The Natural Journey

Aspen Finds a Home

2011-11-05T07:41:00.000-07:00

This week, Aspen's adoption was completed. We hauled her to her new owner and we think she will be very happy there. (If horses are happy!!)

Susan and Don are her new owners and Susan said she has been wanting a horse her whole life. They have a big place and pasture (if it ever rains) for her to run in. Eventually, they will probably get another horse for Aspen to be with. Susan wants to learn Natural Horsemanship so we will be teaching her how to work with Aspen. Aspen was a favorite with both us and Stephanie, her Bluebonnet contact, as she was so nice to work with.

The Bluebonnet Horse Rescue Expo

2011-11-04T09:03:00.000-07:00

We participated in the Bluebonnet Horse Rescue a week or so back. This is the third year we have participated and the Expo is growing steadily. This year there were lots more vendors and eighteen clinicians and demonstrations to watch. There was everything from drill teams to horse clinicians to vaulters. It was very interesting. There were many more vendors and while the adoptions were down a little, because of the drought and economy, there were lots more people at the Expo. This Expo promises to be bigger and better in the future. There is no other big Expo in this area and that makes more people come to it. Make plans to go next year. It only cost $5 to get in and this is Bluebonnet’s main fund raiser.

Jere did a demonstration on personalities of the horse. A couple of his students chose several horses that were there to be adopted and he told what kind of personalities they had and what to do for each of the four personality types. He was in the outside arena, but even so had quite a few in the audience.

We would like to thank all of our students, friends and family that showed up to support us. We got to visit and they were a lot of help. We sure appreciate you all.

Spending Money With No Return or The Money Pit

2011-10-15T07:44:00.000-07:00

October 14, 2011

SPENDING MONEY WITH NO RETURN, OR THE MONEY PIT

Sure is nice to have this beautiful weather we are having!! We do need some more rain, but it has been much cooler and it is really enjoyable. We had one of those ultra light airplanes go over us this morning. It had a multi colored canopy on it and the horses sure watched it. Foxy ran all over her pen and had her head up and really thought it was a giant buzzard, come to eat her!!

This week has been a busy week again for us. We have had lots of lessons, and a couple of clinics. We do have more room for horses to ride though. We have almost finished up the ones we have here. Speaking of getting some use from your horses instead of letting them stay in their stall or pasture all the time………………………….

The dream team, Sox & Pat

Jere and I, as proponents for Natural Horsemanship, feel that it is our job to inform people about Natural Horsemanship. One of the ideas Natural Horsemanship embraces is that you should be able to ride your horse, be safe, and have fun. Lots of people we see just go see their horse and feed him a carrot and pet his head and that is the extent of their interaction with their horses for that day. Why do they see him once a week and don’t do anything with him? They can’t handle him!! He runs over them, steps on them, and maybe even bites or kicks. You have considerable money invested in this horse by now. You have moved him into a barn or to your home, had the farrier come and work on him, had his shots, worming and Coggins taken care of and even bought tack and equipment. If you are spending all this money, why can’t you get out there and do something with him? Because you can’t control him! Go take some lessons and do it every week and then practice. Plan some time for him. I know we all have busy lives, but if you don’t have time for him, maybe you don’t need to own him? Horses are living breathing animals, and if he is standing in a stall or pen all the time, this isn’t good for him. We see so many people who have horses they are just paying for, not riding or enjoying and it is an easy problem to fix. Spend time at lessons, clinics and practices and you will be able to go on trail rides or show him or anything else. And you will get some fun out of all that money you spent. Wasn’t that the idea when you got him?!

Next Saturday, October 22, from 9a.m. to 7p.m., we will be at the Bluebonnet Equine Rescue’s Expo at the Travis County Expo Center in Austin. Jere will be demonstrating how to read the personality of the horse at noon in the outside arena. We also have a booth. Drop by and see us. The Expo has eighteen different clinicians and demonstrations, a silent auction, used tack sale, parade of breeds and lots of different vendors. You will find lots of horse stuff to interest you. This Expo is Bluebonnet’s main fund raiser and also a place where you can adopt a horse. There will be about 50 head there that need to be adopted and you can come and look and choose one.

Have a good week and get out there and do something with your horse!!

The Quality Of Our Students

2011-10-01T06:37:00.000-07:00

October 1, 2011
Jere rode in the Jack Brainard Clinic in Leaky, TX on September 24 and 25. We love going to clinics to learn new things. It gives us new life and feeds us, and in turn, we do a better job at the next clinic we give. Jack taught some lead changes and Cowboy or Western Dressage. Jere has long advocated what he calls “Dancing with Horses” and got some new moves to try on his patient students. We took Bandit, our most finished horse. Sherry and Jackie came and rode in the clinic too, and I must say they really made Jere look like a good instructor. Jackie especially conquered some confidence issues, and we were really proud of both of them.

Our 3 Day Trail Riding Clinic was a success too. We had it at a very nice facility down the road from us at Tarpley, TX. This was Jody Campbell’s J C Horseshoe Ranch. Jody has a covered arena, quite a few stalls in a brand new barn, an outside arena, and she also has run out sheds with little pens around them. She does overnight boarding and does other horse stuff. Look at her page on the web. http://www.jchorseshoeranch.com/index.html We had 11 riders and we had a very good time.

When we start having lots of clinics and lessons and get really busy, we really start to appreciate the quality of the students we have who are trying very hard to learn Natural Horsemanship. This study takes time and energy. No one can do it for you. You have to put the time and energy into it. Lots of people believe that horses are like motorcycles. You have the mechanic work on them and park them in the garage and then take them out when you want to ride them and you have a nice ride. A horse may ride like a motorcycle, but he darned sure isn’t like one. You have to take the time it takes to have a good horse that you can ride down the trail or at a show. I can’t emphasize how much difference it makes when you actually spent the time and energy to put the foundation on your horse. Then when you take him to a ride or show you can have a good time instead of having problems and endangering everyone else.

We have an Advanced Horsemanship Clinic coming up on October 8 & 9 again at Jody Campbell’s Horseshoe Ranch in Tarpley, TX. There has been quite a lot of interest in this clinic. Jere is hoping to teach some of the things he learned at the Brainard Clinic.

You have to be able to do the ground exercises well, ride at a trot and walk and keep control of your horse for this clinic. This is also a progressive clinic. You cannot take one day only. You have to take both days. Please e-mail me if you are interested.

We have had 4 inches of rain in the last couple of days. It has also cooled down and this is wonderful!! We are so thankful for the rain. Have a good week!

The Life of a Busy Clinician

2011-09-14T14:35:00.000-07:00

September 14, 2011

No rain yet! Guess we have stopped getting it. I am now watering the big oak trees in the pasture. Without trees, this little 5 acres would be a wasteland! Funny the difference shade makes to a pasture.

We have had a very busy week. We have given a couple of Seminars to an Eventing barn, given a ground clinic to a group of people, we have almost finished getting ready for our 3 day Trail Clinic this weekend and we have done some re-organizing of our business. Very busy time for us.

Folks from the Eventing barn watching Jere doing the “Scary Jere” look.

The Seminars were a big success. We went to a barn in Boerne, TX and showed them just what Natural Horsemanship is and how it can work on their horses. We also showed them a lot of how the ground work works with the riding. The people at the barn were really fun and had good questions. We will be going back there for some lessons etc.

We are going to be working up a Seminar Program we can give to different barns that don’t know what Natural Horsemanship is all about. It will include What is Natural Horsemanship, How do you read a horse’s personality, and how does the ground work fit with your riding? We will give a 3 hour program and the barn will provide several problem horses. If you know of anyone who would be interested, tell me and I will contact them.

The 3 Day Trail Clinic is almost upon us. But we are ready. Jere is making our bridge this morning. We will be using the ACTHA list for obstacles and we have chosen 6 that they have in their rides. Go to the ACTHA page and open the rides tab. Then on that, there is an obstacles listing. It tells how they judge the obstacle and how the rider and horse should look.

