Green-broke horse

Question: My seven-year-old green-broke horse has been out to pasture for the past three years. Can he be retrained? I want to ride again.

Answer: If you have a lot of experience and confidence riding (even after a three-year absence) get busy and start riding that horse! If not, get back into riding with more experienced horses first. Take lessons at a local stable or go trail riding on a friend's horse.

While you're doing that, your horse needs to be getting some experience, too. This is the tricky part. Who's going to ride that horse? If you hire someone, be sure you're comfortable with the approach he or she takes. Be there and watch. At some point you will feel that both you and your horse have the experience necessary to be good partners.

Trekking in Iceland

Our recent trip to Iceland was billed as “The Vacation of a Lifetime,” and it was. Twenty of us spent four days at Landsmot, the big dog of Icelandic Horse festivals, three days at Holar University in a riding clinic with training guru Gudmar Petursson (at right), and four days “trekking” in the magnificent Vatnsdalur Valley with “Hawk” (at left). That's me in the middle. A trek is like a cattle drive, except you’re herding horses instead of cattle and every few hours you trade in the horse you’re riding for one from the herd. It’s a great way to hone your tolting chops and see some spectacular countryside.

We got lots of video (including some very cool helmet cam footage) and you'll see that when our new TV season kicks off in November. In the meantime, this week’s radio show is my audio diary from the trip. Listen.

Off to Iceland

Our two-week trip to Iceland is almost here. (The pic was taken in Montana but it is an Icelandic horse.) I’m not worried about the white stuff. This time of year highs are in the 70s, plus they have hot springs and beverages you drink from flasks. Woo hoo! You may have heard that the Vikings deliberately misnamed Iceland and Greenland. It's true! Iceland is green and Greenland is icy.) A horse festival, clinic, and four-day trek are on the schedule, plus we’ll be grabbing interviews for TV and radio, so I’ll have lots to share when we return. Until then, “Bae!”

Pedestals and beanbags

I want to put my horse on a pedestal. I mean an actual pedestal, like the one here. It’s a favorite tool of trick horse trainers Allen Pogue and Sue De Laurentis, who've also promoted the common beanbag from dorm room furniture to training aid. I love how these folks push the envelope with their program, and I love how relaxed and attentive their horses are, especially at liberty. The benefits of pedestal and beanbag training start at birth and extend throughout the life of a horse. Check out ImageaHorse.com for pics, videos, articles, and construction plans. But first, listen to our interview. It’s a good one.

Radio interview with Allen Pogue and Sue De Laurentis

Can every horse gait?

Already I can hear the uproar from aficionados of our beloved gaited breeds. “No! A gaited horse is anatomically different from a non-gaited horse!” I agree that there are differences. However, I have also experienced firsthand an Appaloosa that preferred a four-beat amble over a trot (I rode him for a week on a cattle drive) and our former pinto mare, Savannah (pictured), who I could keep at very fast walk for as long as I wanted. Both of these were stock-type horses doing a fast, smooth, four-beat gait with no suspension. That’s pretty darned close to gaiting, in my opinion.

But can every horse be taught to do this? I wouldn’t go that far. I think that many can if – and this is a very big if – the rider knows how to train for it and is willing to put in the time. Several years ago, I interviewed David Lichman, a five-star premier Parelli instructor and gaited horse specialist. He addressed this very issue.

Listen to interview with David Lichman on gaited horsemanship

National Cavalry Competition

Imagine throwing eventing, cowboy mounted shooting, and re-enacting into a big pot and mixing in riders from the military, law enforcement, and the general public. What you'd have is the tenth National Cavalry Competition, held at the Annual Bivouac this September 28-30 at Fort Reno, Oklahoma.

Learn all about it, plus some startling stats on the popularity of re-enacting, in this week's radio interview with Jeff Maahs from the United States Cavalry Association.

Listen to radio show

The Situation

One of my favorite bits of horsemanship advice comes from the late Ray Hunt, who said, “Adjust to fit the situation.” Let’s drill down a bit on this simple prescription.

Every moment with a horse is a “situation” with a unique character to it. The first order of business is recognizing the situation for what it is. Second is having an alternative course of action that you can adjust to. And third is making the adjustment at the right moment.

An example that comes to mind is teaching a foal to lead. Since horses have an “opposition reflex” (a.k.a. positive thigmotaxis), foals tend to pull back when we apply forward pressure on a lead rope. That is a common situation. An alternative when they resist forward pressure is to immediately pull more to one side. Foals have less power to resist lateral pressure and are likely to take a step to the side, which can be rewarded and parlayed into movement on a curve and eventually straight, forward movement.

One of the reasons a good horseman adjusts to fit the situation is that he is always looking for behaviors that can be rewarded, and he is always looking for a good note to end the day on.

For more information on Ray Hunt, visit www.RayHunt.com.