Hello friends!
I hope you are all doing well and staying warm through this very cold and now windy winter! It always seems like winter is never going to end, and I am looking forward to being able to ride every day without frozen feet and ten layers on, but I know summer will be here before I know it!
I am beginning to book training spots for this spring. April through July tend to be my busiest months in preparation for summer riding, so please consider booking now to ensure your horse is ready by summer! I will continue to offer training packages by the week, rather than by the month, in order to best tailor the training process for individual horses and owners. Please contact me for rates and details.
I am in the process of putting together my 2011 spring and summer schedule and have a few noteworthy dates to mention.
Saturday, April 16 10am-5pm
Open House & Lesson Day
Three Forks, MT (Three Rivers Horse Training facility)
$35 for individual one hour lessons.
Auditors FREE
Please bring a sack lunch, a chair and lots of questions!
Pre-registration for lesson spots required.
May 20-22 8am-6pm
Horsemanship Clinic
Ennis, MT (WC Arena & Stables)
$50 per day per rider: Pre-registration required
Auditors $10 per day: Pre-registration preferred
Lunch included for those who pre-registered.
**Please note, as of now the website has this event listed as a Saturday/Sunday event, but due to demand we have added Friday. There are still a couple spots left for Friday, but please book soon as they are filling up quickly. Saturday and Sunday are completely filled but we are keeping a waiting list in the event of cancellations.***
Contact Kelly at 406.682.3059 or kellyrobinson7@gmail.com to book your spot!
July 30-31
I will be judging the Missoula 4-H Horse Show. I will be available for lessons in the Missoula area (or along I-90 between Three Forks and Missoula) on Friday, July 29 and Monday, August 1. I may also be available for evening lessons and consultations that Saturday and Sunday.
As always, you can check out my website (www.threerivershorsetraining.com) for upcoming events, and follow me on Facebook by searching "Three Rivers Horse Training." I often announce new events and adjusted dates on Facebook before they are posted to my website. I have a few other clinics in the works that I am not ready to announce yet, so please stay tuned!
If you would like to host a clinic in your area, please contact me for details. I am available for two to five day clinics, and will offer one day clinics within 60 miles of Three Forks.
Stay warm and I can't wait to see you all this spring!
Alex
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
Saturday, October 23, 2010
Featured rider and horse!
Hello friends!
I promised some spotlight time for one of my great lesson riders, Helen, who has been learning (and loving!) Keller, my one-eyed wonder! They are such a great pair.
Hope you enjoy the photos!
Sunday, October 3, 2010
16 ft Gooseneck Stock Trailer!
Please spread the word!
For sale! 16ft gooseneck stock trailer. 1982 Jackson. Sanded and repainted last year. Good floors and all around condition. Does not look its age! Used regularly with no issue. $3500 OBO. Contact Alex for details.
Thanks!
Friday, September 10, 2010
Meet Lady!
Hello friends!
Sorry it's been so long since I've updated this blog. I have a few entries in the works and will do better as the busy summer season comes to a close. Though, I am sad to see the warm weather start to go! It will be a long winter, but we'll make the most of it, as always.
In any case, I'd like to introduce a very special horse that's a part of the Three Rivers family, but is currently looking for her forever home. She is a 4 year old (born 2006) AQHA mare. I call her Lady, though her registered name is "Justins Pickles."
Lady came into my life a little over a year ago. I was looking for some youngsters to start for the summer and heard about some nice colts through another trainer. When I showed up, there was in fact one colt that looked in decent condition (he had apparently only been there a month or so), but then there was Lady. She was WAY to thin, wide eyed and terrified, and was bleeding from her chest because they had "run her into the barbed wire to catch her" for me to look at it. Needless to say, despite her pathetic appearance (or maybe because of it) I HAD to take her. So some money exchanged hands and both colts jumped in my trailer. Don't know if she'd ever seen a trailer before, but both of them couldn't get out of that place fast enough!
