The Secret of Our Success is Our Horse-Human Bond
No Confusion, No Fear, No Pain – ethological, natural, resistance-free training techniques. We tame and train gently but firmly – we do unto others as we would have done unto us, and we do not do unto others what we would not have done unto us. Horses have Five Freedoms: Freedom from hunger and thirst, Freedom from discomfort, Freedom from pain, injury and disease, Freedom from fear and distress, Freedom to express normal behavior, such as the opportunity to play. Genetics and Environment – Nature versus Nurture: When investigating horse behavior, we are regularly faced with the question – is the behavior caused by the horse’s genetic makeup, the environment in which the horse was reared and managed, or a bit of both? Usually, it’s both.
The Unwritten Contract between Human and Horse: We are the only Voice and the only Choice our horses have. We uphold an “unwritten contract” between ourselves and the horses we keep as companions, where the outcome MUST be a “win-win” for both human and horse. Both human and horse have to give up something to benefit from other things provided by the other. We appreciate and nurture “human-horse relationships” which are at the very core of horse behavior and well-being. Remember two key points. First, your horse cannot negotiate its side of the deal, so you have to be on your horse’s side as well as your own, and come to the best deal for both yourself and your horse. Secondly, the unwritten contract between you and your horse must be updated and renegotiated regularly as circumstances and attitudes change.
Ask Questions, Never Assume: In order to train a horse (change the horse’s behavior), we have to ask questions before we draw conclusions and provide a solution. For example — What do you see as the problem behavior? What have you tried, how did you do it, and what happened? Was the behavior obvious? Did it appear to be simple or complex? Observe the situation in detail with an open mind. Make detailed record of what the horse does and what happens in the environment. Then, we will form a hypothesis – what we think is the problem behavior, and then we test this to confirm that our conclusions are correct.
Question Checklist:
Human Questions:
What basic knowledge do you have about this horse in particular and horses in general?
How old are you and how active are you?
What is your gender?
Life partner status: its stability and length of relationship?
The people in your hierarchy?
Has this changed recently?
Who in the household has most interaction with the horse?
Is someone else quietly feeding it or interacting with it?
Children – how many, how old, what gender?
How do these kids get on with each other? Is there an aggressive hierarchy among the kids?
Board – the size and the area the horse may be allowed in and who sets these rules?
The general “lifestyle” of your family and the part your horse plays in this?
What is the general attitude to your horse?
What is the state of your horse property – general tidiness?
What is your horse’s current feed status?
How do you feel about your veterinarian?
How stressed are you?
How well cared for is your horse?
Horse Questions:
Breed? – keeping in mind species-specific behavior, innate ability,size, tractability and living space needed.
Age – young an active or geriatric and sedentary?
Sex- mare, gelding, stallion, colt, filly? What age was horse gelded?
Hierarchy – where does the horse appear to fit in the herd?
Diet- what is the diet or feed supply and have there been changes?
Are there sources of feed for emergencies?
Exercise – how much exercise is allowed? Pasture/turn-out size?
Rates
Please call, text or email for rates.
skye.ds@gmail.com * 512-269-6309
* Clinics: We Come to You!
Available by the hour or by the day for each horse + human pair, plus expenses (Travel, Room, Meals, Round Pen)
Round Pen Required: at least 50 – 60 feet in diameter, constructed of panels, pipe rail or wood.
No Round Pen? No Problem! We can bring ours.
* Traditional Training: You Come to Us!
Full Care Board + Training
Stallion Fee Additional
Weanlings & Yearlings
* Catch
* Halter
* Lead
* Stand tied
* Trailer
* Pick up feet for farrier
* Bathe
* Fly spray
* Stand for vet – worming – shots
2 – 3 years Old
(We do not back horses until they are 2 1/2 years (30 months) old)
* Driving
* Saddling
* Mounting/Dismounting
* Reining (Neck and Plow / Direct and Indirect)
* Start, Stop (WHOA!), Forward, Backward, Left, Right
* Walk, Trot/Jog, Canter/Lope
* Verbal, Rein & Leg Cues
* Obstacle crossing (including water)
* Drop head (Calm Down)
* Respect human space (“Don’t run over me”)
* De-Spooking
* “Don’t drag me off”
Bad Habit therapy for any age:
* Balking
* Barn or Buddy Sour
* Backing at the wrong time
* Bucking
* Kicking
* Puts head down to eat while riding or working
* Takes off running at mount/dismount
* Sits back when tied
* Hard to trailer load
* Biting
* Striking
* Carries head high while riding / tosses head / Hollows back
* Plays with / evades the bit
* Gets spooked easily
* Turns rump to you
* Drags you/runs over you when leading
* Hard mouth/doesn’t respond to bit or reins
Thoughts about Training
Our doors are always open to you, and we welcome your visit (announced or unannounced), within reasonable business hours, between 9 am – 9 pm. We are family owned and operated; we live here. Please respect our quiet hours from 9 pm – 9 am; we work very hard, starting before daybreak and ending long after nightfall, and we need our rest. Also, please respect the Ranch Rules at all times during your visit. Your horse’s happiness and healthiness come first, always. So, if we have already worked your horse for the day, please don’t ask us to tack them up and do it again so you can watch. We encourage you to come and watch, ask questions and learn what you will. Training includes lessons for you, so that you and your horse are on the same page. We are more than happy to explain at great length why we do everything that we do, and questions are encouraged. However, fault finding and nitpicking are not encouraged and are not welcome. We are doing the job you paid us to do, so please allow us to do it.
