PREPARING TO RIDE FLYING CHANGES

      Upper level dressage horses executing a quick sequence of flying changes of lead at the canter appear to skip or dance across the arena. Properly executed tempe changes demonstrate not only the horse's athleticism but also the precise, subtly nuanced communication that is possible between horses and their riders. Dressage horses, however, are not the only equine athletes whose performances require flying changes. Reining horses, barrel horses, and working cow horses do them. So do hunters and jumpers. Clean, balanced, correctly executed flying changes of lead provide the winning edge in a wide range of equestrian competitions.
     Horses and riders must each master a basic set of skills before they are ready to attempt either simple changes of lead through the trot or flying changes at the canter. These skill sets might be described as "advanced intermediate" stages on the training tree and riding tree. The following benchmarks can help riders evaluate whether they and their horse are ready to attempt simple or flying changes.

• Can the rider follow the horse's motion and feel the individual beats? The outside hind touches down for the first beat of a canter stride, followed by the inside hind and outside fore touching down together. The third beat occurs as the inside fore touches down, followed by a short period when all four feet are suspended beneath the horse's body. The rider must be able to feel each of these separate beats in order to correctly time the application of the aids for a flying change just before the moment of suspension. Following the horse's motion is a prerequisite for feeling each individual beat.

• Does the horse have a balanced, three-beat canter on both leads? The rider should hear and feel three distinct, even beats at the canter on both leads. A horse that is balanced and straight should not feel as though it is leaning to one side or the other. Although the canter creates a rocking motion, the rider should feel as though she is moving on a level plane, not riding downhill. A horse must canter in balance in both directions in order to smoothly change the sequence of its footfalls during the moment of suspension.

• Can the horse stay in rhythm at the canter? The horse's canter strides must be rhythmic in both directions and the rider must be able to set and keep a steady rhythm. She must be able to maintain contact, ride in balance, follow the horse's motion and keep the horse on the aids.

• Is the horse responsive to the rider's aids for a canter depart on either lead? Like people, horses tend to have a dominant side. Riders need to work to make their horses ambidextrous and equally responsive to the canter aids in both directions.

• Can the rider send the horse on and bring it back at the canter? The rider should be able to maintain the horse's rhythm at the canter while asking the horse to extend or collect its strides.

           When the horse and rider have mastered these benchmarks, they are ready to move on to flying changes. Riders should not attempt to teach horses flying changes until they have an independent seat and the ability to influence the horse by following its motion and coordinating their aids. Until they've reached that level of riding skill, they should learn how to ride flying changes by working with a good schoolmaster horse.
Timing the application of the aids is critical to correct flying changes. The aids must be applied just before the moment of suspension so that the change can occur during the moment of suspension. For example, the rider would apply the aids for a change from the right lead to the left lead just as the horse's right front foot moves forward to touch the ground.
         The rider initiates the flying change by giving a half halt and straightening the horse. This alerts the horse that a new request is coming and begins the process of rebalancing and changing the horse's bend. Then she positions her new outside leg slightly behind the girth and positions her new inside leg at the girth while at the same time repositioning the horse's bend with the new inside and outside reins. Finally, she applies back, seat and leg aids to ask the horse to move forward into the next stride on the new lead.
Horses and riders new to flying changes should first learn to make simple changes of lead through the walk and trot. The horse transitions from the canter to the walk or trot, the new aids are applied and the horse resumes the canter on the new lead. The rider just beginning to do flying changes should work on maintaining balance and rhythm while continuing to follow the horse's motion. Correctly timing, coordinating and applying the aids for a change of lead takes time to learn. Be patient and do not rush from riding simple changes into riding flying changes until the simple changes are smooth and the ability to coordinate the aid changes has become part of "muscle memory."
           Horses just beginning to learn flying changes also need time and practice to understand the question being asked and to develop the muscles necessary to athletically respond. Flying changes require that the horse first reposition its hind legs (the hind leg that is "leading" must change) then reposition its front legs (the "leading" front leg changes). Start by practicing simple changes across the diagonal and from circle to circle in large figure eights. As these become confirmed, gradually reduce the number of trot strides until the horse is making a lead change without any trot strides at all. Going from a counter canter (a canter on the "wrong" lead in terms of the direction the horse is moving in the arena) to a "true" or "correct" canter lead is another gymnastic exercise that helps the horse learn how to adjust its balance during a flying change.

TRAINING MYTHUNDERSTANDINGS: KEEPING A HORSE'S ATTENTION

       There are probably as many jokes about getting a mule's attention with a two-by-four as there are pickup trucks in Texas. When you are teaching your horse to heed, you must keep bringing its attention back to you. But you don't want to use a two-by-four. You don't want to do a lot of exciting or loud things that will cause the horse to do a lot of exciting or loud things. You want to use body position and body language that is noticeable to the horse to keep its attention or send it in the direction you want. I call this "heeding."
For example, stand at the horse's front legs with your belt buckle facing its shoulder as you scratch the horse. Continue to keep the line through your shoulders parallel to the horse's body all the time you are scratching and rubbing him. If you find a place the horse really likes being scratched, you have his attention on you. Your goal is to captivate the horse, to keep the horse heeding everything you do, paying attention to everything you do. And everything you do, you do in a perceivable pattern with a calm attitude.
Horses only pay attention to one thing at a time. Their eyes are out on the sides of their head to see any approaching attacker and their instincts tell them to constantly look out for those attackers. This superb peripheral vision is what makes it so easy to get horses to heed your body position. They can see all the way to the back of their hindquarters with just a slight tilt of their head. But what gets their attention keeps changing all the time.
      When their attention goes away from you, your goal is to get it back. When something in their environment puts a question in their mind and diverts their attention, you want them to come back to you for the answer.
     The younger a horse is the more it perceives anything sudden or unusual as dangerous because there is less information in its memory bank. Natural defense mechanisms and instincts are more likely to control its behavior. So if you're teaching a really baby horse to heed, its attention just normally darts all over the place. It will shift its attention from one thing to another suddenly. It will jump quickly if it notices something it didn't see before. It will stop to observe something carefully, to take it in completely, before it's ready to give its attention back to you or something else and move on.
With a baby horse, your plan is to get noticed at least half of the time and eventually the horse will develop the habit of bringing its attention back to you. Which means that it will start coming back to you for the answer of how to respond to that last thing that grabbed its attention.
When your horse trusts what you are saying with your body language, heeding becomes a sort of auto pilot system. You are calm, your horse heeds the fact that you are calm, and the horse takes its cue from you. When you change positions, it indicates a change in how things should be and the horse will change position with you.
After your horse has learned to heed your body language, he will not only heed you, but also anyone who speaks the same language. Everything you do, as far as your position, should be horse logical. For example, when you have your shoulder line parallel to the horse's side then turn so your shoulder line runs through his shoulders and step forward, the horse will automatically step with you. You don't have to force the horse to walk and pull him along. You also won't have to jerk on him because he's walking too fast. He'll just start walking at the same speed you do because you have taught him to heed your body in a horse logical manner.
      There's a corollary to having the horse pay attention to you. You must pay attention to your horse at all times and create a calm working environment. If someone comes along that you want to talk to, finish with your horse, put your horse away and then talk. Don't take your attention off your horse.
When you are cleaning the stall, you still have to pay attention to what your horse is doing. If your horse bites, put a drop noseband around his mouth. You can also attach a lead rope to him and lead him around with you as you clean. Or you can put him in a keeper stall. You must make the horse feel like doing something you suggest without making a fight about it. That is how you gain mental dominance.
Teaching heeding builds a communication link between yourself and the horse in the horse's language. That is why it does not require strength to take horses to the highest levels. There is a MythUnderstanding that men are the best trainers because they are stronger than women. In reality, training has nothing to do with strength. It is about mental games. Horse training is a mental game played in a physical medium.
Your primary objective as a trainer is rhythm and relaxation. What the horse needs to achieve this is steady, physical work at a mental level that you create which is alert enough to pay attention to you but not frightened and not tense. You have to be open minded and calm in order to study and understand. And it is exactly the same situation with the horse.
       An awful lot of people think that if they do something to the horse that makes it act more excited, that the horse is going to learn faster or respond better. The truth is that the horse may not be responding at all. It may just be reacting. Reacting is overdoing. An aid that gets a reaction instead of a response has been avoided just as effectively as if the horse didn't respond at all.

