Episode 252: What is a finished horse?

A listener wrote in that she recently got a new trail horse, and she said, “he’s supposed to be a “super finished” trail horse.”
But he is not acting the way she imagined a finished trail horse should…

Which brings up the question: What is a finished horse?
There are many categories that can be used to evaluate a horse, and often there are different levels within each category. In addition, ‘finished’ in one area doesn’t necessarily mean finished in other, more basic areas.

In this episode, I explain the two most common versions of ‘finished’ and how to define them.

I also share how my view of ‘never finished’ has also positively impacted my relationship with my horses.

Here is Willow’s dog and squirrel video:

Episode 252_ What is a finished horse_.mp3: Audio automatically transcribed by Sonix

Episode 252_ What is a finished horse_.mp3: this mp3 audio file was automatically transcribed by Sonix with the best speech-to-text algorithms. This transcript may contain errors.

Speaker1:
So can you see how there are different layers that you could call finished? But you can also hear, as I use Willow as an example, that the higher up we go, the more finished it feels.

Speaker2:
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.

Speaker1:
Hi, I’m Stacy Westfall and I’m here to help you understand, enjoy, and successfully train your own horses. In this season of the podcast, I’m answering questions that can often sound like basic questions that people hesitate to ask. Today I’m answering the question What is a finished horse? A listener wrote in that she has recently gotten a new trail horse and he’s supposed to be, quote, super finished on the trail, but he’s not acting the way that she imagined a finished trail horse should act. Which brings up the question what is a finished horse? Often times when this phrasing is used, it refers to a standard which is often measured in the horse world. By showing so it would be common for someone to say they have a finished reining horse for sale or a finished Western pleasure horse. Some discipline that they can actually list where the horse has been shown. Typically, if somebody is going to say that they have like a finished reining horse, they’re also going to be more specific. If questioned, is that an open level horse that a professional would show or is that a non-pro level horse? And what level is that a limited or an intermediate? Is that a green Ranger? Is that a green horse? So they can be very specific. If the horse has been shown to say it’s a finished trainer and it’s been shown in these classes and it’s won this amount of money and that is the most accurate level of finished that I’ve ever seen defined is by using a show standard.

Speaker1:
Now you’ll also find people that will say, finished, ready to show, and they’ll say, Ready to show in. Let’s just stick with reining and would be a good, you know, fill in the blank a green rein or horse. And so for that it becomes a little bit more opinion. They’re saying it’s finished enough to go show, but no one’s actually taken it. So that’s still, to me falls into someone’s opinion that it’s ready to show. One person might say, Yep, totally ready to show. Another person would say, no, not quite ready to show. When you move into something like trail riding and something like a finished trail horse, I think this falls typically into that second category, which is again, someone’s opinion. If category number one means finished and it has been shown in a certain discipline at a certain level and there are earnings or winnings or placing or whatever that show gives out, that verify that that horse was educated to that level, then that has some sort of universal or standard meaning that you could then apply. If, however, you go outside of that and you say ready to show or you say trail horse, where there is no standard, then you’re back into someone’s opinion. And whenever you’re into someone’s opinion, even if it is the show, I’d still say you’re going to still want to evaluate by what you see.

Speaker1:
So that’s where you actually need to become the one that determines what a finished horse is to you and your standards. I was thinking about how to present this because it’s actually a pretty big question because you could have a horse that’s a finished reining horse that has terrible ground manners and is dangerous to haul. I’ve seen this before. And so there are actually different levels in my mind, different categories of what finished can include. So for me, groundwork, manners and riding are almost two separate things to be evaluated. So some of the things to ponder when you’re thinking about what your standards are, what you would consider finished, some of the things you can consider would be catching, leading, tying, ground, tying, lunging, sacking the horse out. Is that just whipping around, rubbing them with things like a flag or a bag or a tarp? All of the above saddling. Do they stand for saddling bridling? Are they difficult to bridle Fly spray? Can you put fly spray on them? Do they stand still bathing? Will they stand or are you chasing them around with the hose and calling that bathing? Because different people have different opinions. They’re standing still for mounting, standing still while being ridden. And then their behavior while they’re walking and trotting and cantering, are they avoiding contact with the reins? Do they toss their head? Do they jig? And so some of these you can start to hear, I’m almost trying to find the base level of these transitions.

