Horseman’s Corner Radio

California Horsewoman and trainer Sharon Camarillo.   When you're unsaddling your horse, that's the time to look for dry spots, rubbed hairs, soreness when you're brushing that horse's back off. I always like to use just a little alcohol and water or liniment on my horse's back as I brush off that sweat. And you know, you're a good sitting saddle with the right pad when you pull it off, should have an even sweat pattern. If you see white hair starting in an area up on that spine, it's pretty confident that it's a pressure point. When your horses quit working, when they're switching their tail, when they're grumpy, when their ears move, you need to listen to that horse. He's trying to tell you something and a lot of times you can fix it by just paying attention to quality of equipment. It's not how much you pay for it. It's really the fit. How it sits on that horse's back, the type of pad you're using. I said it earlier, I'm going to say it again. When you're around your horse, when you walk to the stall or the pasture to catch him, that's when you need to put your mind in the game.

We have a nearly limitless vault of old Howard Hale archived interviews to share with you, and here's another one from Minatare horsewoman Val Baker.   This was years ago, but still good information and a lot of fun. Let's listen in.    Minatare Nebraska horsewoman Val Baker competed in the Art of the Cowgirl event. There was also some breakaway roping down there.   Was it a big breakaway roping, Val?    "And it was a tough breakaway. They used the herd work cattle. So rather than roping 250, 300 pound calves, they were roping 600, 700 pound steers, and they were slow to start, and then they ran like little boogers, and it was a tough competition. There weren't any super short times."   That's becoming a bigger event, isn't it, the breakaway roping?    "The ladies' breakaway is definitely coming into stride. I'm glad to see it. I don't know that it'll ever be to the level of the barrels for the ladies, but when they're winning millions of dollars out there now, and the purses have gotten so much bigger than when you had actual WPRA rodeos. So one of my little gal friends, Riley Smith, her and her partner, Hope Thompson, swapped in down there at the ranch rodeo deal, and they come away with $90,000 a piece.  They split $180,000 for an all-girl roping, and that's just respectable as all get out."   Minatare horsewoman Val Baker talking about a huge breakaway roping with some unusually large cattle. That's going to do it for today's Horseman's Corner.

Utah Horseman Jim Hicks on how he trains his horses to handle the situations that might be uncomfortable for them. I want to create thinking horses that respond, that learn to think their way out of the problem versus horses that react and check out. And so what I have found for myself is that in doing that I need my horses familiar with the things that I'm going to expose them to so that when I expose them to things that they're unfamiliar with, that they'll work with me and we can work through it in a positive way.  This was a valuable lesson that I learned on the horse that I took to Tom Dorrance was is when you allow the horses curiosity to work for you, it's more powerful and more potent for the horse because what happens is you go out in the pasture and you intend to catch the horse, you might just sit there and look at the tail end up because you're trying to catch them. But if you walk out in the pasture with a bucket of tools and you set them down and you start doing the job, the horses curiosity will draw them in. That was Utah Horseman and clinician Jim Hicks. 

Gary Kirchhoff operates and trains out of the Rockin P Ranch located in Gaylord, Kansas. He is a professional horse trainer and clinician with decades of experience spanning multiple equine disciplines, utilizing natural horsemanship philosophies influenced by masters like Tom Dorrance and Ray Hunt. 

Utah horseman Jim Hicks on how he trains his horses to handle the situations that might be uncomfortable for them.    "I want to create thinking horses that respond, that learn to think their way out of a problem versus horses that react and check out. And so what I have found for myself is that in doing that, I need my horses familiar with the things that I'm going to expose them to, so that when I expose them to things that they're unfamiliar with, that they'll work with me and we can work through it in a positive way. This was a valuable lesson that I learned with a horse that I took to Tom Dorrance was when you allow the horse's curiosity to work for you, it's more powerful and more potent for the horse because what happens is you go out in the pasture and your intent is to catch the horse, you might just sit there and look at the tail end up because you're trying to catch them. But if you walk out in the pasture with a bucket of tools and you set them down and you start doing the job, the horse's curiosity will draw them in."   That was Utah horseman and clinician Jim Hicks.  

Listen in to this archived interview with the late Howard Hale.   Bill Bormes is an accomplished American professional horseman, horse trainer, and business manager based out of Castle Rock and Elizabeth, Colorado. He operates Bill Bormes Performance Horses, Inc., where he trains open and amateur horses and coaches riders.   Bormes has also shared his personal story publicly regarding a major medical recovery. Following an initial knee replacement surgery where his metal allergies were overlooked, he suffered severe complications, including multiple strokes. He successfully reclaimed his mobility after a complex revision surgery performed by orthopedic specialists at AdventHealth Porter in Colorado.      

More from Dr. Steve Peters...

Colorado horse trainer Debbie Bibb works a lot with trail horses. What does it take to get a trail horse ready, Debbie?    It varies. I've seen some horses off the racetrack that have become very nice trail horses. I've seen some of the ranch horses that are nice trail horses, some lesson horses. It really comes down to their temperament, you know, being that calm, easygoing, very willing horse, and also the foundation training.   You know, do they stop when you ask them to stop? Do they turn where you ask them to turn? Are they willing to go where you ask them to go? There's a lot of it that plays into it. Any horse that's been very well trained for most events can go be a trail horse because they have that mindset, that willing attitude you want. Some of the things that they have to get used to is, for instance, if they're a show horse, and they've never really seen things blowing out in the wind, out in the open, or some of the big, funny-looking rock formations, they have to get used to that a little bit.   But a horse, for instance, that has been in that show ring has seen a lot of bizarre things going on around him in his lifetime, and most of them can't usually adapt very well.    Colorado horse trainer Debbie Bibb. 

You've tuned in just in time to catch the late Howard Hale with the great Ron Knodel.   Let's check in on that question that Howard asked about halter breaking.    Nebraska horseman Ron Knodel is with us today. Ron, let's assume that I bring you a horse to halter break. What's the process? How do you go about it?    "Well, what I do is, and it wouldn't matter if it's a Mustang or a Shetland Pony, and I've even worked a miniature donkey that was running off. But what I do, and it works on all horses, and you don't have to, but I rope them, and especially the Mustangs, it gets things done a little quicker there, not that that's the big focus, but I rope the horses, and the first thing I do is I start introducing the feel to the block. I block front and move the hind quarters around. And why that block is so important is that's the start of the stop. And through the halter braking process, if you let them horses continue to lean and walk forward and push through that block, that carries on, on a lot of horses, that carries right on into your snaffle bits, your hackle moors, your vitals, whatever. So it's really important to me that they get halter broke and not running through that block. So I block the horse in the front and move the hind quarters around."   That was the late Howard Hale with the unknown horseman, Ron Knodel. Ron's not so much an unknown horseman anymore, he's become quite popular putting on clinics around the country.   More on Ron from Farm Progress... https://www.farmprogress.com/husker-harvest-days/horse-training-expert-returns-to-hhd-for-20th-year

"When halter training, the last thing I want to do is put a halter on." - Van Hargis, Van Hargis Horsemanship