Welcome to Barn Banter, the official podcast of Horse Illustrated. In Barn Banter episode 27, hosts Susan Friedland and Horse Illustrated Editor In Chief Holly Caccamise chat with respected horse trainer Monty Roberts, known for his natural horsemanship methods. To end the episode, they chat with Leslie Stewart, Executive Director at Wild at Heart Horse Rescue in Lancaster, Calif., about Graycie, this month’s ASPCA Right Horse adoptable horse.

Click to listen on your preferred podcast listening platform.

Monty Roberts, World-Renowned Horse Trainer

American horse trainer Monty Roberts is known for his techniques of natural horsemanship, specifically Join-Up—the core concept of his training method. Roberts believes that horses use a non-verbal language, which he terms “Equus,” and that humans can use this language to communicate with horses. In order to share his knowledge of horsemanship, Roberts has authored a number of books including an original best-seller, The Man Who Listens to Horses, and regularly tours with live demonstrations worldwide. Roberts also founded the Monty Roberts International Learning Center to teach his methods in Solvang, California, and an “online university” to promote his ideas. Learn more about him at montyroberts.com.

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Adoptable Horse of the Month, Graycie

Graycie is a stunning 15-year-old Arabian mare who truly does it all. Whether you’re looking for a partner in the arena, a confident trail companion, or a talented jumper, Graycie has you covered. Her versatility and calm demeanor make her the perfect match for a rider seeking excellence in all areas. Ready to take your riding to the next level? Graycie is eager to be your next best partner!

Learn more about Graycie here.

In addition to Barn Banter episode 27, you can check out all previous episodes of Horse Illustrated’s podcasts here.

The post Barn Banter – Episode 27 appeared first on Horse Illustrated Magazine.

Chris Irwin really gets horses.

Watch him at work—communicating with a horse—and you can see why Ireland’s Equestrian magazine boldly stated, “Chris Irwin is more horse than human.” As a world-renowned horseman, professional trainer, riding coach, and author of the international best-selling books Horses Don’t Lie and Dancing With Your Dark Horse, Chris Irwin artfully unravels the complex relationship between horses and humans. And attendees at his U.S. or European clinics leave with a renewed desire to build a more meaningful connection with their own horses.

Finding a Real Home Through Horses

Irwin didn’t grow up enveloped by the love of family and horses.

“I dropped out of school and left home at 16,” says Irwin. “It was an extremely violent, dysfunctional family and I ran away to survive.”

He played guitar and hitchhiked from Canada to North America, eventually landing in Seattle, Wash. Around the age of 20, he was homeless and living off tips tossed in his guitar case. He heard the racetrack was hiring and decided to check it out.

“As soon as I walked around to the barns, smelled the horses, heard the horses, I literally froze and every cell in my body was tingling,” Irwin recalls. “I knew for the first time in my life that I was home.”

At the end of his first day, the trainer told him he was a natural, gave him a full-time job and a place to stay—a cot in a stall—and Irwin worked his way up from mucking stalls to grooming horses.

Later, he worked at dude ranches and enjoyed success in training wild Mustangs. After ten years, Irwin needed a change.

“I was struggling to earn a living, so I took a six-month break and went back to Canada to ski and do some soul-searching,” says Irwin. “And at the end of winter, I so missed being with the horses. The horses were my medicine, and I needed to get back to work with them.”

He took his passion for horses to the next level, transitioning to trainer-for-hire. After moving to Nevada, he had a long waiting list within six months—”starting young horses, problem-solving with difficult horses.” Veterinarians and farriers were amazed at how much gentler the horses were that Irwin worked with.

At 37, Irwin moved back to Canada—now as a family with his wife and child—and got right to work, reinventing himself as an author, becoming an in-demand clinician, and making videos.

“I wrote Horses Don’t Lie with a good friend,” says Irwin. “By 2000, Horses Don’t Lie was being published in multiple languages and I was getting called to Europe and North America. I was very surprised with how well the book resonated with people because nobody really said anything like that at the time. I wrote a book talking about how I’m finding my psycho-spiritual healing through working with horses. It didn’t have any practical training tips. It was one of the first books that started leading North American horse culture in the direction of working with horses for personal development. I thought there was a good chance I would become a laughingstock.”

He was wrong; people appreciated his authentic voice deciphering natural horsemanship and our connection to horses.

Helping Horses to Rebuild Confidence

Irwin travels to clinics worldwide, helping horses regain courage and confidence, profoundly impacting their overall well-being—and each horse has a story.

“There’s a horse I work with now in the Netherlands who was rescued as a bull-fighting horse from Spain,” says Irwin. “He had brutal training, had been gored by a bull in a fight, and was full of PTSD. I’d been looking at him, knew trauma was in him, and I knew how to help him get it out, how to release it. I started working with him last year. And what a breakthrough! He is very near and dear to my heart—he shows a depth of appreciation for the healing that he has gone through.

Horses often bring me to tears… I’ve wept in public because of what’s coming out of the horse… There’s much more depth in learning what it takes to help horses who have already decided that human beings are evil and don’t want anything to do with us. That’s where my focus is.”

Chris Irwin as the Empathetic Shepherd

Irwin wants horses to see us as empathetic shepherds and thus want to be in our presence.

“The premise of everything in my work with horses is that the frame of their body affects the frame of mind. It’s physiology,” says Irwin. “Their body goes into different shapes, different frames… A hollow-backed horse with his back collapsed and his neck up high is producing adrenaline. And enough adrenaline on a consistent basis leaves the body full of cortisol.”

Irwin explains, “The goal is to use groundwork and riding where you use your body to shape a horse’s body so that its internal chemistry produces oxytocin and endorphins, not adrenaline. That’s why it’s feasible for a horse to walk away from the feed and other horses and meet you at the gate, because he knows this is going to feel good. When I ride a horse, it’s like giving them a day at the spa. My seat is a chiropractor. My legs are massage therapists. My contact is like osteopathy. Horses love it when they feel better with you than without you. That’s how they know you’re the shepherd.”

Horses Test Your Awareness Through Body Language

Purposeful groundwork with a physical connection can be complex; some riders mistakenly underestimate its value.

“Groundwork is competing in body language with the horse—to earn respect, trust, and acceptance of your leadership,” says Irwin. “When you walk in to meet a horse you’ve never met before, it doesn’t automatically respect you. Even the nicest horses in the world— if you are a stranger—will test you very subtly with body language.”