We have been having a discussion among ourselves that is very interesting. In Natural Horsemanship we have 4 phases of getting a horse to do what we want. We also always say, we do not use “make” or force ways. But if we have to go to Phase 4 and smack, does the horse have any other choice than to do it. Is he not forced? This is a very important and interesting question, I think. Discuss it with your friends and get back to us on what you think. We will be talking about this in the future.

Next weekend is the Jack Brainard Clinic on Western Dressage in Leaky, TX. Jere will be riding in this clinic and so will several of our students. You may audit this for free, but you can’t ask questions as an auditor because they want the people who have paid to get enough time. Come out and watch this. It will be a classic. And you get to see Jere hollered at, like he hollers at you!!!

SOMETHING YOU CAN’T MISS - We have 2 horses at the house for training that are Bluebonnet Equine Rescue horses. Their foster homes are paying for training so that hopefully they can be adopted. They are both very nice sweet mares. The Bluebonnet Equine Rescue EXPO is October 22, 2011 at the Travis County Expo Arena. This is a big deal and a lot of fun. Both these horses will be up for adoption. Their names are Aspen and Foxy Girl. There are all kinds of demonstrations (and Jere is giving one of them) and a trainers challenge for people who train these horses. The whole idea is to get these horses adopted into a “forever” home!! All animal rescue’s are between a rock and a hard spot right now with big round bales costing $125. Please come out and support the Expo and Bluebonnet Equine Rescue. And if you or anyone else would like to adopt a really nice horse that we have put some time into and their foster homes have worked too, please come and look at them. Here is their web page address.

http://www.bluebonnethorseexpo.com/blog/

Have a good week, and PRAY FOR RAIN.

It Is Hot and Dry!!

2011-08-29T12:00:00.000-07:00

August 29, 2011

Another hot day in Utopia, TX!! 106° YIKES!! I hope we get some rain pretty soon. Or at least some cooler weather!!

We have had a pretty busy week. We mowed (which doesn’t take long with no rain). Then we did some watering. We can’t water much because, like everyone else who is on a city water system, we are on restrictions. I am keeping the trees alive and some of my more expensive plants and that is all.

It is interesting which plants are doing well. The Lantana is growing quite a little, but not blooming much. The Plumbago is going crazy with beautiful blooms, and has not been watered much at all. The poor Knock Out Roses that were blooming so beautifully are decimated by the deer. The deer are not supposed to like them, but when there isn’t much else to eat, they really go after them. Most everything else but the Vitex trees are getting ate or dying. I also have a couple of little paper magnolia trees, and they sure are having a hard time, even with us giving them much more water than anything else.

The garden, which was so prolific at the start of summer is not doing so well, not because of lack of water, but because of the heat. The tomatoes gave us a lot at the first of the summer but then the heat started working on them. I am going to take up 2 or 3 of them and put them in pots on the shaded porch. We will see how they do there.

This heat sure makes it hard to get all the riding done that we want to. We get up pretty early and try to get all the clients horses ridden, and then around 2 or 3 p.m. we go in and do catch up work. We would like to ride a couple of our own horses, but it is impossible. But if we can just be patient, we will get cool weather here pretty soon. It is already cool in the mornings. Hard to believe it can get from 75° to 110° in one day.

Well, stay inside as much as you can. And bring in as many pets as you can. It is too hot for them outside.

Horse Personality

2011-08-22T09:46:00.000-07:00

August 22, 2011
No rain for us this week either. Guess we aren't doing something right. But life goes on, even though we are in one of the worst drouths in history. Here is a little about our life.

I got the Newsletter out last week. It is a pretty good sized job (or at least it is for me) to get these little five pages written. But it is well worth it when I get back e-mails saying something in it has helped someone. I got back two e-mails like that today. Advertising is one of the hardest things for me and Jere to do. We even have trouble getting our brochure and business cards put out in feed stores and vet offices!! I would like to hire someone to just do publicity and promotions, but can’t justify it yet. So back to the drawing board for me. Our publicity depends on booths at various horse events, our brochures and cards distributed in stores, the newsletter and blog I write, face book and our web page and the thing that is the best advertising, word of mouth. We have done some print advertising, but felt it didn’t really pan out.

The Blog is another hard one to do, because it takes so much time, but I have recently bought a little book that shows how to produce ideas to write, by putting some word that you want to write about in a circle, and then brainstorming words that seem to go with it. As I get older, I find it harder to think of things to write about and this little technique seems to help a lot. One thing I like about the blog is that it flows better, because I know I can write about what I want.

On to Horsemanship….We believe one of the best things that ever happened in the horse world was for Linda Parelli to wake up at 2:30 in the morning and start writing the Horse Personalities out. Before, we knew that horses were somewhat different, but we didn’t know what to do for each personality or what characteristics each horse had. We think this will change the horse world the world over. Many people have started using this program to figure horses out and while some people are doing a little different system, it is still helping the horse to learn. Think what it would be like for schools to use a system something like this on kids. They would learn according to how their personalities are. I know that sure would have helped me in school!!

We have four geldings here now in for training. We try not to put more than two horses in the smaller pastures we have, so there are two geldings in each pasture.

The first is named Gully. He is a 3 year old and is Cully’s horse. He is a left brained extrovert and if he doesn’t get enough work or things to keep him active, he will tear stuff down, get into the fences and skin himself up and so on, generally making a nuisance of himself. His pasture mate is an older horse named Willie. Willie is about 10 and has seen it all. He has all sorts of scars on his front legs, so we aren’t sure what his life was like before. But Willie is a left brained introvert, who gets along no matter what. When we first put Gully and Willie together, Gully tried to dominate Willie. But soon, Willie had enough of that and started backing up to Gully and kicking him! A couple of days of this and they both get along by staying away from each other. Sort of like a truce. They really don’t like each other, they just get along.

We have two more geldings in another pasture. The first is Lucky, a young paint. He is left brained extrovert, but he is very non-confrontational. Lucky just wants a playmate, but he is always the low man on the totem pole. He is a very sweet, easy to get along with colt.

The gelding we have in with Lucky is Choco. He is brand new, but he seems to be a left brained extrovert too, with dominance issues. He and Lucky started out fighting like crazy and we thought maybe poor old Lucky would get to be the boss of somebody, finally. But it was not to be. Chaco pushes Lucky off his feed, and Lucky knows his place and moves to another pile of hay. They seem to really like each other now, and will play “bite face” all day.

It is really interesting to watch these horses and the other horses we have here in their herd. Sometimes they change from being one horse personality to being another in the same day and sometimes even when we are working them in a round pen session. The best way to figure out what your horse is, is to sit and watch what they do with other horses.

I hope you all have a very profitable and worthwhile week. We have a couple of private lessons and lots of regular lessons. Cully’s brother-in-law is also coming down to stay a while and work some horses. We are looking forward to that. Hopefully, I will get some pictures into the blog next week.

New Blogging Going On

2011-08-17T17:20:00.000-07:00

August 15, 2011

I guess it is never going to rain again. Every morning we wake up to hazy wet looking skies and then about 10 a.m. the sun comes out and fry’s us!! We are getting tired of hot weather and drought!! But I guess we better get used to it, because it might last longer. I have noticed it looking more fall-y in the evenings though, so maybe we will get some relief soon.

This blog is an add on to our Mustang Blog. It is going to be about the life of a horse clinician and his wife. But it will be from the viewpoint of the wife. Because that is what I am. Sometimes I love it and sometimes I don’t like it so well. Jere and I have worked so many low paying and difficult jobs, that we are thankful for anything like this where we can make a decent living.

When I decided to write this Blog, I wanted to do four things. First, I want to try to give you an idea of what we do in our lives on a day to day basis. Second, I want to keep all our students and students to be apprised of the dates and times of the events we are having. Three, I would like to entertain so that you will read my blog!! And fourth, I would like to educate about Natural Horsemanship.

