Apprentice Testimonial

Day 1--Monday

1. Palomino mare:
I played the 7 games with her in the indoor arena, and I could use any horse toys I wanted. So we played with poles and barrels and the pedestal, and even did a little bit at liberty. She was fun to play with, and I learned little things like wait. Sometimes it takes a while for the licking and chewing and it's easy to get impatient. But if you wait, it will happen and that's important. She was not a difficult horse though. Then I got.....

2. Black gelding:
He was much more challenging. I couldn't get him on the pedestal, he was leery of jumps, and he wouldn't back over the poles! Tony showed me how to be more persistent and effective until I at least got a try. I didn't realize it, but sometimes I'd stop asking too soon. Jenny and Tony both helped me with refining my phases. I finally got Black gelding to do everything, so it was an excellent experience to see how changing my way of doing things made a difference.

3. Tony explained the Jeffries Ring Rope, and how to use the rope around the horse's neck to get them to give to pressure so they face up and become soft before you put a halter on. This is an excellent technique because of it's quick release. It's basically a porcupine game. You can use either the 45 ft. or the 22 ft. rope for this, depending on the horse. Sometimes you want that distance. It was a lot of fun and challenging too at times learning this technique and trying it with different horses. Palomino mare and Black gelding made significant changes with this.

4. I asked Tony to show me how to throw a lasso with the 45 ft. rope. It's not hard, but it requires lots of practice to catch what you're aiming at. I will have a lot of fun roping fence posts and other objects. I learned that the 45 ft. rope you use in level three is not for roping horses, because the metal (ring) could hurt the horse when you throw it. There's a different rope you use for lassoing horses.

1. Field Day! Tony, Jenny, their daughter Caitlyn and I grabbed some snacks and water bottles and headed out to pick up a horse. A two year old filly who was herd sour with her mother. They were inseparable and the owners said she got aggressive with them. The first challenge was how to get Filly away from the mare so Tony could work with her. They decided to bring the mare up to a round pen and just let two Filly follow. Jenny and I headed for the North 40 while Tony backed the trailer up to the round pen. Filly followed mom into the round pen, and they left the mare there while Tony used the ring rope method on Filly. What a great demonstration of horse savvy that was!!

Filly fit in the "difficult horse" category, but she never did get aggressive with Tony. She laid her ears back only one time and found out that didn't get her anywhere with him and she didn't do it again. It was difficult to get the rope on her, and we were warned that she might try to get out of the round pen, and to stay a safe distance away. We didn't know what Filly might do, but it went much better than expected. Tony got the rope on her and worked on getting respect and following a feel. He worked with her for about an hour.

Fortunately Filly was not afraid of the trailer, and was not terribly difficult to load. She didn't just walk in at first sight, but she didn't put up a fight either. She did get claustrophobic after she got in and her struggling caused her to fall down; but she was ok. Tony let her out and removed the dividing panel. Then he loaded her again and left her untied so she could move around. She was fine with that.

He always did whatever made it easier on her. Once Filly was quiet in the trailer, Jenny took the mare back to her pasture and we were headed back to Pine Dell. On the way, we discussed different scenarios in loading other peoples' horses because you don't always have the luxury of a confined area, and you definitely don't have horse toys to play with for loading preparation.

The number one thing is that the horse respects your space and doesn't crowd you, so being effective with the driving game is essential.

Getting Filly took about two hours including driving time, so a lot was accomplished in a relatively short time.

2. Black gelding---After lunch I played with Black gelding again and I still needed to work on releasing at the right time, being effective and using my phases correctly, but Black gelding did back over the poles a little straighter. I also worked with him in the ring rope around his neck, until he was following it nicely and getting really soft. I was feeling a great sense of accomplishment until Tony asked me to get....

3. Sensitive Arabian mare----She had never even seen a pedestal before, and preferred to jump over it rather than stand on it. She was very challenging, but she did try. She would hold her foot over it, or touch the edge of it. I also got more practice with the ring rope with her. Today I learned that the technique with the ring rope around the neck is not the same as when they're in a halter. They feel a little more at liberty and are more apt to want to leave. The object is to get the horse to give to pressure, and be as soft as possible before haltering.

4. This afternoon I watched Tony work a horse in the round pen by ponying with the ring rope. He said he preferred ponying to using the ring rope from the ground because it gets the horse used to seeing a human above him, and it's less work for him. This horse did not follow very well at all at first, and Tony didn't end the session until there was a change.