TRAINING MYTHUNDERSTANDINGS: APPLIED HEEDING: LOADING THE SCARED HORSE

           Loading a horse into a trailer is a test of how accurately the horse responds to the step cue you put on him by heeding. Trailer loading isn't a separate skill you and your horse must learn. It's just applying the step cue you taught your horse with basic heeding to a specific task. When the horse understands your step as an cue, meaning he is to follow each of your steps with a step of his own, you can use that cue to ask him to enter the trailer with you.
Horses that have had bad experiences remember trailers as scary things. If your horse is scared of the trailer because of previous bad experiences you must treat it like a new piece of equipment. All new equipment must be presented slowly and in a calm working environment. You reintroduce the trailer slowly, in a relaxed manner, with rhythmic use of your heeding cues.
         If your horse is very afraid to even go near the trailer, do calm and familiar things beside it. For example, you can heed the horse in large circles next to the trailer because the circle is a familiar shape and you always want to be directing the horse what to do.
What you do with a horse that is terribly afraid of the trailer because of previous bad experiences is just calmly get him working on your step cue and walk him up to the trailer. The truly scared horse has a tendency to rock back on its haunches with his attention locked on the trailer as he approaches it. Gradually, you'll heed him closer and closer till you get him right up to the ramp. Then he'll literally try to go up the ramp into the trailer on his toes as he walks in beside you. So take some familiar-smelling bedding from his stall and cover the ramp and trailer floor about 6 inches deep so there's no chance he'll slip and slide when he first tries to tiptoe inside.
        When you are reintroducing trailers as good things, you don't want the horse to be afraid to escape. So if he wants to escape, you let him. Stop at the point where he begins to hesitate and acts like he wants to escape. Let him investigate. Make sure you reinforce your friendship with the horse. Groom him, scratch him, talk nice and don't apply any loud pressures. Do this over and over until the scary spot gets closer and closer to the trailer.
Heeding makes the horse feel safest at your shoulder. A lot of times, the horse will be perfectly willing to stay next to your shoulder but he won't be relaxed and will therefore want to escape (with you) when things start getting scary. So you must achieve rhythm and relaxation during each stage of introducing this "new" trailering equipment. Most horses will not be this fearful, however. Horses that are very afraid are usually horses who have been beaten into a trailer before and are afraid that they will be beaten again. You must be very patient and calm with these horses and give them time to trust you.
If your horse gets excited, stay as close to the shoulder as you can. Your body there will calm the horse. And if the horse gets scared, it is even more imperative that you remain in position at the shoulder. Leaving the shoulder in a time of crisis is like the pilot of an airplane running to the back because he thinks the plane is going to crash. You have to consistently stay in position alongside the horse's shoulder so that the horse starts to realize that he can rely on you whenever you're in that position.
You must make your horse calm at all times when he is next to you so that if he gets scared, he comes to you. If your horse is AFRAID of the trailer, you must stay at the shoulder so that he has somewhere safe to be and before you know it, he is trusting you and walking with you into the trailer.
      You must give him all the time he needs to get comfortable with the trailer. Do not force the issue. Let him check it out. Give him time to be curious. Keep him paying attention to the trailer and to you. Don't let his head go to the outside or behind you. If he backs up, stay at his shoulder, and ask for back. Make it your idea. Let him calm down by giving him something to do that he already understands and can be successful doing. Then walk forward again. Show the horse what to do. By backing and walking forward again behind the trailer, the area that the horse is comfortable in will get larger and larger until he is also comfortable walking into the trailer.
        Getting the horse into the trailer is not the big goal. The big goal is getting the horse to willingly go with you anywhere, to follow your step aid accurately and willingly. If the horse will not go somewhere with you, you must fine tune the heeding and earn more trust.
Never hit a horse that's afraid of the trailer with your whip to get him to go in. The object is to get the horse to want to get in the trailer, not to trap him in the trailer. He should go in because he trusts you and because he feels safe next to your shoulder, not because you have whipped him in. But if you start a fight or force him into the trailer, you will only make the situation worse.
       

So be patient and be his friend. Keep going back and heeding around the trailer, maybe even do some lunging near the trailer. Keep the situation calm, keep the horse working in rhythm and relaxation until he realizes that when he is with you, the trailer is not scary.

“Do any students go into Meredith Manor with little riding knowledge or experience?” Student responses include:

“Do any students go into Meredith Manor with little riding knowledge or experience?”

Student responses include:

• "I actually think it was beneficial for me because I didn’t come in with any bad habits that I needed to change and the instructors really worked with your level of experience and helped you progress."
  Nichole
• "I don’t feel I’ve learned any slower than other students that came in with horse experience, I just didn’t have any preconceptions that I might have to change."
  Lisa
• "I don’t feel like not having any experience hindered me in any way, it kind of left things as a blank slate for the instructors to be able to fill in, and there’s less for them to have to fix."
  Angie

