can explode out of his haunches in a different direction.” This scenario illustrates how vital it is that, as effective rider-trainers, we know not only where we’re going, but how we’re going

to get there. In other words, not just that we are going to go from “point A” to “point B”, but what our purpose is in going there, and what skills, maneuvers, or ways of going are required to accomplish this purpose. In the example above, the coupling of speed and quick stops or changes of direction required in cattle work dictated the deep stop and turn on the haunches, (called a rollback, when it’s 180°), that would accomplish the task effectively. There might also be some tight, forward bending turns involved, but even these include some shifting back of the horse’s weight into its haunches, and some crossing over of the horse’s front feet and shoulders in order to work efficiently and safely. On a jump course, on the other hand, the purpose is to keep the horse moving forward with steady energy and rhythm, in a position in which it is ready to go over obstacles along the way. There won’t be any deep stops, or changes of direction as severe as the roll-backs required in cattle work. Most of the turns will be done in a forward, bending manner. The tightest turns will require the horse to collect briefly, and to bring its elevated shoulders

across its body in the direction of the turn, while still maintaining its forward momentum, and its forward energy into the rider’s hands. While it does shift its weight back in order to accomplish this, it is not nearly as extreme a weight shift into the haunches as is required of the horse working cattle, (or one doing a reining pattern). Even on a leisurely trail ride, it’s important that the rider be constantly looking and planning ahead, making choices about whether a bending turn or a leg yield is most practical in order to stay on a trail, or to avoid a limb, boulder, or other obstacle. Of course it’s fine to enjoy the scenery as you go, and to let your horse take part in choosing the best footing and finding their balance on inclines and declines, but this is no excuse for becoming nothing more than a passenger, nor for letting your horse ignore your requests and signals. When training or conditioning, our purpose is to develop the horse athletically in a well-rounded way, so we ask the horse to learn and execute skills and maneuvers that may not be needed in that immediate situation, but that will prepare the horse to execute them when they are called for. For

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instance, I may ask a horse, (or a rider), to trot down the rail from one end of the arena to the corner on the same side on the opposite end. I may ask the horse to move in a straight line, with hind feet following the exact same path as front feet. Or, I may ask the horse to move forward in a straight path, but with the haunches or shoulders one step toward the inside of the arena. If traveling from one corner to the opposite diagonal corner, I may ask the horse to travel in a straight line, or to leg yield, with both front and back feet crossing over each other. At each stage of the exercise, I am already planning what will come next, and how I will help the horse to flow from one movement into the next. I will also include some large and small bending turns and circles. Some of these maneuvers will prepare the horse for more difficult or complex ones later on, while building the horse’s confidence, core strength and ability to balance. If much of this sounds foreign to you, this may be a good time to make

yourself a New Year’s resolution, to take some lessons, attend a clinic, or study a book or video that explains these fundamentals of effective horsemanship. The end of one year, and the beginning of the next provides us opportunity for reflection of our past habits, and for the developing of new paths and choices, in

h o r s e m a n s h i p and in life. Just as we make choices about how to move forward along the path of horsemanship, we must also make choices about how we want to move forward through life; choices that take into account not just where we are going, but how we want to get there. Will we get there by focusing only on our own needs, while disregarding those of others, or will we make choices at each point along the way, that help or encourage those around us? Will our individual choices bring us advantages at the expense of others, or will they lift us up together in mind, body, and spirit? I wish each

of you blessed holidays filled with warmth and love. Always Remember to Enjoy the Ride, now, and in the New Year!

“All I Want for Christmas”

Horseback Magazine’s Saddle & Tack Editor

D ecember Again! It seemed like with all of the election hoopla that November would never get here.

Now it is almost December, and will be when you get to read this. The election is thankfully over, and no business person I know has any hope that the economy will improve in the next four years. This could be a good opportunity for all of us to get back to some good, solid, old fashioned American ingenuity. It’s time to stop the reckless import of inferior products, not only in saddlery and tack, but all areas of our consumerism. We should all be looking for good quality in whatever we have to buy. I’ve always tried to make shirts out of buttonholes, because buttonholes were always readily available. The last several months, I have advocated buying good used saddles and tack. Now, I don’t want to hurt my friends in the American saddle making business. If you have the means, by all means, buy a new Cactus, Reinsman, H-R, or other well made American saddle. If you don’t have the $1500.00-plus, think about a good used saddle. I love the history, the style, and the quality of good old used saddles. You have to be careful that they have been maintained, but you have to be even more careful of accessory tack. Lots of bridles and breast collars are subjected to more sweat and less care than a saddle. If you are shopping yard sales and

