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.
After the initial training period of his colt’s two-year-old year is over, and Clearwater feels he has a good handle on his colt, he begins by using a flag or a mechanical cow. This transition could take as little as a month to as much as a couple of months, depending on the colt.
Teaching the colt to mirror the movements of a cow in a slow and controlled manner, Clearwater looks for three basic things at this stage of training. “I want the colt to go with the cow, to stop with the cow, and to turn with the cow,” he says.
“I like to use a flag at the start because I can control the speed, and the horse can gain confidence and learn how to really use its hocks by stopping and drawing back a couple of steps before I let it turn. I will work a two-year-old like this until I feel like they want to try to do it on their own. Then I’ll offer them the opportunity to do it on their own, but will continue to help them through the stop and turn if they need it.”
As the colt progresses and begins to understand mirroring the movements, Clearwater will add a degree of difficulty by introducing the colt to buffalo and cattle. “This is where I will find out if they are really ‘cowing up’ or not,” he says. “At this point I am looking for the colt to stay cowed up through the turn and to really use its hocks in the stop. If a horse is going fast, it has to use its hocks or it can’t make a good turn.”
For the next several months, Clearwater will remain in the round pen concentrating on the colt’s position and correctness. Many hours will be spent perfecting the stop with the cow and the turn with the cow.
Clearwater cautions though: “The one thing I have been guilty of is having my horses too correct. On some horses, if you put too much emphasis on being correct, you can worry them and take the cow out of them. This is something I have really been working on – easing up on my horses and letting them cow up and stay correct on their own.”
As Clearwater’s colts begin their three-year-old year, he checks out his foundation and makes sure he still has the stop and turn before he moves on to yet another stepping stone: making an actual fence turn.
By about February or March of the colt’s three-year-old year, Clearwater will go down the fence for the first time. “The first few times I go down the fence, I will just stop and turn without drawing back. I do this to make sure that I don’t take the turn out of them.
“I learned this from working Border Collie dogs. Training dogs and horses is very similar. You have to let them try to do it right, before you fix it. You can always go back and fix a little problem later as they get more confident.
“Another thing that really helps to put that great turn on them is going by the cow a bit. Because the colt has been schooled to stay correct when you do go by some, they really use their hocks to stop. You can feel the young horses say ‘What the heck, why am I out here,’ and this will really help to clean up your turn.”
As the colt learns to make the fence turn Clearwater explains his next step. “Once I have made a few turns, I will ask for a tighter turn. As they go by I will pull the horse’s nose and hustle him back to the cow. If the colt is unsure or worried about going by a cow, I let him know that it’s OK by stepping out a little bit and going a little wider, but always making sure they are using their hocks when they draw into the ground.
“When I’m training, I make sure my colt understands the difference between me making a mistake and him. If I stop and draw and do something that puts my horse out of position and it is my fault, I will slowly gather the colt up and put him back into position and go get my cow.
“If, however, he has gone long and it was his fault, I will hustle him back to his cow and make him work hard getting back into position to pay for his mistake. A horse learns very quickly that if they are out of position and too long, they really have to work hard to get back there.”
If things are going well and Clearwater has the turn he is looking for on his colts, he will leave them alone and continue to school in the round pen using a straight line and work on his stop and draw.
“If I have a good turn, I won’t mess with it. I might not turn them on the fence until about a month before the futurity. If I still have a good turn at this point, I will continue to leave them alone. If not, I fix it as required. I will check the turn again about a week before the futurity.
“A three-year-old only has a limited number of good turns in him before he begins to figure things out and starts to develop problems like crowding the cow or dropping his shoulder and pushing on the cow.”
As horse’s mature and are shown more and more, they come up with ways of making their job easier, so it is a continual cycle of correcting problems as they pop up. Clearwater explains some of the techniques he uses to correct his horse’s fence turns:
“A bridle horse who has been shown a lot may lose some of its ‘guide.’ If this happens, I might steer him right off of the cow and remind him that he should go wherever I put him. Using my leg and hand, I will ride him off the cow and then put him back into position.
“Or he may learn to dive into the cow, at which point I may turn him away from the cow, spin him once, and then ride back into position. If he is too tight and doesn’t want to go into position, I may use the end of my romel to remind him to stay correct and get by to make that turn. I want my horses to have their rib cage at the cow’s head, before we begin to make that turn, not head to head!”
Clearwater goes onto explain some of the things that have helped shape him into a champion trainer. “In order to make a good cow horse, you have to have good cattle to train on. Training on a flag or on buffalo is great and they’re a big help to make sure you don’t wear out your cattle, but you have to show your horse on cattle so your horse knows how to work them too.
“A good maintenance program, which consists of Legend once per month, a complete feed grain with supplements and a lot of good quality hay is really important.
“And, finally, having the opportunity to call or visit with other trainers to talk over problems I am having with a horse or ask for their ideas is also a must. I regularly talk to friends like Peter and Dustin Gonnet, Clint Christianson, Cayley Wilson, Cody McArthur, and John Swales. These guys have a lot of experience and are always willing to share their ideas and give you a hand.”
Dale, his wife Teri, and son Caleb, own and operate Justabouta Ranch in Hanley, Saskatchewan, where Dale trains cow horses, ranch horses, and cutters. They can be reached by phone at (306) 544-2421 or email: justaboutaranch@sasktel.net.
