Episode 41: True Forward Motion in a Horse

“When we took our horses trail riding, they would go through the mud and the stream. These horses had learned true forward motion.” Stacy Westfall Share on X



When we become very familiar with a term, it can sometimes lose meaning. When I talk about a horse having a lack of forward motion or needing more forward motion what I’m actually talking about is the horses first response without resistance.

Symptoms of not having forward motion would be a sluggish walk and a sluggish upward transition from walk to trot or from trot to lope. It can also manifest itself in the horse refusing to cross mud or being hesitant to load in the trailer. It can even be not going over a tarp, entering an arena, or not leading down a trail.

This episode is all about forward motion with definitions and examples. Then I talk about how learning something hard can make things easier. In my segment with Dr. Monty, we mention the unmentionables.  

“Teaching a horse how to collect can be good for him physically and mentally, because he's learning how to use his body in a balanced way.” Stacy Westfall Share on X

SWS041.mp3: Audio automatically transcribed by Sonix

SWS041.mp3: this mp3 audio file was automatically transcribed by Sonix with the best speech-to-text algorithms. This transcript may contain errors.

Speaker1:
Podcasting from a little cabin on a hill. This is the Stacy Westfall podcast. Stacy's goal is simple to teach you to understand why horses do what they do, as well as the action steps for creating clear, confident communication with your horses.

Speaker2:
Hi, I'm Stacy Westfall and I'm here to teach you how to understand, enjoy and successfully train your own horses. In this episode I'm going to explain forward motion. I define it, I share common examples and I share a few uncommon examples. And then I'm going to try to explain to you how learning something hard can make life easier. In the segment on call with Doctor Marney, we discuss an unmentionable subject. How's that for a teaser? Let's get started. I think when we become very familiar with a term, we can actually have that term lose meaning. And I believe that the phrase forward motion is probably in that category for many riders. When I talk about a horse having a lack of forward motion, or if I say that the horse needs more forward motion or has good forward motion, have you ever stopped to really think how you would define that? When I define it, I want to say the horse's first response without resistance would then be forward motion. So if I asked the horse to go forward, his first response without resistance is what I'm looking for. What we often get for symptoms if we have a horse that does not have forward motion, would be a sluggish walk, a sluggish upward transition from walk to trot or from trot to lope. It can also show itself as the horse refuses to cross mud, or the horse is hesitant to load in the trailer, or a horse won't go over a tarp.

Speaker2:
Now, what's interesting is it's also there. If we say that the horse won't lead. If you're out riding in a group and it won't lead going down the trail. This is another sign of lack of forward motion, and a horse that won't enter the show arena would be another sign of a lack of forward motion. And before you're tempted to blame the show arena for the problem, keep in mind I just mentioned all the other places that it happens because it's just a question that the horse has, where there's a lack of clarity on what the answer should be. I'm going to give you a few more personal examples. One would be from a recent show that I went to, and I met some people, and one of them was saying, I couldn't believe it. I went to walk into the arena and my horse wouldn't go into the arena, and I was shocked, and I don't know what I should do tomorrow if that happens. And they were asking me and stating this in front of me, and I said, it's interesting. This is one of the reasons why, even though you might be training a show horse for reining, I find it important to teach a horse to lope over a tarp, because it is that resistance to doing something that might be a little bit uncomfortable, like, oh, I don't know, maybe I'm going to guard my feet from this tarp.

Speaker2:
I'm not quite sure if I should be that committed. If you let me go really slow, maybe I'll do it. But can you build that horse to the point where it would walk, trot and lope over a tarp that might be out in the middle of your practice arena while you're practicing for reining? Another example could come from my email. So I got an email that says this is just a middle section of it. But basically it says a few years ago, when I tried to ride him without a group of horses to follow, he was most uncooperative and continually backed up. He could back up faster than many horses can go forward, and the person does write and say, I'm sure the main problem is I don't ride and work with them enough, but I don't know how to overcome this backing up issue. Now listen to this next sentence. I've tried leg pressure up to kicks and also a crop with no success. I don't care for these measures which have not worked anyway. I don't know if you can pick up on some of the themes that could be going on there, based on the other podcasts you've listened to, but this is a pretty telling sentence here because of some of the grandma's rules and other ideas that the horses will figure out and find. Now, here's an interesting observation. I want to make sure that I bring this idea of forward motion home to you in several different ways, and then give you a tip on how to work on it.

