horseback magazine june 2008

The Southwest’s Equine Sport & Lifestyle Magazine

Vol. 15, No. 6June 2008Priceless

Fiddle Legend

Charlie Daniel’s Paint Mare Births Rare Twins, a THT Exclusive

Stacy Westfall Rides Summer in at

Cowtown’s World Paint Horse Show

Stacy Westfall Rides Summer in at

Cowtown’s World Paint Horse Show

Angela ChenaultTreating Those Nasty

Horse Cuts

Pat ParelliWhy We Use

The Snaffle Bit

Cathy Strobel Understanding The

Horse Sale Ads

Elizabeth Kopplow The Half Million Dollar

Horse Trailer

Wes White That Infernal Mechanical

Hackamore, The Bear Trap

2 TEXAS HORSE TALK - June 2008 www.texashorsetalk.com

www.texashorsetalk.com June 2008 - TEXAS HORSE TALK 3

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Lakota 3H 10’ Living Quarters 7’6” Tall, 7’ Wide, Escape Door, Stud Divider, Walk Thru Door, Full Living QuartersWas $49,987.00 Foster’s Price $38,741.00

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10 HORSE BITES

12 PARELLI - Pat Parelli and Steven Long

14 THE HEALTHY HORSE - Dr. Angela Chenault

16 ON THE ENGLISH FRONT - Cathy Stroebel

18 TACK TALK - Lew Pewterbaugh

20 TALKIN’ CUTTIN’ - Gala Nettles

22 THE TEACHER - Wes White

24 CHARLIE DANIELS - Steven Long

26 STACY WESTFALL - Steven Long

28 LETTERS FROM OUR READERS

32 HORSE LAUGHS - Elizabeth Kopplow

34 Q&A ~ HORSE SENSE - Jessica Jahiel

36 HAPPY TRAILS - Destinations and Vacations

40 OF HORSES AND KINGS - Jay Remboldt

42 APHA WORLD SHOW SCHEDULE

46 COWBOY CORNER - Jim Hubbard

PUBLISHERVicki Long

EDITORSteven Long

ART DIRECTORPamela Sease

NATIONAL NEWS EDITORCarrie Gobernatz

RACING EDITORJay Remboldt

CONTRIBUTING WRITERSDr. Angela Chenault Jim HubbardDr. Jessica JahielElizabeth KopplowSteven LongVicki Long Gala NettlesPat ParelliLew PewterbaughJay RemboldtCathy StrobelWes White

TEXAS ADVERTISING OFFICES

BRAZOS VALLEY BUREAUDiane Holt936-878-2678 Ranch713-408-8114 [email protected]

CENTRAL TEXAS BUREAUBobby Reynolds830-393-7037 Office210-286-2192 [email protected]

Donna Reynolds830-393-9850 Home210-286-2084 [email protected]

GULF COAST BUREAUCarol Holloway713-680-8264 Home832-607-8264 [email protected]

NORTH CENTRAL BUREAUCORPORATE OFFICE

281-447-0772281-591-1519 [email protected]

[email protected]

Volume 15, No 6. Texas Horse Talk Magazine is published by El Dorado Funding, P.O. Box 681397, Houston, TX 77268-1397, (281) 447-0772. The entire contents of the magazine are copyrighted June 2008 by Texas Horse Talk Magazine. All rights reserved. Material in this publi-cation may not be reproduced in any form without the expressed written consent of the publisher. Texas Horse Talk Magazine assumes no responsibility for unsolicited manuscripts, photographs and other material unless accompanied by a stamped, self addressed envelope. Texas Horse Talk Magazine is not responsible for any claims made by advertisers. The views and opinions expressed herein do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher or management. Subscription rate is $25.00 for one year.

POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Texas Horse Talk Magazine, P.O. Box 681397, Houston, TX 77268-1397. Fax: (281) 893-1029

Email: [email protected] Phone: (281) 447-0772

June 2008FROM THE EDITOR’S DESK

On this blog we write about the most unspeakable acts mankind can do to itself. Yet civilization doesn’t confine its barbarity to inflict-ing misery and even death on us. We are even worse to our animals.

Most recently we have seen the glare of media focus on the oft ig-nored American pastime of horse racing and the plight of the dispos-able race horse who failed to enjoy the obligatory photo shoot in the winners circle after a race. We’re talking about the losers, those horses who fans see on their programs in Maiden races, a contest reserved for equines who have never won.

A horse is a costly aversion, be it a backyard animal used for toting the kids around, or a contender for the Triple Crown, the All Ameri-can, or the Dubai World Cup where Middle Eastern oil rich bet their wealth on which horse attacks the oval the fastest.

Yet some can’t afford the Sport of Kings. Such is the case in tiny Puerto Rico. Stories surfaced over that test even the most tolerant of us when it comes to abuses inflicted on horses at the race track. The Associated Press revealed in a story that 400 healthy horses a year are put down by lethal injection because they lost races and were no lon-ger profitable for their owners.

There apparently are few provisions in Puerto Rico for the care of retired race horses who don’t make the grade. Adoptions of off the track Thoroughbreds are rare. The animals are routinely killed, some-times even by vengeful owners because the horse lost a race.

The reason for this is that the island nation lacks space or facilities to keep horses after they finish their careers. Owners don’t want to pay the upkeep to maintain an expensive loser with no place to go. That’s appalling and should be stopped immediately even if it ends racing in Puerto Rico.

But abuse of race horses doesn’t stop on the shores of Puerto Rico. The breakdown of Eight Belles on the track at Churchill Down sparked an uproar of disdain for an industry that races animals so young their legs aren’t yet fully developed.

There is a serious move afoot to end racing here, and the industry should take it seriously because a substantial block of the public sup-ports a ban.

The apparent revulsion toward the sport that heretofore had gone

A Symphony of Silience First Published by the online true crime forum,

In Cold Blog http://incoldblogger.blogspot.com/

by Steven Long

A Symphony of Silence - Con’t. on pg. 38


H H H H HTexas Parks and Wildlife

To HosT MeeTing on killing of Wild Burros aT Big Bend

rancH

A press release by Texas Parks and Wildlife has sparked controversy with critics charging the state agency didn’t want it desciminated to the public alleging the notice was only pub-lished in the Texas Register, a document largely read by bureaucrats and elected officials. The release read, with slight modification to remove meetings that have already taken place and to publish the one remaining meeting to be held:

“The State Parks Division of Texas Parks and Wildlife Department has hosted a series of public meetings across the state in April and May concerning natural and cultural resource management activities on state park properties, with a particular focus on management chal-lenges at Big Bend Ranch State Park.

Following a short informational presenta-tion, the public will be invited to comment on current management strategies for removal of feral animals such as burros and exotic species such as aoudad sheep from the park and may offer alternative solutions. All meetings began at 7:00 p.m. One more meeting is scheduled. It will be held Thursday, June 12, at the Bellaire City Hall Auditorium.”

Texas Horse Talk posted notice of the meet-ing on its web site at www.texashorsetalk.com on the Breaking News page. The posting prompted a response from parks director Walt Dabney.

“We have had the trapper ( Donkey Res-cue) out there for three months. Zero suc-cess. Would love to hear your solutions. I will give you free camping if you and others want to come capture burros by horse back, meet APHIS quarantine requirements and adopt. This is not an easy issue.

China Lake Naval Weapons Testing Area produced an informative movie on the burro damage to that part of the Mojave Desert. If you go to the Houston meeting you will see a

piece of that production. That is not what we plan to watch happen to Big Bend Ranch SP. As a land manager, I have a responsibility to control exotic and feral animals on park lands.

We do it all over the system with qualified employees. Not fun, but the resources will be destroyed otherwise. Especially limited water resources like springs.

Anyway, we are open to you or any others helping to capture and relocate as many burros as you can. Will provide park staff contacts if you get interested.”

Critics claim Texas Parks and Wildlife de-sires to rid the state’s largest park of wild burros so it can replace them with exotic game en-abling the agency to auction high dollar hunts to well heeled sportsmen.

Big Bend Ranch was the subject of contro-versy a few years ago when the state attempted to quietly sell off substantial acreage to private development, including the park’s 100 foot wa-terfall.

H H H H H Texas Horse Talk coluMnisT

naMed To PresTigious MusTang Makeover

coMPeTiTion

Texas Horse Talk columnist Wes White has been named one of 100 trainers to compete in the Supreme Mustang Makeover, an elite colt starting event. Following a smashing inaugu-ral season, the event will return to Fort Worth September 18 – 21, 2008.

White has written “The Teacher” column in Texas Horse Talk for four years. The column combines his homespun humor with hands on knowledge of the fundamentals of horseman-ship.

