Horseman’s Corner Radio

Horse Training with Mindy Bower

Colorado Horsewoman Mindy Bower reflecting back on her experience with Ray Hunt, "But the first moment I listened to him I was, I couldn't believe how amazing it was so it didn't take me but a minute to figure that out. But I just feel like nowadays there's just trainers or there's a million of them. They're everywhere and it doesn't take anything to get a client. I mean I've worked with a lot of trainers too that they have no clue. That just amazes me. And even after I've kind of gone through things with them I'll still get a horse from them that you just think, what? Wait, have you not been doing the groundwork? They just don't carry it forward. They think it's just a day in the life and not like a complete way of living. So I mean I just, everything I do has the groundwork in it. If I'm just walking through the corral with all the horses loose I'm paying attention to what they're doing and how they move around me and whether they want to run past me or run through the gate or run away from me. I'm trying to make sure that they don't have that feeling even when they're in the corral. But I just don't think that if people keep their horses in the stall, they can just walk in there. They don't have to think. I just went and worked this morning that they've been having now, he just, he's just a baby but now he's starting to rear. They can't lead him to the round pin. And I bet I spent, I don't know, at least an hour in this stall area just working on getting him ready to catch. And she said, I said, well how would it be for you to catch you? And I said, oh I just walked right in and catch him. And I said, yeah but you can see he's not ready to be caught."

Colorado horse trainer Mindy Bower.

Meet Bill Gross of Farm Rescue

Hi, I'm Bill Gross, founder and president of Farm Rescue.

Through the 1980s my parents had some financial hardships, our family was in danger of losing the farm. My family told me to pursue higher education and a career outside of farming. So I went on to be an airline pilot. I've been flying for UPS Airlines as a Boeing 747 captain for more than 30 years. But you know my heart never left the farming and ranching community. Twenty years ago talking to the other pilots they said, what are you going to do when you retire? And I said, well I'm going to get this big John Deere tractor and planter and be this random good Samaritan where I go around and help farm families that are having a difficult time. So one day I was visiting with a chaplain friend of mine and he encouraged me, Bill, don't wait for the future, do it now.

The challenges were huge in the beginning. I mean not just that we needed volunteers to be the boots on the ground but you know we needed to raise awareness spreading the word that Farm Rescue is for real and there's no catches that it's a free service and so with a handful of donors and volunteers we set out to help farm families.

Our 20th year anniversary at Farm Rescue means a great deal to me and the entire organization. To see the thousand volunteers come forward to help nearly 1200 farm families has been truly rewarding.

Visit farmrescue.org for more information.

Be The Hotwire Fence with Van Hargis

Do you know about our Equine Podcast Search Engine?

That's right, if you're looking for good, Equine Podcasts, you can use HorsemansCorner.com or equinepodcastsearch.com, made possible by Van Hargis Horsemanship.

Now here's Van Hargis with his Morning Ranch Road Program. Enjoy!

Good morning everybody, this is Van Hargis with Van Hargis Horsemanship and welcome to the Ranch Road. Have you guys ever noticed what a horse does when it's in an area with a hot wire fence? I've seen horses walk over and accidentally touched the hot wire fence and the fence zaps them. It's nothing personal. There's no feelings involved. The fence just does its job and the horse respects that. Now when people ask me how do I get the horse to respect their personal space, the first thing I think of is be the hot wire fence. Nothing personal, no feelings involved. It's just that you're telling the horse where your boundaries are. You don't have to be harsh, you don't have to be mean, you just have to be consistent and persistent. So when the horse violates your space, just simply be the hot wire fence. Make your space uncoupled enough that they'll respect it and get out of it. But you've also got to be just as consistent as a hot wire fence, meaning that you can't sometimes ignore it and not be aware of the fact that the horse impeded on your boundary. You have to be very consistent and very persistent. And after a while the horse will respect your space and they don't fear you, they just respect you.

Texas Master Horseman and Clinician Van Hargis.

Visit Van Hargis Horsemanship for more great tips like these. You can find them all on Horseman's Corner.

Ricky Quinn on Bridle Horses

I get questions all the time, "Ricky, in your opinion what does it take to make a bridal horse?" I just kind of shrug my shoulders now where I am in my life and I'm like I don't know the answer to that. I don't, I mean because if you go and you talk to my friend Buck about it, he's pretty sophisticated in what he's looking for to make that horse a bridal horse in the movements that he wants, right? And then if you go talk to somebody who is a trail rider, they may not need to do a honch is in on the trail and if you go back to Brannaman and say well what do you think about a honch is in on the trail? You'll just kind of say well that just means your horse knows more, right? He's more of a sophisticated trail horse. Some people don't really necessarily want to go that far. So just being a good, solid, gentle horse that understands his jobs. And around about way what I'm saying, I love my foundation and I believe every horse needs to understand where it's tying feet are and how to work them, where it's front feet are and how to work them. They all need to walk trout lope on a loose range. They need to come down through the transitions on that loose range end of the stop. I think they should understand things like ropes and tarts so that they can handle some pressure in the world and just have a really, really good, solid foundation.