Here is a little background on us. We are Jere and Cathy Johnson. Jere was born in Colorado and his Dad was a horse trader. I also was born and raised in Colorado as a dairyman’s daughter, who was nuts about horses from the time I was a little girl. We both had four siblings and we both were raised in rural areas. We met at Otero Junior College in La Junta, Colorado and married. We have three children, Cully, who lives here, Cory who lives in Waller, TX, and Jereny who lives in Burnet, TX . All of them are in the horse business of one type or another and we consider ourselves very lucky in that way.

We have been able to stay close to the horse business through the 46 years of our marriage. Jere and I both worked in feed lots, for veterinarians and on ranches. We have taken a few jobs out of our field, like working in a warehouse, working landscaping, and a few things like that. But mostly we have worked with and around horses.

This week was a pretty busy week for us at the Center. We have had 2 new horses come in and we need to get these owners, who don’t know much about Natural Horsemanship going on understanding the program and why their horses do what they do. We train the owners along with the horses. There is no use working with the horse and sending him home and then the owner can’t get the horse to do anything. We always say a horse is not like a motorcycle. You can take the motorcycle to the garage and have it overhauled and take it home and park it in the garage. The next time you want to ride it, you just put the key in and off you go. A horse is not like that. They are living, breathing, thinking animals and you have to have a relationship with them, make some time for them, and want to put them first.

Well, that is enough for now. I am going to try to blog every week, so next Sunday will be my day again. Thank you for reading it!!

Pintada

2011-01-26T17:49:00.000-08:00

Pintada did well today. We worked on getting her behind the bridle. She still tends to heavy in the front end. She pushes her hind end through her front end. She tends to loose focus and get mad. If you are patient and let her work through her fit, she will settle down. She is tough to deal with when she has fit because she has won in the past.

We also worked at flexing at the poll. She is doing well at this. We worked on leg yeilds. She does them, but she tends to push on the bridle when she does them. That is because she is so heavy on the front end.

We also worked a little on the walk trot transitions. She has a sort of Western Pleasure trot.

2011

2011-01-17T19:04:00.000-08:00

Well, here we are in 2011 and time has just seemed to fly by. We haven't written much in our blog, but will try to keep up with it on the horses we have now.

The first edition of the new year is Pintada, a black and white Paint mare. She is very dominant to everyone. But this makes sense, since she lives with her two colts and has been the boss of them since they were born.

We have been working with her for about two weeks and she is showing a lot of progress. We first taught her that she couldn't run over everyone. She was pushy and thought she should be able to come into our space.

We have been doing all the ground exercises with her. We also have done the catching exercise with her and she tied right on to Jere.

One of her biggest problems was that she would throw her head when she had anything in her mouth. We have been letting her wear the bit along with the Natural Halter on. This seems to help her learn to not throw her head. We don't know why she throws her head with the bit in, but it probably has a lot to do with the riders hands.

This mare is very smart and catches on fast. She is very willing since she has gotten over trying to be dominant over everyone. This mare just wanted a leader that she knows will keep her safe.

October 4, 2010

2010-10-06T12:54:00.000-07:00

This is Cinco's third saddling. You would never know the Cinco of today is the Cinco that first came here. His confidence is growing by leaps and bounds.

He doesn't mind the saddle at all. He accepted it like he had been saddled a lot of times before. We did the ground skills and drove him a lot and he accepted it all. He stops, backs, side passes and all the rest, all from the middle of him. This is pretty good for a horse that was a bundle of jumping beans when he first came. With horses like Cinco, the best way to train him is to set it up for him to succeed and wait for it to happen. This gives him time to think about it and to do it without getting shook. Horses like Cinco learn from patterns.

Gully has had about 14 rides. He is really is starting to do well. He breaks at the poll and has become soft at his face. He is a very athletic horse . He is stopping and turning good. He is showing a lot of confidence when asked to do things. This type of horse is the one who is easily bored and when you teach him something you have to quickly teach him the next thing.

Sugarfoot has a little bit of a temper. Most of that is her lack of understanding of what you are trying to teach her. We worked on ground skills and a lot of speed control and change of directions to engage her mind. She jumped over jumps, backed through gates and did the figure eight on the cones. She is a very athletic and smart little mare. She is going to be a super stopper, because of her natural ability to round her back and bring her hind legs up under her and slide.

Fred is still unconfident. He is still fighting demons. He is very uncomfortable with the friendly game. We did saddle him today though. He doesn't seem to care at all about that. He is still scared of the stick, and we are not sure yet if he is scared of the stick, or is he scared of what happened to him with the stick in his former life. With a horse like Fred Re-naturalization is a long slow process. It takes time and more time.

2010-09-23T17:41:00.000-07:00

Prince goes home tomorrow. When you train a horse like him, you always want the best for him. You want him to be treated well, so that he gets along good. You always hope he gets the best deal. We took Prince on a trail ride today. We went about 5 miles around our little hill. He loved it and did very well. He walked along bobbing his head and didn't have a bit of trouble. We also took our horse Junior, who is calm and steady. The only thing we had a little spook with was a donkey. Both horses put their heads up and looked at the donkeys.
When we send a horse home like this, we always hope their owners will work the ground skills and ride him with confidence so he will have a good ride. We also hope they will keep coming to lessons and clinics to continue his and the owners education.

We worked on Gully's lateral flexion, head set, and collection. Gully is in the place of any three year old colt. And as with most 3 year olds, you have about 20 minutes of teaching time. Gully is extremely atheletic, and when you ride him, you can feel every muscle in his body. He is a very unusual horse.

2010-09-22T16:14:00.000-07:00

We don't write every day on this blog. Sometimes we skip several days. It all depends on our work and travel schedule.

There are a lot of things we do in horse training that are repetitive. In reading this blog we repeat steps over and over. This is done to address certain issues that arise when riding a horse. Sometimes this takes multiple days to fix these issues.
Prince is at this stage now. We are working on two things, stopping and backing. When Prince stops, he tends to go downhill. He is improving daily on this. When he has trouble with backing he isn't engaging his hindquarters enough. So we are working on that. He will go home soon.

This is Gully's sixth ride. He is doing well. We are spending a lot of time working on lateral flexion, by tipping the nose in, disengaging his hind end, and making him push in. We have started stopping and backing to help him to break at the poll.

Cinco has made significant improvement in his trust issues. He still has a tendency to hide from people and he also has a hard time when he starts to learn something new. We are driving him, working on lateral flexion and turning, stopping, backing and side passing. His biggest problem is still trust. Cinco needs a very confident leader who will help him when he gets worried.

Something we need to remember as horseman is that horses are not like a car or motorcycle. If you take your horse to a trainer, and then get him back, he is not like a motorcycle or a car. You can't just park him in the barn and take him out the next time and he will be in the same place. You still have to keep the horse tuned up. You have to get out and ride at least 3 times a week (and more if you can) and you have to be consistent.

2010-09-15T16:05:00.000-07:00

We worked Prince on forward, stop and circles, and following the focus. This is same thing we have working on with Prince on most of the time. We have been consistant with him. He is really doing well and is getting a lot more trustworthy. Prince goes home at the end of this month and has progressed well.

George is just the sweet horse he has been since we have had him. He is stopping, backing and does everything very well. He has gotten very soft in his face and will be going home soon. He will make a very nice horse for his owner.

Cinco had a really good day. We drove him for the first time this day. He took to it like a duck to water. He remained calm through the whole thing. This is a really big thing for him.

Gully had his second ride today. He is a quick study and is very responsive and light and sensitive. He is a fast learner. He is growing mentally a lot. He doesn't throw his fits like he did and he stays calm longer.

Sugarfoot had a little snit today. She is a very dominent pushy mare. After she tried being dominent, she settled right back to learning. This is her second time to be saddled. She did well with the saddeling.

