Natural Remuda Equine Learning Center 
NEWSLETTER APRIL , 2010

CATHY’S CORNER

Let’s talk about the word Tolerate. How much do you tolerate from your horse? Is he walking all over you? Is he pushing you? Or, even more dangerous, is he biting or kicking? And how is he at a trail ride or show, when there are lots of horses acting up?

Most of us tolerate a lot of stuff from our horses. But do we need to tolerate the stuff that can injure us? Or is there a way to stop all these dangerous actions?

Most of the new people we have, tell us they don’t need to do ground work. Now, we have learned that when people start telling us that, because they want to just ride, it is practically impossible to change their minds. THEY WANT TO RIDE!!!!!! But, we still try to get them to see that ground work means a safer horse and a better ride for the human.

1. You develop a relationship with your horse, so he wants to do things with you. Most people don’t even know what a relationship with their horse is.

2. Your horse respects your space. There is no more walking over the top of you. He is safer to be around.

3. Your horse develops confidence in both you and himself. Most of the wrecks you hear about are the result of horses not having any confidence in their rider as a leader.

4. Your horse develops the ability to think for himself a lot more.

Look around you. There are many horses out there, who do have emotional fitness and are safe and can be ridden without being unsafe. Most of these horses are gentle and at sometime in their lives, have had ground skills taught to them. Why can’t people see this and realize that a safe horse and a safe ride, means you teach your horse some ground skills?

There is no shortcut to the RIDE!! Safety with your horse is built like a foundation on a building. First you put down the footer (teach them respect for you and where your bubble is from the ground). Second you lay the blocks (teach them manners on the ground). Third you build the building (or train them to do the discipline or riding you want). If you don’t have the first two things, the building can’t be built. It is that simple.

We have known many people who have gotten hurt by not building the foundation (ground work) Right now, we know two people who were hurt badly by not doing ground work. In both cases, their horse got nervous and didn’t have confidence in their ability to lead. That is what ground work gives you.

We get very discouraged that people can’t see that a horse can really hurt them if they don’t have the basic training on them. But we do have a little hope about this whole thing. And that is that if you go to a horse show or a rodeo or a roping or dressage event, there will be maybe 20 people in the audience. If you go to any Natural Clinicians Venue, you will see thousands. So the Natural Horsemanship movement is growing. Which is good for the safety of the rider and ultimately good for the horses in the world!

HORSES TO GIVE AWAY - To the right party………

We have some folks who are wanting good homes for their two horses. Their kids, who the horses belong to, are old enough for college.

Tucker is 8, a red roan with white sox & a white blaze. He has Parelli Training into Level 2. He is probably a left brain introvert with extrovert tendencies. He can be trail ridden.

Shiloh is about 16, short and stocky. He is a line back dun. He is Right Brained and is calm if he has a good leader. He has been trail ridden and is a 4-H horse.

With both these horses, a good home is the first criteria. The owner will work with anyone to show them what the horses know, and how they work on the ground & in the saddle. If you are interested, please call or e-mail me.

UPCOMING EVENTS

April, 2010 - Lessons in Bandera and Boerne. We are now giving lessons in both Bandera and Boerne on Fridays. We can come to your home or your boarding barn. We have several people scheduled, so call us for a time slot. We do teach ground work first and then when you are proficient at that, we will teach riding.

April 10, 2010 - AAYHA Open show in Seguin. We will be showing at the Open Show again Hopefully it will be warmer this month than last. Come out and join us for a day of fun. Cheer us on or bring your horse and join us.

April 11, 2010 - Walter Zettle, the famous dressage master, will be giving a clinic at Silver Oaks Farm in Kerrville, TX, on Saturday and Sunday, April 10 & 11, starting at 9 a.m. It is $35 to audit for one day and $50 for two days. Walter is bringing a new understanding of classical dressage to the dressage world. Auditors are encouraged to ask questions too. Contact person is Cindy Dix Weathersbee. cindydix@ktc.com There will be a lunch break from 12:00 -1:30. Bring your chair. We will be going to audit on Sunday. This is a great opportunity to see one of the great Masters in action, no matter what your discipline is.

April 17, 2010 - We will be having a riding clinic from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Natural Remuda Equine Learning Center at Utopia, TX. This will be a problem solving clinic.

April 17, 2010 - Parelli’s at Beaumont, TX. Check Parelli.com for details about the upcoming Parelli Celebration. You may be able to get free tickets.

April 24, 2010 - Clinic at Natural Remuda Equine Learning Center, Utopia, TX. 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

April 26, 2010 - Private Lessons at the Apache Ranch, La Pryor, TX.

PAST EVENTS

April, 2010 - Lessons in Bandera and Boerne. We are now giving lessons in both Bandera and Boerne on Fridays. We can come to your home or your boarding barn. We have several people scheduled, so call us for a time slot. We do teach ground work first and then w

 

NEW NEWS

Kids Camp - We had Spring Break Kids Camp in March. We had four younger kids and three older ones. They had a ball, learning parts of the horse, saddle and feet. They also learned a little about riding, with games and gymnastics. We had fun and so did they, so, we are going to do it again the week of June 14th!!

Open Horse Show - At the AAYHA Open Horse show in Seguin, several of Jereny’s and our riders showed. We had a very good time, even if we turned into icicles before the day was over. Everyone placed in at least one class and several placed in most of their classes. We also had a group of vocal fans who cheered us on. Thank you to all those who stayed to the bitter end in blankets and coats but still freezing. Thank you all for such a good time!!! We all know the next one is going to be 106°!!!