swap meets be really careful to check for cracking, dryness, rusty hardware, etc. THIS IS REALLY IMPORTANT! Leather is often in excellent shape everywhere, except where there is steel in contact with the leather. I’ve seen this hundreds of times. Water condenses on the steel, is absorbed into the leather, and leaches out the oil. Right there, where the steel is in contact with the leather, dry rot occurs. If you have a black line where the steel contacts the leather, that area will probably break the first time it is bent double, or put under stress. Go look at an old harness or breast collar or something, try to find a spot where the metal contacts the leather, and see if you see what I’m talking about. T h i s metal on leather is the main reason we have to change stirrup leathers all the time. Old, i n e x p e n s i v e saddles usually had a tongue buckle. The hole where the tongue goes through is usually dry rotted, but there’s enough leather to stay strong. The bigger problem is where the buckle bar goes across. Lots of times, when you bend that right there it will snap right in two. This is the same thing that happens with bridles and breast collars.

Breast collars are especially bad about rotting on the drop strap, the piece that goes down between the horse’s legs. There is so much salt and sweat absorbed in the leather there, that the leather rots quite quickly. I always like to wipe that piece off after a ride and wipe it with an oily rag. I also always try to use a brass or stainless steel snap on the end where it fastens into the girth. Oh, yeah, I need to mention, I’ve never seen leather rot next to a brass, or copper rivet or buckle. When you see green gunk on a copper rivet, that is called Verdigris. This is normal, wipes off easily, and does no harm to the leather. I have never noticed a problem with stainless steel buckles, although it


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would make sense that the stainless steel would collect moisture the same as mild steel. Maybe I could get a grant to study that. And now, back to my original thought. We all need to tighten our belts a little. It’s going to be an interesting next four years, with redistribution of the wealth. I would be willing to redistribute a few of the recycled race horses we’ve accumulated if my POSSLQ (Person of Opposite Sex Sharing Living Quarters) would agree, but she won’t. Hmmm, if I got rid of some of them, maybe, nah, that would be too much to hope for. She’d just make my life more miserable. Anyway, when the economy gets tough, it’s time to get a few more miles out of the good things we have. I’ve done several articles about taking care of your leather. Check out all the available shopping places for good used tack. Craigs List, eBay, classifieds, yard sales and swap meets. Organize a swap meet with your local saddle

club or 4-H club. Kids don’t seem to mind a good used saddle for Christmas. A nice clean used saddle blanket is as

good as a new one. If you can, get some history with your old stuff. It could be a letter from the owner stating the original owner, where they bought it, how they acquired it, anything that can help trace the item back to its manufacturing date. I have to relate this little story. I saw an incredibly beautiful saddle on eBay. It was supposedly

the saddle that won the Blue Ribbon at the World’s Fair in Chicago. It was made by Bona Allen, but unlike any Bona Allen I had ever seen. It

looked like it had been tooled by a very famous craftsman by the name of Baird. If this saddle had documentation, it would probably have brought $15,000. Without documentation, the saddle didn’t bring $5,000. Get documentation anytime you can. Merry Christmas, Happy New Year. If you don’t believe in Christmas, get a life, and enjoy the spirit of the season. It won’t hurt to have a little love and compassion for your fellow man. All I want for Christmas is what

is so often expressed in Christmas greetings. Peace on Earth, Good Will Toward Men.



some silly rules that someone made up about riding. It’s a lot more than keeping your heels down and your hands held in the right position. When you learn about equitation, you learn how to influence your horse

Every road to equestrian success has to begin somewhere. People are not born knowing how to

ride. Like most things, good riding must be learned. The school of hard knocks, also known as riding by the seat of your pants, is one way to do it. You simply try to do something with your horse and you know if it worked by whether your horse did what you wanted and if you stayed on or not. As you might guess, most people give up fairly soon if they don’t stumble across successful communication rather quickly. Let’s face it, falling off can be frustrating and painful. But there’s an easier way to develop your horsemanship skills. With a little help from a knowledgeable horseman, you can learn a lot faster and have a lot more fun in the process. If you really want to be able to communicate well with your horse, start by learning how to sit right and deliver the aids clearly. Equitation, which is phase one on the learning curve, is not just about looking good on a horse or following

