We've made it home safe from or epic adventure in France and we have all been forever changed by the experience.  The people were welcoming, the accommodations were perfect, and the food was incredible!  All I can say is that we will be back.  Here are a few pics, I'll share more as I can.

I had the pleasure of teaching a Beginnner Cow Horse clinic yesterday in Elbert, CO.  I had a great time and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves.  Today I'm sticking around to show Lucky and Hot Wheels in a jackpot cutting at the same facility.  I'll let yall know how it goes!

New Pony Alert!

So we had a free stable (stall) that is already paid for and it was for the new foal that wasn’t meant to be…… meet Sidney 

He is a bit of a rescue Job and is in poor shape, but I’ve always fancied having a mini cob (gypsy vanner) in the herd and he certainly is that.

8-9 months old and around 10h and a Grey Blagdon (not sure what your US equivalent is)

he had been tethered on scrub land and I don’t think has ever been handled, led, wormed, groomed, had his feet done or anything, matted up and in a bit of a state.

But this little lad, mark my words will turn out to be a swan rising from an ugly duckling, still a colt but a very sweet eye and inquisitive nature.

Can’t wait to get him sorted and cleaned up, he will be a stunner. 

Destined to be a grass cutter and also put on the cart to give him a job. 

His education starts tomorrow….. 

We just picked up a mare and foal this weekend. The foal was born on 5/28, so almost a month old. My question is in regards to your philosophy with babies?

How much should they be played with, or not? What sorts of activities are appropriate? At what age/level of development do you do different activities?  

I know there is a continuum of thoughts on this, from let them out on the range and don't touch them till they're two year old, to play with them everyday like a family pet. As I've been going through your content (I just wrapped up ES 20 Colt Starting with Neches) you've alluded to a couple different things regarding this "let the babies learn to become horses first" and "the owners of Neches did a real nice job working with him with the halter."

I've really grown to appreciate your practical approach to horsemanship and would love to hear your take on this. (I've looked all over the site to see if you had any videos and couldn't find anything, so if you do please direct me to them)

So I'm looking at this 2 y/o prospect for reined cowhorse and I'm trying to get some second opinions on his conformation. My biggest concern are his fronts. Are his pasterns too long?

Hello, I was wondering. I'm working on Hobble training my colt right now, and was wondering how long the rope should be between the back hobble and the front hobble. Does anyone have any ideas?

So I recently took in a barrel horse tune up, she has been off all winter and the owner asked if I’d put a few rides on her to see where she’s at. I did not start this mare, she is a long 4 year old. 

She is really hot, sweats herself out at a trot when not getting asked to go fast at all. The first few rides I mostly worked on speed control, she seemed like she was picking it up and on ride number 4 I was asking her to yield her hips and when I asked her to yield left she had a come apart. I got her out of it and got her to go on and finish on a good calm note. On ride 6 as soon as I asked her to disengage her hips to the left she had another come apart, originally I thought she was fighting the bit, she is really mouthy on it, so I tried a side pull. She was really relaxed in the side pull until I asked for her to disengage her hindquarters to the left. On the ground I went all over her body, she is really touchy on the right side near the back cinch. 

Any ideas besides just going back and working on her sensitive spots? 

Finally found a good horse vet ( in our rural area all the good vets are cow vets) to examine my horse. She said he is blind. He can see blobs and not much of that were her words. Definitely explains a lot. Also, definitely helps with how to go about earning his trust and building his confidence. Anyone one have any experience with this? Also, if you have a blue-eyed horse that is erratic, defensive, and nervous, it might help to get its vision checked.

Stable update (because I know how you love it 🤣🤣)

Angel - she really has got over loosing the foal well, back in work and loving the round pen work, she has driven carts before so ground driving is second nature to her, although turning and softening the head is a challenge to her as she has been taught to not bend! Grasped the code very well and her attitude has returned (dominant mare who loves a fight) - couple of rides, all good 

Flicker - the old girl has worked the code but doesn’t really understand anything much and given her age that’s fine, discovered a tumour in her front hoof so that’s bad news as she is to old to operate on

Sargent - making good progress with moving forward, he is a master at the code and ground driving is coming on, back in the saddle for him soon although he has taken to trying to roll lots to get out of work so nipping that in the bud 

This trip to France has been incredible!  I'll share pics as soon as I get some good internet. 🤠