Lady came home and I could hardly touch her. She and the other colt lived next to my house in a small pen and I caught her many times a day and loved on her, and she quickly realized that things were okay here. Within a couple weeks I was riding her! Not hard, because she was still too thin (but gaining weight FAST!) but enough to get her used to the idea.
Now it's a year later, and she looks like a different horse. She is a small, stocky mare with a lot of brains and enough heart for five horses. I put her first 30 days on her and since she has been ridden by a few students here and there, but primarily by Marty (my farrier and an excellent horseman in his own right) out in the hills. She has A LOT of miles on her for her young age and is a horse that would jump right off a cliff for you if you asked. But, she's not for just anyone, as she is so smart and she is young, so I'd like her to go to someone with some experience.
Lady is looking for a FOREVER home, and will have one here until the perfect person comes around. She's quite the horse and I love having her around, so I'm going to be very picky. But, she deserves lots of love and attention, and the more she gets ridden the better she gets. She's the sort of horse where if I keep her near my house and turn her loose to graze in the front yard, she comes running when I walk out the door and yell her name. She will be your best friend and a dedicated partner.
Please spread the word, and let me know if you are interested!
Friday, June 11, 2010
Riding the Roads
Hello friends!
As the weather gets warmer (sort of) and more and more of you are coming out for lessons, I’ve noticed that there are a few questions that I seem to answer all the time. So, I thought that I would post some of my most used explanations.
If you have a question that you would like me to address on the blog, please feel free to email me at alex@threerivershorsetraining.com. I would prefer to answer more general questions on the blog than issues specific to your horse, as without seeing you and your horse in person it is hard for me to make accurate evaluations of what is going on and what needs to be done.
Riding the roads: Encountering bikes, ATVs, cars, trucks and the dreaded UPS truck
As spring and summer come around, a lot of you will be riding on county roads, crossing busy streets to get to your favorite trails, or sharing the mountains with bikes and ATVs. I am asked quite often how to properly prepare a horse for these sorts of encounters. There are many ways to do this, but the long and short of it is that you need to have your horse’s confidence and attention to ensure a safe experience, because you can’t possibly expose your horse to every “scary” thing in the world. However, I’ll give you the exercise that I find most helpful when working with scary things on wheels, and it will be a great place for you to start.
To begin with, think of the environment you are going to be practicing in. If your horse is deathly afraid of bikes, I would recommend getting an old bike and bringing it into an enclosed area, like a round pen or an arena, and making the introduction within the confines of a fence. Likewise, if traffic pushes your horse over the edge, please don’t go out and try these exercises on a busy, paved road. Stay on a driveway in an area you know well, and even consider having a friend drive over on a car or ATV and act as your assistant, so you can properly “control” the traffic while you train.
Once you are confident in your surroundings, think about how the horse has been perceiving these “scary” situations. Horses are prey animals, and the worst feeling in the world for a prey animal must be for something to sneak up behind them, or to be approaching at a speed greater than they are traveling, appearing to “chase” them. Often times, the goofy behavior prompted by a car or bike driving passed us on the road, is really the horse’s anxiety of having something seeming to chase them, and they are simply acting on their instinct to flee. When we block them with our seat and reins, and don’t allow them to move their feet in accordance with this flight instinct, goofiness ensues, because they don’t know what else to do!
So, I would suggest setting the situation up so that you reverse the roles prey/predator roles, and allow the horse to move its feet the way their instincts tell them to. To do this, have the horse chase the bike, car or ATV. In an enclosed arena, have a friend ride a bike away from you, and set it up so your horse feels as though they are chasing the bike away, just as they would a cow, or that pesky dog trying to get into their food. Have the horse trot after the bike with purpose, and when you stop your horse, make sure the bike continues on, to give the horse a feeling of accomplishment. Suddenly, you’ve given your horse the confidence of a predator! (This strategy works for introducing all sorts of “scary” things. For instance, introduce your flag or tarp by dragging it in front of the horse and letting them chase it, just like the bike.)