Your body language can cause a horse to feel safe with you, allowing them to relax and view you as the shepherd.

“The horse knows if you have profound situational awareness,” Irwin explains. “He’s tested you. And your response when challenged makes them feel good.”

Tapping Into Chris Irwin’s Insights

Irwin explains his riding approach as “physio from the saddle—helping the horse to relax in his body. The softer and more supple we can get the horse in their bodies, the more relaxed they will become in their minds.”

Eager to share his experience, Irwin created the series of hugely popular online courses, Mind Your Horse and the Irwin Insights: Horse Sense Redefined Skills Certificates and Masters Certification courses.

“The courses are a combination of evolved equestrian insights, cutting-edge production quality, and use of graphics and illustrations as learning aids,” says Irwin. “And I have a completely different approach—due to the depth of minutia of awareness.”

Citing an example, Irwin says, “The single greatest, unspoken dysfunction in the horse world is defining inside and outside as direction instead of flexion. And when you ride a horse according to flexion instead of direction, it melts. It gets so soft. And whether it’s five or fifteen minutes later, now you are riding straight down the long side and you are getting true bends in the corners because you warmed up working with the horse and not against it.”

Spoken like a true shepherd.

To learn more about Chris Irwin, horsemanship, and clinics visit chrisirwin.com and Ray of Light Farm, a nonprofit animal rescue center and riding school in East Haddam, Conn., where he serves as a clinic director.

This article about Chris Irwin is a web exclusive for Horse Illustrated magazine. Click here to subscribe!

The post Chris Irwin: The Master of Awareness appeared first on Horse Illustrated Magazine.

A lone horseman stands in the spotlight. He gives a signal and his equine partner, a big bay with four white socks, gallops into the arena. The music starts and they move as one in an intricately planned, magical routine. His cues to the horse are incredibly subtle, and it seems horse and human share the same mind.

The performance is done at liberty, part of it working together on the ground and part of it bridleless under-saddle. Reining spins, flying lead changes, sliding stops, circles and lateral movements in step together on the ground, rearing and bowing on command, and more are intertwined into a mesmerizing show. It is awe inspiring, and the crowd loves it.

The man is Luke Gingerich, a rising star in the equestrian world, accompanied by his long-time partner, American Quarter Horse gelding CJ Rio Zan Bar Gun (aka “Rio”). The liberty work they do together may seem unattainable, but their dance is the result of lots of practice and finely tuned communication between the two.

Gingerich says it is something that most equestrians can learn to do with their horses, and he is on a mission to inspire and teach anyone who wants to work to achieve that goal.

“Liberty work requires a thorough understanding and awareness of your body language, timing, and feel, and how to use these to communicate with your horse,” he explains. “But it’s something that most anyone willing to put in the time, dedication, and consistency can experience with their horse.”

The Man Behind the Performance

Like many kids, Gingerich, who grew up in central Ohio, begged his parents for a pony. When he turned 10 years old, they purchased a mare named Misty for him. From then on, he was hooked. Several years later, he purchased his first Quarter Horse, a mare named Zippy; they competed in western pleasure and trail classes.

A fascination with liberty work from a young age led him to study with James Cooler in Summerfield, N.C. In 2017, he started training with Jesse and Stacy Westfall in Loudonville, Ohio, and he says that they have been a major influence in his horsemanship. A keen observer of equine behavior, he noticed that horses naturally want to be in sync with other members of their herd and do this by mirroring behavior of others in their group. He also saw how important body language is to horses in communication. He then applied these concepts to his training.

“I channel that desire and natural instinct to read subtle shifts and changes in body language to create complex maneuvers and behaviors that my horses become capable of doing at liberty with me,” he explains.

Performance Liberty Horsemanship

Helping horses learn how to use themselves correctly in a balanced and athletic way while working at liberty is also a personal mission. He is passionate about combining relationship-based training with training for high-level athleticism, and labels the combination of the two “performance liberty horsemanship.”

“Both the mental and emotional connection, combined with the physical body control and muscle memory that this work creates, can be directly carried over into riding in many competitive disciplines,” says Gingerich.

He’s put it all into practice in both training and competition. In addition to liberty exhibitions and competition, he competes in reining, freestyle reining, ranch versatility, and most recently, western dressage. He incorporates many dressage principles into his training.

In 2021, he brought 4-year-old palomino mare Tinseltowns Whizard (aka “Chloe”) to Quarter Horse Congress, where their bridleless freestyle reining routine earned them a large following.

Thus far, all of Chloe’s training under-saddle has been done without a bridle or reins or head gear of any kind. While Gingerich initially thought he would soon transition to tack, he was so pleased with how well Chloe’s foundation of liberty work carried over to ridden work during the first rides of her life that he has remained on the bridleless journey with her ever since.

In 2018, people started asking him to teach them how to do what he and his horses were doing, so he started a business, Luke Gingerich Horsemanship, in his hometown of Plain City, Ohio. In 2021, with the help of family and friends, Gingerich built a facility where he holds clinics and lessons.

He has expanded his business by creating online training video library memberships. So far, he’s traveled to 20 states to compete, teach and perform, and has students from nearly all equestrian disciplines.

Why Liberty Work?

Almost any horse can do liberty work with proper training, at least at a basic level, says Gingerich. Yet, liberty work is more than just turning your horse loose in an enclosure and chasing them around.

“It should be more of a dance—a constant two-way communication with our horses—where we can guide and direct their thoughts and movements in an accurate, refined manner,” he explains.

He points out that liberty work gives horsemen and women a better connection with and understanding of their horses, serving to improve their relationship and results together. The horse will learn how to balance and use his body properly, which translates into improved under-saddle work. Not to mention that it can be just plain fun!

Preparing to Start Liberty Work

Gingerich advises doing homework before starting liberty work with your horse. Select an instructor for in-person and/or virtual learning. Watch liberty routines at shows, exhibitions and on videos and take note of what the human and horse are doing during their performance.

Find an appropriately sized work space, either a round pen, compact or subdivided arena, or a small, sturdy paddock. At first, work in-hand with your horse wearing a halter and lead. This provides more guidance and support as you start to learn how to communicate via body language what you would like your horse to do with you—move forward, stop, turn away or toward you, move around your body in a circle, change gaits, and so on. He explains that the way you move and angle your body, combined with consistent verbal cues, signals your intention to your horse.

