Senior Horses (and Senior People) Need Confidence I got my horse Chip in the fall of 2022. I wasn’t looking for a horse after losing my mare, April, but the opportunity presented itself and I brought Chip home. I’ve recently learned a valuable lesson: it doesn’t matter how old you … Read More
Lessons from the Ranch: Training, Riding, Luck, and Love By Van Hargis Van Hargis grew up in the saddle on an East Texas ranch, training his first horse at age 12 and eventually making a living starting cutting and reining colts, many of which would leave his hands to become … Read More
Mustang Champions, a new partner with the Bureau of Land Management Wild Horse and Burro Program, officially introduced two new mustang competitions: Mustang Classic and Mustang Challenge. Wanting to give competitors as much training time to compete Mustang Champions changed the starting adoption or purchase date for their competitions to … Read More
Sao Paulo, Brazil: American Trainer, Monty Roberts, is known worldwide for his gentle taming method which establishes a connection with the animal and does not require brute force. The Horse Gentler Monty Roberts uses gentle taming with horse at Barretos Equine Event 2023 Under the eyes of the audience at the … Read More
Help a Horse Feel Good to Make Training Stick The summer I was 12 my father took my sister and me on a six-week long trip around the Western U.S. We hiked slot-canyons and the Grand Canyon, camped under the stars in Zion, and got soaked by thunderstorms in the … Read More
By the time Hero came to me he was shouting in the only way he knew how BUCKING! He was a six-year-old Quarter horse who had been team penning and trail riding but bucked his owner off numerous times and had now become completely unruly and dangerous. In the hopes of getting … Read More
Competition Day and Beyond At the end of our last article, I’d been out of town judging shows and wishing I had more time to prepare my mustang, Journey, for the upcoming Mustang Mania Trainers Challenge (see the July/August issue). These mustang competitions demand a solid, trusting relationship between horse … Read More
Competitions and Opportunities Highlight Mustangs’ Qualities At the end of the last article, I’d finally saddled Journey, my formerly wild mustang who I was preparing for a 90-day competition, with a full-sized saddle after starting him with a kid’s saddle. Then life happened, and I had to be gone for … Read More
Horses Help Us Find our Strength After a 12-year hiatus from showing in National Reined Cow Horse Association shows, I stepped back into the show pen recently in Nampa, Idaho. Last year I gingerly entered five or six National Reining Horse Association shows on my 2018 Stallion OHickory Rey (Garth), … Read More
From BLM Holding to Accepting a Saddle In my first article in this series, I introduced you to Journey, my 4-year-old (formerly) wild mustang. I chose him by looking through photos of available mustangs for a 90-day mustang competition where competitors gentle and then ride wild horses. I brought Journey … Read More
