Me and the Big K and the Pointless Horse

The paint gelding was tall, smooth gaited, pretty handy and crabby.

Robin was a retired pleasure horse. His show career had been successful until he had enough and rebelled.Over a period of months he slung his head and bolted in the arena, wrung his tail with every touch of a spur, buried his head in the far corner of his box stall, threatened to kick anyone who entered and finally, bit the hands, arms,or legs that fed him. He was put up for sale.

A wealthy family bought him as a guest horse for their 1200 acre weekend place. Their barn manager turned him out for six months, hoping to cheer him up by letting him "be a horse." The problem was, he didn't know how to be a horse. The wide open spaces frightened him and he paced the fence line for hours. Other horses had always been separated from him by walls, ropes or riders and he didn't know how to socialize. He was aggressive, yet a crappy fighter, so he ended up ostracized.

 It was a long six months for Robin, and when he was brought back to the barn he was thin, anxious and beat up. He wasn't happy to be back in a stall and run though. He cried for his herd mates and lashed out at the other horses in the barn.

Robin didn't have a lot of success under saddle either. He was clumsy out of the arena, and so slow moving he was always lagging behind the other horses on trail rides. He was smooth and easy to ride, but soon fell back into his old, cranky behaviors. The unhappy gelding was on the market again.

One of my clients bought him as a husband safe horse. Robin settled in well enough, his only company was an elderly Arab gelding. He had a walk in shed, plenty to eat, and a corral, big enough to run in and small enough to help him feel safe. The husband didn't really want to ride, so, for a while, life was pretty good for Robin.

Then, the 12-year-old who rode the Arab decided to ride Robin in 4-H. It didn't go well. She wasn't one to give up, and tried a few reining patterns on him. To everyone's surprise, the pretty paint got along fairly well, and earned a few ribbons.

Next thing you know, I've got him in training, to see if he could actually have a career as a youth reining horse.

Robin wasn't bad. He had a fluid, effortless lead change and with a little encouragement, turned his showmanship at halter pivot into a decent spin. He liked loping fast fast circles, it was the happiest and most relaxed I had ever seen him.

There was a bit of a problem though. He consistently  threw himself on his front end for his stops and backing him up was like yanking a pulled easyboot out of a bog. He sucked.

Transitions didn't improve things, hill work made no difference, I didn't need much but I needed something.

I finally talked to the Big K about Robin. It was a short conversation.

"He isn't going to stop," K said.

"Why?"

"He's built wrong. If you push him, he'll go over." He untied his next ride and walked off.

 I stood and pondered Robin's hind end. It wasn't set up like a nice cowhorse, but it wasn't the worst I'd seen. I had taught a long-backed, off the track mare with string halt to slide and a 17 hh hunter jumper. When you are a mid level trainer at an upper level barn you get all kinds of interesting problems and didn't let them stop you. He was a pleasure horse, they were trained to step way deep. Maybe K was cranky. Maybe he didn't like the horse.

I saddled Robin up and took him out in the arena. K was loping colts, giving a lesson and coaching his wife. I warmed the gelding up, loped him until he was relaxed and then started playing with backing him up. If I couldn't see it, then maybe I could feel it.

I asked him to step back one foot at a time. I moved his haunches, flexed his ribs, moved him in a reverse circle, thinking, feeling, trying to find the elusive stickiness that was stopping this horse from stepping under himself.

I felt for each hoof as it came up of the ground, was he stepping deeper with the left hind than the right? I moved his haunches to the right, so I could push for a longer step. I was so deep into what was happening, when I felt his stifle stick, his leg lock, and our launch into the sky, all that crossed my mind was,Well there it is.

As we tipped over backwards and went crashing to the ground, two more thoughts whipped by, I wondered if it was conformation or injury, and just how pissed K was going to be.

I got up, Robin got up, I dusted off my jeans and checked the gelding over.

K came at a gallop. "Are you OK?" He asked. He looked scared.

"Yeah, feeling kind of stupid, that's all. I guess I found the hitch."

"You just refuse to believe me, don't you?" K didn't take kindly to being scared. "I told you that horse would go over, but you had to keep at it until you made it happen."

"I, uh, no, that's not it."

K was gone though, back to work and geared up to be twice as hard on everybody. The glares I got from the other riders let me know they were aware my nonsense just turned their day to hell.

It was a week before things simmered down enough to square things with him.