Horse Trainer Ricky Quinn.

Working Through Extreme Weather

Land and livestock owners around the country are facing some really tough conditions right now. Extreme heat watch, blizzards, tornado watches and warnings, freeze warnings, cold weather advisories, wildfires in Nebraska, Kansas and Oklahoma, dust storms in Texas, flooding in the Northeast, severe thunderstorms and hail. Every type of weather possible throughout the country right now. And speaking of those wildfires, there are several organizations that have come together to be the point of contact for fire relief. The official page for Nebraska Sandhills Rancher Relief is the Nebraska Sandhills Rancher Fire Relief Page.

Speaking of that Sandhills Fire that has left families, ranchers and entire communities facing devastating losses and the road to recovery will be long. If you're able, please contact any local organizations providing relief. And in Nebraska that would include the Nebraska Sandhills Rancher Fire Relief.

In conjunction with the fund that is set up at the Oregon Trail Community Foundation in Scottsbluff, Nebraska, that one is also labeled the Sandhills Fire Relief Fund. And the United Way of Western Nebraska has announced that they can also get funds to individuals in need. There is an official Facebook page for that moral fire, the largest fire in Nebraska history. You can find it on our page pinned at the top. The Morrill Ffire, which started in Morrill County, Nebraska, has now burned over a half a million acres, is the largest fire in Nebraska history and could possibly break into the top 10 for largest fires in U.S. history.

Sorely - The Horse Never Ridden

More from Jeter Eisley on his book, The Walking Y...

The good guy is based on a grouch that I knew, a make him a rancher. And all the kids are based on, I was a school teacher for a while, all the kids are based on kids that I taught, change names and change the location in the year. But there are kids that I taught either in school or I taught at a boarding school for awhile. And you can have fun. The day to day villain in The Walking Why is a despicable SOB who abuses horses. The Senator is not going to get his hands dirty by using a gun or anything like that. He's much too elite for that. So he hires out the villain. So the day to day bad guy in here is any abuses of horses you said. And you see it in here. We got some for him too. Yeah, he doesn't make it too far in the next book. But you can have fun writing these. The opening scene is based on somebody is the third man sent to the hospital on the third Sunday in a row by the same horse. And that was inspired by the fact that on a ranch at the time called the company ranch, I was the third man on the third Sunday sent to the hospital by the same horse. And so finally, Cass comes off.

I said, who do I have?

He said, sorely.

Anybody rides sorely in that time span?

And he said, no....

Catch the rest of the story from Western author Jeter Isely on Horseman's Corner Extended Edition!

Ramzi Hughes on Mustangs

Here's our co-host David Woodruff with Anchor Brand Ranch's Ramzi Hughes on using Mustangs on the ranch.

What we do is kind of narrow my favorite breeds down to the American Quarter Horse and the regular old Mustangs. It's kind of a mixture of what we've got. Those Mustangs are tough and they go like crazy and the kids can break them and ride them and use them for ranch horses. But they are not the athlete that an American Quarter Horse is when it comes to the rodeo events and team rope and that we like to do in the arena. So everything's got its place and we like our American Quarter Horse for our team rope and our rodeo event. And then for some of the ranch work, these kids sure have fun and do good on some of them hard-footed Mustangs. And Mustangs don't really stand up against the Quarter Horses. Not when it comes to athletic ability, speed, slide and stop and they just don't. They might walk faster like out on the ranch. They walk faster and be a little more sure-footed in the rocks. But just to be honest and realistic and we've tested it out, they just are not the athlete in the arena. They don't have the start and go and stop speed. Each has its place.

That was Ramzi Hughes from Anchor Brand Ranch with our co-host David Woodruff.

Welcome New AQHA CEO

The AQHA Executive Committee put out the following statement:

Effective Friday, March 6, Karl Stressman is no longer employed by AQHA. Incoming CEO Dave Dellin has assumed all duties and responsibilities as chief executive officer.

We thank Karl for his years of service and wish him well.

Dave will continue working with the AQHA Executive Committee, AQHA staff, the AQHA Board of Directors and many others to move the organization forward and advance the priorities outlined in our Strategic Operating Plan.

Our relationships and partnerships are extremely important to AQHA. We greatly appreciate your support of the programs designed to better the lives of American Quarter Horses and the people who ride and love them.

You can have confidence that AQHA remains focused on serving our members, supporting the industry and ensuring a strong future for the American Quarter Horse. We appreciate your continued support and look forward to continuing our work together.

Thank you,

Jeff Tebow

AQHA President 

AQHA Executive Committee