Fred had a good day today. We had to work on him catching us, because he forgot how to do it. We also worked at liberty on desensitization. He is still a little spooky. We also worked on draw. We went in a circle and asked for disengagement and when his head started to face us, we walked off. This develops draw.

Junior is a new horse we are helping a friend with. He had the best day and the biggest change of all the horses we worked today. First we changed saddles because we noticed that his shoulders were rotating. That made him much more relaxed and then we put the saddle behind the shoulder extension. That made him carry his head low and his owner says he never has done this. His mind is more engaged and he is yawning to get the Adrenalin out. We know now that we are on the right track with this horse.

2010-09-12T16:29:00.000-07:00

Gully turned a corner today. He is soft and supple in his face and body. We warmed up with the ground skills and played the cutting exercise. We also drove him and he is getting the balance, stop and release. We worked on correct circles and body arcs and stopped him with one rein.

Cinco finally stopped hiding today. He is much calmer and doesn't spook nearly as much. He finally trusts us and believes what we are doing is OK and now we are going on to some new stuff. We hope to drive him and see if the trust is still there.

2010-09-09T13:57:00.000-07:00

We finally found the one problem that George had hidden. We found it after mentally preparing him, getting his feet fixed, and figuring out his personality. We also found that George is the perfect example that horses forgive, because if he didn't forgive, he would have been a handful. George is really bracey in the bit and feels that every time someone touches the reins, they are going to rip on his mouth. If you ask him to back, he immediately begins gaping his mouth, chewing the bit and trying to avoid you. He becomes nervous, but if you stay SOFT and persistent with him, he finally releases to the feel and finds the soft spot in the bridle. We found that he likes to drop his head and stretch his back. This is a good reward for him for getting over being bracey.

2010-09-09T13:28:00.000-07:00

Prince wakes up in a new world every day. He is still very immature and can't figure out what you want of him, but after you ride him awhile, he comes around. Today we worked on him going in straight lines. He has a tendency to wander and can't follow your focus. Tomorrow, we will be doing more of the driving exercises, like driving him to an object to have him follow your focus.

2010-09-08T18:05:00.000-07:00

We worked on Gully, trying to get him to catch the human. We warmed up on the ground skills and then went to driving with him. He is still putting his ears back in a dominance attitude. He is not near as bad as he was though and he is making progress with learning all the ground skills. Next week we will probably put a saddle on him.

Cinco is a changed boy. At least around here. If you took him to a horse show, he might still be wild and woolly. His trust and curiosity are starting to show. Today he would go around the round pen and smell things, where before he has never shown any interest in them at all. He is an not a confident learner, needing you to have a short line and keep him pretty close to you. He still has a lot of brace in his body, which means he has brace in his mind too.

We worked on George's ground skills today, just as a review to make sure he does them with perfection. He is still the willing kind horse he always has been for us. His biggest problem is going inside himself and getting introverted. We do a lot of scratching, rubbing and just sitting with him. This will build a bond and he won't be so introverted.

2010-09-07T17:15:00.000-07:00

We have been having a lot of rain yesterday and today, so can't really do anything in the mud. But we did get Cinco's feet trimmed. And he did a great job!! Our farrier did the front feet without a bit of trouble. Then he only had a little trouble with the back feet. Cinco didn't kick or anything, he just kind of pulled. Cinco is learning that he doesn't have to fight with everyone, and he is getting more trust in the people who are handling him. This is a major step forward for him. He is gaining a little trust.
We get quite a few horses of this type. They think someone is going to kill them and they are the goosey, jump in the air, and land on you, and their first instinct is to fight. This is one of the most dangerous types of horses for the "new to horses" person. If you have a horse like this, you need to get some professional help from a REAL Natural Horseman. Don't go to just anyone, because this horse can't be forced. He will get worse with force and someone will get hurt.

2010-09-06T15:50:00.000-07:00

Gully had a very good day today. He is getting the ground exercises down well and we have driven him quite a bit. He has the driving pretty well figured out. The only thing he does, that isn't right yet, is he goes behind Jere's back in the circle and snakes his head at him. This is probably stallion behavior, but will soon disappear. He still has a tendency to be a little aggressive, and Jere still has to prove his leadership and will probably have to do it over and over for a while. Jere played the catching game with him today and he got it. Tomorrow we are going to take him onto the playground to see how he does with a longer rope.

2010-09-06T15:46:00.000-07:00

Cinco's eyes are getting larger and more liquid. This is a sure sign that he is getting calmer and starting to trust. The Cinco you see today is a far cry from the scared, nervous, jumpy horse that came to us. When he came, you couldn't touch his ears, the shoer wanted to drug him to get him trimmed, and he was a jumpy bundle of nerves. Today we trimmed his front feet with absolutely no problems at all. We didn't even have anyone hold the lead rope. What a difference in a horse. This Natural Horsemanship will really work, if you give it the time. It is so much fun to see a horse like Cinco change. Of course we still have a long way to go, but now the owner knows there is hope for him.

2010-09-06T11:43:00.000-07:00

George is just a nice, sweet, horse, that tries really hard for us. He does not need any severe measures with his training, or with his equipment. He is willing and docile. His main problem is that he is a left brained introvert and he goes inside himself to protect himself, until he has had all he can stand, and then he reacts.
Today was an easy day for him. He put his head down, his ears up and just enjoyed himself with all the things Jere asked of him. Just a super horse. Wish he was ours!!!

2010-09-06T11:39:00.000-07:00

Prince's journey has been a long and trying one, both for him and for us. We are making some progress with him though. His main problems are that he stops with his feet all strung out, he lacks impulsion, and he doesn't know how to stop balanced. He is just an immature colt, that grew physically faster than mentally.

This pictures is an example of the unbalanced stop Prince makes. See how far apart his feet are? He can't engage his body from this position. We are making progress with Prince. He is doing a lot more balanced stops now.
Lots of colts, that are big physically, have this sort of issue. They just grow faster than their mind does. Remember this when you want to buy a 4 year old and he is big. A good place to go for information on this phenomenon is Dr. Deb Bennett's page on the Internet.

Riding Clinic, Sept 4, 2010

2010-09-06T11:07:00.000-07:00

Our son Cully, rode Prince in the horsemanship clinic we had on Saturday. Our goals were mainly to get Prince out with other horses and to get him used to paying attention to his rider instead of all the exciting stuff that is going on around him. He did very well. Cully has been riding him for awhile now, and he is used to his methods. They worked on the basics in this clinic and Prince needs help with stopping, backing, and hindquarter engagement.

2010-09-02T11:35:00.000-07:00

Sugarfoot was her usual self. She is very loving and dominant!! What a combination. We worked on her ground skills. She is doing real well on them. We saddled her and she will be started driving next week. She doesn't object to the saddle at all. Her owner is coming to ride her soon. He is our grandson, Clay.

2010-09-02T11:28:00.000-07:00

Fred went to the gym today. He was soaking wet when he was done. He had a pretty hard day and he didn't trust as much as he has other days. You can see the trust developing, but he has times when he looses it. Then he goes to the cones and puts his feet on it. That is his safety place. He knows he was successful at that so he goes there. He is just going to take a lot of time to become trusting of people.

2010-09-02T11:20:00.000-07:00

Cinco is really working out. Everything jelled for him today. Of course he still is very claustrophobic on the right side. He is getting good at all the ground skills and didn't loose his cool on any of them. All four of his feet were picked up without any trouble and that is a major deal. He is starting to trust us a little better and a couple of people have been working him, so that is also a major deal.

2010-09-02T11:16:00.000-07:00

Gully had another rough day. He certainly has his ups and downs. He is like a big spoiled kid. He still has a tendency to want to run his own program and gets a little aggressive sometimes. We worked again on ground skills. We drove him and he was very receptive to that. Gully is a high energy horse, with lots of drive and movement. If he had a job every day, it would be better for him. But time will make him better.