"I've been fretting," I said.

"Well,  it doesn't do to have you fret,"  K said and smiled.

"I don't want you thinking I don't listen to you, because I do. I just didn't understand what was wrong with that paint."

"I know. It was hard watching you go over, that's all."

"I know." I turned and headed back to my barn.

"Janet?"

I stopped. "Yeah?"

"It's the trainer in you. That's why you can't leave it alone."

I gave him a half wave and went to collect my rides.

The Ol' Yank N' Spur - Part Two

"So, when you see a trainer or horse owner using a method that you find abusive and/or unacceptable, what do you do? I'm asking you personally, Mugs."

"I want to own that stallion who stands in a crowd without lifting a nostril.. but I don't want to put my horses through what it took to get (the majority)of them there. I have ridden some "good" horses but most (not all) had very little personality.. or at least didn't show it.
I want my horses to be rock solid citizens.. but I enjoy it when they are individuals as well.
So, right now, I own some brats with manners. Stuck in the middle..."

These two comments dovetail straight into the crux of what I'm working through here. It makes me happy to see I've got people thinking and wondering like I am.

First, I'll answer the question, and get that out of the way. There is a HUGE difference between abuse and methods I find unacceptable.

Abuse? Starvation, treatment that causes crippling or death, behavior that endangers other horses or people, I call the authorities. That might be the police, a barn manager, the show representative at a horse show, local animal control or a newspaper. I ask what is going to be done and when, then I follow up to see that it happened and what the result was.

I have only been in a situation where I had to physically intervene twice. I was on a walk in a neighborhood I didn't know very well. A group of very young (four or five-years-old and down), very dirty children were torturing a puppy, chained in the middle of a yard, with sharp sticks. Not only were the children jabbing him repeatedly in his belly, but the violence was increasing at an incredible pace. The puppy was screaming,  the children were laughing, then I was shouting at them. There wasn't an adult in sight.
I went in the yard, knocked on the door and waited until a very disheveled, vague woman came to the door. I told her what the kids were doing, she went in the yard and started yelling at the kids. There was no food, shelter or water for the puppy. I left, went home and called our local Humane Society and DHS. The puppy was relinquished, the "daycare" was shut down and the woman and her own children were dealt with by Social Services.
Another time, I stole a dog tied to the side of a trailer on a two-foot chain. He was standing up to his knees in poop. Again, no food, water or shelter and he had body sores from foot to belly. I took him, trained him and a year later found him  home, where he lived happily for the next 12 years.

If I see a horse starving in a field I will watch him. If after 60 days I don't see an improvement I call my brand inspector, who is more than willing to wade into the legalities of letting livestock starve.

Methods I find unacceptable? I only comment if I am asked my opinion, and then only to the person who asks. In the old days, my students and clients heard me loud and clear, because that's what they paid me for. Nowadays, I have to be much more careful. I've made the mistake  of offering my insight in response to behavior or approaches I clearly saw as misguided. They were met with massive resistance and a touch of hostility. So, even though I was being told the story, my input beyond, "Uh huh," was very clearly unwelcome. If I alienate someone, I lose my chance to influence them. So, I don't offer unless specifically asked anymore. I just write.

Which brings me back to my original thoughts. How do we decide what is abuse, what is tough training, what is unacceptable and what, in the long run, might have been OK? I am eternally confused on this one.

Here are some of the scenarios that have made me slow down my conclusions and rethink lots of my former opinions. I'm writing these in no particular sequence.

1. This 10-year-old horse and 40-year-old rider came in for training.
"My horse was abused before I bought her. She is head shy, freaks when she's tied, can't tolerate being brushed, having her ears or poll touched, is terrified of men in baseball caps, ropes and loading in the trailer. She will only walk when I ride her, she rears if  I try to trot."
The owner was brand new to horses. For her first horse experience, she had gone to the local auction and bought two of the most starved, spooked, panicked animals of the day -- neither were ridden into the sale pen. The mare she brought me had had a foal a few months after purchase. She had owned them for a year when I began working with her.
She left the mare, with lots of kisses, tears and fuss. The mare pinned her ears and threatened to bite.
After thirty days the mare was fine.
After 60 days she was great, as far as her crappy conformation would let her be anyway. WTC, calm, safe.
I never needed to do anything beyond my normal training. I treated her like an unbroke youngster, she responded, and there you go. She sucked back one time on the tie rail. I ignored her, she stepped forward and that was the end. She was tied next to the guys while they were drinking beer and playing H.O.R.S.E., er, practicing roping with the plastic cow head stuck in a hay bale. Suddenly, ropes and men were moot.