Wes White has studied the best trainers and colt starters in the nation and spent a summer working for the legendary Ray Hunt. He has headlined many clinics in the southwest and has appeared on the Animal Planet program, “Ani-mal Cops Houston” during which he rode an unbroken bronc who had been severely abused

and seized by law enforcement officials.White holds a Master’s of Animal Science

degree from Sam Houston State University. He and his wife Carmen and son Cole “Horse Fly” White live in Houston.

H H H H H friend of lone ranger

carToonisT fulfills dying WisH in TiMe for cHaracTers

75TH anniversary

Before his final sunset in the Old West, Lone Ranger cartoonist Tom Gill asked his longtime friend, Tim Lasiuta, to secure a publisher for Gills manuscript, which offered a rare look into the comic book hero and syndicated com-ics. Three years after Gills death at 92, Lasiuta fulfilled his promise, getting The Misadventures of a Roving Cartoonist: The Lone Ranger’s Secret Sidekick published just in time for the 75th an-niversary of the creation of the Lone Ranger character.

“The opportunity to get to know Tom, one of the legends of the industry, was a gift. And to be entrusted with the publication of his book is indeed an honor,” says Lasiuta.

A self-taught cartoonist who started as an office boy at the New York Daily News and worked his way up to staff artist, Tom eventu-ally landed at Dell Comics where he went on to draw Lone Ranger comic books for 20 years, one of the longest records of any cartoonist on any comic book series. Gill created 135 of the 145 Lone Ranger comic books launched by Dell in 1948, which coincidentally also makes 2008 the 60th anniversary of the Lone Ranger comic book series.

The Misadventures of a Roving Cartoonist, (ISBN: 978-1-58985-021-7 hardcover/dust jacket) a Five Star Publications book, retails for $29.95 and can soon be purchased through BarnesandNoble.com, Borders.com, Amazon.com, Walmart.com, Target.com and www.LoneRangerCartoonist.com.


By Pat Parelli with steven long

THE SNAFFLE BIT

www.parelli.com

TEXAS HORSE TALK: I’ve seen you ride many times both with a bit and bridle, and even sometimes without either. But you always seem to return to the standard rig of a bridle, snaffle bit, and slobber straps attached to a mecate. What is so special about the snaffle?

PAT PARELLI: The word snaffle means bit with no leverage. There are several types of snaffles, There is the traditional snaffle with a straight bar, the broken mouthpiece snaffle, barrel snaffles, bits that have no leverage to it. The least amount of leverage you can put on a horse with a bit is a snaffle with a loose rein because the ring keeps turning. As soon as you put on a D ring it starts to have the ability to have leverage because the rings don’t move and it gets down and traps the horse’s tongue.

THT: So why do we use a snaffle?

PARELLI: The snaffle is meant to be used in the early stages of a horse’s training when you are using a lot of reins one at a time, a lot of lateral flexion, and what we call riding to the inside of the horse. For example, if the horse is going to the right, then the inside is to the right.

THT: And then?

PARELLI: The farther into a horse’s devel-opment we try to ride a horse straighter and straighter. So a snaffle is meant to ride one rein at a time with a lot of lateral use, and it’s meant to be used to ride to the inside of the horse. In other words, you take the power away from the horse with a snaffle.

THT: So it’s a training bit?

PARELLI: That’s why it’s effective with young horses because you can turn the horse’s head and move the hind quarters - in other words, ride the horse to the inside.

THT: And then what?

PARELLI: As the horse gets more confidence and more understanding of what’s doing what, then we start asking it to have power and ride straighter.

THT: So is there a graduation to another bit then?

PARELLI: Then we can ride with a bit that has shanks. I call them engaging bits. They are engaging bits because the mouthpiece is straighter and the shanks come down a little farther. It induces the horse to tuck his nose more and gives power to his back. It’s the op-posite of the snaffle.

THT: People don’t seem to get it sometimes.

PARELLI: A lot of people who are out of con-trol with a horse need a snaffle, but they’ll often times use a shank bit thinking that they’ve got more control, but all they do is end up wearing the horse’s mouth out, causing him to lose con-fidence in the rider, and the rider’s wishes. The thing most people need to know about a shank bit is the type of mouthpiece that a horse has is that some horses want no tongue pressure, and some horses want some tongue pressure - some tongue contact.

THT: And the bits you use?

PARELLI:: They are made by the Myler company. In fact we now have a Parelli Myler series of bits that you can check out on our web site.


Dr. Angela Chenault owns La Paloma Equine Clinic in Waller and services the surrounding areas.

This month I would like to talk about severe lacerations, their treatments and their outcomes. These injuries are often dramatic and very stress-ful to the horse and its owner. Different areas of the body affect treatment and the limiting fac-tors are usually the amount of skin available for the repair and the amount of motion present in that area.

Severe lacerations of the lower limbs especial-ly over the joints are the most difficult to repair due to lack of stretch, lack of underlying sup-portive muscle and motion. Creative suturing may get the wound back together only to have it pull apart as the horse bounces around the stall. If possible splinting, casting or heavy bandaging of lower limb wounds can help. Anything to dis-

tract the horse from moving is helpful such as a companion in the next stall or a bottomless bag of hay.

Linear wounds tend to heal better than V-shaped wounds as the blood supply is compro-mised at the narrow tip. Frequently, owners want to terminate bandaging after a few days to let the wound get some air. Often this can lead to bad results in these larger wounds as they attract flies and dirt. Keep wrapped until your veterinarian says otherwise and if you must let the wound “air” out, just do so for an hour then rebandage.

Severe wounds on the body tend to heal bet-ter because of the supportive muscle underneath that give a better blood supply to the skin. How-ever, the same problems with high motion areas

still exist. Wounds in this area of the body tend to heal with less scaring even if the sutures come apart. Large wounds on the body may heal better if the horse is kept from lying down, especially if there is a lot of tension on the sutures. The act of getting up will place a significant amount of strain on the sutures. Some might think tying a horse to the wall is cruel. A better idea is to run a cable diagonally across the stall and hanging a pulley and chain from it to tie the horse. Tie the horse close enough to discourage lying down but still be comfortable. Make sure the hay bag and water bucket are accessible. A word of caution, your horse must be sensible and well broke for this or further damage could occur.

Facial wounds are the easiest to heal which is great from a cosmetic standpoint. Even large scalping lacerations will heal nicely as long as the horse does not start rubbing his head. This is most likely to occur at about 5-7 days when the healing wound starts to itch. If you notice your horse rubbing his wounds no matter where it is located, try some Preparation H ointment. It helps with the itching.

So what do you do if despite your best efforts the sutures pull apart? Hopefully it is at least a few days down the road, say 5-7 days because in that time frame some significant healing that has taken place. It may not look that way but it has.

It is unlikely that re-stitching the wound will be possible. You must have fresh skin to suture together and by now there is none.

If the wound pulls apart 2 or 3 days after su-turing, then it may be possible but not after a week which is when most high tension wounds come apart. If cosmetics are of the utmost im-portance to you then there are some techniques that can be attempted but these come with a cost and increased effort.

Likely you will be left with the wound to heal on its own. Remove the sutures that are no longer holding anything and leave the ones that are. Gently cleanse the wound daily with a water hose with no pressure. Re-bandage a limb wound with either an antibiotic cream or, if ex-cess granulation tissue or proud flesh is forming, use a product to counteract this. Your veterinar-ian can advise on the correct product. Body and facial wounds have less of a risk of excess granu-lation tissue and so a spray on antibiotic can be useful such as Aluspray or Furox spray.

Often the most hideous wounds will heal beautifully if you can keep the horse calm and the wound clean even if the repair does not hold. Limb wounds are more challenging from a cosmetic standpoint and may require working more closely with your veterinarian for a good outcome. Suturing a wound will always give you a quicker recovery and therefore lessen the time off and work will be needed on you part but don’t panic if all does not go as planned. Nature has a way of taking care of its own.

SO YOUR HORSE GETS A CUT - A BAD ONE


We all know the quaint town of Br-enham, Texas, thanks in part to

the local ice cream touted in commer-cials as the best in the country. If you’re planning a visit to our little town, be sure to leave some time for a visit and a scrumptious meal at the BT Longhorn Saloon.

BT is housed in a historic building con-structed in 1879 and measuring over 8500 square feet, and just celebrated their first anniversary there in March.

Tami Redshaw was responsible for the conversion of a historic building that has served as a thriving saddle shop, cigar bar, and Italian restaurant, into a beautiful Texas-style eatery and sa-loon. The centerpiece of the restaurant is a gorgeous 1870’s style bar rescued from a Pennsylvania field and restored to perfection. Tami’s idea from the be-ginning was to give folks in Brenham the opportunity to dine like they were downtown in a big city, while keeping the ambiance of a small town. That is exactly the experience you will find at the BT Longhorn Saloon.