2010-09-02T11:10:00.000-07:00

George is becoming very supple, very light in the bridle. His whoa and go is very balanced. He is starting to turn around very fast. He has no problems to speak of and is just a very nice horse. If the owner will ride him a couple of times a week, he is going to make a very nice trail horse.

2010-09-02T11:07:00.000-07:00

Prince is still having his impulsion problem. He also is heavy on the front end, leans on the bit, and is used to people pulling on him without giving him any release when he gives to them. This is all related to impulsion.

To fix this we are teaching him to engage his hindquarters, with the inside hind foot taking the first step. We did a lot of walk, trot, stop and back transitions on him, and asked him forward again. When he breaks at the poll and gives we release pressure on his face.

2010-08-30T18:28:00.000-07:00

Sugarfoot's first saddling was today. She accepted it like she had been doing it all her life. She is not claustrophobic and didn't jump or do anything out of the ordinary. Her main problems still are pushing into you and wanting to walk all over you. We are still working ground skills and she seems to be getting over that some. Today she spent some time on the "Patience Tree" to get her used to standing and waiting for her human. She did very well with that.

2010-08-30T18:16:00.000-07:00

Fred is the Great Licker now. He licks everybody. And not just a little bit. He slobbers all over you. He is a very smart horse and figured out how to untie the Blocker Ring today. We worked on the ground skills and did figure eights around the cones on line. He also has a real problem with spooking at anything different and with the rope. We worked a lot on that by throwing the rope over his head and doing the "drunken cowboy" act. Fred is a very likable horse and has a real personality.

2010-08-30T18:05:00.000-07:00

Cinco is still working on his ground skills. When you combine the skills and ask for more preciseness, he becomes more unconfident. This is where working him through it and showing him that everything is going to come out all right on the other end is very important. He has tendencies to go right brained and this is mostly on the right side. We have been directing his feet and giving them something to do and having him do it precisely. That breaks his pattern of going right brained.

2010-08-30T17:54:00.000-07:00

We are still working on the ground skills with Gully, and he is playing a lot. He has a lot of curiosity and is extremely athletic. He has settled down and is following his nose and there is still a little brace in his body. This may be due to the fact that this is the first time we have driven him.

2010-08-30T17:41:00.000-07:00

Prince was ridden today. Today was probably the best day he has had so far, here. We worked circles to supple him and soften his mouth. We also did straight lines to teach him to follow the focus. It also helps his impulsion, which is still his hardest thing to do. His stops were ok today, but he still wants to push into the bridle. That is still part of his impulsion thing where he goes downhill and gradually coasts to a stop. This problem has improved a lot since we have been riding, but is still a problem. His owner came and rode him and got along very well.

2010-08-30T17:30:00.000-07:00

George was first again. George is doing beautifully. He is becoming very supple and losing the brace in his mind and body. He is becoming reactive to his leg aids. The lady who rides him is going to do some work to be able to ride him and he will turn out to be a great horse.

2010-08-26T11:45:00.000-07:00

Prince was first this morning. We warmed up on the ground and drove him. We then started riding him. We worked a lot more on impulsion as this is really his Achilles heel. We did circles, transitions, stop and back. Circles soften his body and make him more flexible. Transitions help with impulsion and improve his gait. The stop was worked on because he has a tendency to dribble out and he is still heavy in his front end. Backing is to engage the hindquarters.

George was warmed up on the ground too and then ridden. We worked on circles and stopping. He is very stiff on the right side and circles will help him with that. Today the owners came to ride some of these horses and we gave them a mini lesson.

Cinco is so much better. He is asking questions much more and settling down. He is gaining trust in humans now because his owner worked him and he wasn't near as scared as he was at first. Today we pushed him through some things he didn't want to go through to let him know he was going to come out alright on the other end.

Gully had an extremely good day. His ground skills have gotten a lot better. He has lost his bullying attitude and is very interested in what we are trying to get him to do. He is the kind of horse that has to have his mind challenged all the time. His owner also worked him and she played the ground skills. He worked well with her, with no sign of the teenager coming out.

2010-08-25T15:54:00.000-07:00

Gully is progressing nicely and his ground skills have greatly improved. He is showing a lot of initiative and curiosity. He really wants to please now. He has pretty much quit being a teenager and just needs a job to do.

George did ground exercises for just a few minutes this morning. Then we rode him. We did circles on him to soften his mouth. He was ridden in the arena this morning instead of the round pen. This allows him to free up and move out a little better. We worked on stopping and backing and he showed a lot of improvement in all areas. Being in the arena helped him a lot with his forward motion.

We rode Prince too. His ground skills are very good so we don't have to do much of that with him. We drove him and he is still heavy in the front. After that we rode him and worked on circles, engaging his hindquarters, and going forward. He still wants to get his head down and coast to a stop. After we get him to where he will stop and turn, we will take him to the arena and maybe that will help with his impulsion. This horse is like a colt. He has no foundation training on him. He doesn't turn or stop or back up. All of this has to be taught before you can ride him in a big arena. No wonder he has a history of getting scared and running and bucking.

Cinco turned a little corner today. He wasn't near as scared as he has been in previous sessions. He is asking questions, and can learn new tasks if given time to assimilate them. This is a big step for Cinco. If you can ever get him to think instead of reacting from fear, he can learn something. His owners know that this horse may take a little more time than the average horse, because of the fear and trust factor.

Fred had a really good day today. His ground games have really improved and he is one of the smartest horses we have seen. His trust factor is way up. But it is still somewhat of an issue with Fred. Over time though, he will get to trust humans more and more. Usually he is a pain to catch, but he let himself be caught easily today.

Sugarfoot is always easy to catch, because she catches you in hopes of having a treat. She is very food orientated. She still doesn't lead too well, but she has only been broke to lead for about two weeks. She did relatively well in the ground skills. We taught her to find a cone and touch it and she learned it very fast. Sugarfoot's owner is a 14 year old boy, who has done a lot of work on her, since we got her. He is going to try to show her in open shows. She has a really nice personality and they should do well.

Hopefully, I can get some pictures posted tomorrow so you can see what each horse looks like.

2010-08-24T13:36:00.000-07:00

Gully, the new horse is the first one we did this morning. His owner was here from Bandera to see how he was getting along.  The first thing we did this morning was to review his ground skills.  He is starting to get all of them. However, when you try to circle Gully, he tosses his head, jumps in the air and paws at you while coming towards you. He is pretty much of a teenager. He also has some stallion behaviour. When we worked on finding the cone with his feet, his mind became a lot more engaged and he quit being so much of a teenager and settles down. This is all part of his left brained extrovert personality. He has to be challenged all the time.

George was the next horse we worked. We spent only about ten minutes working on the ground skills. He does very well at all those skills. Then he was ridden and this is only the third time he has been ridden here. We worked on circles to soften his face and get him over the fear of being pulled on.  He will sidepass, and will two-track. He must have had some training on him to do such intricate manuevers. Tomorrow, we will ride in the arena.

Prince was next and we rode him for the first time, here. We discovered he is just like a colt, with no basic foundation on him at all. He doesn't turn, he doesn't go with the feel, and he braces at everything. He travels downhill, pushing all his weight onto the front legs, so therefore can't get his front feet out of the way to go forward. Consequently, he slows to a stop a lot and has no forward momentum. Today we worked on stopping him and giving to the bit. Prince braces to everything and this has become an automatic reaction by now, to protect himself.  We worked on circles and leading off with the correct foot on the turn.  The horse must lead off with the correct foot so that he has momentum for his body to leave.

Cinco was the last one. He is still fairly scared, but is getting better with trusting us. We only did on line work with him today. We did a lot of getting him to drop his head and relax. Because he is a right brained introvert, it is a slow process to get him to trust us.  We have to teach him two or three things and then quit. Today we worked on giving to steady pressure, circling, and back up. He got the steady pressure quickly. Circling to the left, he was fairly well connected to us, but circling to the right he would leave pretty fast. He would have his head turned away with his ribs poked right at you. Backing was also pretty easy for him today.