Seminar - We did a seminar at Central Texas College at Killeen for the Equine students there. Dena Wilks runs the program and many of the students are wives and husbands of the military. Jere worked with three horses that had different personalities, and was able to tell the students how to handle each one. This is a very well run Equine program and it is small enough for each student to receive individual help. If you are thinking of a school for your child or yourself, we recommend this one. Dena.wilks@ctcd.edu

Trail Clinic - We had a Competitive Trail Clinic given by Jereny Johnson, at the Learning Center at Utopia, TX. We all gathered at 10 a.m. to learn from Jereny how to ride a competitive Trail Course, like those in breed and open shows. We had a beautiful day and Jereny gave us tips on how to get around the course and how to get our horse to do correct obstacles. We all had lunch together and then worked in the afternoon. Jereny said she expects to see us all out there sometime at a horse show or trail ride!!

NEW NEWS

Jere and I have finally taken the time to sit down and work out a list of all the services we offer. Here it is………Contact me for prices. Jdmcjohnson@swtexas.net

Lessons - At your house or stable or ours. We are Natural Horseman, so we do ground work first. And for those of you that tell us you don’t want to do ground work, it only takes about 4 or 5 ground lessons and most people are ready to start riding.

Seminars - Our seminars cover a variety of subjects, including horse personalities and how to deal with them, riding, ground exercises and problem solving with your horses. If you will invite 5 of your friends, we will do a problem solving seminar on each horse.

Clinics - We give clinics on Riding, Ground Work, Fear, Personality of the Horse, and Problem Solving. We do several clinics a month here at the Center and will do them at your house. If you put together a clinic with more than 6 people, we will give you your clinic free.

Training - We train many horses of different types and with different problems. We do the ground work and send the horse to a talented local horseman for the riding. When you get your horse back, he will be ready to ride. We tell you honestly what the horse’s problems are.

Children’s Camps - We do a children’s camp for basic horsemanship during Spring Break, during the Summer and at Christmas. We take ages 6 thru 15.

Apprentice Programs - We have two different apprentice programs. In both of them we intensively study the horse’s personality and how to deal with him. This is not so much a riding program as it is a program for people who want to know how the horse behaves. You will get to deal with lots of horses, colts, and problem horses.

The long apprentice program is 12 weeks long and you work on Tues, Wed, and Thrs. The short program is one week long and you will be crammed with information on behavior and how to deal with it for a full week, with Sat and Sun to mull over the information.

JERE’S CORNER

The Story of Pistol

This is a story of a young horse that lived in a dark place of fear. He didn’t trust and he thought that every thing to do with the human would cause him to die.

One day, my neighbor asked me if I would come down and see if I could help his horse. When we arrived Troy was trying to get a halter on the horse, and get him to the round pen. Pistol was pushing on Troy, walking all over him and lining up as if to kick him. Troy is a young guy, and agile, so he kept out of his way. When Pistol finally got Troy dragged to the round pen, I told him to pull the halter off and Troy looked at me like I had a screw loose.

I could see that the last thing Pistol wanted, was me close to him and I could tell that he was on the fight. When I came into the round pen, he would strike and try his best to get the right angle to kick at me. I could see that his bubble was big, so I stayed back and just asked him to move his feet. Usually horses that are put into the round pen will go forward. But Pistol went into reverse, and started backing. He backed all the way around the pen two times. Pistol was a Right Brained Introvert and some of these type horses have a hard time moving their feet.

Usually people insist that the horse go forward, but I was just happy he moved his feet because he was locked down and ready to fight. I did nothing to change his mind and I let him work out about going forward. Sure enough, he broke loose and went forward at a run.

The next surprise he got was when all I did was watch him run. When Pistol looked at me, I retreated, taking all pressure off him. He soon learned that if he looked at me, I retreated. It wasn’t long before he was facing me and asking questions. He locked on to me, and started following me. I was still not able to touch him as he would strike or try to kick or bite, so using my stick I began rubbing him all over. I kept this up until he relaxed.

When I was able to get closer and was able to touch him, I noticed Pistol would drop his head to the ground like he was hiding his head in the sand. I then noticed his head and his eyes looked like they were glazed over and his lips became loose and floppy. I thought maybe he was going into a catatonic state. I stepped back and waited for him to come out of it. The worst thing I could have done was try to bring him out of this. Usually horses will become violent and can hurt themselves or you, if you try to force them out of this state.

I had to come up with a way to keep him from going into this state. Using my stick just in front of the withers I would lightly bounce the stick up and down, and this kept him in this world instead of going catatonic.

Pistol wanted to hide because he lacked confidence. It was very hard for him to face pressure, so, like the ostrich with his head in the sand, he would hide inside himself. Most times this state is not noticed in horses and people think the horse is a nice tame horse when he goes into this catatonic state.

Pistol’s problem was not a one day problem to fix. It would take time, understanding, and retreat. I played with this little horse for two weeks. Pistol got better each day and he went from the dark into the light. He started to use the thinking side of his brain. He found out he could follow a leader and we weren’t going to eat him. And he learned he could trust.

When we finished the first night, my wife asked me how I knew what to do? I told her I just picked the fight I could win and took what he offered me, and listened to what he was saying.

Now Pistol lives a happy normal life and gets along with everyone. Troy told me that he doesn’t have to drug or twitch him to have his feet done any more.

Pistol’s deal could have been really bad if someone had chosen to fight with him. He could have hurt someone or himself. And he probably would have gone more inside himself. If you put the horse first and listen to what he has to say he will give you the answer.

TRAIL CLINIC, APRIL