Make sure to check out our events page. We have some great demonstrations coming up. The first one is at I90 Expo Center in Sherburn, MN. on Dec. 4th at 12 noon. This is free to the public! I will be working with a 2 year old Friesian Stallion.
We have a few things happening in Jan. that we are solidifying right now. So check back often. In Feb on the 19th we will be having a one day clinic at Red Horse Ranch Arena in Fergus Falls. The pricing on this one day clinic is phenomenal, and the number of participants is limited. Call Red Horse Ranch Arena right away to reserve your spot or come and audit. www.redhorserancharena.com
There is still time to enter your horse in The Search for the World's Most Beautiful Horse Contest to be held at the Midwest Horse Fair in Madison this April 2011. We are having great fun with this contest and we think you will have fun too! Voting is online to start with - you can go online and register for the contest too, just go to www.midwesthorsefair.com
Any horse can register, this is purely a horse beauty and graceful movement contest, Plus there are some great prizes!!
The initial online voting is what will get you to the finals, from there judging starts over with our celebrity panel of judges and audience voting.
I am really looking forward to working with everyone and MCing the event, plus I have 4 demonstrations planned for the Horse Fair at Madison that you will want to come and watch, too! Hope to see you there!
Dennis Auslam
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
Friday, November 19, 2010
Fall and Winter Training Special
We are offering our Fall and Winter Training Special. You can book you horse for training for November, December or January and save a $100.00 off our regular price of 750.00 per month. Fall and winter is really a great time to do training, it gets you out of chores and gets your horse prepared or tuned up for spring,
We are a little less tied up in the fall and winter so your horse gets even more attention than normal!
Last year, when we offered this special it booked up pretty quickly, so don't wait to schedule your training or we might not be able to fit you in. Call us today - 507 430-0342. We do ask for half down to take advantage of this special, then the other half is due when you bring in the horse for training.
Look forward to hearing from you, Dennis.
Visit our webpage - http://www.redwoodstables.com for information
We are a little less tied up in the fall and winter so your horse gets even more attention than normal!
Last year, when we offered this special it booked up pretty quickly, so don't wait to schedule your training or we might not be able to fit you in. Call us today - 507 430-0342. We do ask for half down to take advantage of this special, then the other half is due when you bring in the horse for training.
Look forward to hearing from you, Dennis.
Visit our webpage - http://www.redwoodstables.com for information
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
"You Don't Always Know What It Is You Don't Know"
Forward by Dennis Auslam:
I received this testimonial recently, I am sharing it here, not to toot my own horn, but to encourage others to not give up. The key to successful horse ownership, and riding, is when you realize that you "don't know what it is that you don't know." Once you realize that you have a lack of knowledge you will be able to start asking questions and you can get on the road to learning. One of my passions is training good horses, the other is training riders to be good riders and responsible horse people. D.A.
October reminds me of the first clinic I attended, 3 years ago, with Dennis Auslam at Redwood Stables in Morton, MN.
I had bought a mule in May of '07 at Timberlakes Mules in Illinois. I had stayed there for a week doing my homework on observing this mule, watching the owner catch her, brush and tack her up and finally ride her. I then rode Ruby, that was her name, with my own tack. We went up and down the hills to see if I could get along with this mule. There was never a problem. She was what I had always wanted, so I bought her.
That brings us back to the clinic with Dennis. By the time August rolled around Ruby's attitude and demeanor started to change. She was not trusting me and she was becoming more defiant. She never bucked and never gave me any of the red flag signals, but she started turning her head when I wanted to bridle her up and she was always in a hurry to go home, even when the rest of the group headed a different way. She started pinning her ears back at the other animals and was, in general, displaying an attitude.
My farrier suggested a clinic at Redwood Stables with Dennis Auslam and so I registered for the next clinic that was coming up. That is when I met the Auslam family. Dennis, Michele and their daughter, Emma. They made me feel very welcome and offered to help in anyway. The clinic was a Desensitizing and Confidence Clinic and in those two days Ruby and I learned what respect is, the mechanics of the horse, timing, positioning and balance of the equine.
We started out with saddle fitting with Larry Norton, a saddle-maker. He showed us the parts of the saddle, where and how the saddle should fit, how to check the underside of the saddle, how to test the leather for rot and how to do basic cleaning. Then Dennis showed us some areas on the horse that can cause trouble, locating the pressure point areas for teeth, sand colic, ribs being out at the shoulders, and checking the ribs on the rib cage for sensation (palpating ).
After this demonstration we headed to the arena for ground work. When we felt comfortable with our horses showing us respect on the ground, putting their feet and shoulders where we wanted, getting them to stop with one word (whoa), having them respect our space going through gates, desensitizing and a number of other techniques we practiced, we advanced to the trail course for more obstacles and more groundwork.
The 2nd day we had our tack laid out for Dennis and Larry to check. They would put the saddle on the horse without the pad, and paying close attention, check the fit. We were taught to check and how to feel with our hands to see if the bar of the saddle tree was hitting or on top of the shoulder bone. Then they looked for bridging and showed how you would know if their was a problem and if the saddle you had wasn't a good fit. They were honest, and if their was a problem with someones’ saddle Dennis would offered his tack to the client, for the day.