Tomorrow we will try for some pictures. Stay tuned!

2010-08-22T09:19:00.000-07:00

We got a new horse yesterday to train. His name is Gully and he is a bay three year old Quarter Horse Gelding. He is a left brained extrovert. He has been handled quite a lot. We started teaching him the ground skills on line and how to be respectful of our space. He is a high energy horse, so if he gets pushy he is rather dangerous.

2010-08-18T13:13:00.000-07:00

Prince was our first horse today. We have had him about a month and have gotten him over some of his worst dominance problems. His ground skills are improving and he is being driven. He still trips all over the obstacles, due to not paying any attention to where he puts his feet. This also follows through to not paying any attention to his handler. But, he is turning, backing and sidepassing in the driving reins. We are driving this horse to soften him up, and give him the confidence to follow his nose. This will lead to riding him.

We played the catching game with Fred today. Fred has a lot of fear about people. We worked with him with steady pressure to move his body around. We did desensitization at liberty so he could make his own decision to stay or leave. When he gets over his fear of humans, this will be a very nice gelding.

Cinco is the scared one. Even more scared than Fred. We played the catching game at liberty. His draw and join up was much faster today. We also worked on getting him to turn his feet loose, so he can travel with more cadence in his gaits. We also desensitized him at liberty. He could make the choice to stay or go. When the pressure is too much he can leave at liberty. This is vital with a scared horse like this one is. They have to be able to get their feet moving, because a horse only has one good weapon, and that is being able to run. When you trap them in any way, they think they are going to be eaten.

George is a real nice horse, who just needs a leader that will set perameters for him. His ground skills have really improved. He asks a lot of questions and is very curious about what is going on. Today we worked on teaching him all the ground skills. He is very willing and curious.

Sugarfoot found out that she has to follow a leader today. And she didn't want to! She showed her dominant side. This mare looks like a sweet little mare and she is, but she is also trying to be the alpha of her herd of two. Her herd of two consists of horseman and horse. We played the catching game at liberty and she wouldn't join on. Then, she finally decided to. We think tomorrow she will be better at this game, but you just never know.

2010-08-18T13:05:00.001-07:00

Today, we are going to introduce you to the 2 free horses we have.

The first is Fred, a bay Quarter Horse gelding. Fred is 11 years old, and the lady we got him from said someone roped on him. According to his registration papers, he has some very nice bloodlines. He is a right brained extrovert, with a lot of fear and confidence issues.

The second free horse is an unregistered Quarter Horse, named Sugarfoot. She is a sorrel filly, three years old. She has only been handled by the lady who gave her to us and has had only kind handling. She is a left brained introvert, who thinks her only job is to be loved on. She is very dominant.

In the next blog we will tell you what we are doing with these horses.

The Natural Journey

2010-08-17T14:04:00.000-07:00

We have received several horses in for Natural Training and thought we might share what they are learning with you. When each horse arrives at our facility, we explain to the owners that this is not just the horse's journey; it is also the horseman's journey. Their horse changes and so do they.

Prince is a big 16 hand Paint Gelding. He is a left brained extrovert. He is pushy and believes that people don't rank very high on his scale. We have had him for a month now and he is making real progress.

George is a nice little horse with a sweet nature. He is a sorrel Quarter Horse, about 15 hands tall. He is a gelding. He is a left brained extrovert and asks lots of questions, which indicates curiosity.

Cinco is a palomino Quarter Horse gelding. He floats between right brained extrovert and a right brained introvert. He lives in a very dark place and is afraid for his life.

We will talk about each of these horses and how they are coming along in the coming weeks. Also, I will be posting some pictures.

naturalremudaequinelearningcenter.com

2008-08-25T13:08:00.000-07:00

August 25, 2008

We have been busy as heck this last week or so. We did get some rain. Now we don't look so much like the Sahara Desert.

Penny finally decided that claustrophobia was in her mind. She had a fit the other day when a new implement was parked beside the arena where she was being worked. So, now she has bags, balls, and implements parked alongside the arena all over the place. She is getting used to squeezing through everything and is so much better about it. She has really settled down and is now leading by a leg and by her middle. She is so much calmer and is actually listening to Jere instead of thinking about running. From day one, she wasn't worried about tarps, and is still the same. That seems weird because she was so scared of everything else. She is jumping now but she jumps 3 feet in the air when she jumps a 2 foot jump.

Shasta has no claustrophobic tendencies at all. She has a lot of curiosity about all the stuff laying in the arena. She goes and investigates all of it.

Both of the fillies are turned out into a larger trap now. They run all the way around the arena every day and buck and jump. I think they sure like getting out of the little 1 acre trap they were in.

We only have a little over 3 weeks left to go until we head for Ft. Worth to show them. We want to say thank you in advance to all the people who are coming to the show to watch us. We know that takes some commitment to go that many miles to see us. Thank you all!!

www.naturalremudaequinelearningcenter.com

2008-08-14T08:53:00.000-07:00

August 14, 2008

We sure do see a difference in these two fillies. Granted, Penny is a little younger, by her size, but Shasta is so much farther ahead of Penny in training! We think it is due to their different personalities. Thank goodness we have studied the Parelli's Horsenality program and can see where they fit.

Penny is a right brained extrovert. She has a little switch in her head that clicks on and says RUN! And she does. This morning, though, we saw that she is starting to think a little sooner. She will run for a second and then she stops and thinks, instead of reacting. She is tight in her body, and lots more reactive. But on the other hand she has the lightest in feel of these two fillies and is much more sensitive. She will work on a far longer rope than Shasta will. We tied her up with a Blocker Ring for the first time this morning and she gave one little tiny pull and then stood there for an hour while other horses were being worked.

Shasta just takes everything in stride. This morning Jere swung his stick and string while he was walking all the way around her. He laid the rope on the ground while he did this and she didn't even pay any attention to him. We tied her up with the Blocker Rings and she didn't move. But I took a series of pictures and it looks like she is saying, "This sure is boring!"

www.naturalremudaequinelearningcenter.com

2008-08-13T14:58:00.000-07:00

August 13, 2008

This morning Penny loaded into the trailer at a trot. It is amazing to see the progress she has made. Then Jere worked with the flag (a sack on the end of a stick) and she didn't give much trouble with that. She is so much calmer and tied onto Jere that I think it makes her trust whatever he challenges her with. After we got done with the flag, she was introduced to the ball. She was pretty wary of it at first. Of course she still doesn't like to squeeze through anything and Jere had quite a time getting her to do that. But she is settling down a lot now. It is amazing what the ground-work does for these horses.

On the way to the trailer this morning, Jere laid the rope down and Shasta got into the trailer and waited for him. She is such an unusual colt, in that she will do almost anything! Work with the flag didn't bother her and she sniffed the ball and Jere lifted it up and put it up on her back and she just looked like she had been doing this all her life.

We still have to give both colts a bath, get them around crowds and a few other things. We have such a good foundation on them now, though, that we think it will be fairly easy to do all the rest.

Our Newsletter is on our web site, http://www.naturalremudaequinelearningcenter.com/

2008-08-12T07:45:00.000-07:00

August 12, 2008
Seems as though Penny is having a good solid breakthrough. She was much calmer this morning. The trailer sits in the path we walk when we go to the arena to work her. Jere showed her the opening to the trailer, and she just walked in like she was an old hand at this. Jere turned her loose in the round pen and worked at catching her. It didn't take long, as she is finally approaching him by herself. He worked on the tarp and then it started raining hard (praise the Lord!!). We quit till it stops raining.

We have set up a schedule of things we want to get done with them, now that we are so close to the Extreme Mustang Makeover date. One thing we really have to get done pretty soon is haul them to some shows and get some crowd noise miles on them. We know it will be noisy in Ft Worth and we want them to show well.