Speaker2:
One interesting observation that I made about 20 years ago was that keep in mind that growing up prior to that, I had lived in Maine and done a lot of trail riding, ridden a lot of horses that did not have a lot of training. The majority of the horses I rode would have been in elementary school and definitely not in college, ever while I was growing up. And then I went to college at the University of Findlay, and I learned how to train, and I rode horses that were in high school and college level, and I learned how to train horses to a high school and maybe early college level. And but then it was interesting because my husband and I became trainers, had our own barn trained performance horses. I mean, I would train kind of all round 30, 60, 90 day horses, which at that point they're not really specific to a career yet. But the horses that we kept for a long term were reigning horses, the majority of them, once we got into, you know, once we were more established. And one thing that I noticed was that occasionally we would go on trail rides. Now we had no trails near us, so we couldn't just ride off our property and go trail riding. So because we were young trainers and we had three little kids and we had very little spare time, and we had very little spare money, we would actually haul up to the state park that I now live behind once a year, maybe twice a year.

Speaker2:
And on a really, really stellar year, we could have maybe three trips up here. And now for perspective, I'm out there usually 3 to 5 times a week. But anyway, we would haul these horses up. So a lot of these horses were they might be two year olds or three year olds, and they had never been trail riding. They were started by us in the indoor arena or the outdoor arena, and we did the best we could with, you know, the lawn or just kind of general around. But we didn't have a facility to be able to go trail riding. But what I noticed was that when we did go trail riding these horses that I knew because I knew where they were bred and raised and the owners and I knew I was the only one that had ridden them, or my husband, if he was, had one and he was riding that, he'd been the only one that had ridden it, and we would come up to mud and these horses would, you know, look at it and they would go through it and you'd come up to the first, you know, little stream river crossing, and they would look at it and they might have their eyes kind of like big, but they would go through it.

Speaker2:
And I noticed that this was drastically different than the experience I had when I was growing up in Maine, and we used to ride a lot of different horses. This was not typical. Usually if their eyes got big like that, then they didn't go through it and they might roll back or they would run backwards. But going through it this easily was not an option, and it gave me the ability to see what I was doing different. Now as a trainer, than what I had been doing when I was growing up. And I wasn't a trainer and I wasn't that educated. And the big difference was that these horses in the arena had learned true forward motion. They actually understood that when the rider applied the leg, it meant to go forward. Now, we were also very fair when we went to go through the water for the first time. So we would ask the horse to take a step forward, and the horse would take a step forward and there would be a release and let that horse, you know, observe and take a breath or whatever. But we could literally just move straight forward, inching one step at a time because the horse is trusted. The work that we had done in the arena, even though this was the very first time they'd ever seen running water outside of somebody accidentally forgetting to shut off the hose when they were filling a water trough.

Speaker2:
So these horses were really, really, really out of their element. But because they trusted us through the work we'd done in the arena, they were very confident to apply the rules. When we got out to the trail. I think it would have been different had we just been like, oh, you're now required to like just blast through. But that would have been different than the way we trained them at home, because as I've said before, especially when I was discussing the trailer loading, I want my horses when they get stressed or when they get in an environment where they have a lot of questions. I want their brain to shift into a low gear and be purposeful and thoughtful. And I still want to include forward motion. But forward motion isn't running away. It is not just blasting forward. What these horses were exhibiting were that when we closed our leg, the horse was like, the answer is to take a step forward. So even though they were hesitant, they were like, oh, I don't know. We'd close our leg. They would stick that hoof out there in faith and then we would give that release. But this, to me, is a horse that really understands forward motion. An example that would not be a horse that understood forward motion. A lot of times that really surprises people. Can be a barrel horse that won't go into the arena.

