Innholdsfortegnelse for January 2018 i Horse & Rider

ABOUT SIX MONTHS ago, we introduced a revamped Horse&Rider with a whole new look and a mission to encompass all aspects of your modern Western horse life. Our transformation continues with this, the first issue of 2018. You’ll start to hear from a few voices that are new to our brand in this issue and going forward. I’m excited to introduce them to you. COMPLETELY COWBOY I hadn’t met Ken McNabb before we chose him as our next Trail Insights contributor. But I’d certainly heard about his credentials—popular TV personality (Discovering the Horseman Within on RFD-TV), Road to the Horse competitor, respected clinician and horseman. Topping the list of his accomplishments, however, was that everyone commented on his being a true cowboy, the real deal, and a good person. I…

TRAVEL Calif. WHERE Red Bluff, California WHAT Red Bluff Bull & Gelding Sale WHEN January 23–27 Western Trifecta When is a sale not just a sale? When it’s January in Red Bluff, where ranchers and horsemen converge to indulge their love of fine livestock, tough competition, and top-notch sales. Over five days, some 30,000 enthusiasts descend on this Northern California city (population 14,000) to admire and perhaps bid on some of the West’s best bulls, ranch geldings, and stock dogs. And that’s just the beginning of the fun.…

➞ Do you micromanage your horse, especially at the lope? It’s common, particularly for riders dealing with confidence issues. The lope feels like the most precarious gait, so we want to check our horse often to make sure he’s not going to rush off or do something silly. This is the wrong approach. Instead, we should train our horses to maintain their relaxed cadence at the lope without constant interference from us. In other words, we should ask for a nice lope, and our horses should maintain that gait until we cue him otherwise. This “passenger exercise” will teach your horse to do exactly that. In the process, it also schools you to avoid the urge to micromanage. Ride this exercise in a secure arena with safe fencing and good…

WILMA IS A SWEET, sensitive, and generally well-behaved 14-year-old Quarter Horse mare. So when she started tossing her head, her owner turned to the Internet for advice. She was especially excited when she found a Web site offering a quick-fix. When that didn’t work, she contacted an animal communicator. But poor Wilma just kept right on shaking her head. Wilma’s owner finally called the vet. “Wilma flips her head up and down, snorts, and sometimes acts like an insect is flying up her nose,” she explained. “On occasion, she even strikes at her nose with her front leg.” With the help of her vet, Wilma’s owner found an explanation for her horse’s symptoms: they’re the classic signs of idiopathic headshaking syndrome. In spite of years of research, idiopathic headshaking syndrome…

A well-executed speed transition looks effortless in the show pen, but in reality requires great effort. It’s a tricky maneuver that can easily put you in the penalty box if you’re not riding each step of the way. Transitioning from fast to slow or slow to fast at the lope requires you to use your legs, seat, and hands together as one unit to keep your horse collected and in the bridle as you shut down or speed up. If you’re out of sync with your horse during a speed transition, you risk swapping leads, stopping, or breaking gait—all of which are penalties in the show arena. In competition, you’ll see required speed transitions in classes like the reining, ranch riding, and horsemanship. Outside the show pen, working on speed…

ARE YOU READY for a new start, a new year, and new goals? Ready or not, 2018 is ready for you to tackle. What do you want to accomplish? What are your riding goals? How will you work toward achieving them? Only you determine what you're capable of. It’s the best part about goals: you get to set them and map your path! Reality of Barriers It’s a known fact that barriers lie between us and what we aim to accomplish. These limitations tell us the odds are stacked against us and that too much stands in the way of our success. Growing up, I was fortunate to have parents who allowed me to dream. “You can be anything you want to be, Amberley,” my parents would say. This support…

A Western art show and trade show backdrop this event, which begins with stock-dog working trials over the first three days, culminating with the Stock Dog Sale on Friday. Sale geldings compete on Thursday and Friday, showing at halter and under saddle in reining, cutting, reined cow horse, trail, and calf branding. Doors to the Pauline Davis Pavilion open for the Sale of Quarter Horse & Paint Geldings on Friday night, with Vic Woolery’s Famous Tri-Tip BBQ before and during the sale. The bulls go on the block Saturday morning, followed by the Cinch Jeans Buckin’ Best Bull Riding contest that night—and a dance party to cap the event. Don’t Miss This explore. A 50-minute drive will take you to the 1. Wild Horse Sanctuary in Shingletown. Sponsor a horse…