He also uses three types of whips (dressage, carriage and longe whips) to offer guidance and support to the horse. He often carries two whips at a time and uses them to deliver separate signals to different parts of the horse’s body. Gingerich has found that the weight and balance of the whip is very important for allowing the cues to be as understandable and consistent as possible.

“Whips are an important tool when learning liberty work with your horse,” he says. “They are simply an extension of my arms to help me to be more clear and precise with the cues that I give my horse. Their function is similar to how our hands and legs function while riding, in that they can correct when necessary, yet should always be used to communicate and show my horse how to move and use his body, and how to find connection, focus, and relaxation under pressure—both physical and environmental.”

Before using the whips in work with your horse, practice learning to carry and control one with each hand so you can reliably send individual signals with each whip. The whip cues are used along with body language to ask the horse to do different movements.

In planning for liberty work, you should also decide what types of rewards you plan to use to tell your horse that he has done a good job. The release of pressure at the correct time will always help your horse understand what is being asked of him. Pats, rubs, scratches, and verbal praise are all excellent rewards, and different horses appreciate some of these more than others.

Gingerich does incorporate clicker training, a form of positive reinforcement that involves using food rewards, into his program as he starts to move into more advanced work. But he cautions against introducing treats too quickly or offering them with poor timing, as this can cause problems with your horse.

Body Language is Key

Gingerich emphasizes that understanding the body language of both horses and humans is one of the most important aspects of being able to work at liberty.

“We need to have a clear understanding of the difference between drive and draw with our horses, which is instinctual for them,” he says. “Applying energy and pressure to our horses with the correct angles and feel in our bodies—and knowing when and how to release that pressure—is essential for clear communication, understanding and connection.”

His first lessons involve teaching people how to differentiate between driving, drawing, and neutral energy in their own body language. He explains each term this way:

◆ Drive is the intention in the person’s body language that asks the horse to move away from the handler.
◆ Draw is the intention conveyed by the person’s body that invites the horse to move toward the handler.
◆ Neutral energy is the handler holding his or her body in such a way that they do not ask the horse to change anything.

In most cases when working at liberty, Gingerich likes to be standing in a position by the horse’s head. This gives him a safer distance from the horse’s feet, and leaves more space between him and his horse, which allows him to communicate more easily since the horse is in a better position to see the cues he gives.

After teaching his students how to differentiate between drive, draw and neutral energy, Gingerich focuses on having them use these concepts to help their horses find connection, focus and relaxation.

Then he moves on to teaching body control. This involves the human learning how to use her body, and the whips, to show the horse how to move each part of his body independently, eventually without the need for a lead.

Basic Skills

One of the first things Gingerich teaches a horse is to back away when he applies pressure to the horse’s chest from the front. This helps ensure that he can adjust how close the horse comes to him as he advances in his training.

From there, he teaches the horse how to move his shoulders, hindquarters and rib cage independently in response to his body language. These basic skills help transition into starting liberty circles, lateral work, straightness training and so on. Teaching the horse to come when called is an important skill, too.

Gingerich advises keeping the training sessions short in most cases, especially at the beginning. Although a lesson can range anywhere from 15 minutes to over an hour, depending on the horse’s stage of training, 15 to 30 minutes is a good starting point.

He counsels to always try to end on a positive note with your horse. If the horse doesn’t master a task that you’ve asked for, go back to the basic skill set and end with a successful completion.

Safety Tips

As with any activity with horses, interacting safely is imperative in liberty work, too. Gingerich cautions to carefully read the horse’s body language for signals telling you to back off. A horse may be feeling playful, frightened, confused, annoyed or claustrophobic, which could cause him to lash out in your direction.

“My general rule is, when in doubt, increase the distance at which I am working with a horse, so we both have more space to safely read and respond to each other, and communicate from there,” says Gingerich.

To help you stay safe, he advises to first teach the horse that any part of his body you intend to draw towards you later must first be yielded away from you when asked. He feels that this is important to help everyone involved stay safe and confident. He also says giving cues with a longer whip can remind the horse to keep a safe distance.

Gingerich sometimes advises a handler to revert to work using a halter and lead to enhance safety.

“Liberty work requires a high level of education and understanding from both horse and human, so there are times that I will recommend that a horse and human use tack to help improve clarity, consistency, and communication before going back to working at liberty,” he says.

Advanced Liberty Exercises

Things to aspire to later in liberty work include teaching flying changes and to bow and rear on command. In his sessions with his own horses, they practice advanced movements such as straight-line flying lead changes, half-pass and pirouette at the canter, liberty spins, the cutting game, and a walking rear, among other cool moves.

With patience, practice and communication, you and your horse could dance like you mean it one day, too.

This article about liberty work appeared in the November/December 2022 issue of Horse Illustrated magazine. Click here to subscribe!

The post Liberty Work with Luke Gingerich appeared first on Horse Illustrated Magazine.

Sometimes horses, like people, need a leg up in life. That’s where Joe Misner comes in. Growing up in Alaska for much of his boyhood, the creator and director of the Wild2Ride Academy is no stranger to wild country. These days, in Missoula, Mont., he is offering the only wild horsemanship certification program of its kind anywhere in America.

While appearing as a panelist at the EQUUS International Film Festival four years ago in Billings, Mont., he heard about a horse facing a dire plight. The owner of a green-broke BLM Mustang was leaving town, and with winter just around the corner, he threatened to abandon the hapless colt in the mountain wilderness if someone didn’t come up with a better solution.

For a horseman who likes to live by the motto, “Come on and let me show you,” solutions are easy.

Misner was just starting to work with Melinda Corso and Montana Reins of Hope (MROH) when Janet Rose came to them for help. Rose was organizing a benefit for a local rescue, Horse Haven Montana, and told them how a foster option for the colt, Dante, had proved temporary.

“At that time, Montana Reins of Hope was still early in its formation,” says Corso. “Taking Dante in really solidified MROH’s commitment to the American Mustang.”

Horsemanship That Creates Second Chances

Creating second chances for wild spirits—both horse and human—is what Misner has been doing for the last decade. That has included connecting horses with high-risk youth; working with Wounded Warrior veterans and Mustangs; and offering Rio Cosumnes Correctional inmates in Sacramento, Calif., a certifiable skill after their incarceration while giving wild horses a chance to earn release from their own federal pens.

Misner discovered during his West Coast horsemanship clinics that people wanted to learn what he had to teach. But unless they went to jail, they weren’t finding his unique curriculum.