with every move you make. It’s all about communication. It’s about balancing yourself in the saddle so the horse can be comfortable and you can talk to him with your body in a way that he’ll understand. If your seat aid is contradicting your hand or leg aids, the horse will end up confused and resentful when you ride him. What you perceive as ill behavior could simply be the result of your own lack of communication with your mount. The more aware you are of your position, the easier it is to fine tune your ride through subtle signals you send to your horse. Something as simple as leaning in any direction when you ride will change the message you are sending. When you are approaching a jump, it’s your job to help the horse arrive at the takeoff spot in good balance so he can do his job, which is to take the jump. Finesse moves such as using your corners to set the pace and striding on your approach to a fence is only one result of good equitation. A good equitation rider can bend a horse, jump from a trot or canter without losing balance

“Pathway to the Jumping Arena”

FOR OVER TEN YEARS, I have been demonstrating, teach-

ing, and writing about non-coercive methods of handling horses

and cattle at my ranch near Bellville, Texas.

My work follows in the low-stress tradition of natural horse-

manship established by Tom Dorrance and spread to the world

by Ray Hunt, Buck Brannaman, and Pat Parelli. Currently,

I am influenced by the work of Ron Wall of Australia and

Frederic and Jean-Francoise Pignon of France.

For more information and to see the complete

text of my Published Articles, visit my

website, www.HermanDetering.com or email

me at [email protected].

FOUNDATION GROUNDWORK

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and execute a rollback turn. She can easily stop, back up, sit the trot, canter from a walk on the correct lead, make precise simple or flying changes, counter canter, move the shoulders over, ride without stirrups, hold two point for several minutes and so much more. When you can keep your horse balanced, the speed quietly regulated and the steering precise, you are ready for phase two, the hunter arena. Hunters are all about style and finesse. To show a horse successfully as a hunter, you need to have a very consistent pace. It needs to be the same on the courtesy circle as it is after the first three jumps or even on the last line as you head towards the gate. The pace needs to be very forward with good impulsion and not tearing around like a racehorse. Punctuated with wide, sweeping turns, the lines should be ridden straight, honing in on the center of each jump. The distances for the takeoff spot in front of each jump should be consistently even, while the length of each stride is nearly the same. Meanwhile, the horse and rider effortlessly gallop

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around the course, appearing to communicate through ESP. It should appear that the horse does all the work while the rider just sits there. A good hunter rider is sending a steady stream of subtle messages to her horse with almost imperceptible aids. When you can ride well enough to pilot a hunter around a handy course that requires some tighter, more challenging turns and change the speed or gait of the horse promptly and ride through in and outs easily, you are ready to try your hand at the jumpers; the final phase. Stadium jumping is about precision, strength and scope. Speed is important but the way you handle your turns is critical. Your flat work will weigh heavily in your control of the horse. Don’t skip the flat. In fact, you should spend at least as much time working the flat as you do jumping. Also keep in mind that you can break your horse down if you over-jump him. Take good care of his legs, back and mind. There are many levels of stadium jumping. Consider the

skill level of both you and your horse before entering. You can find classes with very low fences and relatively easy turns that are good for getting your feet wet. Don’t try to start out on courses riddled with tough combinations, tough turns and high jumps. Incorporate modest challenges into your training sessions and don’t over face your horse with discouraging circumstances. Present just enough challenge to make you and your horse think. Don’t get stuck on keeping it so safe and simple that you don’t ever leave your comfort zone, but do give yourself a chance to be successful with a difficult height, turn or combination before escalating the challenge. You’ll find that over time you can ask more of yourself and your horse. Who knows; perhaps someday you’ll be winning the Grand Prix classes!


Q&A“A Horse for Christmas?”

Q: I need some advice about a subject that gets more sensitive every year. My daughter wants a horse for Christmas. She is ten.