If you can’t make it for your training session & lesson, let us know in advance and reschedule for another day. It’s not fair to your horse to leave them stand around waiting tacked up all day in the Texas heat. If your horse is in need of Bad Habit Therapy – please be honest about the Bad Habits. We cannot help either you or your horse otherwise. Also, if your horse hurts us while we’re working with them, we can’t work with your horse, or any other client’s horse, while we are recuperating from our injuries. It’s not fair to our other clients. We do unto others as we would have them do unto us. You must be willing to participate in the basic training of your horse, so we can turn over the on-going training of your horse to you at some point in time. Horse training is a life-long process, not just a 90 – 120 day training program. Feedback is important. Resource commitment for a well-trained horse: Time, Money, Feed & Hay, Tack & equipment, Wormer & Vaccines, Veterinarian & Farrier, Continuing Education for you. Ground manners are appreciated by vets and farriers, who are working with your horse for health matters, they are not trainers.
* SUITABILITY, OR “SILK PURSE, SOW�S EAR” – We cannot make a silk purse out of a sow�s ear – no trainer can. If you bring us a horse in pain and in need of a veterinarian, a farrier or a chiropractor, or you bring us a dumpy little horse, built downhill, long backed, post legged, straight shoulder, no amount of training will train him to perform well. He�s not built right, and neither we nor the sensible farrier or vet are going to try to do that kind of orthopedic surgery on him. Take a realistic look at your horse�s conformation. (For example, PRINCIPLES OF CONFORMATION ANALYSIS — by Deb Bennett, Ph.D.) Get a horse that is built well. A linebacker isn�t a sprinter. A sprinter isn�t a linebacker. Some jobs � going down the trail safely � are more about disposition and sensible training, but may are also very much about build. I will not ask a working western bred QH to do upper level dressage. Dressage horses need to be built uphill, with withers higher than their croup. I will not ask a really nice upright necked saddlebred to get down and look a cow in the eye.
* EXPECTATIONS – FIT FORM TO FUNCTION. Ask your horse to do a job it is built & bred to do. Know what you expect to get from your horse, and what you are willing to give to your horse. Horse ownership is a two-way street. Most horses will bond with only one person (usually the trainer). Your horse will listen to the human with which he or she has established a common communication link. Understand what your horse’s conformational limitations may be. Quarter horses and Belgians are both horses, genetically. While they could each do the other’s tasks for a limited time, Belgians don’t make very good cutting horses. When looking for a horse to purchase, make sure you are temperamentally compatible, and have the same goals in mind.
Color should be your last choice when purchasing a horse. Disposition, soundness of mind and body, conformation and character should be your primary reasons for buying a horse. Please don’t forget to have a vet examine your horse before you buy it. A reliable horse seller will tell you if you and their horse are a good match. Steer away from a seller who won’t ride his/her own horse for you. Make sure the horse is not caught and tied. Find out for yourself how easy it is to catch the horse to halter him. Horses who are well treated willingly come to people. Abused horses avoid people. Their experiences have conditioned them to dislike human contact.
* RELATIONSHIP WITH YOUR HORSE: Appreciate that horses are prey animals. They are quite a ways down in the food chain and would rather run than fight when confronted with something they perceive as a potential threat to their well-being. Blowing plastic and flapping tarps, loud noises, motorcycles and people who walk up behind them unannounced are likely to trigger the “flee” mechanism in a horse. With time, persistence and gentle persuasion, they can be desensitized to many things that would cause them to run away. Be aware that feeding time is a private thing for horses, they enjoy and savor every bite of their food and don’t appreciate interruptions from their meals any more than we enjoy a sales call during supper.
It is essential, though, that they realize that we can remove their food without any threat from them if necessary (you spot a half-flake of moldy hay and need to remove it from their lunch). This is part of their training, and must be done to protect them. Understanding versus intellectual assent – horses are very special animals. It is important to know their spirit (in the spiritual sense) and their intelligence from their perspective (in their world). Horses are big, gentle giants, but they are animals, and it should never be taken for granted that they will not hurt you! They are capable of biting, kicking, knocking you down and trampling you. Realize that a horse is not a fur-covered motorcycle.