Now what about traffic? If I’m riding on the road with a horse that I’m not sure will be able to handle a car coming by, and I hear a vehicle approaching behind me, I will ask my horse to turn around and face the vehicle. As the car gets closer and passes me, I tip my horses nose to follow the car as it drives by, and once the car has passed I cue my horse to trot after it. Most likely, the car will be going faster than my trot, and the horse will feel as though they pushed that car right out of your territory! By turning the horse towards the car as it approaches from behind, I avoid letting that vehicle get into my horse’s blind spot and sneaking up on us. By turning with the car as it passes, I allow the horse to feel like they are in control for the entire situation, and never let the car get into a position where it feels as though the horse is being chased.
You will probably only need to trot after the vehicle once or twice. Eventually, just turning the horse to face the traffic and letting them track the vehicle as it passes will be enough. Sooner or later, all you will need to do is tip the horse’s eye so they can see what’s coming up behind them, and they will track the vehicle on their own without having to physically turn and chase the vehicle.
Many of you ask me if there will ever come a day when you don’t have to tip the horse’s eye when you hear a car coming up behind you. Sure. Eventually your horse won’t have any issues with moving vehicles, and will act like they are not even there. However, I never ride my horse assuming that they will not be startled by something coming up behind them. If my dog stays behind a few hundred yards, and then races to catch up when I call her, I tip my horse’s eye to watch her coming. Not because my horse is afraid of dogs, but because I’d like to avoid any unnecessary startling of my horse, or me for that matter!
So, that being said, if I know something is coming up behind me, or into any blind spot (or even just a spot my horse happens to not be looking at at that moment), I try to draw my horse’s attention to that potentially scary thing. Even the brokest of broke horses can be startled, and as the rider and leader of my partnership with the horse, I feel it is my obligation to prepare my horse as best as I can for what’s about to happen, to make our ride as successful and enjoyable as possible. So stay alert, and pay attention to the bigger picture: where your horse’s mind is. If your horse is so focused down the road, because that’s where the barn is, and is paying no attention to you or your surroundings, most likely if a car comes up behind them they are going to spook. Don’t let it go that far. When you notice your horse is not paying attention to their surroundings, get to work asking them to focus on you and what’s happening around you, and save both yourself and your horse a lot of unnecessarily stressful riding.
Good luck, be safe and have fun!
As the weather gets warmer (sort of) and more and more of you are coming out for lessons, I’ve noticed that there are a few questions that I seem to answer all the time. So, I thought that I would post some of my most used explanations.
If you have a question that you would like me to address on the blog, please feel free to email me at alex@threerivershorsetraining.com. I would prefer to answer more general questions on the blog than issues specific to your horse, as without seeing you and your horse in person it is hard for me to make accurate evaluations of what is going on and what needs to be done.
Riding the roads: Encountering bikes, ATVs, cars, trucks and the dreaded UPS truck
As spring and summer come around, a lot of you will be riding on county roads, crossing busy streets to get to your favorite trails, or sharing the mountains with bikes and ATVs. I am asked quite often how to properly prepare a horse for these sorts of encounters. There are many ways to do this, but the long and short of it is that you need to have your horse’s confidence and attention to ensure a safe experience, because you can’t possibly expose your horse to every “scary” thing in the world. However, I’ll give you the exercise that I find most helpful when working with scary things on wheels, and it will be a great place for you to start.
To begin with, think of the environment you are going to be practicing in. If your horse is deathly afraid of bikes, I would recommend getting an old bike and bringing it into an enclosed area, like a round pen or an arena, and making the introduction within the confines of a fence. Likewise, if traffic pushes your horse over the edge, please don’t go out and try these exercises on a busy, paved road. Stay on a driveway in an area you know well, and even consider having a friend drive over on a car or ATV and act as your assistant, so you can properly “control” the traffic while you train.
Once you are confident in your surroundings, think about how the horse has been perceiving these “scary” situations. Horses are prey animals, and the worst feeling in the world for a prey animal must be for something to sneak up behind them, or to be approaching at a speed greater than they are traveling, appearing to “chase” them. Often times, the goofy behavior prompted by a car or bike driving passed us on the road, is really the horse’s anxiety of having something seeming to chase them, and they are simply acting on their instinct to flee. When we block them with our seat and reins, and don’t allow them to move their feet in accordance with this flight instinct, goofiness ensues, because they don’t know what else to do!
