Don’t throw the bucket at them!

I’ve been catching horses for a long time. When I was a kid we had lots of horses from killers to spoiled stuff. I had my pony “Pee Wee” and and we had a few saddle horses but most were trader horses to be sold. My Sister and I always got our horses in every morning to have available to ride all day. The horse pasture had a swamp in it and if the horses didn’t want to be caught it was not much fun as they would make you go through the swamp and creek and get your boots muddy. If you could get one caught then you could ride bareback with halter and get em run in, which sometimes got a little wild. Of course we had a vest and helmet.(don’t believe that)

We would take a coffee can of grain with us and wrap the halter and rope around us so they couldn’t see it. Lots of times they would let you get up to them, eat some oats and as soon as you went to the halter to get ready to catch one they would run off.

That’s when you threw the coffee can at them and went to chasing them to go across the swamp and into the corral.

Hard to catch horses are some of the most frustrating things in dealing with horses. I have come a long ways in my understanding and actually enjoy getting a sour to catch horse good.

So much of it depends on the type of pressure you put on your horse while using them. They either like to be with you or would rather be somewhere else. The latter means they might be a little on the hard to catch side.

Here’s some thoughts on how to present yourself. If I see someone that is good at catching a hard to catch horse in a way that the horse gets better instead of worse, then I a watching someone that understands stockmanship and horsemanship.

Red Cloud Speaks

It is really important to understand as much about animals production wise and quality of life wise.

I don’t feel like animals can be content when they are alone. They can get used to it but it sure lowers the quality of life and production.

With this calf we got him to sucking and then put him back with the cow herd. It’s really interesting that he mothered up with the bull, that happens to be his sire.

I feed him three times a day and it is not that much trouble to make a bottle and feed him. I really get a good feeling from helping a young orphan calf because it’s personal on a one on one. The more animals you have the less personal it gets and sometimes we forget how much good our “care” does to the quality of life and quality of production.

I hope you will think about the impact you’re making on each animal no matter if one or one thousand. It matters and this is why it is so important to KEEP GETTING BETTER!

Riding one that’s spooked and on the muscle

This was a great opportunity to discuss things when your horse is on the muscle and what to do to turn the situation into a positive rather than a negative that sets your and the horses confidence up to get better rather than worse.

It’s real easy to undo days of good horsemanship when something like this happens. The first thing is to keep yourself safe, and second is to not undo what you’ve been doing out of frustration or fear.

I had an article one time in Western Horseman titled “Have fun, Be safe”. That should be the theme of every ride, and whatever other positive you achieve is a great bonus, like picking an apple from the apple tree!