A Mini Vacation - Julie Goodnight - HorseMaster

We had scheduled two days off this month - very important for us this time of year - so we could get some stuff done, have a night without guests and NOT fix breakfast for a couple of mornings.  We set this up months ago.

Fast forward a couple of months to when the request came in from GunDiva to transport her horse to a TV shoot for the HorseMaster RFD series.  It turned out to be right over our two days off - which by the way, turned into ONE day off because we had inadvertently booked two rooms in for the second night.  Yipes!  It sounded like fun to us: transporting horses to a beautiful ranch in the southern mountains of Colorado could actually be relaxing - to us.  We love to travel with horses, although we would rather it had been our own horses.  But hey, horses are horses and GunDiva's horse is family, too.  We arranged for our other daughter, Nebalee, to 'Lodge sit' for us, meaning come up and hang out to wait for the guests to come in that had gotten booked and stay the night to answer the phone.  We promised we would be back before breakfast so she wouldn't have to do that too.  (This turned into a great deal of work for her, too, as the phone never quit ringing, and I had left her with all the beds to remake.)  She may never volunteer to help us out again.

So Monday finally got here, we got everyone out of the Lodge on time (11:00 a.m.) and set about getting as much done as we could before leaving.  Had hoped to pull out at 11:00 ourselves;  Bill had taken the dog to the kennel in Estes Park, I stripped all the beds in the lodge, sorted laundry, gotten all the dishes done and the kitchen cleaned up, and we set about getting our stuff in the truck.  We did manage to finally get underway at 12:10.

We needed to head north 1 1/2 hours to GunDiva's to pick up her horse and our horse trailer, which had been left there when Bill dropped off Ranger.  Bill hooked up the trailer while I haltered Skeeter, and she loaded like a champ.  We then needed to pick up another horse in Longmont that was also hopping a ride to the shoot.  We even found our way there without any problems, met the two people who were going to follow us, loaded that horse and we were on our way.  Our only problem was that it was now 3:45 p.m. and traffic was picking up quickly; we were between two busy cities - Boulder and Denver - and had to decide just how to get on the road we wanted.  Thanks to the help of the girls following us, and their texting me directions as we went, we managed to get onto C470 ... but what a traffic jam!  Once we got onto Hwy 285, it was much better, but now 6:00 p.m.  After going over Kenosha Pass in horrible rain, and stopping for dinner at a cute little bar in Fairplay, we pulled into Julie Goodnight's place near Salida at 8:30 p.m.  Suffice it to say, we were all a tad tired, but happy.  The horses had traveled well.

Skeeter unloaded and was amazed to find five other horses in pens right there!  She behaved like a jewel in her new pen - while the two neighbor horses got all rowdy and nasty.  I don't think she ever figured out what the big deal was with them.  This was the first trip - other than being delivered to GunDiva's in a stock trailer - that she had ever taken, and she was handling it like a champ: no hollering, no fussing, no fighting.

Julie was gracious enough to let us park our rig overnight near their 'bunkhouse', so we could sleep in the trailer.  It was heaven:  we were sound asleep before 10:00 p.m. - and when we woke at 5:30 and realized we didn't have to get up, it was even better.  We finally crawled out about 6:00 to a gorgeous sight of fog rainbows.  The fog had settled in the valley at the base of mountains and two rainbows peaked their heads out.  What a start to the day!  We settled ourselves into a couple of chairs on the patio of the bunkhouse to wait for other living beings, watch the day start, and wait for GunDiva.

GunDiva in her job as crew.

Suddenly there were many people around: all the crew and cast members for the day.  Horses being brushed and shuffled from one spot to another.  It's busy times getting a TV show - or in this case, many shows - taped.  The weather cooperated for the most part and we spent our day watching the goings-on and lounging with Skeeter, who was taking it all in.  Whenever an episode finished up, a cheer would go up with lots of clapping of hands.  I swear that horse thought it was all for her.  She paid attention to every little detail.