The menu offers delectable entrees that would meet the discriminating tastes of any palate. Fresh steaks and seafood are a point of pride for BT; the Filet Mi-gnon and seared Ahi Tuna are prepared to positively “melt in your mouth”. For more casual fare, enjoy some of the best hamburgers and sandwiches any-where in the Lone Star State.

Make sure you save room for some tru-ly awe-inspiring deserts such as rasp-berry cheesecake topped with fresh fruit, classical crème brulee made with coconut rum, or a delicious chocolate almond torte. BT Longhorn Saloon also offers live entertainment and daily lunch specials. The staff is friendly and the service is divine!

Tami would also like you to know she has a fully-furnished 1300 square foot area avail-able for rent/lease above the Longhorn. It would make a great office space or retail store. This is a great opportunity for an en-trepreneur looking to open a business in Brenham’s quaint downtown business dis-trict. Call Tami at 979-421-6700 for more information.

Finally, Tami has realized her dream of turning this historic Brenham building into a fantastic dining establishment, is looking for a new opportunity, and has decided to offer BT Longhorn for sale to the right buy-er. If owning your own restaurant in one of the fastest growing small towns in Texas is your dream, then the BT Longhorn Saloon is the chance of a lifetime! Please contact Tami for more information.

BT Longhorn Saloon is located at 205 S Baylor Street, Brenham TX, 77833. It is suggested you call ahead for dinner res-ervations and details on the weekly live entertainment at 979-421-6700.

Come join us at “Our Place”.

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BREAKING THE CODE FOR BUYING HORSES

Buying or selling a horse can be very stress-ful. Most people don’t make a habit of buying or selling with great frequency so tuning in to the “lingo” can be confusing. In this day and age of internet communication, most people will go to one of the many internet sites that specialize in trading horses when searching for that one special horse. In listing the requirements for your search and in reading the ads, the intended meaning of certain terms can be perplexing.

Color, gender, age and price are easy to un-derstand. Price is sometimes listed as private treaty. In these cases, the seller has some reason for not publicizing the price. It could be that the price is increasing steadily with training or showing or it could be a personal situation for the seller such as a divorce. Typically, private treaty indicates a higher price. Size is easy to

understand, but is sometimes incorrect as not everyone has a proper measuring stick. They may just “eyeball it”, so if height is critical to you, ask if they have put a “stick” on the horse. Remember that anything 14.2 hands or under will be classified as a pony. Some breeds such as Pony of the Americas (POA) call everything a pony and some call everything a horse, such as Arabians. Many ads have pictures so you can form an opinion of whether it is pleasing to the eye or has reasonably good conforma-tion. It is perfectly acceptable to ask for more pictures or a video before scheduling an ap-pointment to see a horse.

In perusing the many listings of horses, often the ads will suggest a number for the temperament of a horse. Most are on a scale of 1-10 with 1 being bombproof and 10 being

something few people will be able to ride. Keep in mind that everyone’s perception of what a 3 or 5 indicates is different. A 5 might be en-ergetic and easy to ride or it could still have it in him to buck or bolt. A 2 might be tough to get past a walk or it could simply be very calm and responsive.

When it comes to English riding terms, there can be some gray areas. Jumper or jump-


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ing can encompass anything that can jump a fence. Typically, it means the horse shows in stadium jumper divisions. These classes test the pure athleticism of a horse. Horses are put over courses of jumps that challenge his ability to clear them. The courses often have many oxers or spreads, combinations of jumps with only one or two strides between them and turns that make the horse and rider think. These rounds are always timed and speed is a criti-cal factor in the competitions. So when you see a horse listed as a jumper, it usually is more excitable and not for a beginner or inexperienced rider.

Hunters are horses that are trained to jump at a quiet, steady pace. When competed, they are judged on style, finesse, balance and way of going. There are many levels of competition, so find out what division the horse has been showing in. There is a big dif-ference between working hunter and baby green. Also, if someone tells you the horse has competed and won, you might ask what circuit the show was on and how many horses were in the division. A USEF show would indicate a greater level of ability than an open show with two or three horses in the division.

Hunt seat equitation horses are generally easy to ride, have smooth gaits and are obedient. Horses listed as hunter under saddle usually implies that the horse is not trained to jump and likely does other disciplines as well. English pleasure and Country English are usually terms reserved for specific breeds such as Arabians and rarely jump. Ridden English commonly denotes that the horse has been ridden in an English saddle but isn’t highly trained.

Eventing horses are trained in three different disciplines; cross country jumping, stadium jumping and dressage. They are usually confident, powerful, bold movers who have a high level of fitness. This discipline is known as combined training and is also done on different levels. It is important to ask what level these horses are be-ing competed at to determine suitability. Generally, these horses are not for beginners but can be excellent for a confident rider.

Foxhunters are horses that have participated in actual foxhunts and are known as being hearty, surefooted and brave. They should be horses that can keep up the pace on the hunt field without pass-ing the hunt master.

Dressage horses should have the level of competition specified and are frequently in training to the next level or more. These horses should have steady balance and should be able to show movements that correspond to the level of training that is advertised. Dressage training encompasses a wide range of levels from training level to Grand Prix. You will definitely want specifics about the training.

As with all horses, the level of training and the amount of time that has gone into the horse will have a profound impact on the price of the horse. Also of high importance will be the soundness, conformation and temperament. When shopping for horses, ask everything you can to find out about the horse’s health, personal-ity and training history. Turn over every stone you can find. Assess your own level of expertise and if you don’t have a lot of experience, enlist the help of a professional horseman to help you determine if the horse you like is truly a good fit.

Cathy Strobel has over 30 years of experience as a trainer, judge and clinician and can be reached at Southern Breeze Equestrian Center at (281) 431-4868 or www.sbreeze.com


A LITTLE SADDLE HISTORY

The last couple of articles about tradition and technology made me think some folks might be interested in origins of types of sad-dles. One of my favorite stories is about the origin of the Australian stock saddle.

Now most people probably know that Australia was a penal col-ony of England. This story was told to me by Colin Dangard of the Australia Stock Saddle Company. I can’t swear to the veracity of the story, but it is a good story and I choose to believe that it’s close to what happened.

It seems this fellow by the name of Willie Sutton was arrested in England for some offense for which he was sent to Australia to hoe the queen’s carrots. While doing his time tending the vegeta-ble patch, having been a groom in the old country, he watched the

queen’s guard as they rode around watching the prisoners. He even-tually decided which guard was riding the best horse and when that guard came by and the others were fairly far away, our friend Willie planted the hoe over the guards head, jumped on the guard’s horse, and headed for the distant foothills of the mountains.

As Willie had gotten into the foothills and stopped to give his horse a breather, he looked back, and as it was coming on to eve-ning, the guards chasing Willie had stopped to “boil a billie”( brew a pot of tea). Willie looked at them, then looked at the mountains ahead and said to himself, “I need an edge.” Willie looked about and it seems each guard carried a kit on his saddle to make emergency repairs. Willie took off his prisoner shoes with the lace up tops and removed the sole and laced it to the front of the English saddle. Thus was born the “poley” or ear of the Australian stock saddle. He also removed the heel and laced it to the back of the saddle flap as the first thigh block.

Willie watched the campfires of the pursuers and got a good rest, and when the sky started to lighten, he was in the saddle, down the hill and up the next steeper hill heading higher into the mountains. As he looked back to see if the guards were gaining, he observed them all spilling from their saddles as they raced down the hill from where they had camped. Willie had indeed gained his advantage, and subsequent escapees and settlers to the Australian outback pat-terned their unique style of saddle to fit the needs of their new coun-try, based on Willie’s wiley escape from the prison farm into the Outback.

Our western saddle was originally based on the Mexican saddle which was a rough carved fork, actually carved from the fork of a tree, two bars from front to back, and a cantle board. The early trees were doweled together and covered with rawhide to hold them. Holes were punched through the tree and rawhide laced through to hold the rawhide down in front of the cantle and behind the fork.

Rigging was over the fork and stirrup leathers were over the bar. Bottom skirts, when they came about, were held up to the tree by saddle strings coming through from the bottom and being tied on the top of the tree with a rosebud knot. Saddles were ridden open like that for about twenty years and a “mochila” or “mochilla” was added. This was a piece of leather, sometimes two pieces joined in the middle, with a cutout for the horn and the cantle that sat on top of the saddle. The Hope style saddle, one of the first Texas made sad-

Tack Talk - Con’t. on pg. 30


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By now if you’re an NCHA member, you should have received your ballots to vote in the National Cutting Horse Association’s 2008 Vice President Election. For your vote to count, however, it must be returned to the NCHA office before June 10, just in time for the new Vice Presi-dent to take office during the NCHA Convention.