1. A session at Liberty --
Today Tony had two horses in the arena at liberty at the same time. This was awesome! I found it very interesting how each horse responded to him independently when he asked one to come in to him while the other one continued on the circle. The one close to him turned with him and never left, and the one on the circle would change directions on cue.

He said horses can read your focus and they know exactly which one you're looking at. And eventually they will circle at the same time in opposite directions. I hope I get to see that!

2. Riding Lesson--
I got to participate in a riding lesson with Jenny, and rode a lesson horse who has the roughest trot in the world, so I got to practice posting and transitions. Riding is not my strong point and I really needed a lesson! It was a gorgeous day and we rode in the outdoor arena. We did an exercise where you tip the horses' nose just enough so you can see his eye, but he's still traveling straight. Another first for me!

3. Sensitive Arabian mare--
I used the 45 foot neck rope and I was to pretend it was at liberty. It really is a game to see how light you can be! The biggest challenge was when I discovered she didn't like the rope around her haunches, and she went right brained and pulled away from me. After several failed attempts to get the rope around her, Jenny showed me how to use the 22 ft. rope instead and that worked better. When I finally got it around her and she followed the feel, turned around in a nice calm manner, and we quit. I worked on this for a long time, so that time was a good place to stop.

4. Sorrel mare---
Sorrel is a lesser trained mare, and Jenny had me start with the 22 ft. neck rope. She was really difficult for me, and would pull on me the whole time while circling. She pulled away from me a few times.

Here was a good lesson in "zonology" and Jenny showed me how to use my savvy string at zone 3 to bend her and that prevented her from leaving. That way I didn't have to keep pulling on her head, and she wasn't pulling on me either. It made things go so much better! Tony also suggested that I have her change directions more often. I was amazed how fast things changed! (Love this savvy stuff!)

Day 4--Thursday

1. Annie-- a four month old orphan filly.
Tony took her to a big stall next to the round pen, and I'm glad I didn't have to do that, because Annie was leading the way part of the time. Amazing how strong these little babies can be!

In the stall, Tony told me where to stand, and how to keep the rope on her, and use the porcupine game to get her to follow one step at a time. I used the 22 ft. rope around her neck, (not the ring rope method) and I held both ends of the rope.

It was hard to stay where I was supposed to and keep from pulling on her at the same time. Here I learned the importance of being in the proper position, because Annie could easily get me out of position and things went south pretty quickly! On several ocassions I found myself looking at the hindquarters. ..Not a very good place to be!

Once I figured out how to stay in the proper position, she was leading in just a few minutes. Then I started the porcupine game to get her to move away from me. She got away from me a few times throughout the session and then there was the typical baby behavior of running, kicking, jumping and trying to run over me; especially when Tony was working a horse in the round pen next to us, slapping the ground with his savvy string. It made things very interesting!

Tony helped me out and said to direct her feet and keep her busy. Then things went better. If I stopped directing her for even a few seconds, she would direct them herself and that's when I got in trouble. I had to keep a step ahead of her all the time, and that was not easy. I also had to push her back, to teach her not to push on me. She was a handful; but what a cutie!

2. Sorrel mare---
We went to the playground and obstacle course! Tony showed me how to use two posts, to get Sorrel mare to change directions, and get really good at not pulling against the rope. Then we did circles and there was no more pulling on me either! What a huge change that was from the day before! Then we went over logs, backed over poles, and she even stood on a stump, which is smaller than the pedestal! She was a joy to play with now! After that, Tony rode her in the arena. But I didn't watch him ride. I observed Jenny in the round pen with....

3. Filly; the horse we got from the pasture.
This was the first session with Filly. The biggest issue was respect and giving to pressure. Filly's owners said she was aggressive, but she was not a mean horse, and didn't show any aggressive behavior towards Tony nor Jenny; at least not while I was there. Jenny even let me play with her for a while, but in about five minutes things started to fall apart, and Jenny had to come and "fix it" again!

It's always an education just to watch Tony or Jenny with any horse as you always see an excellent demonstration of the phases done properly and effectively. The best example of this was when Jenny had a session with ....