That’s how the Rio Cosumnes Correctional Center Wild Horse Program, developed with the Sacramento Sheriff’s Department (one of only five such horse/inmate programs in the country), became the model for the curriculum now offered by Wild2Ride Academy at MROH.

Misner’s program in Sacramento County honed a successful wild horse gentling approach through retreat-pressure-release, which works with an untouched horse’s natural instincts. It also incorporates leadership horsemanship training for people, based on what he calls the five C’s: Calm, Confident, Caring, Clear and Consistent.

And Dante? As MROH’s first rescue horse and four-legged instructor, he has a forever home.

“Dante started it all,” says Corso, who has brought more than 25 years’ experience in children’s mental health and education to her role as Director at MROH. “We can make this world a better place for horses and humans through quality equine education programs that focus on building relationships with horses on a foundation of trust.”

That’s why Misner, considered one of the premier Mustang trainers in the country, is there.

Cross-Fit, Ranch-Style

A veteran of 16 Extreme Mustang Makeovers, with nine Top 10s, and 2014 NORCO Extreme Mustang Makeover champion (with Kenai), Misner has built a 90-day wild horsemanship certification course progressing through six levels.

After completion of a level, students earn a Wild2Ride Academy certificate. At the end of 90 days and all six levels, they are fully certified in the skills necessary to train wild horses.

The name, Wild2Ride, comes from Misner’s experiences in Mustang makeovers since the early days, and from firsthand experience.

“I’ve worked with ‘wild’ men and horses,” he says. “I’ve watched guys who have gone through lots of failures find something to feel passionate about in horses. Here, we teach from the ground up: with a pitchfork, cleaning stalls. I like to call it ‘ranch cross-fitness!’” All joking aside, the program has proven to be transformative for the living creatures that go through it.

“It’s life-changing for everyone,” says Misner. “You can get an organic transformation.”

Wild Horse to Rider Hours Ratio

It starts with his thought-provoking wild horse hours to rider hours ratio.

“Over a year, a horse runs wild for 8,760 hours,” says Misner. “In comparison, 90 days in training adds up to just 60 hours of human interaction.”

That’s 8,700 hours of wild left in an animal apt to behave more like a deer in horse clothing. Take for example a 14-hand, 3-year-old Mustang mare that Misner watched clear a 3-foot fence from a standstill as easily as any whitetail.

“Horsemanship with wild horses is a lot of oxymorons,” he says. “You learn to stay calm but are ready for chaos.”

His 90-day wild horsemanship certification program is also unique in its freedom from traditional semester formats. Applicants do not have to commit 90 days all at once. Like the training approach they hope to learn and apply to horses, students go through the program pressure-free, learning at their own pace.

“One of the most important things about this program is its flexibility,” Misner explains. “You can start any time. You can stop at any point and then come back for more. You can come for a week at a time.” For students learning how to relax a wild horse, it helps to show them they’re not under pressure either.

Riding Forward

Misner is excited to see more students scheduled to enter Wild2Ride Academy through the rest of this year. Two Academy graduates, Hayden Sunshine Kunhardt and John Sullivan (who left a job with the U.S. Forest Service to learn wild horsemanship), have come on board as full-time, paid assistants.

Misner estimates that since 2019, Wild2Ride Academy has seen two dozen burgeoning trainers enter the program and eight complete the full Academy, despite the pandemic.

“I know it sounds crazy, but COVID really got us going,” he says. “It’s been fantastic. People’s lives changed and more of them than ever want new and better connections.”

That’s on top of the hundreds of horses and inmates he estimates he has helped over his five years working with Sacramento County.

“My dad had a saying, ‘Aspire to inspire before you expire,’” he says.

It’s not something the quiet horseman brings up in casual conversation, but the courage and tenacity his own father displayed in life made an indelible imprint.

While born in Minnesota, 57-year-old Misner recalls how his father chose to take his family home to his own roots in Alaska. Misner was still a boy when his father, a heavy equipment operator, sustained a grievous spinal cord injury in an accident.

“My dad is my inspiration,” says Misner. “He was a veteran, and I saw what he went through as doctors held his spine together, as he went into rehabilitation to learn to walk again, and to hold his body upright. He showed me how you can do anything. To keep moving forward.”

A Horse Named Mohican

Another lesson about tenacity came from a “plain brown wrapper” of a Mustang, one of the last to go down the chute and into a BLM pen, who Joe nicknamed Mohican.

Reno, Nev., was where Misner was headed in 2009 to find his second Extreme Mustang Makeover project. He’d finished reserve champion with a horse named Laredo in the previous year’s Western States Mustang Challenge, and 16th nationally. Misner was feeling pretty good about his “formula” for training wild horses within limited timeframes as he stood along the pen watching a new herd of candidates emerge from a trailer.

But it got off to a horrific start. The horse he intended as his makeover candidate “ran right into the fence and broke its neck.”

Next to go was a 5-year-old gelding, taken from the wild a year previously and kept in a holding pen ever since, who was Misner’s resentful replacement. The horse was Mohican.

“He charged and grabbed my chest and front of my shirt as if to say, ‘I have four legs and teeth, and I’m not afraid to use them,’” recalls Misner. “‘Don’t tell me anything. Ask.’”

He had exactly 90 days to ask Mohican for a makeover and to travel from California to Texas to compete together.

For 59 days, 23 hours, and 59 minutes, Mohican didn’t offer much progress. On Day 60, Misner mounted up and started riding in the round pen, but couldn’t get the horse that had once galloped free across the prairie to break into a trot.

“I tried one little spank,” he recalls. “He blew up, rolled over on me, and this time, told me if I ever tried that again he’d squash me like a bug.”

With not much progress to show for those last 30 days, Misner resolutely loaded Mohican and began the 1,200-mile trek to Fort Worth. If he was lucky, he imagined the recalcitrant Mustang would only humiliate and not hurt him in front of all those spectators in the Will Rogers Equestrian Center.

“I purposely entered the Intermediate division,” he says. “I wasn’t expecting much.”

Misner certainly wasn’t expecting what came next. If Mohican saw him as one terrible, two-legged predator, the Mustang’s eyes pretty much popped out of its head when he realized there were thousands of such predators outnumbering them in Fort Worth.

“He stayed glued to me,” Misner recalls.