When everyone was tacked up we did more groundwork with tarps, flags and leaf-blowers. We guided our horses through barrels that were stacked up that could be knocked over, flexing them through and around the barrels, learning how to get forward motion, how to stop on our cue and how to back up.
At this point we mounted for bridle work. Dennis demonstrated, on his horse, how to get your horse soft through flexing laterally, and release the pressure (reward the horse) once the horse gave to the bit. He taught us how to use the barrels to get them to bend with inside rein and outside leg pressure. Dennis also showed us how to achieve vertical flexion to facilitate a stop, getting the horse to flex at the poll, using your legs to lift the ribcage and backing up.
Our last lesson was to put this all in motion on the trail course and, at the end, with cattle in the arena.
Dennis, through all of the two days of training, which was for both horse and rider, always reminded us about safety. At the end of the clinic we worked cattle. For safety, for those that had not been around cattle, he acclimated the horses on the ground first. The calves were then turned loose and we were divided into teams and given tasks to do as a team. This taught us to not only communicate with our horses, but as riders we had to communicate with each other and learn how to work together in moving the cattle to get the task accomplished.
After the clinic I tried to apply the new concepts I had learned, but Ruby still didn't seem happy. Dennis offered to have me come back and work on my skills, he never turned me away once. When I would call, he would say "When are you coming up?" He always made time for me and seemed to set his busy schedule aside to help me. There were things Dennis picked up on that I have never even known about. I am not going to candy coat anything here either, Dennis is very honest about what he sees happening and it may not be what you want to hear. He doesn't judge you, but you might anticipate the possibility of some heartaches or disappointments. He is willing to show you the things you ask about, and if you are willing to learn and open your mind to different ideas, you can get to the next level.
So, I decided to start coming back to his clinics, putting in extra time with her and learning patience. Much of the problem was me. Dennis said people create a lot of horse problems and usually there is a reason horses act cranky. What I ended up finding out was that Ruby was trying to tell me that my bad back was a problem, not a bad saddle fit or anything else. My bad back caused me to do a death grip on my stirrups, plus I always felt like I was leaning forward, over her shoulders, so I started over compensating by leaning back to far, causing her loin area to hurt. Because I was always worried about my body position I never relaxed and that made Ruby feel nervous, which caused her to to keep moving faster and be so distracted that she would not pay attention to my cues. Alas, the vicious circle kept going around and around. It was through working with Dennis that the circle was broken.
Dennis taught me how to ride relaxed and use my seat and legs more than my hands. When you use your hands to much the horse, or mule in my case, will get hard mouthed, stiff-necked and hollow out their backs. So Dennis' verbal cues to me were: stay in the middle of the saddle, stop looking down, look where you want to go, stop micro managing her mouth, breath and relax.
With lots of hard work from both of us she has started to trust me and has relaxed more when getting ready to ride. My hand cues are softer and we are concentrating on having fun again. Many times I had come close to quitting but my life has always revolved around riding, from young on it is my passion.
What I would like to say to Dennis is THANK-YOU. Without your understanding and patience, your knowledge and help, telling me to keep riding, keep working at it, "hang in there cowgirl", stop leaning, "you don't know what you don't know", all of your tolerance of me coming to your stable for days on end, NOT telling me, literally, how sick of us hanging around you are, and telling us over and over that persistence and hard work will pay off, I know I wouldn't have made it this far. You could of given up on us a long time ago, but you care enough about the animals and people that you don't.
by Marie Kuehn
Stay safe and happy trails! Dennis Auslam
I received this testimonial recently, I am sharing it here, not to toot my own horn, but to encourage others to not give up. The key to successful horse ownership, and riding, is when you realize that you "don't know what it is that you don't know." Once you realize that you have a lack of knowledge you will be able to start asking questions and you can get on the road to learning. One of my passions is training good horses, the other is training riders to be good riders and responsible horse people. D.A.
October reminds me of the first clinic I attended, 3 years ago, with Dennis Auslam at Redwood Stables in Morton, MN.
I had bought a mule in May of '07 at Timberlakes Mules in Illinois. I had stayed there for a week doing my homework on observing this mule, watching the owner catch her, brush and tack her up and finally ride her. I then rode Ruby, that was her name, with my own tack. We went up and down the hills to see if I could get along with this mule. There was never a problem. She was what I had always wanted, so I bought her.
That brings us back to the clinic with Dennis. By the time August rolled around Ruby's attitude and demeanor started to change. She was not trusting me and she was becoming more defiant. She never bucked and never gave me any of the red flag signals, but she started turning her head when I wanted to bridle her up and she was always in a hurry to go home, even when the rest of the group headed a different way. She started pinning her ears back at the other animals and was, in general, displaying an attitude.