2. I came into the arena on a colt. The Big K was riding Buck, a teen-aged cow horse K had owned and trained for his wife. It was very clear K was in an absolute fury. Buck had his superiors in both the AQHA and NRCHA, and a AQHA World Championship under his bridle. He had been fat, happy and retired until his new owner, a primary client of K's, had written a check so big they couldn't turn it down.
So, I was taken aback to see K beating the crap out of Buck. He spurred him forward, yanked him into the ground, spun him with a jerk to his heavy bit, whipped him heavily with his romel, you get the picture. The owner stood at the rail, silent, miserable, almost crying. By the time K was done, Buck was trembling, exhausted and white-eyed. He was also upright in the bridle, collected, soft and compliant.
K stepped down, his face red, his eyes cold and snarled at the client. "If you would ride him right I wouldn't have to do this."
He left Buck standing in the middle of the arena and left. His rage was obvious, it took a second before it registered that it was directed at the client.
"That should hold him through the weekend (coming show), then she can go back to loving him until the next time he pisses her off," he said in passing. He didn't come back to work for an hour.

3. A consistent national champion trainer (top five in the country for many years) was unloading horses at an event at about 2 a.m. There was a huge ruckus in the trailer. Those who were awake were immediately drawn to the show. He appeared at he loading ramp, beating an equally famous stallion with a logging chain. The fight and the beating went on for another few minutes until the stallion submitted, head down, quiet, licking and chewing. The horse was heavily blanketed, there would be no marks.
Nothing was said, a few eyebrows were raised, but it all took place at the training barn.
The next day the duo won the whole shebang. The trainer is still a top winner and the stud is sound, retired, loved, and a million dollar sire.

4. A young, decently bred horse was bought by an intermediate rider who wanted to raise and train a horse using Natural Horsemanship methods. The plan was to do it without assistance other than local clinics and videos. Two years later the horse threw the rider into a fence, resulting in some pretty serious injury. All work stopped for another year. I was called in to consult (free mind you, I was retired).
I met an amiable, soft, 16.3 hand 1300 pound spoiled monster. He bumped, nipped, stomped, pawed, shoved....I could go on. He gave his head like a cotton rope, right up to his lock and loaded shoulders and legs.
One 30 minute round pen session told me the horse was kind, biddable, interested and athletic. I evaluated his behavior, watched how the owner handled the horse and said I couldn't help, they needed to invest in a trainer and take as many lessons with said trainer as possible.
Two years later, the horse was 7, still not broke and being put up for sale. You see, he was kicking and injuring people now, and was too dangerous to handle.

5. A couple of boarders were trying to load an unwilling horse into a trailer. They had a huge crowd of "helpers." The situation was escalating. The horse was rearing, kicking, falling over backwards...you know, trailer loading nightmares.
One of the helpers came up to me and said, "Do you know what to do?"
"Yes."
"Would you go help them?"
I was very hesitant, the actual owners hadn't asked for help, and I said as much.
"Somebody is going to get hurt, please go help them."
I approached the chaos, and offered to help.
The owner spun around, and said, "If I had wanted help I would have asked."
Her clenched fists told me all of her anger, frustration and embarrassment was about to be unloaded on my face. I turned to go, her horse unleashed with a double barreled kick and caught the owner in the kidneys.
The horse was eventually loaded, the owner was OK. The horse also, eventually, learned to load reliably and I was forever blamed for the owner getting kicked.



There you have it. I have left out my opinions then, my opinions now, and the conclusions I came to. I am really interested to read your thoughts and reactions. Next post I'll come in with what I thought then and what I think now. Even if it's the infamous, "I dunno."

Oh yeah,
"I want to own that stallion who stands in a crowd without lifting a nostril.. but I don't want to put my horses through what it took to get (the majority)of them there. I have ridden some good horses that had very little personality.. or at least didn't show it.
I want my horses to be rock solid citizens.. but I enjoy it when they are individuals as well.
So, right now, I own some brats with manners. Still a mugwump..."

I changed this comment just enough to make it mine. Of course, I have a feeling my idea of manners might be a little different than the original author's.