Your horse does not, on his own time at liberty in a pasture, choose to run at full throttle, jump over obstacles, or weave at breakneck speed around big cans. In the wild, horses only run to get away from predators, and they never purposely venture into harm’s way so that they have a “reason to run”. Competition in the horse world is to perpetuate the best of the species, not for prizes and ribbons. Constantly review your perceptions about what motivates horses and what doesn’t and learn how to recognize that difference in training techniques. Appliances (tie downs, hobbles, severe bits, etc.) do not replace patience and repetition tempered with a firm approach when teaching your horse new tasks.
Safety of horse and rider should be considered above any desired effect you may choose for your horse, such as head set. Riders do the darndest things to horses when competing for prizes and ribbons or trainers, when they are put under pressure and feel the need to take shortcuts to make the work they need to do fit into the available time. Bonding, i.e., the amount of trust, loyalty and respect you have with your horse is equal to your willingness to spend time with your horse, taking them through “scary stuff” and the mundane. Horses are fun to “hang out with”. They provide hour’s worth of entertainment and funny stories to talk to other horse lovers about. Maturity versus age of rider – kids and horses – constant close supervision is required so that neither horse nor child is hurt. A course in ground manners is just as prudent and judicious for children as it is for the horse.
Children have a tendency to think that they are indestructible and invincible. A couple of months in a body cast are not a good substitute for a sound course in safety and jurisprudence. Adults are not exempt from educating themselves. Maturity versus age of the horse – requires good training techniques that work with the horse’s self confidence level. Not to be confused with how much your horse has been “exposed” to. Honesty versus ego – do you really know what your horsemanship ability is? Are you willing to listen to those who would advise you, no matter how many years you’ve worked with horses? Do you recognize good advice when you hear it? Who are your “experts”? Do other “experts” listen to them?
Routine Care is tantamount to having a happy, healthy horse. Regular vet care for general physical condition, vaccinations and teeth floating are extremely important for your horse’s well being. To keep them in good general health, physically and emotionally, horses need good hay, a balanced diet, a block of salt, clean water, exercise and regular grooming attention. Their pens need to be immaculately clean to prevent hoof disease. Horses do not like to stand in manure and urine – it rots their feet. They need their feet trimmed on a regular basis. Shoes are generally not required for light riding, but owners should make their own intelligent decision about their horse’s feet. Neglect is never an option for horse hoof care. Manure attracts flies, which opens up the door for a multitude of diseases. It should be removed as far from the horses as possible. A good manure management program is tantamount to keeping your horses as healthy as possible. Watch your horses for changes in personality and health. Know your horse! They have signs to tell you when they hurt and when they are really happy and feeling good.
* LEARN TO RIDE. Please, for your sake and your horse’s, LEARN to ride. If you don�t have a good seat and independent hands, take riding lessons, without reins and stirrups (essentially, bareback and bridle-less) until you can go from the halt to the walk to the posting trot to the canter, then back to the trot, first posting, then sitting, then to the walk, then to the halt. All off your seat and legs. No stirrups, no reins, no use of the voice. So you don�t hang onto the reins to balance. Your training fees include a weekly one-hour riding lesson with us, so that you and your horse are on the same page. It takes time to learn to ride right. There is no substitute for this work. Please, ADMIT it if you are scared; save all of us, trainer, horse, yourself, the misery of trying to make it work if you are scared. You may need to change the kind of riding you want to do, OR you may need a different horse with a different personality, even if you are in love with this particular horse. Riders need to be in very good physical condition in order to effectively ride their horse(s).
Balance, Breathing and Stretching exercises are particularly good for riders. “Core Ball” exercises are also very good for riders. Most of us spend all week sitting at a desk, or doing other things besides riding. We are not conditioned for the weekend riding we do. Our horses sit idle most of their day, and become accustomed to doing what pleases them “eating and sleeping”. We should not expect our horses to perform at a high level of riding when we don’t expend the time and energy to keep ourselves and them in the best riding condition, both physically and psychologically speaking. Top level riders devote many hours of their lives to working with their horses. We should not expect any more from our horses than the amount of our resources (time and energy) we are willing to give to them. Horses are social animals and love companionship and attention. They don’t like to be alone, ignored or feel like they have no purpose in life – they will find ways to entertain themselves that you will not find entertaining.
* BE REASONABLE IN YOUR EXPECTATIONS. I am over 40, and I cannot remember learning to ride. I have interacted with literally thousands of different horses. I have a great seat and hands like silk, and I have ridden for decades. I pay attention to what I am doing. I don’t have to lean over and look to see what lead I’m on. My own personal horses are extremely well-bred, also extremely well trained, and worth a lot. Don�t ask why you, your spouse or your child, and your horse, are not doing the same. Compare yourselves and/or your horse to someone else and another horse in the same general category.