Speaker2:
Have you ever been there? Because I grew up prior to going to college. I actually spent several years in a contesting club. So it was all speed events, and there were a lot of speed horses that would not enter the arena, and at the time I had no idea what to do about it and it was just kind of a normal thing to see people struggle with. But what I have come to understand is that these very, very fast horses, very, very, very fast horses, actually had a forward motion problem. They didn't truly understand forward motion to the point where when they had the cue applied, their first response without resistance was to go forward. Now, granted, after you got through that resistance spot of like getting in the gate, they might be really, really fast. But you can't ignore that spot, just like you can't ignore when they're not stepping forward, Going up to a tarp or stepping forward. Going to the trailer and you're not going to get stuck into forcing them forward. Go back to the trailer loading episode. It's not about forcing them forward, but it is about making sure you release on a forward motion. Now I'm going to address the topic of Hot Horses in an upcoming podcast, but I do want to mention here that very often hot horses horses that I sometimes will say are on the side of the teeter totter. That's the plus side.

Speaker2:
Maybe they're a plus two or a plus seven or a plus ten. They're hot. They're very forward. These are the horses that people are like, I don't know how to slow it down. Here's an interesting thought. A lot of those horses don't truly understand leg pressure. They don't truly understand forward motion. Now, why would that be? When I look at it, it makes sense. Because they don't practice it very often. So because they tend to have a reaction of running forward not a thoughtful, purposeful, but a reaction to leg pressure. They have a reaction of forward. Most of the time, so they don't actually practice it. And if you look at it, a lot of those horses are so forward that the rider never truly puts their leg on. So realistically, the horse's brain is just kind of running away or mentally forward. But this is actually if we can say that it's a mental version of running away. If they're avoiding the cue of your leg touching their side, it's avoidance. Avoidance is not understanding, it's avoidance. I label a lot of these horses as running away mentally, and we'll talk about that in the upcoming episode, because Willow for sure falls into this category when she wants to make a mistake. The mistake that she most often wants to make is that she will try so hard, and she kind of wants to avoid being touched because she's a little bit hotter horse mentally.

Speaker2:
But a lot of that turns into what I call mentally running away. And the reason I call it running away, mentally or mentally running away is because she can do it in a spin. So yes, a horse can run away and spin or she can do it in the more obvious space, which is like maybe running down to a sliding stop and she just takes off blasting instead of building at the speed that I want and running away, interestingly, isn't that I can't stop her because I've never been to a point where I couldn't stop her when I wanted to, but it's still running away when she's trying to avoid the cues and not understand my legs and my hands, she's avoiding things. That is not the same thing as understanding. So a lot of these hot horses don't truly understand what your legs are, but I'm going to cover that in more detail in the episode On Hot Horses. Let's think for a moment about how this would happen. How does a horse not really truly understand forward motion, and how can you teach forward motion if so many of these horses don't really understand it? I'm going to answer it and say that these are intertwined, how it happens and how it can be taught. They both live inside the idea of collection, but a lot of people are really, really hesitant to work on collection. There's a whole list of reasons why, but the number one is that they've bought into an idea on some level, that pressure on the reins is bad.

Speaker2:
Add pressure on the reins is evil. I should use as very, very, very little pressure as possible. And what happens is when you avoid making the contact in the horse's face. I don't care if you ride in a bitless bridle or if you ride in a snaffle bit, whatever you're using there. Obviously I'm going for humane, but I think bits can be humane. What you need to think about is that if you avoid teaching the horse collection, the horse doesn't get a chance to learn higher level thinking. There's no place for this horse to practice balancing their body if you don't work on collection with them. Now, I've got baby exercises that work on collection through using turns, because a horse will naturally collect when you do turns because they have to either collect brake gate. Which is why if you're eloping and you turn, a lot of times they'll slow down to a trot or they'll fall down. So they literally either collect brake gait or fall down. So what needs to happen, though, is if that horse can understand collection where the rider is willing to make this connection with the front end of the horse, with the horse's, you know, head. And we're just going to use the bit as the word here. And we can go into that and tools and everything in a whole different episode.