Ever since she was tiny she has made a Christmas list every year that has only one thing on it: A HORSE. We live in a suburb and there is no room for a horse here. There is a lesson barn fourteen miles and twenty minutes from us (I know because I drove the route and timed the drive), and they seem to do a pretty good job with their place and their students. I don’t know a lot about this myself, because I wasn’t a horse-crazy kid and my husband doesn’t even like horses. I just got interested because of Deborah being obsessed with horses. I thought I’d better learn so that I could answer her questions. Well that didn’t work out so wonderfully, because it’s a very complicated subject, so ever since I discovered HORSE-SENSE, you are the one who has been answering her questions. I can usually find something in the archives that covers the subject, so thanks a lot! Anyway, back to my problem. I married late and had Deborah when I was forty-one, and my parents got married late in life too, so Deborah’s grandparents are in their early eighties right now. They just now - right before Christmas! hit me with their “big Christmas plan”, and I need help and advice and more help! They really want to buy Deborah a

horse for Christmas - they say they waited long enough to have a grandchild and now she’s ten and they want to buy her a horse NOW so that they can watch her enjoy it. I love my parents and it’s very hard to say “no” to them, and it’s hard to say “no” to Deborah. (My husband is sweet but he’s useless because he doesn’t like horses but his parents are both dead and he’s crazy about my parents and can’t say “No” to either my parents OR Deborah, so he’s leaving the decision up to me. Gee, thanks, pal.) I planned to enroll Deborah in riding lessons at this barn, and that would be her big birthday present next year (her birthday is in March), but my parents are convinced that because of their age, if they’re going to see Deborah enjoying her horse, they need to buy it for her right away. Thank heaven they haven’t talked to her about it, because they want it to be a surprise, but this whole idea is making me very nervous. They’ve even found “the perfect horse” in an ad in some magazine, and are talking to the horse’s owners, so they are really serious! I’ve read enough HORSE-SENSE

articles in the last five years, and I read your True Helmet Stories about once a month to stay updated on that, and I think I know what you’ll say about this idea. But can you think of some way to make my parents understand? I’m afraid that if I put my foot down and say “No horse!” my parents will say something to Deborah like “Oh, it’s too bad your Mom wouldn’t let us buy you a horse for Christmas” and then I will be the Wicked Evil Mother From Hell. But I want Deborah to be safe, so I am pretty sure I’ll have to put my foot down. I don’t understand my daughter’s “thing” about horses, but if that’s her big passion in life, then okay, we’ll get her one eventually but she’s only ten and I am sure that she should have lessons first. But between her “HORSE HORSE HORSE” mania and my parents’ saying “We want to give her a horse, it will make her happy, it will make us happy, why can’t we do something wonderful for our granddaughter?” I think I may go crazy.

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A. You know what I’m going to say: Put your foot down. I know you’re feeling pressure from both sides - you have

a horse-crazy daughter who wants a horse, and you have parents who adore their granddaughter and can’t understand why you don’t want them to give her such a wonderful present. But for now, tell your parents “NO HORSE” - and then, very quickly, explain why, and then explain how they can still give Deborah horses for Christmas. First, your parents must contact the owner of that horse and say thanks but they won’t be buying it. If Deborah were thirteen, had taken lessons with a good instructor for three years, and her instructor had found a horse that she thought was “just right”, then your parents could safely purchase THAT horse (with help from Deborah’s instructor and a pre-purchase exam from a good equine vet). Planning a safe, sensible way to get your daughter started with horses makes you a Good Mother, not the Wicked Evil Mother from Hell. Start with lessons at a barn with a qualified, competent, safety-oriented instructor. Deborah will be thrilled. If she unwraps a box and finds a gift certificate for a series of lessons, she will be absolutely delighted. Think like a ten-year-old, not like an adult! For your parents, “riding lessons” aren’t a horse, they’re just some kind of school thing, and how much fun can that be? For you, lessons seem like a compromise, putting your daughter’s safety ahead of her desires. But for a horse-mad ten-year-old girl, riding lessons put her smack dab into the middle of the horse world and give her just what she wants: Time with horses, time with other people who adore horses, and an opportunity to ride and learn about horses. This is the ideal way to begin. All of her horse-time will be in a supervised, learning environment, so she’ll be as safe as she can be - but remember, no instructor can ever guarantee that a student won’t fall off, have her foot stepped on, etc.

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Riding For The Rest Of Us.