This year’s convention will be held June 20-22 at the Hilton DFW Lakes Executive Conference Center, located at 1800 Highway 26 East in Grapevine near the the big Dallas/Fort Worth airport. Meetings will kick off Friday morning at 8:00 A.M. and continue through Sunday morning. You can register online at www.nchacutting.com.

Like to blog? Then you might want to check out www.cuttinghorse-forum.com. There you will find a free blog for those interested in the cutting horse industry. It’s a site that offers several polls, puts out ques-tions to consider and is open to the rest of us to offer questions as well. The site is also monitored for slander and any such postings will be removed. Go check it out; it’s interesting to see how others vote on some major issues.

The equine industry lost the great artist Orren Mixer April 29 while he was in Weatherford delivering a portrait of Royal Blue Boon to Elaine Hall. Funeral services were held May 5 at the First Baptist Church in Edmund, OK. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests donations for the benefit of Boys Ranch Town in care of the First Baptist Church of Ed-mund. Send your condolences to his wife Evelyn at 9515 E. 2nd, Ar-cadia, Okla.

Condolences also to the family of Jerry Wells who lost his battle to cancer on May 3. Funeral services were held May 7, at First Baptist Church in Sulphur, OK. In lieu of flowers, contributions can be made to The Jerry Wells Memorial Youth Scholarship Fund, First American Bank & Trust, 570 24th Ave. N.W., Norman, OK 73069, Attn: Tom Cooper.

Send your condolences to his wife Betty and family at 3413 Brook-ford Dr. Norman, OK 73072-4745 or they can be posted online at www.havenbrookfuneralhome.com/Obituaries.htm.

Quite a few of Jerry’s friends are working to have the trainer inducted into the AQHA Hall of Fame. Robin Glenn has a good article on her website giving perspective to the cause. Check it out at www.robinglenn.com.

Speaking of Robin, are you signed up to receive Robin Glenn’s inter-net information? That’s my personal recommendation for the week!

For years Robin, who lives in El Reno, OK, has been the behind-the-scenes gal who gathered the info for many sales catalogues and I recently learned that now you can view that wealth of information online. The neat thing is the site covers both reining and cutting horses. Go check

NEWS AND NOTES FROM THE WORLD OF CUTTING


it out for yourself at www.robinglenn.com or give her a call, (405) 262-3244.

Georgette Hawkins, who, at one time owned Seguin’s D & D Ranch Supply along with her husband Bobby feels like a new person these days – and rightly so! Geor-gette underwent a double lung transplant Wednesday, April 9 in San Antonio. That’s right: double. Three days later, she was climbing stairs, quite a feat since prior to her surgery, it was an effort to walk outside. Two weeks after her surgery she passed that first check-up with fly-ing colors – and then went phone shopping!

Georgette has an extremely rare blood disease that took Doctors some time to diagnose. It affects not only the blood, but also the blood vessels in different organs and in her, the disease attacked the lungs. Last Febru-ary she was placed on the lung transplant list. Ironically, several of her doctors had ties to either cutting or Geor-gette’s family.

While the Hawkins are thrilled with the transplant, they have been equally overwhelmed with the outpour-ing of love and concern from the cutting community. They both send a huge thank you to everyone.

Even though she’s kicking up her heels, Georgette does have a road of recovery ahead of her, so send your congratulations to Georgette at P.O. Box 1839, Sequin, 78155.

By the way, I visited with a cutter recently who shared his battle with prostate cancer which struck him at a relatively young age. During his treatment he even met a 36-year-old battling prostate cancer.

Prostate cancer is to men as breast cancer is to women and it’s a myth that young people don’t get either dis-ease. Safe is always so much better than sorry and peace of mind is a priceless gift, so ‘fellas, no matter your age, now is a good time to get that blood test to make sure your PSA level is in the safe zone.

‘Til next month, take care of your health!


The TeacherBy Wes White

THE TRAP

Mr. Sonny Sikes is the only person I have seen use a mechanical hackamore without getting into trouble.

Sikes was the rodeo coach at my alma mater Sam Houston State. Mr. Sikes had a calf roping horse he rode with the device. The reason is very credible: the horses mouth had been damaged by the previous owner. Therefore he had a legitimate reason to use one. However more of these are used inappropriately than are used appropriately.

Everyone else I have witnessed using what I call a “bear trap” has shown their inadequacy as a horseman. I will admit my exposure to this contraption is limited; however it is what it is. When I arrived at New Mexico Military Institute in ‘91 to teach horsemanship courses I was a bit surprised to see the school was using mechanical hackamores. It was all the students were taught to use.

You see, the students were not taught how to use their hands. They would simply kick to go and pull to stop. The mechanical hackamore

allows a rider the opportunity to cheat and does nothing to promote the development of timing, feel, and balance. If any of you have been reading these columns very long you already know I am an opponent of mechanics and this represents the epitome of it. Needless to say I began to introduce the bridle bit as soon as I was allowed.

The proper use of the mechanical hackamore requires an extremely competent rider, one that knows where a horse is in his training as well a person who recognizes the ability of the horse. These qualities are not possessed by everyone, regardless of their experience.

A friend who I stable with who must be the kindest and most thoughtful person to other folks I have ever met. He organized an Easter egg hunt for all the children at the barn. He not only stuffed all the eggs, he and his friends hung the eggs from tree limbs so the children could retrieve them from horseback. This was a truly kind gesture.

However my friend rides his mare with a foreign made mechanical hackamore. The worst thing is that he thinks he is doing his mare a favor. He once told me that the reason his mare has such good teeth is because she has never been ridden with a bit. Well that’s all fine and good if you chose to believe it but just because you believe it doesn’t make it true. In fact if a bit is placed in the horse’s mouth properly it will never so much as touch a single tooth in the horses head. Therefore there is no correlation between the quality of a horse’s teeth and the bit. The mouth of the horse can become damaged by any bit used improperly, without any contact with the teeth a fact evidently misunderstood by my friend.

The action of the mechanical hackamore solely revolves around in-flicting pain. This is accomplished by a pinching action. The pressure is applied on the horse’s nose and chin, and depending on the hands and length of shank, it can administer a very large amount of pressure.

I realize I am not an authority of the biting, so I contacted the ex-perts. What I found is what I knew all along, that it’s not the equipment that makes the difference it’s in the operator. There is nothing innately wrong with the mechanical hackamore but its misuse is rampant.

After interviewing several of the top professionals in the country, my opinion remains the same.

Benny Guitron a true horseman from Merced Calif. States. “The me-chanical hackamore is fine if it is used properly, however it can inflict pain and is usually misused because folks feel they can be more severe holding to the idea that they are saving the horse’s mouth,” he said. “This misconception can result in damage to the horse’s nose due to excessive force.”

The Teacher - Con’t. on pg. 31


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The Devil may have gone down to Georgia, but an angel surely lighted in Tennessee when twin Paint horses were born to country music and southern rock legend Charlie Daniels at his Twin Pines Ranch near Nashville. The last thing the incredible fiddler, just in-ducted into the Grand Old Opry, expected was to be a footnote to American Paint Horse history.

The birth of twins to any equine breed is rare indeed. Of the 928,000 foals registered to with the American Paint Horse Associa-tion since its founding in 1962, there have been only 343 sets of twins. Astonishing. That is one set of twins for every 2,705 births.

“Of all the things we’ve done at Twin Pines Ranch I don’t know of anything that has stirred as much interest as the doggone twins,”

Charlie Daniels

It isn’t often that something completely out of left field comes at an aging superstar, but Charlie Daniels, at 71, got a bolt from the blue one day when his ranch manager called him. He was the proud owner of twins.

Daniels told Texas Horse Talk. “I had no idea until they were born just how rare they were, or how rare it is to keep two live ones any-way. And they are looking good.”

The two fillies aren’t identical. One is what folks normally think looks like a Paint horse. The other is a sorrel.

Their mother is an American Quarter Horse Association mare, Ms. Paseos County, and the sire is the APHA stallion HLF Smokin’ Ace, descended from Pancho San Bar, an own son of the vaunted Peppy San out of an own daughter of Doc Bar. Also in his pedigree is Wild and Waspy, an own daughter of Wild Wasp, one of Twin Pines Ranch’s top mares., according to Thurman Mullins, Daniels close friend and ranch manager. He invites Texas Horse Talk readers

Proud Papa at 71

{ {Story By Steven Long – Photos Courtesy Charlie Daniels


to visit the ranch web site, www.charliedan-ielstwinpinesranch.com.

Mullins has been with Daniels almost 30 years, joining him in 1979.

He told Texas Horse Talk “About a month before the twins were born I got the Quarter Horse magazine and it had a headline that said, ‘Twins, Double Trouble. It had about a three page article about what you were into on twins. It said that most mares that start off with twins will abort in the first trimester. If they make it to foaling either one, or both will be stillborn. And then if they both live, one will be extremely weak and they would lose one within a day or two.