Maybe it was Mohican’s “come to Jesus moment,” but it worked. Man and Mustang finished 8th nationally, while also performing a freestyle Misner could never have predicted with this horse: “It included jumping over a barrel while holding a flag in one hand!”

In the happiest of all endings, Mohican was purchased at the auction following the competition, raising money for the Mustang Heritage Foundation and finding a forever home.

“I told the woman who bought him that he was very … particular,” he says.

Roses From a Devil’s Garden

Horse Illustrated caught up with Misner the same day he was preparing to welcome five new U.S. Forest Service Devil’s Garden Mustang mares—with foals—to MROH.

Named for a 500-square-mile patch of dense brush and jagged stone so inhospitable only “the devil himself” would plant a garden there, the Devil’s Garden Wild Horse Territory lies within Modoc National Forest outside of Alturas, Calif. According to the USDA and U.S. Forest Service, Devil’s Garden is the largest wild horse territory managed by the U.S. Forest Service in size and wild horse population.

“Devil’s Garden Mustangs have proven their adaptability, trainability and versatility since our first adoptions in 2018,” says Misner. “None of this would be possible without Reins of Hope and its 400 acres that house the facility and program. It couldn’t be done without them.”

It allows Misner and Wild2Ride to keep dreaming bigger and better, including filing for nonprofit 501(c)3 status and launching a fundraising campaign, because “we sure need a covered arena during these Montana winters.”

Mustangs need help, too.

“I know I can make a difference,” says Misner. “Mustangs gave me a master’s degree in empathy for horses, and for trying to do better, every day, with what I have to give.”

This September, Misner and his wife of 30 years, Missy, plan to compete a pair of 3-year-old BLM fillies in the Extreme Mustang Makeover in Fort Worth. A teacher for over 20 years, Missy is also curriculum co-creator of the Wild2Ride program.

“She’s been a huge inspiration in my evolution as a natural horseman,” says Misner. “Without her, I’d be a broken-up old bronc rider, for sure.”

Follow Joe and Missy, Wild2Ride, and the Devil’s Garden Mustangs at Montana Reins of Hope (available to forever homes after 90 days training) at www.montanareinsofhope.com and on Facebook @Wild2Ride and @MontanaReinsofHope.

This article about Joe Misner and his wild horsemanship certification program appeared in the October 2022 issue of Horse Illustrated magazine. Click here to subscribe!

The post Joe Misner and His Wild Horsemanship Certification Program appeared first on Horse Illustrated Magazine.

The Seven Games are supposed to be studied and played in order. Play 1 before 2, 2 before 3, et cetera. Each game builds on the one before it and they make perfect sense to the horse when presented in their correct order.

Remember to always play the Friendly Game in between tasks, as well as smile and visibly soften when you release.

1. Friendly Game

The Friendly Game is the first of Parelli’s Seven Games because nothing beats a good first impression. When you want to meet someone, how would you first approach him? I like to think about introducing myself to a horse as positively as I would to another person.
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2. Porcupine Game

Horses naturally push into steady pressure, moving against it or barging through it. It’s part of their programming for survival. In order to develop a partnership with your horse, you need to help him overcome his fearful, defensive reactions to pressure and learn how to yield and move away from it. I teach this through the Porcupine Game, Game #2 of the Seven Games.
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3. Driving Game

The Driving Game is the third of the Seven Games. It teaches your horse to yield from a “suggestion” with no physical touching involved.
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4. Yo-Yo Game

Have you ever wished that your horse had more suspension, stopped easily with a light cue, could do a sliding stop, moved straighter, or could back up quickly? The Yo-Yo Game is the key to developing all these things in your horse, and more.
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5. Circling Game

The Circling Game helps your horse understand that it is his job to maintain gait, maintain direction, watch where he is going, and all the while stay tuned into you as his center of attention.
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6. Sideways Game

In the Sideways Game, you will learn how to straighten your horse and have him yield laterally with softness and respect.
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7. Squeeze Game

Horses, by nature, are claustrophobic. They are instinctively afraid of small or tight spaces because these areas usually spell disaster for prey animals. The final of Parelli’s Seven Games, the Squeeze Game, teaches your horse to become calmer, smarter and braver, and to squeeze through narrow spots without concern.
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If you enjoyed the Seven Games, check out all Parelli articles.

This article from Pat Parelli about the Seven Games is a web exclusive originally published in January 2012 for Horse Illustrated magazine. Click here to subscribe!

The post Parelli Natural Horsemanship: The Seven Games appeared first on Horse Illustrated Magazine.

“Our bodies are our temples, and horses lead us to the altar.” ~ Beverley Kane, M.D.

What brings you that feeling of peace when you are around horses? Is it the moment when you step into the barn and smell all that is equine? The gentle rocking motion as you ride down the trail through the forest? Listening to horses peacefully munching hay as the day draws to a close? There’s no doubt: Horses bring us into the moment, engage our senses, and fill us with a soft sense of well-being.

Beverley Kane, M.D., Adjunct Clinical Assistant Professor of Medicine at Stanford University, shares experiences from her “Equine-imity” stress-reduction course at Stanford Medical School. In Equine-imity, Kane explores the intersection of horses and mindfulness through somatic horsemanship.

“Somatic means ‘of the body,’” explains Kane. “Somatic horsemanship is body-mind rejuvenation through physical interaction with horses.”

This interaction with (and sometimes on) horses may include yoga, taiji, qigong, meditation, dance, and equine-assisted body-oriented psychotherapies. Don’t worry if these terms are new to you—all you need to take part is an open mind.

Also read – Parelli Natural Horsemanship: The Seven Games

Qigong

Whether you are taking time to quietly visit with your horse, grooming or doing chores, getting ready to ride, or are even at a show, taking a few moments to connect with your horse and connect with yourself provides powerful life-affirming balance. Kane shows us simple qigong techniques anyone can enjoy to practice somatic horsemanship.

Similar to tai chi, qigong is a traditional Chinese practice of body movement, breath, and meditation that brings emotional balance and mental centeredness, in addition to physical benefits, including improved strength, balance, coordination, and circulation. By practicing together with our equine partners, the horse’s energy can invigorate us and can also soothe us, as well as strengthening our horse-human bond.

“In conventional horsemanship, interaction with the horse is often very mechanical. That mechanical approach may also come with a relationship based on social dominance and an almost utilitarian approach to the horse,” notes Kane. “Somatic horsemanship focuses on breath and energy, and also a philosophy of compassion based on partnership. Horses are extremely sensitive. They notice our moods, our body language, our intentions, our consistency.”