We want to thank all our clients and friends and neighbors for the interest and support they have shown in these Mustangs. It is certainly a lot more fun doing this when everyone is interested.

Our web page is at www.naturalremudaequinelearningcenter.com
We have our Newsletter on there and also a litst of our clinics.

2008-08-08T12:20:00.000-07:00

AUGUST 8, 2008
Today’s session with our Mustangs just proves that the Natural Horsemanship way of training horses really works. We have felt that we were fairly slow in how much training we were putting on our Mustangs, and that probably, everyone else was way ahead of us in training. But we were sticking to our training schedule because Shasta was doing so well and Penny was coming along nicely, but slowly. This morning we had proof of our theory.
Jere started with Penny. She was really quiet and showed no sign of the nerves and head up fear that she usually shows. She worked quietly in the arena and when Jere came out he thought he would load her in the trailer. She looked into it twice and put one foot up. Jere always gives the horse a way out, so he guided her out away from the trailer and turned her around. This time he just sent her and she walked right inside the trailer. So, going with Natural Horsemanship principles, he sent her out to stand on the ground again. Then he sent her in again, and be darned if she just walked in like she had been doing this all her life!! Jere and I are such skeptics!! We figured that we would get her part way in and then have to finish her the next day. But the little sweetheart proved us wrong. Jere sent her into the trailer a few more times and put her away for the day.
Then it was time for Shasta. We had company, so they watched while Jere worked her. Then Jere decided he would try to load Shasta. As Jere was walking to the trailer, he looked over at the dogs, and Shasta walked over to the trailer and hopped in. Just like that. We are so proud of them, we are busting our buttons!!

2008-08-07T13:05:00.001-07:00

AUGUST 7, 2008
Jere played with both horses on the playground and worked on transitions and draw.
Jere still plays catching move with them. Penny still is not tied on as well, but now she will walk up very cautiously and let herself be caught. We are going to start letting her walk up to us and rubbing her and playing with her face in her “sweet spots” and then walking away from her. We will see if this gets her to be more trusting of us.
We are also starting with the trailer loading, by driving them in. We have a 4-horse cattle trailer and most horses will get right into it. We will see about the Mustangs loading by the halter, instead of loose.

2008-08-07T11:52:00.001-07:00

AUGUST 1, 2008
Shasta and Penny are backing, yielding their hindquarters and circling. They do the side pass very well and are started on transitions, both up and down. They don’t get spooked at too much any more and we have even tied sacks to the top of the arena and round pen. They are also going over the tarp, and Penny, our little chicken, went over it without even thinking about it. It is amazing to watch them and see how they work things out in their mind.

2008-08-07T11:51:00.000-07:00

JULY 31, 2008
The light did come on for Penny today! She is much easier to catch. Finally! She isn’t spooking near as much and for the first time, Jere led her to the round pen, instead of having to back her a lot of the way.
A word about personality types. Penny is definitely right brained and an extrovert. She will get an idea in her head, and it is if a switch turned on and she goes running frantically around. In order for her to settle down, she has to have lots of disengagements and finally, she will start thinking.
Sweet Shasta just seems to be getting better and better. You folks that want a horse that will go on the trails and has been started right and ready to go on, sure should look at Shasta. She is really a doll!

2008-08-07T11:50:00.002-07:00

JULY 25, 2008
Today while Jere was trying to get Penny to hook on, at Liberty, she jumped the gate on the round pen. She was frantically trying to find a place to get away and we put too much pressure on her. She just stood up on her hind legs, right beside the gate and flatfooted jumped over! Maybe she can be a jumping horse!! But the good thing was, she let Jere walk right over to her and catch her. We were really surprised that she would let him catch her so easy. After that we worked her some more, and she seemed to settle down and come to him better. We will see if it is just a false alarm, or maybe she is getting ready to tie on.

2008-08-07T11:50:00.001-07:00

JULY 20, 2008
The Mustangs can now lead, they have had ropes around their legs, they are used to brushing and ropes being thrown over their back and rump. They will follow a feel, can have their feet picked up and are both leading by the front and back legs. They have had ropes around their bellies, know all the Parelli games, except for Penny, who we don’t do the circling game with yet.
Jere has also been taking them out to our playground, on a 22-foot line. They have gone over the bridge, walked and trotted over poles, jumped the jumps, and stood on a pedestal. Penny, of course, had some trouble, but after a couple of days she seemed to have calmed down a lot. A bigger area gives her much more room in her bubble, so she likes that better.

2008-08-07T11:49:00.002-07:00

JULY 15, 2008
Our granddaughters have both of the colts eating out of their hands. They also follow the girls around while they walk around the outside of the pen. Kids really tame horses quick. It has something to do with them being small and more importantly, the kids don’t walk like predators yet. So they are not a threat.

2008-08-07T11:49:00.001-07:00

JULY 5, 2008
We hauled the Mustangs back to the Center without any trouble.

2008-08-07T11:48:00.002-07:00

JULY 4, 2008
We did have great fireworks this year. Our house sits on a hill and we could see the whole show from the front porch!!

2008-08-07T11:48:00.001-07:00

JULY 3, 2008
Our granddaughters arrived today. They are 9-year-old twins and great de-spookers of Mustangs!! We also have had lots of company.
We loaded the Mustangs loose in the trailer and moved them over to a pasture we have with a barn on it. We didn’t want the fireworks to scare them enough to jump out of the pens. They loaded really well and hauled over to the pasture. They were close to about 5 of our other horses there and they liked that.

2008-08-07T11:47:00.000-07:00

JUNE 26, 2008
Today the Mustang colts made the trip to the round pen. It isn’t that far and Shasta walked over like she had done it a million times before. Penny had to be backed almost all the way there, to get her brain in gear, but she made it too.
They had a really good session in the round pen. It seems to free them up some.
Jere got Shasta moving off of pressure and did the catch me thing to see if she was still tied on in a larger area. This colt is so sweet and trusting, that she hardly ever spooks or tries to run. And she didn’t this time either. Jere even did some Liberty work with her and she did really well.
Penny didn’t get off the rope at all, but Jere spent a lot of time disengaging and getting her to think. She really has trouble with circles, because her brain seems to go into “run faster” mode after the first or second circle. So, we won’t do many circling things until she can use her brain better.

2008-08-07T11:46:00.000-07:00

JUNE 19, 2008
Today we took some more pictures of the Mustangs. We can’t get them out of their pen yet, but got some good pictures of Jere leading Shasta and Penny being groomed.
We have found out that our neighbor is in charge of the fireworks for the town of Utopia and he has been practicing. The Mustangs are pretty spooked by this, but with horses next to them really help. We will move them to the pasture barn about 5 miles away when July 4th comes, so we don’t spook them out of their pens.

2008-08-07T11:45:00.000-07:00

JUNE 18, 2008
Since we have separated the colts, the tying-on process has improved a bunch.
Shasta is letting Jere pick up her feet and letting him flip the rope around her body. She is calm most of the time. She is also learning to follow a feel and is getting used to scary objects.
Penny is still spooky, but is improving at a much slower rate than Shasta.

2008-08-07T11:44:00.002-07:00

JUNE 11, 2008
Our local veterinarian, Dr. Sells, stopped by today to see the Mustangs. He cautioned us on how much protein to feed them. He said, because we really didn’t know how they were fed before, we need to be careful with their feed. They are in very good body condition, so they were fed well in the holding pens by the BLM.
Shasta has really tied on to Jere now. We put the rope halter on her today. She just turned and walked away with Jere. It is unbelievable how easy she was to start on this. She will follow him everywhere and loves to be scratched and brushed.
In our training program, it seems like a long time before we put a rope on the Mustangs. But we feel that catching and tying-on is the most important part, and the rest will come easy after we get the foundation built.
Penny still has not tied on. She is on the other end of the spectrum from Shasta. She is very spooky, moves her feet fast, and usually the other way from you. She is making some progress, in that Jere can brush her and she loves to have her mane brushed. Sort of like horses groom themselves.