Speaker1:
Does the horse do transitions the skip gait? Can you do like a halt to a trot or a trot to a halt or a walk to a canter or a Canter to a walk? This would be a different level of horse that can do. Walk to Canter Canter to walk. That’s a different level of training than a horse that has to go from the walk to the trot and then the trot to the canter and going through the gates like that versus skipping gates. Another thing you could evaluate would be how well does the horse back up? That could be when you’re leading it or that could be while you’re unloading it from a trailer or that could be when you’re riding it. They’re different situations. Can the horse do a turn on the forehand, a turn on the haunches side, pass neck, rein,. Then you could look at things like crossing over objects, tarps, poles, bridges, mud, running water. If it’s a trail horse, are they good being ridden around traffic? Have they been in the woods or have you been mostly riding out in fields? Do they understand how to navigate hills? So there are a lot of different things that you can evaluate or add in or subtract from when you’re thinking about what you would consider a finished horse. There are many horses that don’t nickering well, but are pretty good trail horses. They’re pretty solid about going down the trail.

Speaker1:
But if you really want to steer, you’re going to have to reach down and use two hands to get more accurate steering. So on some scales, because the horse is quiet and obedient, they would be considered finished on trail in some people’s opinion, even though the horse doesn’t necessarily neck rein accurately. Because this is so open for interpretation. Once you leave the set standards that shows would offer you. I thought I would go ahead and share some of my own thoughts about more specifically like the Trail horse, because on one hand, I consider a horse finished when they fulfill that set standard by a specific show. So I do like showing my horses in like the the National Reining Horse Association and seeing what standard they can reach there. And then that’s a measurable standard that I’m showing against or the Aqha, the American Quarter Horse Association, I oftentimes will show my horses there. And then I have a finished horse that has an award hanging on the wall, certifying that they went through a certain standard. But on the other hand, I have a couple other things that I look at. One trail riding, which again, has no standard out there. It’s going to be individual. And I also really enjoy the idea that my horses are never finished. And that comes more from the idea that I’m a lifelong learner, which means that I enjoy the process of acquiring knowledge.

Speaker1:
And because of that, I have found that over the years when I view my horses the same way, the relationship stays interesting. So what that means to me is that I might finish them by going out and showing in one particular thing or another, but that doesn’t mean I’m finished with their training and the things that I’m often teaching them as we advance through the years of spending time together are often not really hard things that keep things interesting. So a lot of times after I’ve had a horse for years, some of the things I’m doing that keep the learning going. So in my mind they might not be ever finished. Some of those are tricks. Some of those are liberty things, some of those are bridleless things. It’s kind of the fun stuff. So if you take Willow, for example, when I go back and I look at her path, the first box that she had to check in training was basic handling, leading loading onto a trailer that farrier work and then basic groundwork, lunging, desensitizing inside turns, stopping, backing up all the different things that you’ve ever seen me do in like basic groundwork. If you watched a series like the Jack Video series where I started a Colt and you can see that on YouTube, and then after she was good with the basic handling and the basic groundwork, then I got her under saddle and was riding in an enclosed arena. None of this to me felt like finished work, even though I got on and I was successfully riding around the arena, I got to the point where I could do walk, trot, canter and the first level of finished that I aimed for in my own mind, even the arena work for me was arena work that I was doing with the goal of wanting to create a solid trail horse.

Speaker1:
So the first level of finished I was actually aiming for was what type of arena work do I need to do so that I feel confident taking her out and handling whatever comes up on the trail? Because the first level of finished I was aiming for was a solid trail horse. And so for me, that included the ability to ride on the trails with other horses. And I even pointed her in the beginning. Before I rode her, I ponied her on the trails and then I wanted to be able to ride with other horses and I wanted to be able to ride her alone. And then on top of that, even when I could take her out alone, I didn’t consider her finished that day because it also meant that we both had to be relaxed. So when I took her out and we both survived a trail ride, but neither one of us was relaxed then that still that box of like finished trail horse check to me. We hadn’t reached that first level yet. Other people would have said it was good enough because that first summer I rode her out back here behind my house hundreds of miles in the state park, and she jumped at every chipmunk and there were hundreds of chipmunks, and she jumped at every chipmunk until the end of the summer.

Speaker1:
And then she was jumping at like every other one. That did not feel finished to me. Here’s. How I know when I consider them the first level of finished on a trail. I can typically tell because I’m probably making videos with my phone while riding down the trail. So the point when I see myself whip out the phone and start recording what I’m doing on the trail, that means I feel like I’ve got a base level of a finished trail horse going on. If I can’t video while riding, I don’t consider my own horse to be a trail horse finished. But to me it didn’t stop there because then I eventually ended up at another level out on the trails when I could do all the trail riding and I could do the video taping at all speeds, which included cantering down the trail. Then I was like, okay, now this really feels finished. I can walk, I can trot, I can canter, I can be video taping while I’m cantering, which means that I’m riding neck reining. So when I’m doing all of this, I’m controlling her speed. Her emotional control is now really good.