“Qi is your vital life-force energy,” adds Kane, describing how qi, together with breath, body movement, and your horse’s energy, nurture the mind-body connection.

Kane walks us through some of qigong’s “Eight Brocades” practice, adapted for horses:

1. Center Yourself: First become grounded in your own body in the ‘bubbling springs’ energy center in your feet and the dan tien energy center in your belly—this energy center is used in tai chi practice. To do this, close your eyes, and become aware of your breath, your feelings, and your body.

2. Experience Peace: From there, come into a wu ji standing pose by stretching your spine up to the sky. Keep your shoulders down and relaxed and your arms heavy and long. Your knees stay softly bent and your feet connected to the earth through your ‘bubbling springs’ center.

3. Breathe: In this wu ji posture, breathe deep into your dan tien energy center with a soft, full belly; this means expanding your belly as you inhale deeply.

4. Harmonize: In the same stance, raise your arms up to the sky and imagine bringing the sun down and holding it in front of you. In your mind’s eye, see it as a ball of energy that you draw open as you inhale and press closed as you exhale in this pose, which harmonizes opposites. Then allow your arms to come down to your sides.

5. Join Energy Centers: Your horse’s dan tien energy center is in his barrel. Standing facing your horse’s side, place both of your hands at shoulder height on your horse’s barrel in a dan tien press. Feel your feet sink softly into the earth and breathe from your energy center in your belly. Feel your horse breathe into your hands.

6. Come Together: From there, turn facing forward and allow your arm to drape over your horse’s back. Draw close, melding your body with your horse’s side in a dan tien hug.

Become grounded with energy from the balls of your feet. Breathe from your belly center and feel your horse’s breath along your body. Enjoy the bond with your horse.

7. Take Somatic Horsemanship Even Further: If you’re comfortable and your horse is safe, take your breath and movement mounted.

Stress and Relaxation

“There’s not a magical formula,” remarks Kane. “There’s a lot of room for free-form interpretive motions. When you do deep breathing with synchronized muscle movement, the effect on relaxation is profound.”

Kane describes a 2019 Harvard University and Vanderbilt University study investigating the effect of stressful tasks on the parasympathetic nervous system, in which the data suggest the combination of muscle activity and deep breathing found in moving meditation facilitates significant stress reduction.

Allow the horse to share with you his groundedness.

“There’s a phenomenon called entrainment, in which one system comes into synchronicity with another system,” explains Kane. “When you put a horse with a resting heartrate of 40 beats a minute with an anxious person with a heartbeat of 100 or more beats a minute, that person’s heartrate comes down.”

Looking forward, Kane suggests as we segue out of the COVID-19 pandemic, we look to horses’ interactions within the herd as we think about moving back into our own world of social interactions.

This article about somatic horsemanship appeared in the January/February 2022 issue of Horse Illustrated magazine. Click here to subscribe!

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These days, many trainers find that using Least Intrusive, Minimally Aversive (LIMA) protocol, is acceptable. It seems they’ve discovered scientific terms for what offering a soft feel and rewarding the slightest try actually mean.

A New Desensitizing Method

In the past few years, I have vastly changed the way I train horses. I now choose to focus on building a relationship before attempting any sort of training, which I have heard referred to as “connection before concepts.” In the past, I managed to build trust and relationships because of the consistency of the training I was implementing, but now I focus on the connection first. The results have been nothing short of amazing.

While trying to understand why this new way of training was working so well for me, I came across something called Poly-Vagal Theory (PVT). Poly means more than one, and vagal refers to the Vagus Nerve, which is the information superhighway between your abdomen, heart, and brain. PVT gives us a much better understanding of mammals’ Autonomic Nervous System (ANS), which consists of the Parasympathetic Nervous System and the Sympathetic Nervous System. The Parasympathetic is the system that slows down the heart rate and keeps your horse in the rest and digest state. This system is comparable to the brakes in your car, bringing you safely to a stop from an otherwise dangerous high speed. The Sympathetic Nervous System is all about activation and is comparable to the accelerator in your car. It’s the fight or flight state that allows mammals to effectively use energy to get out of dangerous situations. I used to think that one was on and the other one was off, but PVT has helped me realize there’s much more to it. Don’t be daunted by the scientific names—the concepts are simple yet illuminating.

Poly-Vagal Theory states there are two branches of the Parasympathetic Nervous System. They both help slow down the body, but they serve two entirely different functions. The Dorsal Vagal Complex concerns itself with immobility and could be compared to the parking brake in your car. It should only be applied when your car is already stopped, but it can also be applied forcefully in an emergency. Your horse uses this brake when he’s standing around dozing, grazing, or hanging out with his mates. In those cases, the brake is applied gently. Your horse can also use this brake to go into freeze mode. When your horse becomes highly worried and their other survival options, such as fight or flight, are not available or haven’t worked, he will initiate a freeze response.

The other “brake” is the Ventral Vagal Complex, which pertains to relaxation brought on by social engagement. It’s about something called attunement which trauma therapist Sarah Schlotte describes as, “Being seen, being heard, feeling felt, and getting gotten.” Horses naturally share this attunement when in a herd. When this brake is engaged, a horse can be active and have energy, but also not be in a worried state. This is the state we’d like to have our horses in when we are riding. Whether you are headed out on the cross country course, setting up a passage during a dressage test, or in my case running wide open towards a sliding stop in the reining arena, your horse should be able to stay physically active while remaining mentally calm and connected to the rider. If we can use the Ventral Vagal brake in our training program, we create a horse who responds willingly.

Of course, all this training starts long before you begin riding your horse. First, we have to make the horse safe on the ground and desensitize them to sight, sound, and sensation. Horses that don’t receive much desensitizing and have an anxious personality tend to be labeled hot, fractious, or downright dangerous. All dangerous behaviors occur when a horse is in a high state of arousal, which means their Sympathetic Nervous System is running unchecked with no Parasympathetic brake to help bring them back down. Many horses like this end up with bigger bits, draw reins, an endless stream of calming supplements, and sometimes even sedation to slow down this activation. All these tools are replacements for a faulty Parasympathetic Nervous System. If we can strengthen and train the PNS to easily relax our horses the moment they get too uptight or tense, we can bring them back down to the rest and digest state where no dangerous behaviors occur.

