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A Bit About Our Horses
Living on a cattle ranch, most of our horses spend most of their time out in pastures, most with some rougher country so they are used to traveling on whatever terrain they come across. Saddle horses or young horses to be trained are brought in as needed and are turned back out when not being used or worked with—except for the weanlings in their first winter, who winter in the corrals. In general, our horses are barefoot year-round, and most will keep their hooves naturally trimmed from travel over soil and rocks on the ranch.
Our individual broodmare bunches and their stallions spend their time from spring to fall in separate pastures, usually running with cattle. For the most part, our program incorporates pasture breeding and pasture foaling, and the foals run with the herd until weaning unless we have some reason for bringing one or more in to the corrals. Youngsters run, play, and learn how to be horses, while developing bone, muscle, strength and endurance. The mares and stallion teach them proper herd manners and respectful behavior, which is good preparation for working with humans later in their lives.
In the off-season, our stallions run with the young or non-breeding stallions and geldings in the bachelor herds. Any stallion who won’t work with that program is not one we want to raise foals from. We appreciate good temperaments and good behavior! Our mares run in one or two mare bands in the off-season and winter in the pasture, unless age or other circumstances make it necessary to keep them up close. All weanlings come into the corrals for their first winter and are fed grain and hay. They get used to being around us and to having respect for humans.
Our horses have year-round access to free choice mineral for healthy offspring and naturally good health. I’m currently looking into a good natural worming possibility. If I can figure out how to make it work effectively for our operation and our critters, I’d like to make that a part of our program as well—I’m not all that enthusiastic about chemicals, if I can find a natural alternative that does a better job than what we’re using now. I think I’ve found one…we’ll see.
Our horses, for the most part, are not clipped, bathed, stalled, etc. while they live here. When haltered, they are taught to lead and stand tied. Each horse will be different, just like people are different. Whenever possible, if it suits the horse’s nature, I like to work with them loose in the round corral to begin with, tailor my approach to each one. Some can be caught, haltered, handled, stand tied quietly the first day. Others require a bit more time to get comfortable with the idea. Some prefer one member of the family over others; some like everyone; some bond instantly when the right prospective buyer shows up. We strive for good temperaments, good useful horses for a variety of people's needs, and do our best to make sure they are not "messed up!" "Untrained" does not equal "messed up" in our vocabulary--it usually takes people to do that to a horse, unless they fall into some traumatic experiences on their own. Since we prefer not having to retrain, we prefer to not give them "issues" if we can help it. When we train, halter or otherwise, we want the horse to benefit, too. You can learn a lot from making mistakes while training...most everyone makes some mistakes sooner or later...but we try to learn from any we have made, and not repeat them.
A few young ones each year will be good likely prospects for about anyone; some will make excellent trail or pleasure horses; others will be more ambitious by nature and make good arena, competition or working prospects. In the end, it often comes down to the match between the person and horse—a good match will go farther together than one between a person and horse who aren’t well suited to each other. Each of us in the family has horses that match better with us than with other family members, and that’s usually the case for other folks as well.