TRAINING MYTHUNDERSTANDINGS: ADVANCED GROUND CONTROL: HEEDING

           Ground control precedes horse control. If a horse doesn't heed its handler on the ground, it is never going to listen when that person swings into the saddle. A lot of horse people mythunderstand ground work. They think it just means snapping on a lead rope and pushing or pulling a horse from the barn to the arena or from the stall to the crossties or hopefully into a trailer. One of the ways to make people think you're magic with horses is if you can control the horse from the ground constantly and consistently for the purpose you want.
Teaching your horse how to heed makes it possible to tell him not only what direction you want him to move but also how long to make his strides and how quick you want the strides to be. Heeding teaches the horse that when we apply a pressure, it has a meaning. The pressure is never an attack and the horse learns it will go away as soon as he moves way from it. Heeding takes all of the big, exciting individual episodes out of training. It makes training a step-by-step development of an understanding between you and the horse.
In the last two articles, we talked about how we start teaching our horses to heed by playing with them and why it's important to work the horse in a corridor of pressures or aids. When have the horse on a lead line and you get to the point where he stops consistently as soon as you turn in, start using your corridor of pressures to back him. In starting to back the horse, you have to be careful not to do anything off balance because that will signal the horse to turn. If you do anything too loud, he will become afraid.
Create a corridor with the wall on one side and you on the other. Stand facing toward the rear of the horse and hold your whip just in front of the horse's chest so you can touch either of the horse's shoulders easily. Whichever of his feet is the farthest forward, push gently on the corresponding shoulder with the whip handle until he picks the foot up. When the foot picks up, take the whip handle away immediately. When he sets it down, put the whip on the other shoulder and repeat the sequence.
           Remember to take the pressure away as soon as the picks his foot up. That is because you want every pressure to have a meaning and we want the horse to understand that if he simply moves away from a pressure slowly, it will go away. Removing the pressure is his best reward. So you are teaching him to reward himself while doing what you ask. Remember to move your corresponding foot at the same time he moves his. Eventually you will be able to just face backward, walk toward him and he will back up in the sequence of steps your feet direct him to.
As your lessons progress, you want to teach the horse to heed from both his right and left sides. Practice transitions from halt to walk, walk to trot, halt to trot and all the reverses of all those. As the horse becomes better, you'll be able to remove one side of the corridor and work him in the middle of the arena without things falling apart. If they do, go back to the wall and repeat some of the basics. Don't get bossy. Accuracy comes from doing the same thing over and over, not louder and louder. The horse learns from repetition, not retribution.
In the heeding process, you can get a lot of refinement and accuracy in the horse's movements if you keep refining what you do to ask and then trusting it will work. Eventually, you don't need to do huge movements to get the message across. For example, once the horse understands the game is to stay by your shoulder, you don't need to turn your shoulders parallel to his body anymore to get the halt.
             Similarly, when people start to train their horses to heed, they get to using their knees a lot. To be really accurate, however, you want to step forward rather than up. So you point with your toe rather than popping your knees as a signal to the horse to move. In time, all you will need to do to let the horse know that you are about to step forward is to lean one shoulder forward.
          After time, heeding becomes an auto pilot system. The fact that you are calm will cause your horse to heed the fact that you are calm. As you change positions, it indicates a change in things and the horse will change with you. If your shoulders are lined up with the horse's shoulders, the horse will move with you anywhere. If you back, the horse will back with you. If you move forward the horse will walk forward with you. And if you stay on that line and go out and turn, the horse will turn around you. If you break the line between the shoulders and face the horse, the horse will stand because now you are not asking it to move. The habit will become so complete that there will never be any panic involved.
If you pay constant attention to your horse, the horse will pay constant attention to you. And if the horse is paying attention to you, it is not paying attention to anything else, since all horses have a one track mind. This gives you a kind of control that is not obvious but is complete.
Heeding takes all of the big, exciting individual episodes out of training. It makes training a step-by-step development of an understanding between you and the horse. It creates a horse-logical system you can use to lead the horse, longe him, put him on a trainer, stand him for the vet or farrier or even for a mare in the breeding shed.

TRAINING MYTHUNDERSTANDINGS: HORSE-LOGICAL COMMUNICATION STARTS WITH GROOMING

                 A lot of amateur trainers MythUnderstand what the training process is all about. They think that training involves dominating a horse, showing him who's boss. They approach training as though it were a battle in which one party wins and the other loses.
Good training is not about confrontation. It's about building a horse-logical communication system. As trainer, you do your talking as a non-hunting predator just walking through the herd or in the role of lead mare in your little herd of two. But you don't ignore the horse's side of the conversation.
To understand the horse's side of the conversation means learning horse-speak--how horses say things to one another. Then you use that knowledge to say things back to the horse for your own purposes. You want to communicate to the horse that you like it, that you're glad it's there, that you like to be around it. You're not going to just grab the horse and beat it into submission. In terms of horse-speak, grooming can be a powerful influence you can use to gain control and trust.
Wild horse survival requires strong herd instinct. Mutual grooming expresses camaraderie among horses and helps wild ones bond into a herd. Horses love to be groomed. Use this to your advantage to make friends with a horse when you first start working with it and to study how your horse communicates things to you.
For example, if the horse is totally relaxed and looking around and sometimes looking back at you then you got some good quality time going on. Pay attention as you groom the horse to see where it's sensitive areas are and where it really enjoys a good scratching. Horses often signal their pleasure by screwing up their upper lip or by arching or stretching their neck when you hit an itchy spot. If the horse pins its ears, swishes its tail, or threatens a kick, it's saying "back off." There are horses with very thin skin who dislike coarse brushes but if you groom them properly without sudden moves using soft brushes and a degree of pressure that agrees with them, there should be no problem.
When you are grooming, the horse will naturally want to return the favor because that's what it would do if you were another horse. If the horse starts chewing on you, do NOT slap it. If a horse tries to chew on you, you should have seen it coming if you were paying total attention to your horse. Grooming is not just moving a brush with your hand while you daydream about tomorrow. You should be thinking about now, about this horse. So if the horse wants to groom you in return, interrupt it unobtrusively. If the head starts around, and you've been paying attention and have a plan, you'll just put hand up near the neck to stop the head turning without making a big sudden attack on the horse. You interrupt the undesirable behavior without changing the horse's attitude, excitement level, or interpretation of what's going on.
The safe place by any horse is beside the front legs. If you are standing beside the front legs and have some way to control the head, you won't get kicked, bit, or tromped on if everything turns into a can of worms. So you start grooming where it is safe--at the shoulders--and you just keep working both directions. Take your time and keep working slowly to the back and find all the places. Keep making your safe bubble bigger and bigger. And by the time you and the horse speak the same language, the entire horse will be available to you and things will rarely if ever fall apart.
If, when you turned it loose, you saw that this horse did lots of kicking, you would never go to the back of the animal without taking the lead rope with you. That way, you can swing the horse's hindquarters away from you by pulling the head toward you if the horse tries to kick.
Actions and body language are the only things that make up horse-speak. Save your vocalizing for later. If you use vocal commands at the horse, you will leave out the horse-speak, and if you leave out the horse-speak you will be very frustrated with why the horse won't listen to you. If you always apply a methodical and directional pressure to create a shape that the horse feels and understands, then put a word or signal along with that methodical pressure, the horse may notice it or may not. However, over a period of time, the horse will begin to notice it and pick it up as having a meaning that it feels at that moment. But it is unenforceable.
If you want to talk to yourself, or hum, or sing to yourself while grooming, however, it is fine. Anything that will keep your rhythm and relaxation will keep the horse's rhythm and relaxation.
There are times when you go into someone's barn and all the horses in there will be in a depressed state because they don't like where they are and they don't like what goes on and they don't like anybody. The horses won't make any fuss, they'll just be mopey and down. Horses that have a happy thing going on are going to communicate with you as soon as you go through. One may stick its head out and tell you that you have no business going by without coming over to visit. One might try to get you into a game of duck and bite. But they are all going to be active. They will be doing anything they want. If you go into a barn and the horses get up immediately, you know that the horses are definitely afraid of the people. When you watch people around horses you will find out very quickly whether or not they understand horse-speak and have the knack for "nice-ing" the horses into submission. That is the skill that a lot of people don't understand.

UNDERSTANDING REIN AIDS

             Beginning riders often 'mythunderstand' rein aids. They initially view them very simplistically in the same purely functional way they view the steering wheel and brakes on their cars. And, to be fair, that is all many new riders can manage in the very beginning. However, as they move up the riding tree and finally gain the holy grail of an independent seat, they learn how to apply rein aids properly as far more than simple indicators of direction and speed. When they can use their seat and leg aids to shape the horse in the direction of travel, to indicate the gait, to set the rhythm, and to regulate the horse's speed and impulsion, they can use their rein aids to manage the subtle coordination of all of these performance parts. Until they have that degree of control over their own bodies, they can work on the 'parts' of applying rein aids correctly until the two come together.