When we work with our horses, we constantly use some form of the brake. I’m going to go through some common and some not-so-common desensitization techniques and describe which of these brakes is used in each instance. I’ll also describe different ways of desensitizing a horse to a flag (a piece of cloth or plastic bag on a stick), and in this case, we’ll assume the horse is sensitive and a little flighty. In a real scenario, how the horse has been handled up to this point makes a huge difference. In order to catch the horse and get the halter on, there would have been some form of brake applied, but we will just focus on the desensitization part for now.

Method 1: Old-School Desensitization

I’m going to start out old school, with the “tie them to a post, spider hobble them, and bag them down” trick. This technique, which is rarely used these days, involves tying a horse to an unbreakable post with an unbreakable halter and lead rope, and putting on a set of 4-way hobbles so the horse can’t move. Next, the handle would begin flapping a flag all over the horse, not stopping no matter how they reacted. Even when the horse stops, the handler continues flapping the flag all over them. The result is a horse that will stand still while you flap the flag all over them.

When a horse feels rising concern, they will immediately search for a friend before enacting any other response. If they are unable to find the herd security blanket, they will go into flight, fight, or freeze mode. As there are no friends in this situation, and the horse is unable to run away from or fight what is happening, they slam on the Dorsal Vagal brake and freeze. The horse is no longer present. They go internal and their body is flooded with chemicals that would allow them to be eaten alive with no sensation of it actually happening. This is also known scientifically as Learned Helplessness or Tonic Immobility. While the horse appears calm, they are not. They are beyond fear, beyond reactivity, and at the ultimate level of shut down. Many times, these horses later come out of that state with disastrous consequences resulting from trauma stored both in memory and the body.

Method 2: The Common Understanding of Desensitization

The next type of desensitizing I want to discuss is one that I am quite familiar with because I used this technique for years with great success. This technique works best for horses that may have multiple riders or handlers and just have to do their job. It involves having the horse in a halter and lead, holding the lead with the left hand about half a yard from the halter, with the flag in the right hand. You bring the flag around towards the near side of the horse and allow him to move if he was concerned. If the horse moves, keep the flag the same distance from him as it was when he first started to move, following him around until he stopped. Then immediately take the flag away. The flag may have been only one or two yards from the horse before he started to move.

In this method, the horse tries to run away from the flag, but that doesn’t work, so the horse stops in a freeze. So, the hand brake is applied, but not very forcefully because the social engagement brake is also engaged. The social engagement brake is engaged because as the horse gets concerned about the approaching flag and moves, you don’t bring it any closer to him, but instead follow him with it. This gives him a sense of being seen. The same thing happens when he stops, and you take the flag away. That also communicates that you are aware of what’s going on, as opposed to the previous method of flapping the flag no matter what happens. Taking away the pressure of the flag as the horse stops is also rewarding them for finding the right answer. Like in the first method, the horse will eventually not care about the flag, but in this case, you have built some trust. However, you can continue to break down this process to become more refined and more empathetic towards how the horse feels.

Method 3: The Empathetic Approach to Desensitization

The third method takes a slightly different approach. It starts off the same, bringing the flag towards the horse. If they felt the need to move away, you allow it, but at the same time remove the flag as soon as they begin to move. This process communicates to the horse that whenever they start to be uptight about something, you will be there to help dissipate that tension. You communicate to them that you are aware of their sense of security and are willing to take the steps needed to make them feel safer. This activates the social engagement brake, and, as time goes on, they allow the flag to get closer and closer. Usually, this technique replaces fear with curiosity, and the horse will actively seek to engage with the flag. This is the unintended benefit of this method: you can stir up enough curiosity to create a draw out of the same tool usually used to create drive.

Method 4: Using Subtle Signs Of Tension

The final technique is even more refined, and in my experience, works the best. In this method, you will closely observe the horse’s eyes, ears, and head posture before you do anything with the flag. It’s important to have that baseline established, because anything that varies from that behavior should be noted. As you approach with the flag, watch to see if your horse’s eyes stop blinking (as tension rises in horses, their rate of blinking slows or stops), the ears fixate backward, or the head rises. All these are signs that your horse is heading into freeze or flight mode. When you notice one of these changes, pause and keep the flag in the same place in relation to their body. Wait for some sign of relaxation, such as a return to blinking, ears changing focus, or head lowering slightly. When you see some form of relaxation, take the flag away. These signs of relaxation are all very subtle. Many times, an observer will not notice those little things and are amazed at how relaxed the horses get just by me “doing nothing.” However, what I’m doing is rewarding the horse’s relaxation. You’ll often see my horses yawning or licking and chewing during training sessions. The Vagas nerve runs all the way down to the horse’s mouth, and when there is a big letdown into relaxation, their mouth will loosen up, a small amount of dopamine will be released into the brain, and the horse will yawn or lick and chew. This signals to me that they are ready to move on and have fully processed what has just happened.

Additionally, you have communicated how aware you are of the small things. This activates the social engagement brake by giving your horse a sense of “being seen, being heard, feeling felt, and getting gotten,” which also allows you to develop trust with your horse. That trust will get you through more scary situations than any amount of desensitizing ever could. If your horse feels that you are a part of their herd security blanket, the moment something arises and you are there for them, they don’t have to engage in the other forms of brakes. Being aware of how the Parasympathetic Nervous System works allows you to choose which of your horse’s brakes you engage. It always helps to remember the saying “obedience is quicker, but the connection is better.”

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Lloyd Hayden, who is a double amputee, has been able to ride his Percheron-Friesian cross gelding, Bo, in the fields around his farm. For Cathy Florman, riding Heffner’s Mustang, Grace, gave her a wonderful escape from debilitating amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) symptoms.

Building a Foundation

Heffner grew up on a horse training farm in New Jersey. Passionate about horses, she started taking lessons at age 7 and got her first horse at age 9.

“I would ride all summer and learn how to ride all different types of horses,” says Heffner. “That was probably the best education I could have gotten—learning that every horse is different.”

Heffner learned from Dottie Orzechowski how to ride in a variety of disciplines, “learning something well before you skip to the next thing.” She’s done everything from western and English pleasure to barrel racing, pole bending, team penning and other events—many of them on her horse, Clay.

“I try to stay really well-rounded,” Heffner says.