We used the time to best advantage by hanging out at the hitchrail, otherwise known as the patience post.  Skeeter doesn't have one at home and has never had to stand tied to anything for any length of time.  One time we tried tying her to her horse trailer but discovered the tie bar was not nearly strong enough; just one pull bent it.  Not good.  She did stand tied to our truck for about an hour with a saddle on one time, but that's just not the same as having to patiently stay put for long periods of time (an important tool for every horse).

Notice the brush - labeled "horse brush"

When it was getting close to time for Skeeter's turn, GunDiva had gone off to get her 'show clothes' on and I brushed Skeeter 'til she shone.  Bill helped get the dreads out of her tail while I did her mane; I was even able to spray fly spray on her legs (even though GunDiva said she hated fly spray).  She was quiet and calm the whole time we worked on her, resting her chin on my shoulder as we watched the final prep for her.  Julie had talked to GunDiva about how they would do the shoot:  show some of the ground work that they normally did, introduce her to a bit for the first time, hop on her back bareback, and maybe even saddle her up for a quick shot.  Now remember, we had done all of that at home - except the bit part - and it seemed a dream to get it all on tape.

Being a good horse.

Waiting to enter the round pen - good horse.

It was decided to use Julie's newly refurbished round pen - just in case.

Watching the camera crew.

The clapper board comes in - and things start getting exciting.

Imagine everyone's surprise when GunDiva led her quiet, sedate horse in - and she went ballistic!  She couldn't stand still, didn't listen to direction, was just basically obnoxious.  When GunDiva leaned across her back, you would have thought she had never felt weight there before.  It was pretty quickly decided that Julie would take over.  In came the flag and the master.  We had a pretty exciting 20 minutes or so...and the cameras never quit rolling.  One of Julie's most common comments is not being able to actually get pictures of a horse being, well a horse that had problems.  Not so that day!!!  Skeeter did a great show of what a wild Mustang can do when it doesn't find any comfort in what's happening - but she was beautiful; all the majestic motion you see in the movies, happening right before our eyes.  Skeeter did finally calm down and 'get her brains back' as GunDiva put it.  She turned into her normal sweet self for the bit part, letting Dale Myler slip the headstall over her head and placing the bit in her mouth for the first time, then teaching how to use the reins at the withers to teach the horse to 'give to the bit'.  We weren't allowed to take pictures during the actual shoot because the big cameras pick up the shutter clicks.  You will have to wait for the episodes.

We are all still laughing at Bill (and Julie) getting drug around the corral by a horse not wanting haltered, or Skeeter trying to chase the dog away from the gate, or any number of other stunts she pulled in a short period of time.  We can hardly wait for the episodes to appear on RFD-TV; the footage was fantastic!

It all ended on a good note, with a hug from Julie and a calm horse!

Skeeter walked quietly back to her pen and spent the rest of the afternoon eating her hay.  We watched the last of the filming for the day, a horse getting adjusted by a chiropractor, and decided to head for home.  Skeeter did give us a bit of attitude about loading in the trailer; she was just DONE.  It's amazing what a granola bar will do, though.  As soon as GunDiva walked off, I showed Skeeter the bar and on the trailer she went.  Pam loaded her horse up and we started down the road.  We stopped and ate at a cute little bar in Buena Vista and felt quite content.

That contentment ended rather abruptly, though, when Bill commented on the brakes acting 'mushy' on one of the long downhills.  He decided we had better stop at the next station on the way to check it out.  Oops - no brakes!  Fortunately the trailer brakes held and we got stopped safely.  Turns out we had a blown brake cyclinder on the truck and all the brake fluid had leaked out.  Bill was able to do a temporary fix and we were back on the road.  We pulled into GunDiva's place at 12:30 a.m.  Skeeter was pretty excited to get out of that trailer, but she still unloaded like a lady.  Ranger hopped on the trailer about as fast as Skeeter exited.  He was ready to go home.  We pulled into the Lodge at 2:30 a.m. to the hollering of all three of our horses greeting each other.