Speaker2:
But let's just for simplicity, say that when the rider understands that they can collect that horse through the rein, pressure and through asking that horse to come forward to that rein, pressure, that's a big concept. It's a big concept for riders to understand, and if you don't understand it, you're not going to be able to teach it to your horse. So you've got to be able to grasp and look for that idea that compressing that horse and teaching that horse how to collect can be a good thing for him physically, because he'll learn how to use his body in a more balanced way and use his joints in a more balanced way, and that it's also a good thing for him mentally. Now, this is interesting. If the rider avoids making contact with the reins, or they treat the reins like a hot potato, so they pick up and they cue and then they drop the rein, I call it throwing the horse away, because I think a lot of times the horses feel lost because the rider will take the slack out, get a response and then throw the rein away, which is what I mean when I when you quickly release that pressure. And there are stages where that is very appropriate. But at some point that horse needs to understand a little more consistency than just having that dropped and thrown away, because every time you throw that away, you have to start over again, which is actually more difficult Foucault, then lightning and softening that pressure versus throwing it away.

Speaker2:
This huge release. Now, before we go too far in that direction, listen to this. A horse that isn't allowed to learn how to be in that connection with the hands. The rider's hands, they tend to. So now we're going to pretend that that horse is on a loose rein, because the rider doesn't want to make that connection. The horse either leans against the rider's legs, like, literally like it's like it's like riding a horse. That's a version of a resistant dog that you see on a leash. Have you ever seen a a puppy being trained to lead on a leash? A lot of times when you hook a leash onto a puppy, I mean, they just want to lock up and and resist against it. And I see a lot of horses that are being ridden and they might be on a loose rein. But if you look at the horse's body and you can see their mind that horse is leaning against that. That rider's leg, which might look like you don't need a lot of rein pressure, but there's a whole nother set of symptoms going on here, which is that the horse isn't truly forward. And that horse may question you in some areas, like, yeah, so I'm not going to run off with you, but I'm not going to go across that water either.

Speaker2:
I'm not going to go across that mud either. So they can lean against you, and that can be leaning against you in that resistance to go forward, just in the same way that you would pitch your horse leaning against a rider's hands and running away. So this is still just out of balance. Now, if again, we picture this horse walking down the trail on a really loose rein, the first illustration I just gave you is that there's kind of a resistance to that horse going forward. So the rider is constantly trying to push them forward with their legs, and that's a form of resistance. The opposite is if that horse is on a loose rein and he's just kind of falling forward or running off forward. What happens there is that if there's a really brave rider that just lets it happen, that horse will move in a very downhill frame. So when I say a downhill frame, you can hold your hand out in front of you and you can picture that the horse can travel either level or you can point your fingertips down a little bit. And then and that would leave like your wrist up in the air a little bit more. And that would be like the horse's traveling in a downhill frame, front end dropping down hind end feeling like it's more up or more higher up than the front end or in what we want is these horses engaging in a way that it tips so that your fingertips would move up, and that would be that horse kind of engaging the hind end, and that would be that horse moving in that uphill balance, more like a motorboat.

Speaker2:
When it's gaining speed from sitting still, it's got this uphill balance to it. But how are they going to build that uphill balance if we can't hold their hand as their dance partner and help them find it. So a huge piece of thought work for the rider is collection is taught through connection, and that is a connection with the reins and a connection with the legs of the rider. I'm going to ignore the seat, because we're going to assume your seat is connected. Because if your seat is not connected at this point, you have bigger issues. If you can wrap your legs around your horse and make a connection and you can connect with the reins, now you've got a dance partner that you can communicate with. It is interesting to think about how many horses really don't understand forward motion. And again, think about it when you think of how many horses have a sluggish upward transition or Refused to go into the show arena, or won't go across mud, or won't lead when going down the trail, or won't load into that trailer or go over the tarp. Think about the number of horses you see. Even that hot horse, that barrel horse that won't go into the show arena.