4. Unstarted.... A 6 year old who had no respect for humans at all.
Unstarted would push and crowd, and he was the most difficult horse I saw in training while I was there. Jenny worked him in a halter and rope and did a lot of backing and yielding the hindquarters. Since he did not respect Jenny and didn't yield very well, I saw a good demonstration on how firm you have to be some times, as Unstarted ran past her several times. Jenny can be very firm when she needs to, and she had to be persistant until he responded. This session lasted about an hour.

1. Buckskin mare....
Today I got some experience with trailer loading. First I played with Buckskin mare in the indoor arena doing some driving, circling, going over a pole and backing over it. I found out I had a "hole" in my driving game. I was not in the proper position for one thing. The other problem was that I was trying so hard to offer a soft feel, I had too much slack in the rope, and there was no feel for her follow at all. So Jenny showed me where stand, and how to give her a feel to follow, so my directions would be more clearly understood. There was an immediate change! After playing with her in the arena we went to the trailer. She was an easy loader, and after a few circles in front of the trailer, she practically went in on her own.

2. Sorrel mare--This was my third session with her.
Jenny told me to do only what I needed to that would pertain to trailer loading, so I made certain she respected my space, understood the driving game, and going forward.

Loading Sorrel mare was not difficult either, until Tony asked me to load her while I was by the bumper. I needed help with that, and he showed me how to make my phases effective even though I was out of her sight.

Also, in my attempt to give her more rope, I was accidentally shaking it. She felt that and kept backing out. Jenny showed me how to feed the rope through my hand slowly. She went in!

3. Reactive mare--- She was very pushy mare and reactive with very little training;
Reactive mare was the most difficult horse I had while I was there. She would crowd me when she was close, leave me when going sideways, and pull away on the circle. Jenny had to help me with her and showed me how to keep her from turning away by bumping her nose towards me, but give her more rope so she wouldn't crowd.

This was another lesson in the importance of zonology, as she would push on me with different parts of her body, and I had to drive that part away from me. I did not always see what she was doing, but I learned to see it coming before what happens happened!

I learned a lot from Reactive mare, like just where my limit of savvy was! We made some progress, but not enough to take her to the trailer. I was hoping I could at least try but we ran out of time, because at 3:00 we had to go to another ranch where there was ....

4. An Akhal Teke Stallion!
The owners got this horse from a ranch in Texas. He is a five year old stallion who has had no training at all. What an interesting story it was on how he got to from Russia to Pleasant Hill! The new owners are very savvy horse people, but knew they didn't have enough for this horse.

When we got there he was in a stall, where he had been there since they brought him home a month ago, because nobody wanted to try to do anything with him!

Tony and Jenny discussed with the owners how to get him from the stall to the round pen since they didn't know if he would lead, bolt, run or what all, down the alley way of the barn. So we all vacated the area and watched from a safe distance, while Tony led him to the round pen.

Their set-up prevented him from being out in the open, so he couldn't really go anywhere if he did get away from Tony. To everyone's surprise he calmly walked with Tony to the round pen with no problem!

Once in the round pen Tony worked with him at liberty. Jenny asked why he decided to do that instead of using the neck rope, and he said it's the trainer's choice. But I'm glad he did it this way because it is my personal favorite method to observe or do with a horse.

I love this technique because it fascinates me how you can teach a horse to respect your space, yield the hindquarters, face up and join up without ever touching him.

The round pen had solid walls, but had stairs that led up to an observation platform so we all went up there to watch. Tony started out with asking the stallion to move around the arena until he was calmer and starting to listen. He didn't put his head down, which is usually the first sign of a horse calming down, and submitting, but there was a lot of licking and chewing!

Each phase sort of evolved into each other, as the horse would change directions, face up, turn with Tony, and finally follow him all around the round pen. Both horse and human were very calm throughout the session which lasted almost three hours.

Tony did put a halter on him, played some friendly games, upped the ante, and started skipping up to him. He had us all laughing because we knew he'd never seen a cowboy do that before, and the horse's concerned expression seemed to say, "What the heck are you doing?"

Unfortunately it was time to go. This horse had made remarkable changes and it was a good place to stop.

The one thing that stands out above everything else is how Tony and Jenny evaluate the situation first. They figure out ahead of time what to do and how to do it, and consider all the options that will keep them safe and be the easiest for the horse.

There are no words that can describe how awesome it is to do something like this, and I am so thankful that Tony and Jenny are willing to share their knowledge with others. They are truly the best instructors to study with.

There are no words..... Barbara Harshner

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