The only way to avoid accidents is to stay away from horses entirely. I think it’s probably too late for that. Why not let your parents give Deborah lessons for Christmas? Take them out to the lesson barn, let them meet the instructor, see the horses and kids, maybe watch a lesson. Let them see how excited and happy the children are. Tell them that when Deborah is ready to own a horse they will be involved. Lessons must come first – a personal horse will come later - in a few years, if and when (a) you are convinced that horse ownership will fit into Deborah’s life (and yours), (b) Deborah is a competent young rider with a good understanding of horse care and horse management, and (c) Deborah’s trusted instructor is helping find that “perfect horse” to purchase or lease or part-lease. At that point, if the grandparents want to be the ones who actually lease or purchase the horse and give it to Deborah, let them. Meanwhile, if Deborah’s grandparents provide her with riding lessons - that all-important entree into the horse world - they will be her heroes. You’ll be a hero too. You and

your husband are the ones making this possible (and even at ten, Deborah undoubtedly realizes this) and you’ll have no trouble thinking of what to give her this year - just ask the instructor for a list of the clothing Deborah will need. You’re looking at this in the wrong way, you know - you keep thinking that saying “NO” to the gift of a horse this year is depriving Deborah of something. You’re not depriving her of anything - you and your parents are giving her something very big and important and good that should last her a lifetime. Change the way you’re thinking, and practice making the announcement. The message is not “NO, you CANNOT have a horse, so stop asking!” - it’s “Your grandparents are giving you riding lessons, and your father and I are going to take you shopping, and buy you a helmet and boots and riding pants! Aren’t you lucky!”Heaven knows it’s true - by anybody’s standards, Deborah is a very lucky little girl.

“Super Ninja Cowboy”

Impetuous, there was a time in my life when I didn’t know what that word meant. If you look it up in Webster’s, it says:

1. Marked by impulsive vehemence or passion2. Marked by force and violence of movement or action

As I’ve gotten older, I can look back and see that I was a train wreck on a horse. There were some things I did, that offered a good deal to a horse, and there were some things that if anyone was watching they would be thinking, “what the heck is he doing up there?” This is one of those times… When Felicia and I were first married, her Granddad gave us a little mare he called Sugarplum. He named her Sugarplum because he was an honest man and he liked the fact that she was born on Christmas day. So instead of doing the time honored thing that happens in the horse industry, he didn’t fudge the birth date and say she was born sometime after the first of the year. She turned

into a yearling at six days old! We brought her to our house when she was just over 2 years old. To say there was a personality clash between the horse and me would have been an understatement. Although, looking back I was the one with the personality clash! The first time I had trouble catching her I quit liking her! So needless to say, she was hard to catch (for me) every time. It’s funny

how that works out. You don’t like a horse, the horse doesn’t like you! I started her under saddle and she did really well, but my dislike for her was my undoing. To be honest it would have been beneficial for both of us if we had just sold her then. Because she was hard to catch I was generally mad before I got a saddle on her. It used to drive me crazy that Felicia could almost always walk up to her in the pasture and I had trouble catching her in a 10x10 pen! But, I persevered, or was stubborn. (Generally the only difference between the two is if you are successful or not!) Over time she actually got a pretty good handle. This probably had more to do with the fact that she was the only horse we owned at the time, so I was bound and determined to ride the foolishness out of her. There are really two episodes that stand out in my mind about that mare. Once, after I finally got her caught, I was frothing and foaming at the mouth, thinking and saying evil things to her and about her and her lineage. To say that I was out of my

mind would be speaking the truth. I tied her up and ran into the house. When my wife got there I was jerking drawers and cabinets open. She said, “What on earth are you doing?” I told her I was looking for a gun to shoot her horse with. Thank the Lord I couldn’t find it. Cooler heads prevailed that day (mostly Felicia’s) and Sugarplum got to live another day. The other time was one where I actually paid for my sin right then. One of the things that Sugarplum did that drove me crazy was tossing her head. I now know (not quite so impetuous now) that she was insecure and I, of course, was doing nothing to help her. Part of my plan for riding the foolishness out of her was lots and lots of miles. Her muscles were hard as rocks. I bet there wasn’t an ounce of fat on her; I just rode the pee waddlin’ out of her! Anyway, this particular day we had a 6 or 7 mile long trot through the pastures and I thought maybe all this head tossin’ would be worn out of her. I should mention that due to our catching procedure I was already mad before I got on her back. As we were walking back toward the barn her head was just a goin’. Up and down, down and up! I just snapped, I reached out and karate chopped her between the ears as hard as I could. I guess I thought I had turned into super ninja cowboy and would be impervious to pain. Now all my life I have heard the stories of cowboys who got mad