Speaker2:
It's showing signs of not understanding forward motion. And it's not complicated. Teaching the forward motion is not complicated. It is literally what I was talking you through at the trailer. Loading. When I was saying you're going to tap tap tap tap tap tap tap with rhythm until you get a forward step and then you can release. Now if we go back to the email and we say that the rider says, I've tried leg pressure up to kicks and also a crop with no success. Now let's go think about that trailer loading example and think no success could very easily mean that you bump, bump bump bump bump bump, bump. The horse isn't moving. Let's say the horse is standing there and their heads kind of going up, and they're getting their head a little bit higher, and they're standing there trying to figure it out, and you get tired. So you stop bumping. The horse literally learns, oh, if I ignore 36 bumps and just stand here, that's when I get the release. That's the answer. Perfect. I just stand here. Or if you start bumping or you're using the crop whatever forward motion tool you choose, it is totally up to you because the release of pressure is the same. So if you start this bumping or tapping or whatever it is, it doesn't even have to be hard. But you could just tap, tap, tap tap tap. And let's just say you're tapping lightly with the crop and the horse goes backwards and it scares you.

Speaker2:
So you stop tapping. You literally train the horse to go backwards. So set yourself up for success by building these things in stages, but also set yourself up for success by asking these questions in places where you're most likely to get the correct response. So what would that mean? That means that what I'll do is a lot of times I'll ask a horse to gain speed when I'm lunging it, when it's headed back towards the stalls or something. So it's got a reason to want to go a direction. So it's like you can find places where the horse is more willing to go in a in a forward motion because of some of those different things. If you look at it from the horse's point of view and a lot of horses, when you really start out there, they're they're pretty consistent. If you're consistent, it's just really being aware that you're not accidentally releasing when you didn't get the response you wanted. That is probably the thing I see the most often, is that somebody starts to try something and then they're like, oh, it's not working. I'm going to quit trying. But that's not what the horse learned. The horse was like they were pulling on the right rein. They were pulling on the right rein. They were pulling on the right rein. I went left and they stopped.

Speaker2:
You literally could teach the horse to drive like a backwards bicycle. So there's all kinds of crazy possibilities here. When you start thinking about where the release would lead the horse. I think one of the greatest and most interesting examples I could leave you with would be an observation that my husband Jesse, made and was relaying to me. So my husband teaches equine classes at Asbury University, and he had a student with an off the track thoroughbred that she brought to class. And the horse's history was that it would break from the gate really fast. It would lead the race all the way until the homestretch, and then the horse would slow down and slow. Down and slow down. And obviously this did not pan out well for our racehorse. So without any more thought, the horse gets passed off and a student ends up with it to become a regular riding horse and brings it to class with Jesse. And Jesse starts teaching the student and the horse how to do groundwork. And the very first observation during groundwork is that the horse won't lunge. And when you ask the horse to go around you, if you ask the horse to move forward, the horse's first reaction when asked to move forward with a stick and string, even light taps. The horse's first reaction is to kick out or buck up. Now, my husband observed, think about it. This horse breaks from the gate really fast.

Speaker2:
The horse is running around. It is leading the race. And then what do you mostly see happen in the home stretch. You start to see the jockeys use the whip. They start to use the crop on the home stretch. And this horse did not accidentally stumble onto the idea that a riding crop means forward motion. This one, for whatever reason, was more offended at the idea of a crop. So it's first reaction was to kick out or buck up against this. And that's not abnormal, because you get horses that have more of a temperament like Gabby does, or a lot of studs will that they just have this more tough guy kind of thing and they're like, oh, you want to do that? I'll kind of push back a little bit more. So they literally think about pushing back on it. Now you take a horse like Willow and she's going to jump over the moon if you use the crop on her because she's just very reactive. So this horse happens to have the temperament that says it's a little bit tougher and essentially never had forward motion taught to it. It was supposed to just fill in the blanks on its own, and it filled in the blanks with something different, and it never learned to go forward. Interesting isn't it? I know it's kind of a mind stretch to understand that collection and connection are tied together with bridleless riding and forward motion, but it really, really is.