“Thurman sent me that article about the rarity of a horse, not so much having twins, but keeping twins,” Daniels said.

Even the discovery of their birth was spe-cial.

“When he found them he thought they were by two separate mares,” Charlie said.

“We had several mares that were about ready to drop at the same time. Thurman just thought that one of the foals had just kind of wandered away from its mother. He found out very quickly that they were twins and then he went right to work to save them. He realized the rarity of having them. They are amazing.”

The twins join 19 Paints on Daniel’s ranch out of a total of 43 head on the 450 acre spread 30 miles outside Nashville.

The twins followed the typical pattern of equine birth. One was born weaker than the other.

“Thurman had to hand feed one of them for a while,” Daniels said. “I don’t think he hardly got any sleep. She’s nursing them both now.”

Daniels has Paint horses in common with his friend Willie Nelson, despite their wildly different politics. Both superstars are politi-cally active. Nelson supported the farthest left candidate in the Spring Democratic pri-maries. Daniels supports conservative causes and candidates and makes frequent guest ap-pearances on the Sean Hannity program on talk radio.

“I ain’t much of a Dennis Kucinich fan, I have to admit,” Daniels said laughing. “I love Willie. I don’t stop being friends with people because I don’t agree with them.”

Nelson serves on the board of Habitat for Horses, the nation’s largest rescue orga-nization. He has saved 51 Paint horses from

slaughter and brought them to his ranch in Luck, Texas, near Austin. He has now helped open an additional foster care facility for Paints that were bound for the abattoirs in Mexico and Canada.

Both men have shared the same stage over their careers to the delight of audiences and have even recorded together.

When Daniels started Twin Pines Ranch he raised Quarter Horses. The Paints came later.

“It was sort of a natural progression of things,” he said. “One of the things that got me into them is that we got a Paint here called Realto’s Lady. She was an honest, good, using horse. You could do anything with her. My name for her was Fat Gal. You could rope with her. You could heel with her. You could ride her for pleasure. You could ride her everyday. That was just the kind of horse she was. She was probably my favorite all time horse. I just really loved her.”

“I like the looks of Paints,” Daniels said. “I think they look great.”

Daniels told Texas Horse Talk that Twin Pines is a working ranch, and the horses it

produces out of its championship bloodlines are for sale.

“We’ve got too many,” he quipped dem-onstrating a natural horse trader tendency. “How many do you want?”

Charlie Daniels didn’t grow up around fine pedigreed horses, either Quarters or Paints.

“I grew up around farm horses,” he said. “We’d plow them through the week, and then ride ‘em on Sunday. I didn’t know what a Quarter Horse was until I bought a horse for my wife, myself, and my son. At that time, we used to board our horses. But we wanted to get a place where we could go ride and I got with Thurman and we just kind of got into the business.”

Daniels relies on his friend almost totally in the operation of Twin Pines Ranch.

“It’s almost like it’s his ranch,” he said. “He’s a hundred percent trustworthy and he just runs it like it’s his.”

After all, Daniels’ friend hand fed the mir-acle paints. Maybe he was the angel in the form of a Tennessee ranch manager.


When Stacy Westfall steps into the historic arena of the Will Rogers Coliseum in Fort Worth on June 28, it is likely the diminu-tive Maine native will face an audience swelled beyond the usual horse enthusiasts who go to the American Paint Horse Association World Show.

Westfall is a phenomenon, a reiner who has escaped the “inside baseball” bounds of obscurity to the general public that even the best in her sport must endure. She is a public figure, an known commodity, an athlete who has been launched well beyond her realm by technology not even thought of just a few years ago. West-fall is an Internet star, no superstar.

Somehow, about a year ago a video of Stacy’s winning perfor-mance two years ago at the National Freestyle Reining competition made it to “You Tube.” In it she rode bridle-less without so much as a neck rope. She has gone undefeated for two years straight in major freestyle reining competitions and in 2006 she won twice while riding bridleless AND bareback. Also in 2006, Westfall won the prestigious Road to the Horse colt starting competition.

I’m going

to go

out and

In the video, with a flair of showmanship comparable to the best Vegas stars, she rides without a bridle executing intricate maneuvers on her horse Roxy with commands from her legs and body. The performance takes the breath away from horsemen and non-horsemen alike. With the incredible speed that news travels in cyberspace, Stacy Westfall’s name and art became known and marveled at by millions worldwide. From Bangkok to Bangor, from Buenos Aires to Billings, and from Copenhagen to Cowtown, an unprepossessing horse trainer has become a rival to better known names like Parelli, Roberts, Cameron, Cox, Lyons, and Anderson.

Westfall is only the second equestrian to appear on the cover (May 2007) of THT ever in slightly over a year. The other was the legendary Pat Parelli.

Westfall’s media exposure has gone beyond the small tube to the big tube as well with back to back appearances on the three time Emmy winning Ellen DeGeneres Show. In a deserted arena, West-fall put the controversial talk show hostess on Roxy after the host-ess ran the now famous video of the breathtaking performance on

By Steven LongRide a Horse

She is small, with an unblemished complexion the color of fresh cream. She is so pretty she could be a rodeo queen, yet that belies the toughness that makes up a woman who can ride a running horse bareback and bridleless, do a sliding stop, and then spin as a coliseum crowd roars its ap-proval. If that isn’t a flare for showmanship, we don’t know what is, but then, we left out the part about the costumes. And now, millions have come to know Stacy Westfall as she has emerged from obscurity through the Internet and network television.

Life Hasn’t Changed Much for America’s Most Recent Star ClinicianStory and Photos by Steven Long


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the reining horse. At first the host was apprehensive, but in short order, DeGeneres was (slowly) spinning Roxy in the arena.

Stacy Westfall’s life has changed in many ways since the brush-fire spread of her video worldwide and her appearances on network television, yet she still can’t get used to the idea that she is anybody special. She giggles at the use of the word “superstar” although it applies to her rapid rise beyond the world of reining.

“You know, it’s been really fun,” she said. “It’s interesting to hear people say that, but not that much has changed on my end. Before I went on Ellen I was already so busy that I was turning things down, I’m still so busy that I have to turn things down. It’s just been so busy for so long that it’s just been really great,” she says.

Time has become a blur to her, running events together in her mind – events such as an afternoon spent with Texas Horse Talk and others at a covered arena in Chappell Hill.

“That’s been just a year ago,” she marveled. “It feels like five. You know, maybe that is a good clue that we’ve been really busy. But I enjoy going out, I enjoy telling people every single piece of what it took me to get there.”

The release of her video to the multitudes remains a mystery to Westfall.

“I don’t have any idea who put that out on “You Tube,” but it has definitely been a good advertising thing,” she said. “It’s just been really neat. A lot more people know about it, but I still have three kids, I still ride and show my horses, and all that will keep you kind of humble”.

Westfall says that despite DeGeneres spins on Roxy, it would be a stretch to say that the talk show host has turned into a horse-woman.

“She really liked it, and she asked to do it again,” Westfall says. “She went off and was walking and trotting around, so that was kind of neat.”

Westfall still maintains contact with the program’s producers.Stacy says the DeGeneres show even sent her, the kids, and

her husband Jesse on an expense paid trip to Florida’s Universal Studios.

Ride a Horse - Con’t. on pg. 29


LETTERS FROM OUR READERS

A Whip of Compromise

Dear Texas Horse Talk, As an animal and horseracing lover, I do

not like the whip. However, I understand there is some legitimacy to the claim that the jockeys also utilize the whip to control an unruly horse. I’ve seen arguments that the absence of whips could/would add a new element of danger to both the horses and the jockeys. Is this non-sense? Well, only the jockeys and the trainers really know.

Based on my own unscientific observations, I have jumped on a new bandwagon. It’s the backhanded whip approach. When the whip

exits the fist from the bottom of the hand instead of the top, it takes away a significant amount of leverage. I believe it’s clearly a fair compromise. I’ve seen this method used when horses are agitated during the post parade and when clear of the field to keep them focused.

A backhanded whip’s momentum is lim-ited to the speed of the arm motion. Though a “whipping” affect can still be accomplished, it is seemingly far less than the traditional whip-ping. Maybe a university’s equine and physics departments would be interested in participat-ing in a study to measure the velocity. Based on the bad publicity of late, they should be! If the results of such a study confirm an equitable reduction in the impact velocity, it might be the compromise we’re looking for.

Many rules in place in other parts of the world are far better than here. The rules and their enforcement, however, are complicated, too numerous, and are too subjective. The backhanded whip eliminates the wavering “in-terpretation” to many of those rules. One rule about how high the whip can go is a good ex-ample. The replay and unscientific analysis of watching the height of a whip in slow motion

at various angles introduces another opportu-nity for bias based on trainer/jockey popularity and betting odds of the horse in question.