“I’M JUST THE DRIVER,” says Larry Weatherford, referring to hauling his daughter, Christina, and her horses to shows, competitions, lessons, and clinics all over Oklahoma. They even trekked 1,800 miles to Douglas, Wyoming, to the Powderhorn Ranch, site of their personal lesson and riding experience with clinician Ken McNabb. (See “Learning, Together” on page 74.) But Larry’s much more than a chauffeur. He’s the driving force in helping Christina achieve her horse-related goals. Building a Horse Life Larry rode occasionally as a youth, spending weekends at the local stockyards hopeful he’d have a chance to catch-ride. The Boy Scouts provided the most riding time for the young horse lover, with a weeklong summer camp that included daily horseback riding. His family never had the means to own or keep horses,…

Rising Star Shines Again Sarah Dawson, one of the up-and-comers we told you about in last March’s “Trainers on the Rise,” jumped up and won the Hackamore Classic Open championship on Shine Smarter (above) at the National Reined Cow Horse Association Futurity in Fort Worth, Texas, last October (she also made the futurity’s open finals). Then, at November’s Quarter Horse World Show, the Texas trainer won the junior working cow horse championship on Shiney Outlaw with a record-setting 455 combined score for her reined and cow work (bit.ly/sdawsonworldshow). To learn the “secret” of this champion rider, see The Thinking Rider blog at HorseandRider.com. LAWSUIT SEEKS JUSTICE Do you need a high school diploma to be a good horseshoer? Farrier Bob Smith doesn’t think so. The owner of the Pacific Coast…

“Tying up” is when a horse develops a stiff gait and hard, painful muscles following exercise. He sweats, hyperventilates, and is reluctant to move. Also known as Monday morning disease or azoturia, tying up indicates muscle damage resulting from a variety of potential causes, including recurrent exertional rhabdomyolysis (RER) and polysaccharide storage myopathy (PSSM). If your horse shows signs, call your vet, as treatment may be required to prevent kidney damage. There’s no cure for tying up, but it can be managed through diet and exercise. Nutrition Is Key If your horse is prone to tying up: Minimize high-carb grains in his diet. Favor a high-quality grass or oat hay over alfalfa hay. Consider an added source of fat (such as rice bran). Consider a vitamin/mineral supplement containing vitamin E and…

Horses are like small children; you must always be on guard against things that might hurt them. Here’s how to prevent many wounds from happening. Around the Barn Protruding nails, jutting wire, wood splinters, torn feed tubs, broken concrete—anything that can lacerate or puncture flesh is a serious danger. Get in the habit of routinely checking for such perils to catch and fix them before they can injure your horse. Your barn’s aisles and doorways should be at least 8 feet wide to avoid crowding/bumping. Ceilings should be high enough to avoid contact with a rearing horse’s head—ideally 9 feet or more. Stalls should be at least 12 by 12 feet to minimize the risk of casting (becoming trapped against a wall). Your barn’s floor should provide good traction, and…

➞ You’re headed back from your trail ride. You reach the trailer, unsaddle, brush off your horse, get him loaded, and head down the road. Twenty minutes! It’s a new record time. This is exactly the behavior that gets riders in trouble. After a long day of riding, and especially after multiday trips, it’s tempting to hurry up and get on your way. When you do this, you create chaos. You hurriedly go through the motions and leave yourself open to forget important things, such as a saddle left on the ground. You overlook the once-over that ensures that your horse is injury-free and your equipment is in good repair. Over time, your rushed process causes your horse to become anxious at the trailer, which makes your ride back more…

Your trail horse is more than a handy mount; he’s your equine companion and travel partner. If you enjoy exploring new trails aboard your familiar friend, but prefer to be pampered rather than roughing it, a bed-and-barn is for you. Following are 12 bed-and-barn getaways. We looked for places where a Western rider would feel at home, plus charm, character, and access to scenic riding trails. → ANCHORAGE FARM Pine, Colorado You are here: Anchorage Farm (anchoragefarm.com) is a small, upscale bed-and-barn and working ranch located in Jefferson County, about a half-hour west of Denver, in the Rocky Mountain foothills. For you: Choose from three handcrafted guest suites finished in cozy décor and featuring hardwood floors, feather beds, private baths, and snuggly robes. Breakfast includes a gourmet egg dish and…

The Collector: Becki Peterson Wilson, Wyoming The Collection: If you happen to drive through the alpine Western town of Wilson, Wyoming, don’t miss the collection of colorful cowboy boots pinned to a barn wall at Puzzleface Ranch. “All of these boots were used by our students over the years,” explains ranch hand Becki Peterson, a cow horse competitor who teaches riding fundamentals to locals and tourists alike. “As they grew out of them, on the wall they went for future kids to use.” The wall, now a town icon, sports about 70 pairs of flashy footwear: “Ariat, Ferrini, Lucchese, Corral—a little bit of everything,” Peterson notes. “Some are as old as 25 years.” And if these boots could talk, what would they say? “This is what’s left of the students who didn’t…