by Roxanne Sapergia

Young horses are just like children and putting the right start on a two-year-old horse is just as important as finding the right school for your child.

What a colt learns in the first 30 to 60 days will stick with them throughout their lives. So to help make sure your colt has a good start, we sought out the expert advice of Jesse Thomson of 7P Ranch Horses in High River, Alberta.
continue reading "Colt Starting with Jesse Thomson"

by Marcia King

Neck reining to a western horse is like a steering wheel to a car: without it, you have no control over the direction where you and your vehicle go.

It’s one of the first fundamentals a western horse learns, and without a good neck-reining response a “finished” horse won’t finish well in reining, working cow horse, western pleasure or most other western competitions.

Fortunately, training a horse to neck rein is a very simple process – or so says Clark Bradley, and Bradley should know. He’s brought along hundreds of horses in his long career as a trainer, and he’s taken more than a few of those horses to the top, claiming championships in the NRHA Futurity class and in the AQHA Congress Versatility, Western Pleasure Futurity, Junior Reining, Senior Reining, and Team Roping classes.
continue reading "Neck Reining Made Simple with Clark Bradley"

By: Lyle Jackson

Horse show people make the same mistakes all around the world. I was flying back home from having judged a horse show in Italy and was thinking that people do poorly at horse shows all over the world for many of the same reasons.

Whether it’s an AQHA show in Italy, a 4-H show Canada, or a NRHA show in Australia, competent riders make the mistake of simply practicing the wrong things. They don’t show the judge what he needs to see to let them win the class.
continue reading "Show the Judge What He Needs to See"

By: Brad Pedersen

In today’s society where stress plays a major role in our careers, many people are taking up hobbies on the weekends as a way to relieve tension. Many people find showing horses a perfect way to get away from the everyday and it is also a fun way to meet new people with similar interests.

As the number of people participating at the weekend shows continue to increase, so does the demand for well-trained show horses. Many of these show horses began their career as two-year-olds in training in hopes of becoming the next futurity champion.

One of the most successful ways to improve your chances of having a competitive futurity prospect is by starting with a horse that has the breeding and conformation to help it get there.
continue reading "The Futurity Prospect: Cutting & Working Cow"

by Tammy Meadows

The Alberta Reined Cow Horse Association has begun hosting a series of educational clinics for the 2007 season. One of the first clinics, held February 24 in Red Deer, was with Ron Anderson, who gave a very informative and entertaining look at the function and history of the hackamore and bridle bits.

Although Ron only had one day with the 20 cow horse enthusiasts who attended, he was able to touch on a rich 400-year history of the Vaquero hackamore and bridle bits. (Vaquero is Spanish for “cowboy” and is pronounced paquero.)
continue reading "Hackamores and Bridle Bits Clinic"

by Roxanne Sapergia

Each year across the country the best-bred mares are bred to the best stallions money can buy in the hopes of finding that one outstanding individual who will not only make it to one of the many futurities across the country, but also be good enough to win.

Of course, good breeding is a great start to realizing a dream, but it also takes a horseman with outstanding skills to bring out the best in a young horse. This month, we talk to futurity champion Dale Clearwater of Hanley, Saskatchewan, about how he puts a winning fence turn on his cow horses.
continue reading "A Winning Fence Turn"

by Roxanne Sapergia

In last month’s Western Performance Tips article we learned how trainer Vance Kaglea uses daily exercises to teach his horses to give to the bridle and stay soft in his hands by flexing them horizontally and vertically. This month, we’re going to add a few more exercises and build on that flexion.
continue reading "Building on Flexion…Vance Kaglea"