We had traveled over 600 miles towing horses.

And at 5:30 a.m. we were cooking breakfast for our guests.  Back to business as usual.  Our 24 hours went fast and we had a great time!
Bionic Cowgirl

Triple Creek Ranch Visit

A week ago, as a combination birthday/Mother’s Day gift from our eldest, the GunDiva, she and I spent the day at the Triple Creek Ranch in Longmont, CO – a training and boarding center. Julie Goodnight (of Horsemaster, RFD-TV) was donating time and the center was donating space as a fundraiser for an equine therapeutic center in the area – a noble gesture in itself. There was a large turnout and I think they probably met their goals, however, our goals were to learn more useful ways to work with our personal horses, and boy, did we meet our goals! I always need time to let ideas ‘gel’ before I can retell them, and I was so excited about MY ah-ha moment, that I am just now able to put some of this in print, so here goes ….

There were four sessions: Ground Manners for Young or Fractious Horses; Advanced Groundwork and Liberty Work; Riding Right: Balance, Rhythm and Feel; and Training Solutions: What do you do when your horse challenges your authority, loses his focus, spooks or becomes resistant? Ground Manners for Young or Fractious Horses: The first session started off pretty excitingly with a 15 year old gelding, who had remained intact (a stud) for his first eleven years! He had only been allowed to breed two mares. It’s OK to let your imagination go for a minute; Julie did. Lots of frustration on the horse’s part and we all felt it. I’m sure you males out there think you can identify with this. The woman who had this horse has been working with him, using Julie’s methods, for the last four years (when she purchased him). It was obvious the horse had come a long, long way … and had a really L O N G way to go yet. Fractious was putting it nicely; his human called him ADD and Julie agreed. He did learn a lot about standing still and not running over the human, but was still far from being a safe horse to handle. For us spectators, it was great to see that even this type of horse can, and will, respond to the techniques we were watching.

 Each session had two horses involved, so moving on to the second horse, things got a lot calmer and behavior changes came quicker with a much quieter Arab/mix gelding who had developed a habit of being ‘cinchy’ – meaning he didn’t like to have the cinch tightened around his belly. His lady had to have someone stand on the opposite side and pass the cinch under his belly quickly and try not to get bitten in the process. Julie broke this down to a loss of communication with the horse on a couple of ground manner basics: stand still when I tell you to, and nose to the front – always (hard to bite you when the horse’s head is pointed to the front and you are on the side). Equipped with a rope halter and 15 ft. lead rope, Julie stood in front of the horse, with the rope loose enough to touch the ground, and whenever, the horse moved a foot, or moved his head outside her specified range (from the point of one of his shoulders to the point of the other), she would snap the lead rope so it would ‘pop’ him under the chin. It only took a couple of pops for the horse to decide to keep its feet still.

 A couple more pops and he had decided he should probably keep his head facing forward. Then she had the woman pick up the saddle pad and walk to the horse from the side, like she was going to put the pad on. You guessed it. If the horse moved a foot, or swung his head around, he got popped. Within a few minutes, the woman was able to walk directly up to the horse with the pad and lay it on his back without so much as a quiver. They moved on to the saddle in the same fashion. This was MY ah-ha moment, as Jesse had become very agitated with the saddle pad and I had put up with it. This explanation has been simplified, as the person placing the saddle pad had a few rules to follow also, such as a direct walk, expecting the horse to stand still, turning and walking away to take the pressure off the horse for a moment, etc. – and understanding it was going to take 50 – 100 times of doing this to overcome the older habits. The best part of this story for me is that over the next few days, Bill and I worked with Jesse like this, and although she didn’t like the first couple of pops, she quickly learned that the pad was far less intimidating than that pop, and she is now much, much quieter about the process. It still takes one good reminder (we are nowhere near even 25 tries) then she settles down – but then she is a dominant mare with an over abundance of stubbornness, so I would not have expected her to just totally give in without some resistance. This is the same process to simply make them more attentive to you on the ground, and it has helped her with that also. By the way, we went for a ride today, using the towel to keep our jeans clean, and I could walk right up to her, toss the towel on her back and not a flinch. That used to send her scurrying to the side. Yeah!