If a backhanded rule was instated, the “whipping rule” would not need other elements to complicate and add bias to the overall rule, which might taint the integrity of rules in place to protect horses and horse racing. The height of the hand, frequency, velocity and method would not be a consideration. Easy, just keep it simple to where they can whip as they please, provided it is from the bottom of the fist.

Obviously, if the jockeys could find a way to use the backhanded method with equal veloc-ity at impact, the rule would be useless to the industry and activists, and would undermine its purpose. For this reason, a study would be very timely. For now, the racing industry will be under an “atomic” microscope. If a coinci-dental series of accidents occur during a short period of time, the sport is going to be scarred for many years to come, and government likely will intervene. Abolishing the whip is unreal-istic, but the backhanded whip is clearly worth considering.

~Joe Savarese


Westfall has put her breakneck travel schedule on hold, at least temporarily, catching her breath at the family’s Westfall Horseman-ship facility in Mount Gilead, Ohio.

“I just finished doing a lot of expos this spring, and now I’m going to stay at home for the next couple of months and do some clinics, we’ll be doing a bunch of different stuff, but mainly I’ve got a three-year-old stallion that I’m showing. I’m hoping he will be the next bridle-less horse and if that works I’m going to be selling and riding him.”

So what’s next for Stacy Westfall, we asked?“I’m going to go out and ride a horse,” she laughed.

Ride a Horse - Con’t. from pg. 27

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Tack Talk - Con’t. from pg. 18

Lew Pewterbaugh is the owner of the famed Bunkhouse Leather, just off Main Street in Bandera.

dles, had a half seat covering from right behind the stirrup leathers to the top of the cantle.

About 1868, the first double rigged saddle was introduced as Texas cowboys started to gather the vast herds of longhorns roam-ing the grassy plains of south Texas. Innovations in western sad-dles started coming faster after that. In 1870, the first Great Plains saddles came out. More leather, more decoration, front jockeys covering the front of the bars on top of the tree, Sam Stagg rigging, a seat strainer covering the gap behind the stirrup leathers and under the seat.

By 1880, the side jockey was added to the lower edge of the seat and this protected the rider’s legs from being pinched under the stirrup leather. By 1890, the seat was full with slots for the stir-rup leathers (a loop seat) that held the seat leather down and made it easy to oil the stirrup leathers. The side jockey was gone and the seat was a large piece of leather that covered from the fork to the cantle. By 1900, the loops were gone and the stirrup leathers were hidden under the seat leather as they are today.

First we copied the Mexicans, and then the Mexicans copied the Texans. California was a whole different story, and the Californios ended up with a whole different look that has evolved into the Wade saddles that are gaining in popularity so much today.

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The Teacher - Con’t. from pg. 22

Greg Darnell the world famous bit maker reiterated the same idea by stating: “There is no right or wrong, the hands make the difference,” he said. “All bits have a time and a place but none of them are for the horse’s benefit. They are for the rider’s confidence. There is no recipe for choosing the correct bridle bit, they are simply a mode of communica-tion.”

I reckon if a person could figure out how to attach it to a boat anchor the mechanical hackamore could be as effective as some of the modern torturer chambers available today.

A board member for the NRCHA Lyn Anderson says; “the mechani-cal hackamore is unprofessional and nontraditional.”

The trap folks get themselves into is looking for a quick fix or a simple solution to their horse’s problems. This trap can be deadly. It causes the most well meaning intentions to become deadly deeds of tor-ture. Folks search for the magic bit to use in order to achieve optimum behavior from their horse. My response is not very popular with most “horsebackers” and even bit makers. However, it is nonetheless true. There is no perfect bit, halter, stick, saddle, or any other piece of equip-ment. It all hinges on the ability of the person using it.

If we want peak performance and behavior from our horses, we must learn to communicate better. That is one of my goals and we all should share the same compassion toward the horse.

Until next time, be safe out there and God Bless.Wes


Horse Laughs

Thirty Foot “Short” Wall?It was an exciting time after the deci-

sion was made to shop for a new horse trailer. The rodeo always has several dealers showing off their latest models and who doesn’t enjoy strolling down the endless rows of brand new trailers, every one of them sporting a perfect paint job with no teeth marks, black as night tires complete with tread, drop down windows that are supposed to drop down, and an interior that smells of….well, it certainly does not smell like horses. It was a rather daunting task at first, especially since we were go-ing to be upgrading from our 1985 two horse.

We went into this search for a new trailer knowing full well that sticker shock would be a part of the process. After all, we consider ourselves to be semi-intelligent people who understand that over twenty years had passed since our last trailer pur-chase and horse trailers had come a long way both in construction materials, de-sign details and technology. What we were not prepared for was the fireplace. You read it right, a fireplace, the place where you would build a fire. Isn’t that sup-posed to be outside and don’t you build it on the ground and call it a campfire? But the living quarters of this horse trailer

had a fireplace inside, right below the flat panel television. I was baffled at first, then started wondering why someone would pack up their horses, drive to a wonderful piece of Mother Nature’s real estate and then sit and watch a gas fireplace closed inside the living quarters of a horse trailer. My mind began to explore what this type of trail rider would look like, what type of fine dining would be experienced sit-ting in front of the fireplace, just how old would the wine be that was sipped from their crystal glasses. Surely it would not be poured from a box and consumed from a plastic cup like the wine I take when I go camping.

When I saw the sticker price I thought, first we would need to sell our old trailer followed closely by selling our home to be able to purchase this horse trailer. Then the light bulb came on. Have you ever ex-perienced one of those moments of clarity where all the stars are aligned and it feels like now you understand the meaning of life? Suddenly I understood why there was a fireplace in the living quarters of this horse trailer. The living quarters in this horse trailer were big enough and nice enough to actually live in. I mean full time. Traveling around the country with

by Elizabeth Kopplow


our horses, no more pastures to mow, no more fence repairs, no more putting up hay, no more house cleaning …… I am start-ing to do some serious backpedaling on seeing this fireplace as a questionable option and instead am thinking how nice to sit in front of a fire on those windy stormy days when a mere slicker would not keep me dry while riding. That flat panel television would come in pretty handy too, especially since it had a DVD player.

So maybe the fireplace was not such a bad idea in the liv-ing quarters of a horse trailer, although I’m sure I would still be pouring my glass of wine from a box when I was sitting in front of it, toasty warm. It also makes me wonder what’s next, a thirty foot “short” wall ?

Elizabeth Kopplow


WHAT IS “BONE” – AND IS THIS A STUPID QUESTION?

A

I always look forward to reading your HORSE-SENSE advice, and now I

have a question for you. When you are talk-ing about a horse, what is “bone” exactly? I have been taking lessons for one year and my teacher now thinks I am ready to own a horse. We have looked at three horses so far. One was not sound, so he is not a prospect. The other two seemed very nice horses to me, but my teacher says that because I am a large man (6’2” and 250 pounds) I need a tall horse with a lot of “bone”. I assume that this means that a taller horse would have a larger skeleton, but

Q one of these horses was very tall, and yet my teacher said he did not have enough “bone.” My teacher is very competent but has a certain way of putting her head on one side and making a “tch” sound when she thinks I am being stupid. I don’t want to ask her a stupid question so I don’t want to ask her this, so I am asking you. What is “bone”? Thank you very much.

When people speak of a horse’s “bone”, they are referring to a specific measure-

ment taken at the circumference of the foreleg, just below the knee (that is, around the cannon


bone). Horses have very slim legs, and they also have a great deal of weight and mass to carry, so the quality of their support structures is very important. The measurement matters because a horse that very obviously has un-usually slender bones is unlikely to stand up to the demands of training, become a good performer, or remain sound for long. A too-small measurement of “bone” on a prospec-tive purchase is a “red light” signal – don’t purchase that horse! That said, there is more to “bone” than just the measurement of the circumference of the cannon, because it’s not always possible to determine the strength of a horse’s bone structure just by wrapping a mea-suring tape around a horse’s foreleg.

Quality – that is, density of bone is another important factor, and it’s more variable than you might think. Horses that have been over-fed and over-stressed at a young age may have poor-quality bone; in this case, even a good external measurement won’t save them from unsoundness.

Some of the smaller breeds of horses are known for their strength and durability, and for the density of their bones: Arabians, for instance, and Icelandic Horses.

Overall size is a factor, too - horses that grow very tall do not grow thicker legs to match their increased height and weight. Na-ture really didn’t intend riding horses to grow much taller than 15.0 hands or much heavier than 1,000 pounds.

