Hey guys, I'm putting together a vacation week in Walden, CO at the Canadian River Ranch for July of 2026.  We will brand cattle, trail cattle, take amazing trail rides into the backcountry, have a clinic, rope (if you want), and otherwise have a great cowboy type adventure.  The accommodations will be first class and we'll even have a few horses for people that want to fly in.  Would anyone be interested in attending?  I'm offering this trip to B1 members first.😁

Looking for a little advice. My 6 yo has become a little fractious lately. Great attitude from the ground, including at liberty. No issue saddling and he takes the bit without any prompting.  We’ve had a few changes at the barn and between that and weather I have not been riding/ training as often as usual (2-3 times per week vs 5). He has started resisting right turns (head down and pulling, tail twisting a bit). I’ll make going to the left more work and he’ll return back to the right for a bit and then the struggle begins again (slight rearing and protesting). He’ll also trot a few circles when asked but after a few will start to tighten up a bit and lope. I’ll bring him down before he gets too tight and things get a little interesting. Throughout this, I’ve noticed he is constantly working his mouth and I mean constantly.  He doesn’t have a foamy mouth, and I like to think I’m giving gentle cues, but his mouth doesn’t stop. The bit is a D-Ring snaffle with a full bridle. I’ve made a dental appointment and well-check but looking to see if anyone has any  other advice. I am going to take a video of the next ride to see where it starts to shift.

What are y'all working on and how do you track and measure progress?

In addition to trying to figure out lead changes, I've been working on hobble training on the older horses and working a couple youngsters at the gate. Riding a couple at a time made me wonder how/if everyone else has trouble tracking progress and next steps.

Any of you all have methods you've used to roadmap progress on a horse and then track progress? I'm thinking about building out a notebook with a planning section (somewhat like Mr. Richard Boatwright's steps he outlines in the ES20 programs) and a notes part to write down where the horse was when I stepped off. I'm old and forget what happened and/or what I need to work on shortly thereafter.

We use the attached goal sheet(s) for the objectives/plan for each horse (which helps in not getting lost while riding). 

Anyone going to be in the Fairplay, CO area this weekend?  I'll be holding a clinic at the fairgrounds.  Come by if you can!

Alright, realising that my main ride has close to no direction off of my legs, and I'm wondering how to approach that when all she does when I add my leg is gain speed. 

Hello from New Zealand, hope all is well across the world. I am looking at buying a 60ft waxed cotton rope for general ranch work from 3:10 ranch life and am unsure on the whether to get a 5/16 or 3/8th. I’ve only ever used 3/8th ropes before but seems like the 5/16 are more popular in the waxed cotton. Do you have a suggestion on what might work best. I’m not a skilled roper but would like to go to the next step. Thanks for any advice Cheers Ben 

Saddling Blowups 

Richard Boatwright Mr. Boatwright (and the rest of the B1 Community) - I'm puzzled by some recent behavior by the 7 year old gray horse I've got. Recently he has started blowing up with the saddle on once saddled. 

What it looks like:

I've included a video, but he generally starts blowing/snorting once I saddle him. Once saddled, he'll pop once I start moving him around a little bit. This started a few weeks ago. He was tied and popped a cork - I was unable to see anything that scared him or pushed him back. Since then he's been 100% consistent in some kind of blowup when saddling. Once he wraps up he rides around just fine. This is entirely new - he's never bucked doing warmups since his first few rides.

Video: https://youtu.be/fUi__L1UbGc

What I've tried/am trying:

• Different saddles, cinches, stirrups, back cinches, tightening back cinch, moving back cinch.

• Warming him up before saddling.

• Currently I'm on day 5 of putting him in the round pen and attempting to get him to think about it. In these sessions I attempt to associate the saddle with rest and work him without it, then put the saddle on him and let him rest, etc.

What I'm thinking of trying:

• Getting him checked for 'beans'

• Saddling him from the off-side to see if it's an issue with seeing movement there. 

• Continuing the work with the saddle is rest approach (he has seemed to lose some of the intensity in these).

• Any ideas you or the group at large might have.

I had a question when I get off my horse to doctor a calf my horse ends up walking away and I have to go get her, is there a way to get her not to do that? 

Catching a horse who hasn’t been handled, I have a new gelding who has been sitting for 2 years without being touched. He was only caught to get his feet done but he really is stressed about being caught. Any ideas? I tried sitting with him, he will come and sniff me, take treats out of my hand but then runs away if I try to touch him, or getting the halter around him. Once you catch him he is SO sweet. Just the initial human interaction is lacking. Any advice??

My biggest “hole” in my training (that I know of) is my knowledge of bits.  You explain pretty good about the snaffle bits.  I don’t have a couple grand to go out and buy a bunch of tom balding bits.  With that said what bits would you say are “must haves” and what do you stay away from?  The only snaffle I have is an old O ring that’s super heavy like literally probably 3lbs.  I worry it’s too much for most young horses.  I got it to soften up an old stiff rope horse years ago.