My farrier suggested a clinic at Redwood Stables with Dennis Auslam and so I registered for the next clinic that was coming up. That is when I met the Auslam family. Dennis, Michele and their daughter, Emma. They made me feel very welcome and offered to help in anyway. The clinic was a Desensitizing and Confidence Clinic and in those two days Ruby and I learned what respect is, the mechanics of the horse, timing, positioning and balance of the equine.
We started out with saddle fitting with Larry Norton, a saddle-maker. He showed us the parts of the saddle, where and how the saddle should fit, how to check the underside of the saddle, how to test the leather for rot and how to do basic cleaning. Then Dennis showed us some areas on the horse that can cause trouble, locating the pressure point areas for teeth, sand colic, ribs being out at the shoulders, and checking the ribs on the rib cage for sensation (palpating ).
After this demonstration we headed to the arena for ground work. When we felt comfortable with our horses showing us respect on the ground, putting their feet and shoulders where we wanted, getting them to stop with one word (whoa), having them respect our space going through gates, desensitizing and a number of other techniques we practiced, we advanced to the trail course for more obstacles and more groundwork.
The 2nd day we had our tack laid out for Dennis and Larry to check. They would put the saddle on the horse without the pad, and paying close attention, check the fit. We were taught to check and how to feel with our hands to see if the bar of the saddle tree was hitting or on top of the shoulder bone. Then they looked for bridging and showed how you would know if their was a problem and if the saddle you had wasn't a good fit. They were honest, and if their was a problem with someones’ saddle Dennis would offered his tack to the client, for the day.
When everyone was tacked up we did more groundwork with tarps, flags and leaf-blowers. We guided our horses through barrels that were stacked up that could be knocked over, flexing them through and around the barrels, learning how to get forward motion, how to stop on our cue and how to back up.
At this point we mounted for bridle work. Dennis demonstrated, on his horse, how to get your horse soft through flexing laterally, and release the pressure (reward the horse) once the horse gave to the bit. He taught us how to use the barrels to get them to bend with inside rein and outside leg pressure. Dennis also showed us how to achieve vertical flexion to facilitate a stop, getting the horse to flex at the poll, using your legs to lift the ribcage and backing up.
Our last lesson was to put this all in motion on the trail course and, at the end, with cattle in the arena.
Dennis, through all of the two days of training, which was for both horse and rider, always reminded us about safety. At the end of the clinic we worked cattle. For safety, for those that had not been around cattle, he acclimated the horses on the ground first. The calves were then turned loose and we were divided into teams and given tasks to do as a team. This taught us to not only communicate with our horses, but as riders we had to communicate with each other and learn how to work together in moving the cattle to get the task accomplished.
After the clinic I tried to apply the new concepts I had learned, but Ruby still didn't seem happy. Dennis offered to have me come back and work on my skills, he never turned me away once. When I would call, he would say "When are you coming up?" He always made time for me and seemed to set his busy schedule aside to help me. There were things Dennis picked up on that I have never even known about. I am not going to candy coat anything here either, Dennis is very honest about what he sees happening and it may not be what you want to hear. He doesn't judge you, but you might anticipate the possibility of some heartaches or disappointments. He is willing to show you the things you ask about, and if you are willing to learn and open your mind to different ideas, you can get to the next level.
So, I decided to start coming back to his clinics, putting in extra time with her and learning patience. Much of the problem was me. Dennis said people create a lot of horse problems and usually there is a reason horses act cranky. What I ended up finding out was that Ruby was trying to tell me that my bad back was a problem, not a bad saddle fit or anything else. My bad back caused me to do a death grip on my stirrups, plus I always felt like I was leaning forward, over her shoulders, so I started over compensating by leaning back to far, causing her loin area to hurt. Because I was always worried about my body position I never relaxed and that made Ruby feel nervous, which caused her to to keep moving faster and be so distracted that she would not pay attention to my cues. Alas, the vicious circle kept going around and around. It was through working with Dennis that the circle was broken.
Dennis taught me how to ride relaxed and use my seat and legs more than my hands. When you use your hands to much the horse, or mule in my case, will get hard mouthed, stiff-necked and hollow out their backs. So Dennis' verbal cues to me were: stay in the middle of the saddle, stop looking down, look where you want to go, stop micro managing her mouth, breath and relax.
With lots of hard work from both of us she has started to trust me and has relaxed more when getting ready to ride. My hand cues are softer and we are concentrating on having fun again. Many times I had come close to quitting but my life has always revolved around riding, from young on it is my passion.
What I would like to say to Dennis is THANK-YOU. Without your understanding and patience, your knowledge and help, telling me to keep riding, keep working at it, "hang in there cowgirl", stop leaning, "you don't know what you don't know", all of your tolerance of me coming to your stable for days on end, NOT telling me, literally, how sick of us hanging around you are, and telling us over and over that persistence and hard work will pay off, I know I wouldn't have made it this far. You could of given up on us a long time ago, but you care enough about the animals and people that you don't.
by Marie Kuehn
Stay safe and happy trails! Dennis Auslam
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)