Reining & Cow Work - How To Ruin Your Horse Before Lunch

hi this is Larry troca and today I'm gonna do a voiceover on this video and this is gonna be a complete lesson on multiple topics we're going to be talking about dry working your horse how to use your hands how to position a horse's body how to get him relaxed and responsive we're gonna also work some cattle I'm gonna keep this as short as possible but I'm gonna try to make everything is crystal clear as I can to show what we're doing here and why this horse is acting the way as acting and responding the way it's responding so we're starting out of the day and this video is very little editing has been done so you're kind of seeing the training done in real time now the horse that you see me mounted on is a just turned 3 she's only had a couple months of riding and we're getting her started on cattle and and like to make her a cutting horse if we can if not well then we'll go for the rain cow horse or our you know something similar but we're just getting started on cattle so you can see how we're doing it I'm also going to talk about how to ruin your horse from working cattle the wrong way a lot of people do that without realizing it matter of fact I'll tell you I'll tell you the truth I would say about 50% of the horses I get in training are already messed up for working a cow when they when they come and the owners don't understand why I'm gonna I'm gonna point out the mistakes that cause a horse to be messed up on a cow dred cattle the whole deal and it this is pretty important because so many people do it alright so let's get started here let me start the video and you can see now we're just kind of warming her up we're just kind of a lackadaisical you know my body's real relaxed next I got my hand low her head is low now she started out one to be a really high headed horse and so I had to really be careful to teach her to carry her head level and and sometimes she goes way down there like right there I don't necessarily want it down that far but but better to low than to high and right here all we're trying to do is get her supple and giving so see how I take her head to the left move her body to the right with my foot turn her around with the direct rain now if you notice let me stop it for a second here now if you notice on that turnaround she's not she's not using her front legs cleanly there you know she hasn't figured out how to move her front legs clean yet so she's kind of you know banging them together and stuff and that's fine at the start ideally we have them crossing over nice and cleanly so they don't bang their legs together but a lot of horses will want to cross under instead of over so if we return on the left like we're like we were there let me go back there a little bit her outside front legs she cross over her inside front leg there we go we're getting ready to do it so I'm leading her with my nose get the direct rain move the body to the left slack the reins direct rain indirect rain outside foot press press press okay so right there what I did is I positioned her nose with the direct rain and brought the front end with an indirect rain against her neck and indirect rain isn't is basically a you'd call it a neck rein and then my outside foot press release press release to bring the ribcage on these turns the turns need to start nose-first so you bring the nose with the direct rain you bring the shoulders with the indirect rain and you bring the rib cage with your outside foot start up back up here and again we're keeping things real quiet real lackadaisical this time I bent her head to the left you see how she wanted to raise her head up right there and I brought it right back down with a little seesaw in the bit so right here I got her head bent to the right and and taking her body to the left now why am i doing this the reason I'm doing this is for any event you do you need to have your horse working with correct form and style and to put the correct form and style on them you have to be able to position their body parts so this is just an exercise that lets me get control of the body parts yeah all right there you see her head stayed up I went to I went to Turner and her head went up I shook it right back down with left right left right direct rain ask for the stop see I bring the nose first then the shoulder accelerate with my feet quit riding back up nose first then the shoulder comes let's stop for a second here so let me explain a big mistake that most non pros make I mean this is this is so common and it never enters people mind people's mind horses are taught to respond to pressure so if we put pressure in their mouth to stop the instant they start to stop you need to give a release of the reins and then you can then you can put pressure again and then release and when they when they're finished stopping you need to be releasing the reins then ask for the turn bring the nose first turn release every movement there has to be a release separating the movements so many people will stop their horse keep the reins tight ask the horse to back up keep the reins tight and then turn their horse and keep the reins tight well those people winner to stop their horse or back their horse up the horse starts turning because he's confused there has to be a separation between the movements with slack in the reins that now doesn't have to be a lot of slack you can just be a split second but it has to be there and and nobody seems to figure that out but do you watch the stops the backs and the turns here everything is done with with pressure and release the release of pressure tells the horse he did the right thing okay no release of pressure he doesn't know he doesn't know if he did it right or not all right so let's just go on here squeeze were up to the trot quit riding so nice and flattened on a head went up I'm taking her head to the side direct rain as soon as she starts to turn release pressure release pressure release turn this press release press release so comfortable that makes her she put her head like she's doing this in a relaxed mode