The second session, Advanced Groundwork and Liberty Work, was the main fascination for GunDiva. We learned specifics of correct leading to go forward into liberty work (no attachments to horse). It all looked very simple; refining your own body posture for the horse to be able to ‘read’ and copy. N O T!!! My horses will follow just fine as I am walking along, on a loose lead. But trying to give the proper body signals adds a whole new dimension to a simple task. I will keep trying, I will keep trying, I will keep …. We won’t discuss the clicking of Jesse’s eyeballs as they roll back in her head – trying to figure me out. It all has to do with the positioning of your shoulders, such as a slight lean forward prior to actually moving forward, straightening up prior to stopping, pointing with your leading fingers prior to turning in that direction. Are you noticing all the priors here? Try it. Grab a partner, stand side-by-side, and link your adjoining arms together. Now walk along as though talking and make some turns. You run into each other; same thing happens with your horse. So you learn to give little clues, such as motioning ahead of time with your other hand to show which direction you want to go. We need to show the same courtesy to our horses, especially if we expect them to move with us without being yanked around by a rope. It was amazing to see how fast these two horses adopted the new technique … but it’s not a simple task for the human.

Riding Right: Balance, Rhythm and Feel: After lunch we moved on to mounted work. Each session had a horse tacked out Western and another tacked out English, just to prove that the same techniques work, no matter what discipline you ride. The tack is basically just for looks as far as horse behavior; he should respond the same no matter how he is dressed. (OK, you’ve all seen the towels we throw on our horses and expect them to behave as though they are saddled.) This was a more relaxing part of the clinic for both of us, as we watched this at the Rocky Mt. Horse Expo back in March. We were able to focus on the finer points of getting your leg in the proper position (for good balance), relaxing your pelvis to more easily sit a trot (rhythm), and not giving conflicting cues – which is so easy to do. Example: you want your horse to transition into a trot, but as soon as he does you pull back on the reins. He balks, basically saying, “Do you want to go faster or stop?” It was great fun watching the riders learn to relax and watching the horses do the same, trusting the horse to do what was requested, learning to FEEL what he is doing, the same as he feels you.

Last session: Training Solutions. We had one horse with “no whoa” and one horse with “no go”, so to speak. It wasn’t that the horse really had no whoa; it was a horse that was more forward than his rider was comfortable with, therefore the rider would keep a really tight hold on the reins when asking for forward motion and the horse wanted to push through the bridle (his trots and canters were ‘too fast’). Julie had the girl actually loosen her rein and just let the horse trot faster around the arena until it figured out it didn’t HAVE to try to get away, then the horse slowed down of its own accord. It then started listening to a slow down cue, understanding that the ‘death grip’ had gone away. Julie pointed out that this needs to be done in an enclosure so the horse knows there is nowhere to go but in a circle. You can also start guiding into smaller and smaller circles, which is harder work for the horse. Julie also touched on the one-rein stop, but that wasn’t what this horse needed.

The “no go” horse would just ignore cues to move or to speed up. It was old enough and had enough training to know the cues; it was choosing to ignore them. Julie got on this horse and explained that a ‘spanking’ was in order. “This is your captain speaking. I would like you to move – now.” When she touched her leg to its sides and he ignored her, she again cued, then it got a smart whap with a riding whip at the same spot your leg would cue from. You have to be ready for the horse to wake up and not punish it for moving, even if it jumps forward or to the side. You asked for movement; you got movement; you don’t punish for the movement. However, the next time she cued with her leg, the horse moved off smartly into a nice walk. The next cue produced a nice trot. A few practices with up and down transitions were in order, so the rider got to take over and practice. Julie said several practice sessions, usually just carrying the whip with you, would solve this problem – much easier to take care of than the “no whoa” issues. Everything ended on a good note, with lots of things to take home and digest. In fact, I am still digesting. Now that I have gotten past my ah-ha moment, on to more fun stuff – like the at liberty work. Happy riding everyone. Bionic Cowgirl

Momentous Day

No, the weather was not great - but that didn't matter, we were indoors.  GunDiva had arranged for me to join her at a Julie Goodnight (Horse Master TV Show) clinic as a birthday gift:  birthday in March, clinic today - a bit of a wait, but so worth it.  I'm pretty sure GD got tired of me pestering her about "is it time yet?"  I can be worse than a kid!