For starters, the rider's hands must be in the correct position. Hands should be close together on either side of the horse's withers. As the rider looks down, the thumbs should be the highest point and the pinkies should be closer together than the thumbs. When the hands are in this position, there will be a straight line from the knuckles through the wrists to the elbows. The line of the wrist should neither break toward nor away from the rider's body nor down or up relative to the forearm. The hands should slightly in front of the saddle. Their height above the horse's withers will vary depending on the horse's conformation and frame but the line from the bit to the elbow should never break. The elbows should rest relaxed at the rider's sides. Keeping elbow joints relaxed allows elastic rein contact.

Secondly, a steady grip on the reins is essential for steady bit contact. For that reason, I require all my riders wear gloves, especially in hot weather when hands can get sweaty. While the decision to wear or not wear gloves may be an individual one, riders must achieve 'grip' without 'gripping.' If they tense their hand or forearm muscles in order to keep the reins from slipping through their fingers, they cannot achieve the soft, elastic contact that is the ultimate goal. Riders can experiment, if necessary, with reins of different widths or different materials to find a set that allows them to grip the reins comfortably without the kind of gripping that tires muscles and interferes with an elastic feel of the bit.

Finally, when horse and rider are in motion, riders must hold their hands steady. This means the hands move neither up nor down, nor side to side, relative to the horse's withers. The steadier the rider's hands, the steadier the horse will move. If a rider's hands wander around chasing contact with the bit as the horse moves its head, the horse will never learn to seek that steady, elastic contact that allows clear communication between horse and rider. Again, the hands should be slightly in front of the saddle and raised above the withers at a height that maintains a straight, unbroken line from the bit to the elbow.

Riders cannot achieve truly steady hands until they first achieve an independent seat. That means they are relaxed, balanced over the horse's center of gravity, and can follow the horse's motion at every gait. As they work on that independent seat, however, beginning riders can make a habit of checking their hand position from time to time, especially when making up and down transitions, until they are sure they can 'feel' when it is correct. They should glance down with their eyes rather than tipping their head down which changes their body position and balance. Arena mirrors are useful here. And, as always, feedback about hand position and steadiness from an instructor or friend on the ground is invaluable.

With the correct hand position and an independent seat, riders can modify their steady, elastic connection with the bit in four ways: keeping, taking, resisting or giving. A keeping rein aid is a steady connection that allows whatever the horse is doing to continue. The degree of connection (sometimes referred to as 'weight in the reins' or 'pounds of pressure') is highly variable depending on the horse's conformation and the horse's frame. In a stretching frame the horse stretches the neck forward and down to the rider's hand. In a working frame the horse stretches the neck forward and out to the rider's hand and in a collected frame the horse stretches the neck forward and up to the rider's hand.

The amount of 'weight' in the rider's hands when keeping contact not only varies from horse to horse due to conformation but also varies from frame to frame. The 'weight' feels heaviest in a stretching frame, becomes lighter in a working frame and becomes even lighter yet in a collected frame as the horse now 'carries' himself (self carriage). The lighter feel of contact in a collected frame occurs because the horse's impulsion is more 'up' than 'forward.'

The rider must learn to accept the contact from the horse as he moves into the hand. Riders sometimes 'give' the rein as soon as they feel the horse coming to their hand. If they do this consistently, the horse will never be able to step to the contact. I tell my students to feel for the horse stepping to their hand. Then they must be sure to keep a steady hand that 'accepts' the contact and closes the circle of aids. If riders give away the connection at the same time they are asking the horse carry more weight on his hindquarters and come under himself, the effect is like squeezing a toothpaste tube with the top open. All of the horse's added energy runs out the front and the horse never achieves the rounded frame the rider wants.

A taking rein aid interrupts what the horse is doing. Ideally, riders move only a little finger (or both little fingers) closer to their body. If this is not enough to influence the horse, however, then the 'take' occurs by moving the elbow back. The wrist should never change when taking with a rein. Breaking at the wrist is a common mistake.

The degree of pressure on a taking rein will be relative to the response of the horse. The rider will always try to use the least amount of pressure but if the horse does not respond then the pressure will increase. A resisting rein aid follows a taking rein aid and simply means that the rider does not immediately follow the taking rein aid with a giving rein aid.

A giving rein aid removes the resistance applied by a taking rein aid. The little finger that moved back in a taking aid now moves away from the rider's body and back into a keeping aid position (or the elbow moves forward again). The amount of giving will be in direct relation to the amount of taking. The taking and giving usually last just a stride until the horse moves forward and back to the keeping rein.

Using steady, elastic rein contact to communicate with the horse is far removed from the concept of reins as a steering mechanism. But it takes many, many rides to develop the necessary feel and timing to apply rein aids properly. Pay attention to the successful tries until they become more and more habitual and just keep riding.

UNDERSTANDING WEIGHT AIDS

              Weight aids are the rider's first and most important influence on the horse. Riders often grasp the theory of weight aids long before they develop the physical ability to apply them properly. Without an independent seat, the rider cannot apply weight aids correctly. Incorrect weight aids restrict the horse and can work at cross purposes to the leg and rein aids the rider applies simultaneously. An independent seat allows the rider to 'feel' instinctively what the horse's body is doing in order to choose and coordinate the best set of aids in a given situation. A rider with an independent seat:

• Sits loosely on the horse with all muscles relaxed, no gripping or tension;

• Keeps his or her center of gravity over the horse's center of gravity through balance; and

• Follows the horse's motion at any gait.

When a rider balances and synchronizes with the horse's movements without tension anywhere in the body, subtle seatbone shifts become meaningful to the horse. Weight aids can be described as:

• Burdening or increasing the weight on one or both seat bones;

• Unburdening or decreasing the weight on one or both seat bones;

• Bilateral, meaning increasing or decreasing weight on both seat bones at the same time; and

• Unilateral, meaning increasing or decreasing weight on only one seat bone.