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at their horses and kicked them in the belly; thus, leading to a cowboy with a broken toe. I always said that would not be me. I was correct. When I hit Sugarplum between the ears, I noticed a sharp pain. A sharp pain, as in someone trying to chop your hand off with an ax – that kind of pain. It is amazing how much better a horseman you become when you are in pain. I rode around a little while longer, cooling her out. But in reality I was trying to think of a way to make this Sugarplum’s fault. But alas, even in my crazed mind at the moment, I couldn’t make this her fault. About that time Felicia got home and noticed I was riding kinda

holding my hand funny. We were still in that honeymoon stage of our marriage so she came right out to see what was wrong. Of course when I told her that I tried to chop her horse’s head off with my hand, she lost all sense of pity. She just turned around and headed into the house. I know she had to be thinking “what kind of idiot did I marry?” Since then I have proven time and again what kind of idiot she married. Needless to say, I was not the cowboy who broke his toe. I broke my hand! I think over time all young cowboys mature (I guess if they don’t, they die young cowboys!). There are several reasons from “how it hurts when you hit the ground” to

“your just a whole lot smarter.” I tie my maturity to the love of a good woman and a relationship with the Lord. I also will be pretty hard on any young men like me that come around to date my daughters, so I thought it would be a good idea to show them how a man should act. Don’t get me wrong, sometimes I slip and fall into that young cowboy mentality, but it happens less and less now. If you’re lookin’ for a moral to this story, I guess it’s this: You are not a super ninja cowboy and temper tantrums just lead to injuries!


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Howdy, welcome to Cowboy Corner.

Last month Horseback editor Steven Long wrote about the magazine’s 20th birthday in 2013. Time goes fast when we’re havin’ fun. Remember my start with Texas Horse Talk, predecessor to “Horseback. Was the summer of 2002 and the then editor, Jerry Thames, called to talk about Texas Horse Talk, and the change from a bimonthly to monthly magazine. Great idea to go monthly, we agreed, but no columns to put in a monthly publication. “Jim, want you to write a monthly column for Texas Horse Talk, says the editor”. “Jerry, I ain’t no writer, was my comment.” “Yeah, but you got fifty years of Brazos bottom bull under your belt. Just write about what you do every day.” So folks, my first written words were “Howdy, welcome to Cowboy Corner, a collection of hopefully useful cowboy tips and tricks gathered along the long trail of life.” Over the years, have tried to stay true, to my opening words. As time marches on, sharing what others have shared with me, and lessons from the school of hard knocks need to be passed on. Hopefully, some young buckaroo out there will be able to avoid one of my wrecks. All lessons in life don’t have to be learned from experience.

The holiday season is ‘n fast forward, so, let’s all take a good look in the mirror and have a talk with our self. Never saw a hearse pulling a U-Haul trailer, you can’t take it with you, so let that conversation with yourself be about sharing. Sharing is what Cowboy Corner is all about. Thank you, Lord for allowing me to be a part. It’s been a great ride and I look forward to many more happy trails. Looking to the future is cowboy time of the year. January is rodeo time and trail ride get ready time. February is rodeo time, trail rides, and parades. March is time for the biggest rodeo in the world in Houston. Good Lord willin’ I’ll be horseback in the middle of all. Mentioned sharing above, well “cowboy time” is a great time to share. Not only your money, but your time, and expertise. The trail rides advertise and promote the rodeos and livestock shows they are

affiliated with. Help promote and support your rodeo, it’s a fun way to help the young folks and make those conversations in front of the mirror easier. Cowboy time for me, really cranks up the first week of the New Year. Two trail ride warm up rides in January and February, trail ride and parade in February, and rodeo in March keep me in the saddle. Last year between the third week in February and the third week in March, was in the saddle every day for over a month. Living the dream. Thank you Lord, one more time, for the health and resources. To Horseback magazine readers everywhere ‘am wishing you a “Happy Holiday Season and Prosperous New Year”. And to Horseback magazine a very “Happy Birthday” and wishes for many more.

Happy Trails!

Reflections!

We would like to wish all of our customers every happiness this holiday season and throughout the coming year!

Feed * Fencing * Fly Control * Health Aids * Lawn & Garden * Pet Supplies * Supplements * Tack * Gifts & much more!

We’re not your average Feed Store. We are much, much more!


We would like to wish all of our customers every happiness this holiday season and throughout the coming year!

Feed * Fencing * Fly Control * Health Aids * Lawn & Garden * Pet Supplies * Supplements * Tack * Gifts & much more!

We’re not your average Feed Store. We are much, much more!

horseback magazine december 2012

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