Well, the day finally did get here and we weren't going to be dampened by any damp weather.  The Triple Creek Ranch in Longmont turned out to be a really nice setting for an all day clinic and we had enough layers on to stay pretty comfortable - well, maybe the old knees got a bit stiff from sitting ALL day - and getting to be in an inside arena was great.

Of course, I got the most important info from the least expected part of the clinic.  Ever notice how that happens?  In the very first setting, one of the horses had an issue with being cinched.  OK, really he had an issue with all of the saddling procedure, and although Julie ran out of time before the actual cinching, she addressed the REAL problem and gave me the exact information I needed to work on Jesse.  When Jesse was young, saddling was no problem, but as a six year old we had a horrible time with saddle fit and suffice it to say, she developed a HUGE dislike for  - the pad.  She blamed all the pain on that 'thing'.  By the time I had a saddle made for her, my hips had become a big problem and I couldn't physically work with her properly.  Needless to say, she developed some very spoiled habits.  Now that I am bionic, we are spending time on 'correcting' a few bad habits.  GD doesn't know this yet, but since we watched this demo together, she gets to help me out on this one.  Beel will get put to work, also, but I don't think it will take long 'cause Jesse is one smart girl and will figure out pretty quickly that jigging while getting saddled will no longer be tolerated!

We saw four different sessions of horse/rider issues, but my  mind is still having a hard time getting past this ah-hah moment for me.  We got to meet some really nice horse owners, see some old friends (Julie's crew), meet newer members of the crew - one that sort of 'married in', and shared good food.  The best part was getting to spend the day with my eldest daughter - just the two of us.  It's always a joy when I/we get one-on-one time with our kids.  Now that I don't have to be the parent figure all the time and can be a friend, it's extra special.  Thank you, GunDiva.
Bionic Cowgirl

Rocky Mt. Horse Expo- 2012

Yesterday, GunDiva, RCC and I spent the day at the Rocky Mt. Horse Expo at the Denver Stockyards.  It was a beautiful day outside (and of course, we were inside!) and a lot of fun to be walking and talking horses with a couple of my 'kids'.  We were sorely saddened to not find a lot of horse related 'gear' at the show; a lot of jewelry, clothes, lots of artwork, foods, etc.; but a good reason for me to go in the past was the fact you could get needed supplies for a reasonable cost.  What?  No wormer - non, nada; even asked!  Nope.  Well, how about sheets, blankets, whatever you want to call them?  I wanted to do some comparison shopping between styles and brands; you know, get my hands on them before ordering something inappropriate.  Nada again!  We found a couple, literally, on consignment.  Also wanted to pick up some mane and tail detangler.  Well, guess not this year.  Not sure what happened.  I guess human products sell so much better at these things.

The good news:  we sat through a couple of Julie Goodnight's talks  (of Julie Goodnight, Horsemaster fame) and it was more eye-opening to me than I expected.  As you may know, I have had both hips replaced, but before that I had continued riding, developing some not-so-good horse postures, which in turn created a lot of BAD muscle memory.  I have been struggling to change that on the ground; now it's time to change than in the saddle.  It was great watching her in the arena work with a couple of already good riders, teaching them a couple of tricks to make riding easier for them and their horses.  What was really neat was seeing the difference in the way their horses moved with the difference in how they were balanced.