Speaker2:
Because when the rider becomes willing to make the connection with the reins and hold on to that horse's face like we were even doing in the last podcast, when there was just the inside rein only and both legs met. Go forward. When you're willing to do that kind of stuff, the horse can start to learn to move forward. And I'm going to phrase it like this. I'm going to say forward into pressure. But if you want to look at it when you go to send a horse over a tarp, in a way you're sending it forward into pressure. Pressure, meaning the tarp is pressure. But what you can do so much more detailed, is that when you're teaching this horse to move forward and there is that resistance or that pressure or whatever we want to call the contact on the reins, I'm going to call it connection. But when you can teach the horse to move forward, there's so much more feel and so many things you can do there that will allow that horse to understand that this is possible, that are so beneficial to the horse physically and mentally. But the first thing you have to do is you have to understand that, yes, there are all kinds of tricky ways to kind of make it look like a horse is going forward. But when you do, the tricky ways that you make it look like they're going forward, or you make them look like they understand connection, but they don't truly understand connection, you still avoid some of the high level education.

Speaker2:
And I think that's why more horses don't reach a level that they could be safe bridleless horses or they could be safe. Really good neck reining horses, loose rein horses. A whole nother lecture of mine is like, why not all horses should be bridleless horses? That's a different podcast. But the concept most riders struggle with is that why would I do something this hard with my horse? Why would I ask this horse to move forward into some form of resistance? Because that just seems like a really tough concept. Can my horse really learn this? I'm here to say absolutely. Your horse can really learn it, and your horse can become better for it. Because just like when you go to exercise, exercise is a hard choice to make at times, but it physically makes us stronger so that resistance in our mental frame to even go exercise, then followed by the resistance of like pushing yourself up the hill and, you know, going and for this walk or lifting those weights, that resistance actually makes us physically stronger. And then other things like choosing healthy foods and resisting the donuts that are in there sitting on my counter right now. Those are things that will make me stronger, even though they're uncomfortable in the moment. What is so interesting to me is that horses become stronger and braver and more confident when they get taught these higher level concepts.

Speaker2:
For example, a horse like Willow, who's more naturally reactive and scared when she learns how to understand pressure, and moving forward into this connection, she understands this higher level. She becomes more brave when she's with me and when we're doing these things. And the more she becomes more brave in those places, the more she starts to have this self-confidence that makes her life literally easier. A horse that's scared all the time doesn't have an easy life. They're literally in fear all the time. You can teach them to become confident and understand pressure. And a horse like Gabby, who's like, I've got this, I do not need. You can actually become a horse that has an easier life. When she understands that her being the leader all the time isn't required, because that's a lot of pressure for her. I mean, really it is. She has to make all the decisions all the time. So if she learns to be guided by a human instead of making all the decisions, she can actually accept the role of being a little bit of a follower or a lot of a follower, depending on what part of the life we're talking about. And that makes her life easier. Teaching the horse to handle pressure might seem hard, but it actually, at the end of the day, makes their lives easier. Does that make sense?

Speaker1:
Supporting companies make this show sustainable. Thank you.

Speaker2:
First, I'd like to thank EC3 for creating the opportunity to talk with Doctor Mani and for sponsoring on call with Doctor Mani. Doctor Mani Mcinturf is located in Tennessee and operates the Tennessee Equine Hospital with three locations. He has been an equine practitioner for over 30 years with a focus on the equine athlete. Let's listen to this conversation about the mystery subject. Thanks for joining me, doctor Mani and I have an interesting question for you that I don't even know. My whole history with this subject is long. Going back to my childhood when I was was. I'm not quite sure about it all the way to nowadays, and that is sheath cleaning and utter cleaning. I remember as a child being like, what you have to do what? And yes, now, you know, now as a professional, I definitely I definitely see it more. And there are horses that come in. And a lot of times when my chiropractor comes or different professionals come, you know, they'll mention when they're working on different customers horses. Hey, have you done this recently? So what would be the signs of a horse that hasn't been cleaned and and do you have as much trouble with mares versus geldings? Because I've got one mare right now that's just dirty all the time. Can you give us a little advice on this area?