again I'm back in it now this time I'm backing her up with her head to the side why would I do that because when I'm getting ready to work a cow I need to be able to position her body and I want to have her head been in there a little bit looking at the cow when we first get started so it's important that I can position the head wherever I want nice lackadaisical trot ask him to drive her pull that little seesaw of the reins you see how that brought her pulled down and the way I got that is when I first started riding her you know her head was literally up in my face extremely high headed so I'll put a little pressure in their mouth and if their pole drops even a fraction of an inch I give them the slack and pet on them and pretty soon that means they know that means lower the pole and they get really relaxed about it turn to the right I'm just using one hand still bringing her nose first see how the left rein is shorter than the right taking her nose to the right like trot press release press release press release head went up shook it down a little bit there we go slack now I'm driving her with my feet and then I quit riding quit driving sit down after the stop see the separation and the movements there I stop slack turn slack stop slack back up shake your head down slack turn slack slack back up slack turn slack reward her for it alright now we're gonna go bring in the cows and that was about all the warm-up I felt she needed you know some people will you know lope their horse for half an hour before they work a cow I don't want to I don't want to have them dependent on that yeah I want to warm them up get their muscles nice and loose you get the edge off but I kind of want them working cattle when they're they're fresh so that they'll make mistakes that I can correct those mistakes now some people will start a cow this horse has really only been on cattle a very short period of time maybe a month and you normally start out with just one cow in the arena but she's seen it enough we can put a whole herd in there so I'm stepping to it to make the cow move sound nice and relaxed we are hands low start to turn those first stop and slack cows stops horse stops hope how low my hands are right here encouraging that horse to stay relaxed bring her through the turn nose first nose first stop slack turn slack go to the counter make it move direct rain stop slack turn slack stop slack show that nose comes first you gotta have that at least at the beginning you got to have that you can flatten them out later when they know what they're doing when you're just starting them on cattle like this you need that you need to position their body so they come nose first picking up speed okay I'm gonna stop for a second here okay right there you saw the cow going faster than my horse now a lot of people would would would start loping you know catch the cow catch the cow well here's a lot when I first started a horse on cattle I want that horse to be thinking trot it looks real bad for a horse slow loping with the cow it looks much better to be trotting fast with an extended try to catch the cow than it does to be you know loping now if the cow is really moving fast well then you're forced to to hit a low pour a gallop but in these beginning stages I want the horse to be thinking the trot is the gate I want him to be in almost all the time so we're gonna go back for another cow nice and relaxed make a logical cut here across the cow position the body and see how quickly I'm gonna go back for a second you see how quickly I was able to position her body yes I think that's the cow that if I might I went back too far each one of these turns his nose first then she brings the shoulder then she brings the ribcage direct rain indirect rain outside foot said lower my hands and courage her to work with a level top line after the stop pull release pull release turn release okay here we go on this cut watch how quickly I positioned this horse's body for the turn after we make the cut take the cut go with it position the body with nose first notice the shoulders have stayed where it needed to be that was a that was pull release pull release for the stop no big ol honkin one Bo pull better to stop him with three small pulls and releases than one great big one that was really good right there position her body bring her through the turn nose first accelerate and slack I lower my hands to encourage her to lower her head nose first see her nose turned in there to the cow a little bit there we go position the body good now this time we got to go the cow is really moving so I masked her low that was three pulls and releases for that stop slack turn stop slack stop slack turn slack okay so for most for most non pros working a cow like this their reins would be tight the entire time the horses they wouldn't be separating the movements and that's why very few non pros get their horses started good okay let's continue on here those first hope okay notice alright there's another big big you notice even though that turn was real quick that horse stopped before it turns here's what happens with most people they don't stop their horse they just try to turn him and so a horse really can't get on his hocks and turn correctly unless you stop first you always stop before you change directions and we're going to go back there here we go ride quit riding pull release nose first stop and then turn and some people are gonna say yeah but Larry it lost position on the cow the the cow got away that's fine we're just starting here it's fine that if the horse beats the cow don't let the horse think he's getting beat you make no big deal out of it but if you don't put the form and style on the horse now it's you know it's gonna be tough to put it on him later you wanna do everything correctly you always stop position horse's body and then turn even if you're losing the cow all right now I'm just gonna stop it here I think that's that's pretty much the end of the video just test it here pull release position the nose hoax top position the nose release better let her know she did