2008-08-07T11:44:00.001-07:00

JUNE 7, 2008
We have another Clinic at the Center today. Lots of people will come to look at the Mustangs. We have also had company all week and that really helps them. We have until September 18 to show both these horses in Ft. Worth at the Mustang Makeover. They are judged on an obstacle course, and body condition. Watch for more developments.

2008-08-07T11:43:00.000-07:00

JUNE 3, 2008
I am trying to write in this blog every day, but not succeeding too well. We are very busy with our Clinic business and the Mustangs have to have time every day too. And on top of everything else, it is hot!! What great problems to have!
We have chosen names for sure now. The bay filly is Shasta. She is the sweetest horse! So we named her after a sweet tough flower. She has big eyes and a truly gentle nature.
The red dun colt, we named Penny. We actually named her because of her color, but after working with her for a while, we decided she was “Henny Penny, the sky is falling”!! She has not tied on to Jere yet, but I think when she does, she will really be tied on. Penny hides behind Shasta when Jere comes into the pen. It is interesting to have two so different types of horses to train.

2008-08-07T11:42:00.000-07:00

MAY 31, 2008
Today, we are having a Clinic at our house. We have several area people who are attending. This is an excellent desensitizer for the Mustangs, because lots of people come and look at them. They are getting used to people being outside the pen and will come up to the fence to check them out now.
There has been a lot of interest in our area in these Mustangs. Lots of people think the Mustang is a wild, skinny, ugly horse, but these colts are proving this fallacy wrong.

2008-08-07T11:41:00.000-07:00

MAY 28, 2008
This morning we decided we better get busy on our pen for the Mustangs. We have an extra round pen that we don’t use much and it has good high panels, so we will use that.
When the Jere Johnson clan starts to do some building, we have lots of “board meetings”. For those of you who are married under 5 years, this means we fight like crazy over what we are going to do. So, today consisted of lots of “board meetings”. But we did get the pen up. It is really nice and the Mustangs seem to like being separated.
A word about the colts we put in the trap beside them. This seemed to really help our Mustangs. We would see our two colts talking through the fence to the Mustangs and when the Mustangs would get excited, our colts would settle them down. Because horses are gregarious and herd animals, they need to at least see other horses. And we also wanted to ensure that if the Mustangs jumped out, we would be able to catch them without chasing them down and roping them, or some other method that would set our training program back. We are believers in the Natural Method of horse training and would like to keep out as much trauma as we can.

2008-08-07T11:39:00.000-07:00

MAY 26, 2008
Jere has gotten both the fillies to eat out of the bucket, while he was holding it for them. They like the grain, probably for the molasses in it. This surprised us, as we thought they wouldn’t pay any attention to grain.
They will also stand still when someone comes into the pen. We have been spraying them with water in the afternoon, because it has been so hot. They seem to really like that on their rump, not on their head.
One of the main reasons we are enthusiastic about this project is that these wild horses are part of our heritage, here in the west. But for the Mustang, the iconic wild horses of America, the stakes are much higher.
The BLM (Bureau of Land Management) oversees the wild horses in ten states. They estimate they have over 33,000 Mustangs in these herds. In addition they have about 30,000 horses in holding facilities in several states that have been previously rounded up. In the past, people adopted 7,000 to 8,000 horses annually. But with the economy letdown, the adoption has slowed to only 3,000 horses so far this fiscal year. These figures are staggering. And even more staggering is the fact that the BLM will spend a majority of its annual budget—about $26 million of the $37 million—caring for the animals in captivity.
Now, the Mustang Heritage Foundation is stepping into the fray. They have created the Extreme Mustang Makeover in several different states and the excitement is growing. Both older horses that can be started riding and younger horses that will be shown in hand will be coming to the contest in Ft Worth, TX. There are cash prizes and scholarship money up for grabs by the trainers. But most importantly, this is your chance to adopt a part of the West and to get a really nice well trained horse in the bargain. These Mustangs can be adopted in a silent auction on September 20, 2008 at Ft Worth. If you are interested, please contact us and we can give you details.

2008-08-07T11:38:00.000-07:00

MAY 25, 2008
Today is Sunday and the first day we have cleaned the Mustang’s pen. Jere was able to go inside and move slowly and they didn’t try to jump out.
We made the decision when we got the Mustangs, to put them both into a small pen, because we weren’t sure how wild they would be. But we will get busy next week and put more panels up for another pen, so both of them can have their own space. It will also be easier to work with them if they are separated. Here is a picture of both of them in the same pen.

2008-08-07T11:37:00.000-07:00

MAY 24, 2008
Well, the Mustangs are still there. Guess they didn’t jump out last night. Jere went to feed them and they came to the feed when he stepped back. They don’t like him to be close, because, after all, they are Mustangs. We spent the morning just sitting around outside the pen, getting them used to the movement of people. The evening feeding was a lot better. They aren’t nearly so scared.
We are an older couple, in our 60’s, who have worked on ranches and feedlots all our lives. We raised three children in the Colorado 4-H Horse program. Jere has trained horses all of our married life. We have been following Natural Horsemanship since the 70’s. In 2005, we went to a Tour Stop put on by the Parelli Organization, and we were blown away seeing the whole Natural Horsemanship picture. We got to see how the groundwork and riding tied together. Before, the only prerequisite that Jere had for groundwork was that they didn’t drag him from the corral to the saddle shed! Now, all of the sudden, we could see how Natural Horsemanship fit with the riding. So we took many clinics, went to many seminars and started really studying Natural Horsemanship.
Last year, when it came time to retire, we decided to open a Learning Center, where we could teach Natural Horsemanship and we could do clinics and some training. Our whole purpose now, is to teach people how to help their horse, instead of throwing him away when he they can’t get him to do what they want.

2008-08-07T11:27:00.001-07:00

MAY 18, 2008
We had not heard about the Mustang Makeover, but during the week of May 18, one of our clients sent us a newspaper article about it, and suggested that a young man like our son might find this a fun project. Little did we know that it wouldn't be our son, but ourselves, who were about to begin our Mustang Makeover Adventure.
We read the article and noticed that there were some yearlings going to be included in the makeover too. I absolutely refuse to let Jere take on a wild horse to ride, because, after all, he is 63 years old. And while he is a spry old feller, I still don't want him breaking bones!! But, the yearlings would be a little different deal.
I e-mailed Patti Colbert of the Mustang Heritage Foundation and she was enthusiastic about us getting a yearling. So we got our paperwork together and had some people fill out references for us, and faxed it to them. We were chosen to be one of the Yearling Mustang Makeover Trainers. We decided to take two of the Mustangs because they would settle each other down. And, why take one, when you can take two of them?? We were approved on the Friday before we had to pick them up in Elgin, TX.

MAY 23, 2008
We traveled from Utopia to Elgin, a trip of about 3 hours, to pick up our two Mustangs. We didn’t have any idea of what our horses would be like, so we came prepared and brought ropes and halters.
We started from home at around 7 a.m. and got to Elgin around 10 a.m. We took care of the paperwork and backed up to the chute to load our Mustangs. The crew they had to load was evidently very experienced and we were amazed at how quickly they loaded them and we were on our way. To get home we have to go through Austin. We were worried that all the traffic would worry our Mustangs, so we went around Austin and came in through Johnson City and then on South and home.
We made the trip home fast and when we got there, put a couple of panels up and backed the trailer up to their pen. They both walked off the trailer like they had been doing this all their lives! We kept them in the same small pen for a little while, because we didn’t know how wild they would be. We also went and got two of our yearlings to put in the pasture beside them. We figured if they jumped out, they would at least stay with our colts and we wouldn’t have to chase them all over the country.