Burdening or unburdening each seat bone independently and correctly requires abdominal, rib and back muscles that are both strong and flexible. Muscles must be equally strong all around the rider's torso. Muscles must also be equally flexible. A rider must develop real body awareness in order to use all of her muscles properly to maintain a correct upper body position.
Unburdening a seat bone does not mean lifting it off the saddle. Lifting a seat bone is a gross muscle movement that bows the rider's ribcage on one side, collapses it on the other, and burdens the opposite seat bone. Rather, while staying balanced and centered over the horse's center of gravity, the rider engages the muscles on one side of the lower abdomen and back to elongate her torso slightly on that side. To develop an awareness of how this feels, sit in a chair and raise one arm out and up toward the ceiling or the sky. Keep the neck and shoulder muscles relaxed and pay attention to the weight difference between the seat bones.
Sometimes burdening the seat bones is described as 'sinking into the saddle' or 'sinking into wet sand.' However, it does not mean drilling the seat bones into the horse's back. Most riders easily learn to burden their seat bones bilaterally for a half halt or halt by bracing their lower back muscles to interrupt the horse's motion instead of following it. However, many riders cannot work their joints independently when asked to burden one seat bone unilaterally. Unable to separate their lower back from their hip joint, they stiffen up, collapse through the ribs, drop a shoulder, or find some other compensation.
Rider fitness obviously affects an independent seat. In order to sit evenly on both seat bones, a rider must develop the muscles on both sides of the body evenly. If she is stronger on one side than on the other, she will tend to shift her weight onto the seat bone on the weaker side. Grippy thigh muscles, locked ankles, clamped calves, tense shoulders, a leading chin or other bad posture habits are just some of the things that obstruct proper application of weight aids.
Bad posture habits develop over time and often feel 'normal' to a rider. Riders who cannot work regularly with a trainer can ask a friend to videotape them riding to check their postural alignment. From the side, the seat bones should point down, not tip back or forward. The spine should have a slight curve without being arched or rounded. The shoulders and ribcage should be balanced over the pelvis. Rear and front views should show good lateral balance with the rider's spine aligned over the horse's spine. Check to see if shoulders, hips, knees, and feet are aligned from side to side.
Pay attention to the horse's feedback while you are riding because a horse communicates seat faults to its rider. A horse normally tries to keep its rider over its center of gravity. If a rider sits heavier on one seat bone than on the other, the horse has a tendency to carry its head to that side of its spine and to move in that direction. If the rider's torso twists or leans to one side, the horse will travel crookedly to compensate. The bottom line is that poor rider posture prevents clear communication with the horse.
Developing and refining an independent seat requires hours and hours in the saddle—or a car! Recently my brother-in-law who is a reining horse trainer drove from Colorado to Meredith Manor in West Virginia. He noticed that when he leaned forward to stretch his back, his seat bones parted company with the car's seat. So he used those long hours of driving to practice stretching his back forward and sideways while keeping his weight evenly on both seat bones. When he got here, he put that practice time to good use when a horse reared and leaped with him on board. As the horse went up, his upper body tipped forward but his seat never left the saddle because he never locked his hip joints. He credited his cross-country exercise when I told him how impressive it was to watch him maintain a correct seat position through everything the horse tried.
Riders can work in a chair or on an exercise ball to develop greater awareness of how various movements of their hips, lower legs, or torso affect their seat bones. They can observe how their horse's body reacts to shifts in their own body position at a standstill or a walk. Work on developing strong yet flexible abdominal and back muscles and at developing the relaxation and balance that allow a rider to use various body parts independently. An independent seat takes a long time to achieve. Enjoy all the hours of riding along the way.

UNDERSTANDING LEG AIDS

      Riders communicate with their horses using horse-logical pressures we call aids. The 'natural' aids include the hands (reins), seat (weight), and legs. Riders use a 'circle of aids' to create a corridor of pressures that asks a horse to perform a specific combination of gait, rhythm, pace, direction, and other nuances.

Even though riders do not use one natural aid in total isolation from the others, discussing leg aids separately can help riders understand their options for applying leg aids and how those options influence the horse. The rider's right leg pressure influences the horse's right hind leg while the rider's left leg pressure influences the horse's left hind leg. The basic leg influences are:

• Leg on—driving

• Leg on—keeping, or

• Leg off.

Driving leg pressure asks the horse for movement, for energy. Keeping leg pressure asks the horse to hold or maintain a shape or direction or gait. When a leg is off the horse, there is no pressure from the leg on that side.

These basic influences are further refined when leg is applied:

• Unilaterally—one leg driving, one leg keeping

• Bilaterally—both legs driving, or

• Variably—the leg pressure varies from stride to stride.

The ability to vary a pressure is one of the primary differences between an aid and a cue. Whether the leg is used as a driving aid or a keeping aid, the degree of its pressure can vary. When we teach beginning riders, we use little pictographs as tools to explain which combination of aids riders use for a given movement. The reality is that these visual recipes provide only limited information because they cannot illustrate variability.

Our green horses receive extensive groundwork until they develop a full understanding of corridors of pressure and how to respond to them. When we start them under saddle, the first ride occurs in a small arena that limits the horse's ability to move too far too fast. The rider leaves the reins alone and waits to see what the horse offers. Depending on the horse's personality, it may amble away from the mounting block, offer a trot, or even strike off on a canter. As soon as the horse moves, the rider softly applies the correct leg and seat aids for whatever the horse offers. Gradually, the horse makes a connection between the feel of a specific corridor of pressures and a particular gait. And gradually, the trainer introduces rein aids for a full circle of aids.

As the horse's understanding of aids increases, variable leg pressures allow a sophisticated conversation between horse and rider. For example, a dressage rider can ask the horse for a working trot, medium trot, collected trot, or extended trot. In order to communicate which trot she wants, the rider has to do more than just drive with both legs. Did the rider use the appropriate degree of pressure? Did the rider use the right degree of driving or keeping from each leg? The horse's response is the rider's primary feedback. The degree of pressure that the rider uses will depend on the horse's training level, personality, and physical sensitivity. The rider's end goal should be to communicate with the lightest aids possible, invisible to those watching.

The rider can vary both driving and keeping pressures depending on what she wants the horse to do at a specific moment. For example, if a horse starts to 'chase' around the arena, quickening his steps rather than lengthening them, the rider can keep the driving leg pressure on just a little longer to slow the horse's rhythm rather than driving in the rhythm the horse is moving.

Whenever a rider creates a corridor of aids, it is important to leave an opening for the horse to release the energy she creates with her driving leg aids. For example, in the leg yield left the rider increases the pressure of the left leg asking the horse to move away from that pressure. The rider's right (outside) leg is back and keeping, suggesting an opening to the right to the horse. The horse picks up the left hind and moves it both over and forward instead of just forward. The outside rein (right rein) inhibits the forward motion slightly and redirects it forward and sideways, while also maintaining straightness in the horse's body.

Some riders are confused about whether they should apply leg pressure at the girth, behind the girth, or way behind the girth. Ideally, the rider would like her driving leg just behind the girth, but the conformation of some horses and the leg length of some riders make this difficult. The most important thing is that the inside of the rider's lower leg should be able to make contact with the horse's side. The rider should think of stretching her leg down and around the horse's side. There should be no gripping or tension. The rider has to have her seat and upper body in the correct position in order to control the position of her lower leg.

The rider's basic position is more important than exactly where her leg falls on her horse. Ideally, a plumb line dropped from the rider's ear will pass through her hip and ankle. The critical thing is that she needs to maintain the correct position of her thighs and hips so that she can give leg aids with the inside of her calf, not the back of the calf. The thigh should lie flat on the saddle. In order to use leg aids correctly the rider must not grip with the thigh muscles or the knee. Gripping with the thigh muscles or the knees locks the hip joint. The hip joint is the rider's shock absorber. If the rider locks her hip joints, she cannot follow the horse's motion and, therefore, cannot apply leg aids effectively. The upper body or torso must remain stable in order for the lower leg to stay stable. If the rider has to move around to apply the leg aids that movement interrupts her balance and her aids will not be clear to the horse.

Leg aids are just one of the natural aids we use to communicate with our horses. The 'circles of aids' we create with them are much like the sentences we construct from individual words to communicate with friends. As the rider develops an independent seat and the horse gains an understanding of the many variations possible in aid pressures, they can work together to write poetry in motion.