I think the one thing that I really took away from her first presentation, basically riding in better balance, was the simple technique of how to 'sit on your pockets' and how that gets your feet under you for better balance, rather than being forced into a leaning forward position.  So easy; standing in your stirrups, scunch forward toward the pommel, then just sit down and let your pelvis 'roll' toward the cantle, so you end up 'sitting on your pockets'; essentially sitting on your seatbones instead of your pelvic bone.  If your stirrups are the right length, it will drop your legs into the correct position.  Also, apparently most of us ride with the wrong length stirrups for whatever discipline we ride; and yes, that changes with the discipline.  Some of you probably already know this, but since I only ride wilderness trails, I thought you always used the same length (except jockeys, of course, who are just crazy, anyway!)  I had already shortened my stirrups and found that better.  Bless her heart, though, the best was when she said NOBODY rides in the perfect position all the time.  We all fall into habits and create bad muscle memories, and what we need to do is have someone look at us or look at pictures of ourselves from time to time, then make our brain help us to over-ride those muscle memories to make new ones.  She told a funny story of the horror she felt when she saw a picture of herself in a magazine and realized she had fallen into the very familiar 'cowboy slump', which tends to hit riders who spend many hours in the saddle.  She is now more conscious of her posture.

Julie does such a good job of also entertaining at these events, that you pick up all kinds of tidbits from her anecdotes.  I like her "HorseMaster" RFDTV series, but her personality just doesn't come through like when you see her in person.  GunDiva is part of her Colorado horse crew when she films here, and had told me about this.  I had just never noticed, but it was so obvious yesterday.  We all decided to stay and watch the second half of her talk in the afternoon, where I picked up lots of 'tidbits' to use on the horses this summer.  So, look out herd, here I come!
Bionic Cowgirl

"Trail Solutions" by Julie Goodnight

I just borrowed the video "Trail Solutions" by Julie Goodnight of HorseMaster.  As some of you know, Julie's ranch is here in southern Colorado and the GunDiva has had the privilege of not only taking her personal horse, Estes, to be on a HorseMaster episode, but has also gotten to work behind the scenes as a horse handler for Julie.  Julie is a marvelous, down-to-earth, knowledgable horse woman; she isn't just a trainer, she is a "horseman", and this DVD is way fun to watch.

OK, as a mom, I would like to say "my daughter's part in this video was the best", (Stand by Me) but in all reality, it was probably the most boring.  I have seen what Estes can do; she must have been behaving herself or had camera fright, because she was pretty darn calm compared to the other horses.  Julie helps a horse face its fear in the "Wave Runner" episode, giving great advice for getting any horse past any trail obstacle.  "Loaded Up" was an extra exciting story because of the horse that was used.  Most trailer loading doesn't get quite this bad, but it can, and you get to see a true professional handle a truly devious horse.

My personal interest was in "Rearing to Go", not because I have a barn sour horse, but I do have a particularly obstinate horse that I have let get by with too much over the last two years.  I had developed some fear of falling with my bad hips, and although Jesse is very protective of me and usually quite obliging, she has become a handful, and I don't want her to be a safety issue for other people, so I will be reverting back to her training bit and mecate, and trying out Julie's method of regaining control. 

Although "Shop Til You Drop" wasn't as interesting to me (because I can't talk those dollar amounts for horses), I really enjoyed the "behind the scenes" chat for this portion.  Julie goes into the differences between mares and geldings, giving good examples of where/when each has its strengths.  I had heard from other trainers that mares were not the best choice for locations where their riders change often; Julie explains why:  the bonding that mares crave.  I actually ran into this situation with Jesse; it became quite clear early on that she did not like having many different riders.  Two or three that she could get to know were OK, but don't ask her to carry someone different many days in a row or even several times in a couple of months.  As she got older, she got worse about this.  It became obvious she wanted to know her rider and what that rider wanted - always.  I guess I got lucky when I ended up with a mare; I happen to like having a horse I can bond with!  Don't get me wrong, I love my gelding, too, but there is certainly no great bond between us.

I had a wonderful time with this DVD; it was entertaining and educating.
Juanita