Speaker3:
Well, I mean, you know, cleanliness is very important and, and I and I can't say that I've seen a tremendous amount of problems with mares. So it's very interesting to hear you say that. But I do know we need to clean between the udders and, and make sure that all stays stays healthy and clean. But I mean, anytime you have moisture build up it can lead to infection. And infection is very irritating and can cause swelling and discomfort. And that's what we're talking about. I mean, if you don't keep an area clean, you can result in infection. So she's going to get infected. The mammary area can get infected. So we're cleaning these areas to keep them from getting infections. The other thing about sheath cleaning is we know that we've got to get that been right, and that being is a build up of smegma, which is a mucus and other material that is produced by the, the, the glands of the sheath. And it'll build up right there at the head of the penis and cause some discomfort when the horse is urinating. So getting that been out is very important as well. So I think it's more of a sanitation thing and trying to keep infection away, um, is one of the big issues that I would say. And, and I will say that, um, some horses, naturally, when they urinate, they drop their penis, which is a more is a cleaner way of urinating. Some horses urinate with their penis in their sheath, and they tend to have more moisture build up and more, uh, infections that can potentially occur.

Speaker4:
Um.

Speaker2:
Yeah, I've I've seen both and I've been I've wondered why sometimes, like, it doesn't seem like they should do that, but nobody told them so.

Speaker3:
Yeah, I don't know. I don't have a good answer for that one, but it occurs. I mean, not all horses are made the same, that's for sure.

Speaker2:
Yeah. And then do you think that any is there anything to watch for or is it do you run into problems with this very much or not really.

Speaker3:
Well, honestly the bean issue is, is probably the biggest thing I run into. And and the horses that I've seen that have gotten really bad sheath infections, I have to say it's probably from over cleaning. I have some people that are real. I shouldn't say OCD, but they're really aggressive about keeping their horse clean. And you can use too many soaps or different cleansers on there that can cause irritation itself. So it's not something that I would encourage you using a soap on regularly. There's a product called Excalibur that I really like because it's gentle. It helps to dissolve the smegma and help to clean the sheath. I think that once a month or every couple of months is healthy, but I would have my professional, whoever that might be, help me in that and and be careful. I mean, some horses don't like you messing around down there, and they'll take a swat at you or cow kick at you. Be careful. Just don't dive right in. Um, you can get kicked. So there are horses that I deal with that I give a mild sedative to, and that I do a proper examination by extending the penis and looking around, and that's not a bad idea. Um, you know, on a on a at least an annual or twice a year, not twice a year, but every two year basis.

Speaker2:
Okay. Yeah. Well, that's good news because that's that's kind of the way that I prefer it, because when I have the vet out to do annual work, I kind of wrap it in with that. And then, you know, my mares, I will handle a little bit more if they're getting thinking about foaling, if they've been bred or when my chiropractor says, this one's pretty, this one's producing a lot of oil. This one's just got a lot. This one's just a lot more oily or something going on. Right? But otherwise. Otherwise. I do tend to definitely fall into the category of hitting the annual, the annual cleanup and then watching for any, any other signs in between. But most of the time I don't. Don't have too much trouble. But I know that this is one of those questions of like how much? Not enough, too much. This is great. So thank you.

Speaker3:
Oh, you're very welcome. And I will say there's a lot of folks like yourself that are really great communicators with horses and really great trainers. You can train your horse to, to, to handle these things without sedatives. Me not being a trainer, but being a medical professional, I tend to try to take the safe approach. So I use a little mild sedative in those situations and I feel like I can do a better job. And I hope you're okay with that. But that's that's typically how I would approach it.