Many truly excellent, hardworking riding horses – many working ranch horses, for ex-ample – are nature’s preferred size of 15.0hh and 1,000 pounds. All other things being equal, the combination of smaller size and dense bones is a winning one when you want a horse that is likely to stay sound over the long haul.

The other issue you’re dealing with here is the size of the horse in relation to the size of the rider. You should be looking for a sturdy horse, not an extra-large one. Don’t worry about the horse’s height - yes, you are tall, but the horse you want to find is not a tall horse but rather a horse with well-sprung ribs and a wide, round barrel.

A narrow, slab-sided horse will not take up enough of your leg, even if it is quite tall; a round-barreled horse will take up a lot of leg, even if it is much shorter. A sturdy, well-sprung Quarter Horse or Morgan or Arabian

or Morab, for instance, should suit you very well. The next time you go horse-shopping, look for a stocky, solid, short-backed horse with strong, clean legs, good bone, a deep body, and strong loins. That is weight-carry-ing conformation!

I’ll say it again, because it’s worth repeat-ing: Even though you’re tall, don’t restrict yourself to tall horses - instead, think in terms of your leg and the horse’s barrel. Also – and this brings us back to the subject of “bone” – teach yourself to think in terms of bone/weight ratio. The minimum measurement for riding horses is generally considered to be 7” of bone (that is, the circumference of the can-non just below the knee) per 1,000 pounds.

It often happens that large riders embark on a search for horses that are tall and large – 16.2hh or taller, 1,350 pounds or more. It often happens that these same riders focus so much on the height of their prospective purchases that they forget about the impor-tance of bone. These tall, heavy animals are not necessarily the best prospects for contin-ued soundness; the bone/weight ratio in such horses is often only 5” per 1,000 pounds. This

is why advertisements for larger, taller horses, especially breeding stallions, often mention “8” of bone” or “9” of bone” - breeders are trying to create larger, sound horses with sup-port structures that correspond to their in-creased height and weight. It isn’t an easy task. Oh, it’s not that difficult to find a 15.0hh, 1,000 pound horse with 7” of bone, but what about the horse that’s 16.2 and weighs 1,350 pounds? What should that horse’s bone mea-surement be? Would you believe 9.5”? That’s not so easy to find.

So “bone” is not such a simple concept, and your question is not at all stupid. Truly, the only stupid question is the one you don’t ask. You can get into much more trouble through ignorance than through asking for informa-tion – and I strongly suggest that you talk to your instructor about this problem, because it is a problem if you can’t ask your instruc-tor questions without feeling embarrassed or awkward or stupid. Your instructor should encourage questions, take them seriously, and answer them thoroughly!


Destinations of ChoiceHappy Trails

The Florida Carriage Museum and Resort

The Florida Carriage Mu-seum is home to one of the world’s finest collections of carriages. Step back into the past and enjoy more than 150 European and American car-riages including the elaborate 1850 Armbruster Dress Chariot once owned by Franz Joseph, Emperor of Austria, and his wife Elisabeth.

Located near Ocala, the Florida Carriage Museum & Resort encompasses over 400 acres of beauty in Central Florida’s horse country. Visitors to the Museum re-live history as they experience one of the finest collections of carriages in the world. They can even take a carriage ride (by prior ap-pointment) on winding roads through tall oaks draped in Spanish Moss.

The Resort features 24 well

appointed residences and 10 barns that serve as an equine “Bed & Barn”. Some guests bring their horses to train for the winter months, a weekend, or just for the day. Others come without horses to enjoy the miles of walking/carriage trails and can often be spotted picnic-ing under the shady oak trees.

Lunch and Learn Educational Seminars trace the history of mans partnership with the horse (beginning in 4000 BC) as, to-gether, they shaped the direction of world civilizations. Popular topics include the rise and domination of chariot peoples in 2000 BC and the fascinating history of fire horses, known as Heroes in Harness.

There is always something to see, to learn, to experience and enjoy here. The Annual Pleasure Driving Competition features

drivers from throughout the United States, Canada, Austra-lia, Hungary and Great Britain. A variety of special presenta-tions and events, weekly Coun-try & Bluegrass Hoedowns, stable tours, and carriage rides make this truly a jewel in the midst of Central Florida. And all just a short distance from Ocala, the Horse Capital of the World

The Equine Heritage Insti-tute is headquartered at the Florida Carriage Museum & Resort. It is a 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization dedicated to educating, celebrating and pre-serving the history of the horse and its role in shaping world civilizations and changing lives.

One can see an English Omnibus, horse-drawn fire fighting apparatus, a World War I supply wagon, the colorful and ornate Sicilian Caretta, and a Dutch Tikker. This Tikker is one of a pair; the other was displayed by Count de Hamptinne in the Hotel Particulier in Ghent, Belgium. And that’s only the beginning of what this Museum has to offer. It is truly a “must see” for those who value history, love

Florida Carriage Museum3000 Marion County Road Weirsdale, Florida 32195

Web: www.fcmr.orgEmail: [email protected]: 352.750.5500

Toll Free: 866.500.2237Fax: 352.750.1764


Destinations and VacationsHappy Trails

Next to the Alamo and RiverCenterMall, gateway to The River Walk

(800) 345-9285 • historicmenger.comAt 204 Alamo Plaza Since 1859

San Antonio, TX 78205

• Equestrian Camping • Horseback Riding • Primitive Camping • Backpacking • Hiking • Mountain Biking

www.tpwd.state.tx.us

Hill Country State Natural Area

Bandera, Texas

Eng. & Western Riding Skills

Mounting, Dismounting

Steering, Stop, Emergency Stop

Holding verses Pulling

Body Alignment

Ride Patterns Eng. & Western

Our Camp is geared to girls 7 & up. She will learn the real meaning of owning a horse.

Daily activities include:

Safety classes

Watering

Feeding

Grooming

Judging feed & hay for mold

Top Ranch Hand Day - Trails will be ridden, basic ranch skills taught, maneuvering creeks, & wooded areas, fence fixing, water troughs & stalls cleaned. Bring your horse or learn on one of ours. It doesn’t matter if you are advanced, beginner, or have never touched a horse.

Each girl will come away with equine knowledge, self confidence, & improved horsemanship skills. Three meals, snacks, & cold drinks each day. Sleep in old fashioned bunkhouse. Starts June Mon-Fri through July. $350.00 per week. Last day of camp mini rodeo with awards ceremony. Call Cheryl 936-767-8111 or Kara 281-761-1213

email: [email protected] • www.tcranch.com3281 Dabney Bottom Rd. • Cleveland TX. 77327

(936) 767-8111 • www.tcranch.net

Spend 5 days & 4 nights on a 600 acre Horse & Cattle Ranch.

Feathered Horse Ranch Bed & Breakfast Comfort, Texas

“Star of the Texas Hill Country”• Secluded 60 acre property located in the heart of

the Texas Hill Country. Just minutes away from the towns of Comfort, Fredericksburg, Boerne, Bandera and Kerrville.

• Bring your horses! It’s an easy drive to the equestrian trails at the Hill Country State Natural Area and the Guadalupe River State Park.

• Cozy furnished cabins with fully equipped kitchens, bathrooms, central air/heat and outdoor porches. Continental breakfast provided.

• Two 24’ x 24’ pens and three large pastures with sheds for horses.

• RV hookups with water, septic and 50 amp electric.

(830) 285-2155 or (281) 357-5526www.featheredhorseranch.com


A Symphony of Silence - Con’t. from pg. 8

un-noticed is increasingly in evidence, palpable. In a Gallup poll taken right after the death of Eight Belles we learn that almost 40 percent of all Ameri-cans believe racing should be eliminated for horses and dogs. If almost half of Americans think a sport should cease to exist, then the sport needs to take a long and hard look at reform. It doesn’t help rac-ing’s public relations that just shy of 40 percent of all Thoroughbreds in the racing industry still go to slaughter after their career on the track is ended. The numbers make the 400 killed in Puerto Rico seem paltry. The public is beginning to learn of this heretofore “dirty little secret” of the sport of kings. It was featured in an HBO special on the dark side of racing. The program is being repeated over and over again, surely to the horror of racing’s owners, trainers, and bureaucrats.

The public is also beginning to cry out against the use of whips on race horses whose butt end is so sensitive that it can feel a fly and swat it with its tail.

The public is also just beginning to voice out-rage that horses such as Eight Belles and Barbaro are being raced as youngsters before their legs are fully developed beginning at age two and running in the Triple Crown contests at three.

That is not right. A lot of people are piling on racing, and I don’t want to be one of them. How-ever, I do believe that in order to survive, the in-dustry absolutely must reform itself.

I was stunned at the silence that came from the National Thoroughbred Racing Association, the Jockey Club, Breeder’s Cup officials, and others at the elite level of racing in the week after Eight Belle’s death in the Kentucky Derby. As the public outcry rose in volume, racing’s governing bodies played a symphony of silence. Finally, the indus-try appointed a blue ribbon “safety” committee as window dressing in the PR disaster that was con-fronting it.