* THINGS TAKE TIME. A lot of time. At least 90 -120 days (3 – 4 months) is a reasonable amount of time to start a horse under saddle – step forward, whoa, walk, jog/trot, lope/canter. If you want more, add more time. It takes time. You must be willing to participate in the basic training of the horse, so we can turn over the on-going training of the horse to you at some point in time. Horse training is a life-long process. It requires consistent maintenance; it is not JUST a 90 – 120 day training program.
* MAINTENANCE – GROUND WORK, ROUND PEN: Most horses “learn” after three attempts are made to try to teach a task. If it is clear that the horse does not understand the command, don’t change your technique. That will confuse the horse. Temper your efforts with common sense or just stop and do something else that you know that horse enjoys and can do. Don’t focus on the task so intently that it outweighs safety and purpose. There will be a tomorrow. The amount of time you work with your horse is not as important as having your horse understand what is expected of him/her. If it’s muddy and you really can’t do much that requires movement on your horse’s part, work on “standing still”.
Grooming your horse is training, and rewards your horse by providing company and a good cleaning. They do appreciate it when you scratch them in their “itchy” spots. Safety is the #1 priority for horse and rider. Don’t ride where you think you can’t, and never try to “force” a horse to do what you want it to do. You will never win in a contest of strength with a 1,000 pound frightened horse. Riding near roads and highways is only for experienced riders on bombproof horses. You can do anything from the ground that you can do in the saddle. Learn proper techniques for lunging, leading and tying from an experienced guide. Don’t tie your horse unless it is absolutely necessary. If you think it is fun to stand tied to a post, try it for about 15 minutes to an hour. It’s no more fun for your horse.
Flies love people who tie up their horses. This does not mean you don’t teach your horse to tie. That is part of ground manners and is tantamount to your horse’s safety, in some instances. You may need to tie him for the vet or farrier and it is essential that he stand quietly for grooming and/or trailering. It breaks my heart to see horses tied for hours and hours, waiting for their turn to be run at breakneck speed for about 5-10 minutes, then, retied for more long hours. People will tell you they tie up their horses for hours to “teach them patience”. If I was being chewed on by about 5 million flies and gnats, I would be far from patient. I’d probably knock the bumpers off your horse trailer, just like some horses would do in that circumstance.
Know when it is time to quit, and always try to quit after completing a task your horse knows and likes to do. Treats should be given to your horse with discretion. It is best to not mix feeding with work time. Don’t work with your horse without tack (halter, at least) on them. Task orientation should be prescribed (thought through) and related. (Leading techniques require different stances and body posture than driving require). Standing or ground tying are taught as you groom your horse. This makes the first saddling event fairly uneventful for the horse. Also aids when trimming or shoeing the horse. Praise for doing stuff right is your horse’s best reward. They love to hear that they are “pretty, smart, strong and a good girl or boy”. I talk to my horses all the time and they “talk” to me too. It is a wonderful feeling when you have that level of communication with your horse.
Who cares what we are saying? What’s important is that we are communicating with them. My horses know the difference between my normal voice and when I’m disappointed or displeased. I raise my voice and/or use corporal punishment only when necessary. My horses will hang their heads, pout and sulk, but they show respect in deference to my disappointment or displeasure. Take your horse for a walk around your place. Don’t always expect them to carry you everywhere you go. They appreciate the break and it has a wonderful bonding effect. Whenever you take him/her to a new place, it is especially kind of you to walk with them around the facility. Always remember, they are herd animals, and appreciate company when there is something new to be experienced.
* THINGS TAKE MONEY. Why do I charge so much? That is because I have to pay for (a) truck, trailer, plus fuel, insurance, maintenance; (b) feed, hay, help, insurance, supplies, equipment; and (c) I am not going to work for free to train your horse. If board is a certain amount per month, and training is another amount per month, and we work your horse five days a week, we are just about making minimum wage per session to work your horse.
* LISTEN TO MY ADVICE. My training fee includes a weekly one-hour lesson for you, so that you and your horse are on the same page. Training must be maintained after the horse leaves me, and You are responsible for maintaining your horse’s training. If you do not listen to my advice, it only takes you 6 hours to break what it takes me 6 days to fix.. If you can�t ride well, and/or your horse isn�t built right or suitable, I will advise you to SELL THE HORSE. Spend what you were spending on supporting the horse to get really good lessons on one of my super well trained school-master horses. (See the item above, on learning to ride!) Spend TIME doing things right. Then we will go out and, for nothing but my expenses, no percentage involved, I will help you find a suitable horse that you can buy. You will know what disposition, size, gaits, attitude, fitness level, realistic performance level, etc. that you are getting. You can take the horse home or board it with me, and get lessons, but you will now be able to work your own horse. You will actually spend less doing things this way than any other way, as you will KNOW WHAT YOU ARE GETTING.