When she moved to Indiana in 1996 at age 20, she immediately got plugged in with horse people, starting with a woman named Sandy Blackburn. Blackburn was pregnant and needed someone to get her horses ready for a youth to show at the local 4-H fair. Heffner was able to get the horse prepared, and it was the start of a great training relationship, as well as friendship.

Blackburn helped Heffner buy her first small property, and the former massage therapist soon started her horse training business. She has since moved to a bigger equine facility, called Double H Horse Farm.

Mustang Makeovers

In 2008, Heffner learned about Extreme Mustang Makeover events. Horsemen take an untrained Mustang, and within 100 days, train the horse to ride, go over trail courses, and load in a trailer. The top 10 finishers also perform reining maneuvers and a freestyle. Heffner was intrigued and saw it as a great way to promote her colt-starting training.

Heffner has now done three Mustang Makeovers. The mare she worked with for her second event in 2012 was Grace, who placed fourth. Thanks to the mare’s talent and temperament, Heffner says Grace is her training ambassador.

“She does all kinds of tricks,” Heffner says. “She’s done western, English, barrels and poles. She has been in my house—she’s just amazing. I trust her with a lot of things. She performs at liberty, too. She’s taught me a lot.”

Special Training Leads to Healing with Horses

Drawing on skills she gained as a massage therapist, Heffner’s intuition has helped her sense when a human or an animal is in pain—and help them find healing together.

“With horses, I can look in their eye or see the way they’re moving and try to fill in the holes of their backstory,” she says. “I can see when something isn’t right. It’s been a learning process. I used to think training maneuvers had to work if done right; now I know a horse has to be able to do them physically, just like we can’t all be gymnasts.”

Heffner believes groundwork and a good foundation set a horse up for success under saddle. Grace is a great example of the kinds of horses Heffner enjoys bringing along in her program.

“The horse has to be kind and forgiving, and gentle,” she says. “I’m not saying my Mustang doesn’t make mistakes, but if she knows that I’m calm too, she’ll stay that way.”

Because of her experiences with the Extreme Mustang Makeover, Heffner also trains Mustangs and burros for the Bureau of Land Management.

“Through the makeovers, I saw what great horses the Mustangs really are, and how they need their stories to be told,” she adds.

Back in the Saddle

Lloyd Hayden has ridden horses and farmed all his life. After retiring from ironworking, for the last decade, he has managed his farm in Thornton, Ind. 

In October 2018, he lost both his legs below the knees in a combine harvester accident. But the loss has not kept Hayden from caring for his land—or from riding. He’s able to walk on his knees and use track vehicles around the farm. And by the following spring, he was back in the saddle, regularly trail riding in his fields or nearby state parks with his wife, Sue.

The Haydens raise Friesians and Friesian crosses. Four-year-old Percheron/Friesian Bo was bred and raised on their farm, and the couple trained him to ride prior to Hayden’s accident. He’s been able to ride Bo, but would need to get on from the bed of a truck, and it was difficult.

Knowing she’d taught Grace to lie down on command during the Extreme Mustang Makeover, Heffner was approached about training Bo to do the same thing. Because every horse is different, Heffner did not give a timeline and said the maneuver couldn’t be forced. 

It was a challenge for both horse and rider over 30 days of consistent training. Bo went home with the Haydens as they continued to practice, trying to get the mechanics right. Heffner worked with Bo a few more days, and finally, he was ready. She says the key is doing the maneuver in soft arena dirt.

“It’s a very vulnerable position for a horse to be in,” Heffner says. 

Heffner began training horses to lie down on command after watching John Lyons training videos; he told a story of how he taught his horse to lie down after breaking his leg on the trail when he couldn’t get back on. She thought it would be a neat trick—she didn’t realize it would be so helpful in allowing healing with horses.

“I always remember that story and how this skill may come in handy,” says Heffner. “Lying down has been mostly a novelty until now.”

Hayden says Bo’s new skill has made riding much more convenient.

“We’re thankful she did that for us, and we really enjoy riding,” he says. “[Bo lying down on command] really makes things easier for me.”

Amazing Grace 

Cathy Florman grew up on a farm and owned her own horse as a teenager. She got back into horses when her daughter, Rachel Griffin, became interested as a child, and last rode about six years ago. Griffin is a lifetime horsewoman and has taken lessons from Heffner in the past. 

When Florman began declining after her diagnosis with ALS—a progressive disease affecting the nervous system—Allison Sherrill, a Florman family friend and Heffner’s best friend, suggested a riding opportunity for Florman. Talking through mobility challenges (ALS depletes muscle strength and other important functions), Heffner knew that Grace’s ability to lie down and stand up on command would be essential.

“We made sure that [Cathy’s] head was safe, and we were supporting her,” Heffner says. “Once she was on, she couldn’t believe how much more mobile she felt than when she was walking on the ground. She had the greatest time.”

With Grace able to lay down, the last barrier to Florman being able to ride was removed.

“It was a great joy to go to the barn and see the horses,” says Florman. “It was so precious to me to be able to ride. I couldn’t believe it. I didn’t know I would be able to do it, and I didn’t know how wonderful it would be to ride.”

Once in the saddle, Florman remembered her years of riding and felt renewed, despite her debilitating illness.

“She just had that easy, familiar rhythm from walking,” Florman says of riding Grace. “There’s nothing that moves your body so naturally like moving with a horse. Before I got sick, one of my greatest pleasures was riding a horse. So being back [in the saddle], it felt normal. Like I wasn’t sick anymore. I could sit up taller. I could do it, just like I used to.”

Florman says her experience was truly life-changing.

“Something happens when you get on the back of a horse,” she continues. “Anybody that rides knows this. If you’ve had a bad day and you go ride, it transports you away from those problems. It’s just you and the horse at the rhythm of the walk. There’s something transformative about that.”

While she was on Grace, with Heffner and Sherrill beside her, Griffin rode another horse, and mother and daughter enjoyed each other’s company as they rode together.

“It was really nice to be above the ground, above my problems, riding beside Rachel, just walking and talking,” Florman says. “It was like life was how I wanted it to be.”

Dismounting was also a challenge, but Grace was up for it. Florman says Heffner’s calm personality helped her feel safe during the process. 

Florman also says training a horse to perform these maneuvers is an incredible gift for a disabled rider that can enable healing with horses.

“Teaching your horse to do this is one of the most loving and kind things you can do—it’s very much appreciated,” Florman adds. “There was no other way for me to be able to get on the horse. I am so grateful.”

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