TRAINING MYTHUNDERSTANDINGS: "LEADING" IS MISLEADING

Ground control precedes horse control. Before you snap the lead rope onto a horse's halter, you and the horse need to start communicating in a meaningful, horse-logical way.
The reason for that is because lead ropes don't lead horses or control horses. You're in trouble right from the start if you expect a little bitty rope, or even a rope with some kind of chain at the business end, to control a horse. You have to lead a horse using a communication system that clearly tells the horse you are the lead mare he can trust and that clearly tells him the speed, the direction, and the shape you want the horse to move.
At Meredith Manor we don't teach students to move horses by pushing and pulling them at the end of a lead rope. Instead, we teach them a ground communication and control system we call "heeding." I came up with that name because I needed a word that wasn't so common that people assumed they knew what I meant as soon as I said it. Heed is an old-fashioned word that means "pay attention." Whenever you're working with a horse, you should be paying attention to the horse and the horse should be paying attention to you. When heeding involves leading and it's done right, it looks like the horse is heeling like a well-trained dog. So you can think of heeding as a combination of leading and heeling if that helps you picture it.
We start by bringing the horse into a small indoor arena. This confines the horse in way that is understandable him. Starting inside four solid walls minimizes distractions and makes it easier to get the horse's attention, especially in the beginning lessons.
You start by turning the horse loose and letting it trot, run, and play. He is completely free to go anywhere he wants to in the confined area. Horses tend to play by practicing their various means of defense. They run and escape. They kick out at imaginary predators. And its first time in the arena, the horse is going to want to check everything out.
In the beginning, you do not direct where the horse goes, you just follow it around. Imagine a line from the horse's shoulder out to where you are. If you walk a little behind that line, you are pushing the horse, putting very gentle pressure on it to ask it to keep moving.
In following the horse, never put a loud pressure on the animal. You don't hurry the horse or chase him or "attack" him in any way. You only push the horse whatever little bit is needed to keep him moving. If you stay relaxed and calm, that relays the message,"I'm here but I'm not hunting." When people get to chasing, they tend to get too aggressive.
Your objective is to keep the horse's attention on you without making any loud moves. So before something else gets his attention, you want to make just a little bit bigger move to get his attention back to you--jiggle a whip, raise a hand, or walk in a little closer or a little farther back from that shoulder line. If the horse gets his head down and starts eating grass or whatever, you're going to have to be loud with your actions to get his attention back. You'll startle him, he'll run from your "attack," and it will take longer for him to trust you.
When the horse is through playing and checking everything out, he will stop and look at you which is his way of asking if you're ready to quit playing. If he wants to come over to check you out, allow him. You just stand still and wait. When he gets to you, do NOT immediately reach out to catch him. To a horse, anything sudden or unusual is dangerous so moving your hands is an attack, especially moving your hands toward his head. This sequence of events might happen the first time you turn the horse loose or it might take several "play" sessions before he gets to this stage of trust.
Staying relaxed and calm, turn sideways and stand alongside the horse's front legs with your belt buckle toward his shoulder. Now you can reach the horse's chest to scratch without moving your hand very far. Grooming is a common language of respect and comfort among horses. They don't do any grooming when they are afraid and if you groom in a calm way they will feel there is nothing to be afraid of.
Keep your shoulders parallel to the horse's body as you scratch and groom. If you can find a place where the horse really likes being scratched, you have his attention on you. You want to captivate the horse, keep him heeding everything you do. After you're through grooming and scratching in these first lessons, just bring him back to his stall.
Repeating this play lesson using consistent moves establishes two concepts that become logical to the horse. When you face the same way as the horse with an imaginary line through both sets of shoulders, it indicates a direction for forward motion. When you turn parallel to the horse, it indicates stop and stand.
Once the horse understands these two concepts, you can turn from facing his shoulder to facing with him in the same direction and encourage him to walk forward with you. Because the horse heeds, now you can lead. You do this by making an obvious move with your feet, maybe rustling a whip behind you and leaving things wide open in front. You will gradually build on and refine these concepts to lead the horse forward, turn him, back him, and ask him to stop and stand whenever and wherever you want. That includes his stall, an aisle, a trailer, the breeding shed, or the show ring.
Heeding is step-by-step communication using horse-logical pressures to control the speed, direction, and shape of the horse's activity.

TRAINING MYTHUNDERSTANDINGS: USING PRESSURES TO SHAPE THE HORSE

Training horses involves using pressures to shape a horse's behavior. But many people MythUnderstand how to use pressures properly.
Horses will learn when:

• a pressure is not perceived as an attack,

• the pressure is only one step away from something the horse already understands, and

• if doing the correct thing relieves the pressure which rewards the horse.

When all three of these things are in place, then the pressure will be "horse logical." The horse will accept it calmly and learn from it.
Many trainers attack horses. They think that if the horse's activity level or excitement level increases, the horse is learning more. That's one of the biggest MythUnderstandings there is in the training world. In fact, the truth is just the opposite.
When a horse feels attacked, you have created an avoidance situation. Avoidance situations create five times as strong a reaction as approach situations. That means that if you create a pressure that the horse wants to avoid, you create five times as much negative feeling as you do if you use an approach situation instead. What does that teach a horse?
When most people come to the end of their knowledge of how to enforce training positively, they often resort to avoidance pressures. Yank that lead shank. Pop him with the end of the rope. Jab him with those spurs. Those actions all create a high level of activity in the horse because the horse feels he's being attacked by a predator. Do you want that horse to react to you like a prey animal or a partner?
Have you ever noticed how people talk to someone who doesn't speak English well? The first thing you know, they're talking louder. The problem isn't that the other person can't hear. It's that they don't understand the language. So you cannot be louder with your aids or pressures to achieve the desired result with your horse.
Many people don't know how to link the things a horse needs to learn up in a logical sequence or how to break training down into many small building blocks the horse can learn one by one. They put pressure on the horse to do something, to create a particular shape, before the horse understands all the baby steps he needs to get him to the point of understanding. Then when the horse doesn't "get it," they "swear" at him.
Swear pressures elevate a horse's excitement levels. What are swear pressures? Whenever anyone runs out of language, they swear. It's a cheap shot out of nowhere. But a person with a command of the language can make a number of meaningful points without ever swearing. Swear pressures do not make your point. The only thing they do is disrupt communications.
To communicate with the horse, you must make the shape you want understandable. You need to use the right language. You will see a lot of people slap a horse when they want it to move or go faster. As a training pressure, a slap has a definite "start" but the "stop" is right there with it, too. So what does the slap tell the horse to do? There is no way for a slap to do anything but elevate the horse's excitement level. The horse will not be going the specific amount faster you wanted or moving in exactly the way that you wanted.
How quickly you apply a pressure, where you apply it and how hard you hold it tells the horse how he needs to respond. And as soon as he responds, you reward by taking the pressure away. The greatest reward to a horse is the release of pressure. Always. So you apply pressure in a horse logical way that causes the horse to act the way you want, and then you release the pressure as a reward. Then you do it again until the horse's response to that pressure becomes a habit.
Some horses will tend to lean into your pressures when you apply them and in order to create an understandable shape at that time, you must keep the pressure there until the horse moves in relation to it. For example, if you are on the ground trying to get a horse that is leaning into your pressure to move away from you, you have to push only the amount that you can comfortably hold until the horse gets tired of it. If the pressure of the flat of your hand or the front of your knuckles doesn't have any effect, use the butt end of a whip or poke with a finger or two to concentrate the pressure on a smaller area and make it more noticeable. If you take the pressure away before the horse gets tired of it, the horse learns that all it has to do is wait and you'll quit. You hold the pressure until the horse decides to move away from it. And you have to be certain that you don't get impatient and smack the horse in the belly and ruin everything it was understanding up to that point. Give the horse time to learn. Then reward it.
The timing of a pressure can be important to learning. Take this statement: "Woman without her man is lost." Now change the punctuation. "Woman. Without her, man is lost." The words are the same but the way they are timed creates an entirely different meaning. Aids are the same way to the horse. It's the timing, the punctuation, of our aid pressures that often counts, not the strength or force of them.
Aid pressures must be balanced in order to create a training corridor for the horse to move in. A horse has a one track mind. Anything will distract him and when it does, he's gone. He's out to lunch. You see people distracting their horse with badly applied aid pressures all the time. They only use one aid or pressure too loudly out of all the aids it takes to communicate an understandable shape to the horse. That distracts the horse from all the other aids that could give him a clue about what to do and he misses the meaning of the communication. Bits are the biggest problem here.
When you communicate horse logically using methodically applied directional pressures that shape rather than attack the horse, you are training, not breaking. Punishment has no place in a training program. When a horse does something "wrong," that happened because you taught the horse to do it or you allowed the horse to do it. Punish yourself, not the horse.