Racing is missing the point. The appointment of a fat cat panel of millionaire race horse officials, owners, and industry experts is, in all due respect, a band aid approach to a hemorrhage of epic pro-portions. The crisis in racing is at the street level, not in the refined closed doors of the clubhouse. The public outcry is not coming from the betting floor of America’s tracks, it is from the living room where racing is watched once or twice a year dur-ing the running of the races of the Triple Crown. Those are the people racing has lost, who have reached such a level of revulsion that they swear they will never watch a race again. They are the ones most likely to agree with calls for a ban from radical voices such as PETA, long discredited but now because of a convenient issue, gaining mis-guided respect.

Racing needs to immediately stop racing equine juveniles, ban the use of whips, and stop the slaugh-ter of America’s race horses. If it doesn’t, a pastime of historic relevance will soon go the way of hula hoop contests, missed by the gamblers who care only for the thrill of the win and not the welfare of the horses, the few who make their living from the business - and the well heeled owners who use this once great sport as a costly plaything.


LIKE THE SONG SAYS, THOSE WERE THE GOOD OLD DAYS

With a name like Eight Belles one has to wonder if she was doomed from the start. The name is a sailing euphemism for finished. On ships, bells are used to denote changes of the watch and eight is the number for the end of a watch. Eight bells are sometimes rung at a sailor’s funeral. Not much more can be said about the tragedy at Churchill Downs, PETA has vented the usual vitriol condemning the sport and now Congress is rumbling about in-vestigations as if they haven’t got more pressing issues.

As a horse owner I know too well how a horse can be fine one day and the next day the horse is lame for no apparent reason. It is something that comes with the territory. The blame is being spread around and it seems no one or no thing is being spared. The trainer is being blamed despite his excellent record of horsemanship, the dirt track is to blame de-spite the fact horses have been running on dirt since time began. I will reserve judgment until all the factors have been looked at, until then

I will refer anyone to an excellelant article by the respected ESPN and Sports Illustrated writ-er William Nack. In his article dated May 17, he talks with Ellen Parker who has spent quite some time looking at blood-horse pedigrees. She noted that Eight Belles has the blood of Raise A Native. He was a wonderful horse but was unsound. He won all four of his starts then broke down and was sent to stud.

Barbaro also had Raise A Native blood. So I believe the poking and prodding for answers should be focused on the breeding practices. The industry has been breeding for speed all


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these years and soundness seems to be at the bottom of the list. If we would go back to the idea that horses should have an equal balance of speed and stamina I feel we would not be seeing so many breakdowns.

Just a thought, maybe those were the good old days after all. See you in the paddock.


Diamond W’s Hooves, Paws, Wings and ClawsAdoption Event

www.behs.org (888) 542-5183

Benefiting Bluebonnet Equine Humane Societyand other area rescues

Saturday, June 28, 200810:00 AM - 6:00 PM

Diamond W Arena8901 E. Highway 67Alvarado, TX 76009

Join Bluebonnet and other rescues for a fun day - and find yourself a new furry friend! Rescues and humane societies will have horses, dogs, cats and other animals available for adoption.

Attend educational sessions on animal care and training. Shop for pet products at the charity sale and with unique vendors.

But just offering a playground for horses is not enough, the owners have to enjoy the place as well. Therefore the Ranches of Clear Creek is divided into larger lots, from 13.6 acre sites to 46 acres. The community is private and fenced and includes two stocked fishing lakes with large park areas. The abundant wildlife has afforded the opportunity for all lot owners to qualify for an agricultural exemption through a wildlife management program, so no com-mercial cattle grazing or crops are required.

But not everyone can afford to live so far from the city so a number of country property own-ers can only come up on weekends and holi-days. Not the best scenario for horse owners.

Don answered this with an on-site ranch man-ager and ranch concierge program. The ranch manager and his team maintain the 100 or so acres of common areas. They also control ac-cess into this private community.

Through local relationships they can provide direct contractors to care for the horses’ daily, or as needed by the owners, they can also co-ordinate vet visits and assist with trainers. The team maintains the riding trails so they are ready for a casual ride at any time. And the ranch team is a great resource for the many questions that arise from owning and main-taining country and ranch property.

The Ranches of Clear Creek is not the only horse friendly community, but it is certainly one of the best. Because it has raised the bar, other developers will have to do the same.

Another Aspect Of Horse OwnershipThere have been a number of articles written about horse ownership, from proper train-ing techniques, feed and supplements, to vet care, etc. But one aspect of ownership that must be considered by both the new or the seasoned veteran is where to keep your horse and where to ride your horse. As big city de-velopment expands farther and farther into the suburban and rural areas many of the “for hire” stables have been sold for their land value and are now concrete lined streets with rows and rows of houses.

For many the alternative is to buy a place in the country, the ideal place to keep and en-joy your horses. But finding just the right location is more difficult than many might imagine. It is one thing to find a place that is suited for horse ownership, but for most it needs to be close enough to the job base that they can commute. With rising gas prices this is becoming difficult in itself. Another is to have enough land to provide pasture area for grazing and enough land for a nice ride.

Fortunately there are developers out there that have recognized the number of horse owners in Texas and are providing at least some of the answers. One such develop-ment just northwest of Houston that has really tried to create an ideal location for fun horse ownership, is the Ranches of Clear Creek.

Over the past three years Don Thomas with Midway Ranch Properties has ac-cumulated 977-acres and shaped it into a horse friendly ranch community. There have been a number of country develop-ments that claim to have horse friendly environments, but this one has really tried to think from a horse owner’s per-spective. As a horse owner and rider see if these amenities might appeal to you:

• Over 5 miles of riding trails • 26,000 sq.ft, covered riding arena • Practice trails coursea natural • Equestrian obstacle course


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Volunteers needed for therapeutic riding program Wings of Hope offers therapeu-tic riding lessons for physically and men-tally disabled children and adults. Volun-teer for 1-2 hours a week. No horse expe-rience required! www.wingsofhopehorse.org, call Allison Griggs 817-790-8810 for more information

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HITCHIN’ POST

Howdy, welcome to Cowboy Corner. “Time sure goes by fast when we’re havin’ fun” is an ol’ sayin’ that’s sure true. Cowboy Corner will be six years, old this summer, what a ride.

Fella’ asked the other day, “well what are you gonna do when you run out of material?’ An-swer was simple, “well it’s kinda’ like building fence, when you think you’re done, start back over and fix the holes”.

Have never finished building fence, and

probably never will. Early in 2003, I described a hitchin’ post that fit in the stake pocket of my General Motors made pickup truck. The post was made from wood, about 12 inches long, and had a 2 ½ inches diameter ring attached with a ¼ inch eye bolt. The eye bolt and ring are mounted about 1 inch from the top of the wooden stake. The stake worked good, easy to move from one pocket to another, for secur-ing a load in the bed of the truck. Most of the time, the hitchin’ post stayed in the right rear truck bed stake pocket and was used to tie my horse. All my stock trailers have access doors on the right side, so if we tie to the trailer or truck, it’s on the right side.

Well after five years this wooden hitchin’ post is showing signs of wear. Got to looking around for a replacement an stumbled upon 1 ¼ inch plastic pipe. The pipe fits my Chevrolet truck stake pockets, is strong and affordable. To a 12 inch piece of one-and-one-quarter inch plastic pipe I added a pipe cap and drilled the cap for the quarter inch eye bolt and ring. The eye bolt must have about two-and-one-half inches from the base of the eye to the threaded

tip in order to pass through the pipe cap and be secured with a nut. The pipe cap probably should be glued to the pipe prior to drilling.

Have written about sleeving the pipe and tubing before, to increase strength. Well, if you have a concern about the strength of this hitchin’ post, sleeve the one-and-one-quarter inch pipe with one inch pipe before drilling for the eye bolt and ring.

My charts show that one-and-one-quarter inch schedule 40 or standard grade pipe is one-and-three-eighths inch inside diameter and one inch pipe is 1.35 inch outside diameter, so one fits into the other. The sleeving greatly increases strength with little increase in weight or cost.

If sleeving is not possible then using sched-ule 80, one-and-one-quarter inch pipe is an al-ternative. Schedule 80 has a greater wall thick-ness than schedule 40 and therefore is much stronger; however, schedule 80 is not always available at the neighborhood hardware store.

To the ol’ sayin’ “can’t teach an ol’ dog new tricks”, I like to say “you just don’t know many ol’ dogs.”

Happy Trails!


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arbico-TX-horse-talk-full-pg-08.qxp 1/22/2008 3:53 PM Page 1

horseback magazine june 2008

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