good yeah that's the end of the video okay so that's our cow working lesson now let's talk about how people ruin their horse for working a cow you notice this horse kind of enjoyed working that cow very relaxed very laid-back it was it was something that that went smoothly the horse was comfortable now here's what a lot of people do they'll take their horse that knows nothing about working a cow and enter a ranch sorting contest there's a big herd of cattle the horse doesn't know with cows he doesn't doesn't know what he's supposed to do with them right so he's a little worried the rider nine times out of ten can't read the cow themselves so there's a lot of overreaction a lot of pulling and jerk and a lot of spurn and the horse associates cattle now with punishment you can't be punishing your horse in front of a cow and expect him to like it I mean they want to get out of there you know I'll get horses sometimes you know owner will call put a horse in training and they'll bring the horse and I'll put the horse on a cow and that and I can feel the dread in that horse he doesn't want to take hold of the cow he wants to turn his head away from the cow he wants to eat just wants to get away from the cow and so I'll tell the owner says you know your horse dreads cattle I got to get him over that before we can really make any progress and the owner will usually say what do you mean he dreads cattle I've all I've done is take him to a branding well there you go take your taking your horse it doesn't know cattle to a branding is the best way I know to make him dread cattle think about it here you are you're a Colt or a horse and you don't mutton you don't know much about cattle you go to some branding somewhere and there's there's mama cows screamin calves ballin people are roping your horse isn't used to being you know with a rope swinging around him calves are being healed and drugged to the fire he smells burning hair all the racket noise people are yelling and screaming well he is social associates all that with cattle because when cattle aren't around none of that stuff that scares him is happening so you take your horse to a branding or two and don't be surprised if he wants nothing to do with the cow I mean that is just the way it is and you know I always get that I hear this so much I'm just so sick of hearing it yeah we took my wheat I took my horse to a branding it's so good for them to expose them to all that it is it's not it has to be there you have to be exposed to it in a way that doesn't scare them they need to be exposed to it a little at a time in a controlled situation so things go good and they look forward to working cattle when you when you start your horse on a cow the verse that first thing you should do is approach that cow from behind because the horse feels safe behind the cow he doesn't feel safe going head-to-head with the cow or going towards the front of the cow he wants to see if that cow is more afraid of him then he is of it and so if you approach that cow from behind and that cow moves away from the horse that builds the horses confidence he goes wow that cow is scared of me I can push it around and pretty soon it's fun for them they like doing it now there's two kinds of horses you have you're really timid horses that that truly are afraid of cattle they won't even they won't enter a herd of cattle because it's too intimidating for them and you'll see people try to force them to do it and all you're doing when you do that is punishing your horse in front of a cow and he's gonna he's gonna associate cattle with bad things and then the other kind of horses the real dominant kind of horse that really wants to dominate a cow and they'll go into a herd right away and and you know it doesn't bother them they want to they want to take charge and boss a cow around and and that's fine and if I want a ranch sorter or a rope horse or a rained cow horse I really want that dominant kind of horse that horse wants to dominate cattle if I'm going for a straight cutting horse I actually prefer the horse that's afraid of cattle that's just that just causes the horse to have much more I appeal makes one fork his ears when you're when you're in a show a judge love seeing horse with his ears forked forward he hates seeing one all pin eared yes so it's important now here's another thing to be aware of if you work cattle that will not move away from your horse old sour cattle you're gonna cause your horse to get pin eared because he's gonna have to try to dominate that cow to get it to move and his ears are gonna go back and he's gonna try to bite the cow you when you start your horse on cattle you got to have cattle that move away from the Colt that's what that's what gets his interest that's what keeps him feeling secure okay so you know I'm not gonna rattle on much longer this is gone on too long but you kind of see how we're starting them here and III know most people don't realize it you know don't take your horse to a brain or rant sorting until it knows how to work a cow we're talking about being on a cow in three four times a week for let's say four months to six months before he kind of understands what he's doing and it's gonna have some confidence well then you can go ahead and take him to a branding take him to a rant sorting and you know very little harm is gonna be done then then it actually is good for him but when you take him to branding or rant sorting when they don't know what to do you're gonna make them dread the cow and now you've shot yourself in the foot and we call that ruining your horse before lunch okay we're gonna call it quits right here take care

Channel: Larry Trocha Horse Training

Views: 33,059

Rating: 4.9060054 out of 5

Keywords: cutting horse, reined cow horse, ranch sorting, reining, ranch cutting, reining horse, horse training, team penning, national cutting horse assocation, NCHA cutting, NRHA reining, National Reined Cow Horse Association, working cow horse, Larry Trocha, HorseTrainingVideos.com

Id: fpKRCYz9SRo

Length: 22min 49sec (1369 seconds)

Published: Tue Mar 13 2018