TRAINING MYTHUNDERSTANDINGS: HORSE LOGIC

          Good horse training is boring to watch. It looks like nothing is happening. Many people are impressed by training methods that are nothing more than a blatant series of attacks on the horse because they are dramatic to watch. However, physically dominating a horse does not teach him anything. To train a horse, you must use mental strength, not physical strength.
Training horses starts with understanding how their minds work. You have to understand what is logical to the horse. The horse's mind does not work the same way as yours. They do not associate events or a sequence of actions in the same way we reason that things are related. To train a horse, therefore, you have to understand how horse logic works and base your training on that.
Horses are prey animals. They are in an undesirable position in the food chain and they know this. Their eyes are on the outside of their heads so they can see danger coming from any direction. When we approach a horse, it has no way of knowing what our actual intent is. It can only observe our actions and make a decision that it is safe to stay put or safer to flee.
When a large cat approaches a group of gazelles as a hunter, the whole herd will start running and try to escape until one of them is killed. Once its hunt has been successful, the cat's tail goes down and its muscles relax. Now it can pick up its kill and walk directly through the herd and the gazelles will just go on grazing. The cat's body language has changed from a tense alertness that telegraphs the message "there is a hunter among us" to a more relaxed, non-threatening posture that merely says "there is a cat walking among us" and the herd responds accordingly.
So your first communication task in training is to get the horse to quietly accept you as a "cat walking in the herd" rather than as a "cat hunting within the herd." From a horse logical viewpoint, you do not want to be seen as an attacking predator.
Your next communication task, once the horse has quietly accepted you into its "herd," is to be the horse in control of the herd. Stallions do not run their herds. All they are concerned with is who gets the next mare. The lead mare controls the herd and makes the decisions. She controls the herd through body language that the other horses clearly understand.
At Meredith Manor, we get a horse to accept us as part of its "herd" and then we use body language to get and keep its attention and to establish ourselves as the lead mare. We first use horse body language to play with the horse, then we use body language to get and keep the horse's attention. Now we can add body language that creates a corridor of pressures that start to shape the horse's behavior. We create the desired shapes on the ground, then we transfer the concept of corridors and shapes into our under saddle work. When done correctly, the entire system is very logical to the horse. There is no need for physical restraints or physical punishment and the horse never feels "attacked."
Let me give you an example of how mythunderstandings about training happen when people substitute human logic for horse logic. When a horse is scared or upset, it tenses and its head goes up. Human logic says that to create the desired shape (a lower head carriage), all you have to do is tie the horse's head down until the horse "understands." However, if the horse is tense because the training methods were scaring or confusing it, this will only make the problem worse. From a horse logical standpoint, the tie down is only another threat or attack. If the trainer's techniques were horse logical in the first place so that the horse remained relaxed, its head and neck would eventually have the desired shape without the need for mechanical aids.
People who train by presenting the horse with a task then punishing the animal in some way when it doesn't "get it" are on the wrong track. They think they are teaching the horse a lesson. But the horse understands their "correction" only as an attack, a threat. No real learning takes place. By fighting with a horse, the only thing you are teaching it is that the biggest, baddest one wins. You give the horse no clues about how to do things methodically and logically.
It is also important for trainers to realize that horses do not understand or recognize human feelings. But our human feelings often create conflicts for us and our horses. If we don't plan our actions ahead when training, our actions will be guided by feelings and instincts. Since man is a natural predator with an instinct for combat, the very first thing young males often do when frustrated is to fight. And the more scared they are, the more willing they are to fight. When people make a big fuss in front of others, posturing about how they are handling this big, dangerous horse, very often it is because they are afraid you are going to realize they are not really in control.
Training is just like swallowing a big ball of string. It would be impossible to swallow it all at once. But if you eat it an inch at a time, break the task down into really small bits, it is easy. Getting the horse's attention is the first bite of the string we call training. Most of the mythunderstandings about training come about because people try to swallow too big a chunk of string. You must go bit by bit, using a methodical series of actions to get the horse's attention and direct the horse's attention without threatening or attacking him. Training a horse involves dominating him mentally, not physically. And you must systematically introduce new shapes or tasks to him in a way that is logical to the horse according to his natural instincts rather than your human instincts and logic.

Trainers of horse

ALEX: Well, I think the best way to find a trainer would be, if you know the discipline or breed you want to be involved with, there are a lot of publications that trainers advertise in.

Obviously word of mouth, or even going to certain breed-specific shows or discipline-specific shows (like a hunter and jumper show or a trail riding event) and meeting people and searching out the people you feel comfortable with could lead you to purchasing a horse, training that horse for you and going to events and having that coaching aspect involved.

STEVE: A trainer is a real personal decision. There are a lot of guys that are good trainers, but maybe don’t have the best personality. You want to have someone that you’re comfortable with, that you can communicate with and can give you the type of feedback that you need to encourage you to get better at the discipline that you’ve chosen, whether you’re going with a reining horse or a jumping horse.

Finding people in those particular disciplines is painstaking, but it’s well worth it — especially if you find someone that can communicates at a level that you’re comfortable with and that you get the right kind of feedback — they really help you develop and grow as a horseman and they help your horse develop and grow as well.

ALEX: I think it’s important that a trainer needs to be a good horse trainer but also a good coach to you, because there are two things going on here: It’s you and the horse that have to have a common association, so that trainer’s got to know that horse and how to train that horse, but also be able to coach you in how to get along with that horse and how to go through the aspects of training.

Did You Know ... Williston's first mayor suspected of horse rustling

Williston's first mayor, William Denny, did a lot to make it the state's fastest-growing city during the first decade of the 20th century, growing from 763 people in 1900 to 3,124 in 1910, a rate of more than 300 percent. Denny was also suspected of being the ringleader of a large horse-rustling organization.