So, I would suggest setting the situation up so that you reverse the roles prey/predator roles, and allow the horse to move its feet the way their instincts tell them to. To do this, have the horse chase the bike, car or ATV. In an enclosed arena, have a friend ride a bike away from you, and set it up so your horse feels as though they are chasing the bike away, just as they would a cow, or that pesky dog trying to get into their food. Have the horse trot after the bike with purpose, and when you stop your horse, make sure the bike continues on, to give the horse a feeling of accomplishment. Suddenly, you’ve given your horse the confidence of a predator! (This strategy works for introducing all sorts of “scary” things. For instance, introduce your flag or tarp by dragging it in front of the horse and letting them chase it, just like the bike.)
Now what about traffic? If I’m riding on the road with a horse that I’m not sure will be able to handle a car coming by, and I hear a vehicle approaching behind me, I will ask my horse to turn around and face the vehicle. As the car gets closer and passes me, I tip my horses nose to follow the car as it drives by, and once the car has passed I cue my horse to trot after it. Most likely, the car will be going faster than my trot, and the horse will feel as though they pushed that car right out of your territory! By turning the horse towards the car as it approaches from behind, I avoid letting that vehicle get into my horse’s blind spot and sneaking up on us. By turning with the car as it passes, I allow the horse to feel like they are in control for the entire situation, and never let the car get into a position where it feels as though the horse is being chased.
You will probably only need to trot after the vehicle once or twice. Eventually, just turning the horse to face the traffic and letting them track the vehicle as it passes will be enough. Sooner or later, all you will need to do is tip the horse’s eye so they can see what’s coming up behind them, and they will track the vehicle on their own without having to physically turn and chase the vehicle.
Many of you ask me if there will ever come a day when you don’t have to tip the horse’s eye when you hear a car coming up behind you. Sure. Eventually your horse won’t have any issues with moving vehicles, and will act like they are not even there. However, I never ride my horse assuming that they will not be startled by something coming up behind them. If my dog stays behind a few hundred yards, and then races to catch up when I call her, I tip my horse’s eye to watch her coming. Not because my horse is afraid of dogs, but because I’d like to avoid any unnecessary startling of my horse, or me for that matter!
So, that being said, if I know something is coming up behind me, or into any blind spot (or even just a spot my horse happens to not be looking at at that moment), I try to draw my horse’s attention to that potentially scary thing. Even the brokest of broke horses can be startled, and as the rider and leader of my partnership with the horse, I feel it is my obligation to prepare my horse as best as I can for what’s about to happen, to make our ride as successful and enjoyable as possible. So stay alert, and pay attention to the bigger picture: where your horse’s mind is. If your horse is so focused down the road, because that’s where the barn is, and is paying no attention to you or your surroundings, most likely if a car comes up behind them they are going to spook. Don’t let it go that far. When you notice your horse is not paying attention to their surroundings, get to work asking them to focus on you and what’s happening around you, and save both yourself and your horse a lot of unnecessarily stressful riding.
Good luck, be safe and have fun!
Monday, June 7, 2010
Meet Zane: Beautiful Palomino Missouri Fox Trotter
Hi everyone! Great news, the featured horse below, Doc, has been spoken for! He is going home with a GREAT family, and I'm thrilled for how bright his future looks!
But, there is another special horse in my life that is now on the market! Meet Zane. Zane is a 6 year old palomino gelding that I had in full training all winter and spring. I've ridden him all over the hills, in the arena, and even worked colts off of him. He gaits beautifully and is a blast to ride. He's not for a novice rider, because he has lots of energy, personality and enthusiasm. But he will put out a lot of effort and would make a great horse for trails, ranch work, or even to finish for the show ring. He has a ton of potential. He is only being sold because his owners are just beginning to ride and need a quieter horse without quite as much "go."
Contact me for more information!
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