Speaker2:
My audio cut out right there at the end of the interview? But I was agreeing with Doctor Mani. I hope that you found that segment helpful. I've been really enjoying the opportunity to ask Doctor Mani all of these questions, and in an upcoming episode, we actually discuss the number one killer of horses. And Doctor Mani's solution for it. In past episodes, I've shared with you how Aqua Thrive joint pellets have helped my horse popcorn. If you'd like to learn more about their products, you can visit Aqua Thrive.com. Let them know that I sent you because their financial support helps to ensure that this podcast continues. Thanks for listening and I'll talk to you again in the next episode.

Speaker1:
If you enjoy listening to Stacy's podcast, please visit Stacy Westfall. Com for articles, videos and tips to help you and your horse succeed.

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“Horses become stronger and braver and more confident when taught higher-level concepts.” Stacy Westfall Share on X 

Links and Resources:

Episode 38: Rewarding Physical and Mental Changes in Your Horse

Equithrive

Tennessee Equine Hospital

Excalibur

 

Have you ever wondered what a live version of this podcast would be like?I’m hosting some live, online video calls that are like a live version of this podcast. I teach on a subject, answer questions and for those who are brave, I’ll turn your video on live too and you can join me for a conversation!

 

If you want to learn more about this you can visit https://stacywestfall.com/live/ for more information!

5 Comments

  1. Cheyenne E Bramble on February 5, 2021 at 1:44 am

    I’m currently training a youngster- he will be 2 in a few months. I am trying to get him just to walk forward on a lead rope. I hate the idea of yanking on his poor face and it’s gotten to the point where I can push him from side to side but that is it. Is it disrespect for me? I’ve been told I baby him and thought this may be the case. Can I get some help?

  2. charlie renken on August 29, 2019 at 2:44 pm

    Thank you for taking the time to answer my question. I get really bored in the arena and my horses certainly pick up on it. I’m 56 (female ) do not show and work full time. I am the cofounder of RanchCritters.org and have very limited time with training. However, we now have so many oldies we’ve become a sanctuary which means I can spend more time on my few personal ones. I really would love to start showing in western Dressage and have enjoyed following you. I have all your videos!!! Look forward to learning more about the balanced and collected horse. I hope one day to meet you! I came in to horses late in life and I thank God he showed me Stacy Westfall first!! One day you might come to Texas so I can learn hands on from you….. ????

  3. charlie renken on August 29, 2019 at 8:06 am

    Stacy, you’re the BEST at explaining the whys horses do what they do how we can train them to understand.
    My question :
    Now that you are riding your horses in trails more often , are you balancing the training from arena / trail and if so what are the differences you are seeing now that you have accessibility to trails. Has it changed how you are training ?

    • Stacy Westfall on August 29, 2019 at 1:51 pm

      Thanks! I’m glad you can follow along with my thinking!
      I’ve been documenting the trail/arena balance in some of my episodes but I think it might deserve a ‘recap’ at the end of the year. I know that around October I will be mostly driven inside by rain, then hunting season, then snow.
      I love doing both and both have certain strengths. If I want to have a ‘fitness’ day I often go to the trails (weather permitting). I also go out there for fun. When I need to really focus I stay in the arena. When I need the footing to be very consistent for something I stay in the arena.
      I believe that the two are more closely related than many think…yet they both still have pros and cons.
      I can do WAY more training on the trail now that I have experience than I ever did in my youth.
      Weather permitting I take students on the trail and they are always blown away at the amount of opportunities there are to train.
      Probably the biggest thing the trail has given me is a way to build their fitness without going in so many circles. It’s hard to ride around and around for an hour at a walk in the arena. But I can go walk for two hours on the trail and never get bored. For building a base…the trail is awesome. Also, I’m spoiled with the amount of nice hills I have. Also great for fitness.
      Plus it is so fun!
      But…I would be seriously hindered without my arena…
      I love them both!

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