Denny established the first bank in Williston when he arrived in February 1899. He also had a large ranch on which he raised horses and Hereford cattle. He had connections in Montana where large numbers of horses were brought to his ranch and sold to him at $10 to $30 a head. Because northwestern North Dakota was rapidly filling up with homesteaders, Denny was able to sell each of the horses to the settlers for $150. Initially, most Williston residents considered Denny a shrewd businessman.

In June 1904, Denny was elected mayor and went to work to provide electricity and running water for the residents. He ran unopposed for re-election in 1905, and later that year, Denny was arrested, convicted and sentenced to prison for being the fence of a large horse-stealing enterprise in Montana. He appealed to the North Dakota Supreme Court for a retrial, which was granted to him since key pieces of evidence against him had disappeared. With the major evidence missing, a new trial never occurred, and Denny was set free.

William Henry Denny Jr. was born in New Auburn, Minn., on March 17, 1870, to William Sr. and Marian (Joslyn/Josline) Denny. William Sr. was a gunsmith, and the family moved to the larger town of Glencoe soon after William Jr.'s birth. In 1885, William Jr. attended Anoka Business College and after graduating two years later, "worked at various stores in St. Cloud." In the fall of 1889, he traveled to Montana and found work as a ranch hand on the Diamond G Ranch, which was owned by J. D. "Dad" Williams. Also working for Williams was "Dutch Henry" Jauch (pronounced Yaw), who later organized "the largest horse stealing operation in eastern Montana."

Williams found Denny to be trustworthy and asked the youngster to drive horses to central North Dakota to be sold. On his drives, Denny established friendships in Benson County, and he developed a romantic interest in Kate Huffnail, a school teacher in Minnewaukan. He moved to Minnewaukan in 1897 and, in July, went to work for the Benson County State Bank.

After working for a couple of years, learning how to operate a bank, Denny began exploring new opportunities. Seeing that the Great Northern Railway had reached Williston in 1898 and that it was about to establish branch lines from there to towns in the northwestern part of the state, he knew that settlers were soon to follow. Williston did not have a bank, and the town was ideally located, near the confluence of the Yellowstone and Missouri rivers.

In 1898, Denny contacted Charles Hilton Davidson, a wealthy Canadian real estate dealer, and Thomas L. Beisaker, a Fessenden banker, who also owned a number of other banks in North Dakota and Minnesota, and the two men agreed to finance the establishment of a bank in Williston. When the Williams County State Bank opened on Feb. 19, 1899, Denny was named cashier and manager. Feeling financially secure, he married Kate on March 8.

From the money Denny was making at the bank, he began purchasing land, between Williston and the Montana border, on which to raise cattle and horses. His plan was to buy horses brought in from Montana and sell them to the homesteaders who were coming into northwestern North Dakota. Denny also began selling real estate and, in 1903, established the town of Trenton on his property.

On Feb. 3, 1904, Williston was incorporated as a city, and four months later, the newly elected councilmen chose Denny as mayor. According to Joseph Wegley, Denny's successor as mayor, Williston was a wild-west town. Wegley wrote, "There were eleven saloons or blind pigs on Main Street and lots of them in the alleys ... blind pigs prevailed and ruled the city." Wegley also pointed out that Denny was in support of the saloons.

In 1905, Denny was re-elected, and he sent out bid proposals for the construction of city waterworks and an electrical plant. Besides serving as mayor, he also was kept busy buying and selling horses. On Oct. 26, law officers from Montana went to Denny's ranch and discovered stolen horses. Denny and Art McGahey, the man who delivered the stolen horses, were arrested. Denny's lawyers pointed out that the lawmen had presented insufficient evidence, and the arrest was rescinded.

Suspicion that Denny was the fence and possibly the kingpin of a large horse-rustling organization surfaced in September when Jack Teal, a Montana lawman, and George Hall, the stock inspector for the Montana Stockmen's Association, arrested a horse thief. When the thief tried to escape, he was shot and killed. Teal and Hall went through the dead man's belongings and discovered a letter that named Denny as the "chief fence" for stolen horses.

This information was corroborated by George Miller, a saloon owner whose establishment had recently been robbed by horse thieves. He told Hall and Sheriff William Griffith about an incident in which Tom Ryan, who had injured his writing hand, had Miller write a letter to Denny. "Ryan was the major rustler in eastern Montana now that Jauch had disappeared." The letter stated that Ryan was having McGahey deliver horses to Denny.

Miller agreed to work with the lawmen. To make certain that the horses had been delivered, he went to the mayor's ranch, posing as Ryan's friend. Denny confirmed to Miller that the horses had arrived and had been sold. Denny also told Miller to tell Ryan to stop visiting his bank because "Montana authorities were breathing down his neck."

Armed with this additional evidence, law officials returned to Denny's ranch in mid-November to arrest him, but he was gone. He had been tipped off and fled to Benson County. The lawmen located Denny in Churchs Ferry and arrested him, but they were unable to take him into custody because the district judge, John Cowan, issued a habeas corpus decree declaring Denny needed to appear in court before he could be detained.

A trial was scheduled for August 1906, but Montana authorities did not believe justice would be served. In December 1905, Montana's governor, Joseph Toole, made a request to Elmore Sarles, governor of North Dakota, that Denny be extradited, and Sarles agreed. However, Denny's lawyers were able to get the extradition order rescinded.

At his trial on Aug. 9, 1906, Denny was found guilty of selling stolen horses and sentenced to three years in prison. However, Denny's lawyers appealed to the North Dakota Supreme Court for a retrial. The letters showing Denny's involvement disappeared, before the court met on Oct. 11, 1908, and the court ordered a retrial. Since the prosecution no longer had their most important evidence, a new trial never occurred, and Denny no longer feared conviction.

Although Denny was basically free, "he was a broken man and he never recovered." He resigned his positions at the bank and as mayor. Denny remained in Williston and sold real estate until the 1930s, when he lived in Montana and California for short periods of time. He returned to Williston where he died on July 9, 1936.

Fun Horse Facts for Kids

Check out our fun horse facts for kids and enjoy learning a wide range of interesting information about horses. Find out the difference between a colt and a filly, read about horses funny sleeping habits, how fast they run and much more.

 

• Horses can sleep both lying down and standing up.
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• Horses can run shortly after birth.
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• Domestic horses have a lifespan of around 25 years.
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• A 19th century horse named ‘Old Billy’ is said to have lived 62 years.
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• Horses have around 205 bones in their skeleton.
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• Horses have been domesticated for over 5000 years.
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• Horses are herbivores (plant eaters).
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• Horses have bigger eyes than any other mammal that lives on land.
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• Because horse’s eyes are on the side of their head they are capable of seeing nearly 360 degrees at one time.
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• Horses gallop at around 44 kph (27 mph).
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• The fastest recorded sprinting speed of a horse was 88 kph (55 mph).
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• Estimates suggest that there are around 60 million horses in the world.
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• Scientists believe that horses have evolved over the past 50 million years from much smaller creatures.
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• A male horse is called a stallion.
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• A female horse is called a mare.
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• A young male horse is called a colt.
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• A young female horse is called a filly.
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• Ponies are small horses. More pony facts.

welcome to my new blog, enjoy understnting about horse

Hi... am Shamseer this is my first post