Speaker1:
We can go up through the speeds, down through the speeds. I can basically be a distracted driver and it’s all feels easy. We all feel relaxed. That’s when she went to another level of finished out on the trails with me. Then she went to another level of finished in my mind when I could use her to pony other horses on the trails. And so can you see how for me I’ve got this list in my mind where take another horse, for example. Presto! I have ridden him on the trails and I’ve taken videos of him on the trails, but I haven’t taken videos while cantering and I haven’t ponied another horse off for him. So these are these little boxes that I might check on the way up through in my own standards of what finished is. And again, there was a base level finish for me, but notice how I keep going to more and more detail. Another level for me was when I had let multiple friends ride her out on the trail while I was riding Gabby. To me, that felt like it unlocked a different level of finished. It’s one thing to say that I’m riding her out there and she’s doing all of these things, but now when I’m having other people ride her out there, to me that means something different. And then this last year, I used Willow to lead my then one year old border collie while I was riding on the trails.

Speaker1:
And here’s the question for you Is it ponying when you lead a dog from a horse? My husband, Jesse says maybe it’s puppy ING. I don’t know. I was leading the puppy who was a year old from the horse, and I’d practiced this in the indoor and I’d practiced this around our property. And then I took her out and I was leading her on the trails. And all I know is that I consider it next level because ponying puppy ING, leading a dog from a horse is another level over ponying a horse because your dog technically can dart under your horse’s neck. Or guess they could go under your feet. They could go behind you. You’ve got a rope. It’s down low. It’s challenging. And Willow aced it. She did brilliantly. I even sent it out in an email. My husband happened to capture on a video the moment when I was coming up the trail and he was videotaping me coming down the trail with the dog and the horse and a squirrel jumped out and ran across the trail. And Willow handled the squirrel, the dog and the chaos so well. So in my mind, she went to another level. But Willow’s never done something like an extreme trail challenge. I’ve never hauled her somewhere to one of those extreme trail courses, even though I know there’s something out there she hasn’t done, I would still consider her a finished trail horse. So can you see how there are different layers that you could call finished? But you can also hear, as I use Willow as an example, that the higher up we go, the more finished it feels.

Speaker1:
And so I think it’s really fun to finish my horses in multiple areas. Willow’s also a finished dressage horse who’s successfully been shown through fourth level. She’s also a finished Western dressage horse who has also been shown through fourth level in Western dressage. She’s also a finished runner who has won National Reining Horse Association money, and she’s also been successfully shown in ranch horse classes. And now I’m playing around with Liberty and Bridleless riding. And that’s where the concept of finished gets challenging. Again, where is the line drawn? For example, if you can take your halter and lead rope off your horse and be in a large arena and lunge your horse around, you walk, trot, canter, reverse directions. Is that a finished liberty horse? And if not, then what other movements are required before you can label one finished? Liberty on the ground. Human on the ground. Horse operating without any halter rope. This discipline is new enough that I’m not sure there’s an answer as to where that line is that you would call one finished and the same thing goes for bridles. Where is the line that makes one finished? Is it finished? If you can ride without a bridle and walk trot canter Canter. Trot, walk. Stop. Back, turn left, turn right.

Speaker1:
Side pass spin which things get included to make the list of what finished is. If you truly want hard fast rules for what finish means, it’s easiest to look at the show rules because shows have standardized agreed upon rules. If you’re doing something like trail riding, you’ll likely need to create your own standard of what a finished trail horse is because one person might want to walk and occasionally jog on the trail. That person standard of what is finished is going to be completely different than someone who wants to trail, ride and do extreme trail challenges. If you’re not sure because you’re newer to the discipline that you are looking at or newer to horses, then find a friend who has a lot of experience or a trainer who can advise you. Many trainers help people buy horses just like they help people sell horses. You can actually hire a trainer to help advise you when you’re buying a horse, which is a great idea if you don’t know what you’re looking for or if you’re like me and you like the idea of lifelong learning. You can just keep adding skills to your horse’s resume. And then the idea of finished becomes finished here. And then we’re going to add more over here and finish there. And yet we’re never going to be done. That’s what I have for you this week. Thanks for the questions and I’ll talk to you again in the next episode.

Speaker2:
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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