Bridle Up with Dennis Auslam

Giving Back

2011-12-05T22:08:00.000-08:00

Just before I moved to Minnesota I was in contact with a young man that had terminal cancer. He was around 10 years old. I met him at a barn I was training out of. His mom had brought him there because he was crazy about horses. In the beginning I didn’t even know that he was sick. He was so happy and enthusiastic that I told him he could come help me groom horses. After awhile I hauled an old horse up there that he could ride. This was met with even more enthusiasm.

Eventually his mother sat down with me and told me what was going on with him. I wouldn’t have known by looking at him because at the time he was in remission, but he had been through numerous surgeries and radiation. Once I found that out it made me put even more effort and time in than I had been. I set up wagon rides and took him to some ropings, let him ride around with the big boys and we set up a benefit for him. It took about 90 days to set this up. Wiley Gufstason came in and played, we received many donations, plus we had an auction and we were able to raise enough money to allow him to experience some things the family would not have been able to do, one of which was a trip to Disneyland, plus help with some of the medical bills. One of the things I remember the most about this young man is that he never whined or moaned about his health issues. He was always bright, cheerful, and enthusiastic, and he enjoyed participating in everything we could offer.

Now, if you think there isn’t a God then listen to this: 2 years after I moved to Minnesota I had
a young man at my ranch, as an apprentice, that was from back in Idaho where I lived. When the summer was over I took him back to Idaho and while I was in there I received a call from the mother of the young man with cancer. He was succumbing to his disease and I was able to sit with him as he drew his last breath. I felt so blessed that I was able to be there with him. This young man was very special to me. I hope that I was able to make things easier and make his days brighter. I know he sure impacted my life. God has impeccable timing.

My point with this article is not to pat myself on the back, but to encourage each and every one of you to give back. It doesn’t have to be money, it can be as simple as going to the hospital and visiting the young or the old. I want my generation, and the next generation, to know that nothing is better than giving back, and more always comes to you than you gave.

It doesn’t matter who you are or what your talent is, there is a need out there that someone
has. You may know them or you may not know them at all. But there are countless people who need you. Every year I go to a benefit for St. Judes in Illinois. I do demonstrations, lessons and training. All fees charged are donated back to St. Judes. It is one of the talents I have to offer.

I recently came into contact with Rex Kent. He heads up the Western Wishes Midwest Chapter and was at EquiFest this year. We chatted quite a bit and my mind was made up then that I would do whatever I could to help this organization, be it through my facility, the horse training or just supporting the functions. I decided that wherever I could help I would. The thing is, if everybody does a little bit then it really adds up. It can be working at your local food shelf or helping your neighbor down the road.

Giving back is also about something else - we often look at people that are having a rough
time and make judgments that are unfair... usually this is your issue, not theirs... here is always someone, if you open your eyes and are looking, that needs help. The holiday season is coming up and with the economy the way it has been there are going to be numerous people out there that aren’t worrying about gifts, they are wondering how they are going to get Christmas dinner on the table.

I have a very dear friend that had a stroke a few years ago, and in the beginning he felt that
he didn’t have anything to give back. Today, he is learning that he still has the gift of gab and is learning to develop that into a story and give back hope to others that may have lost there hope in what can sometimes be extremely hard and difficult situations.

We live in a fast paced world and we really need to slow down and look around us on a
regular basis... You’ll also give yourself a gift by blessing someone else.

Please visit the Western Wishes website and facebook page also. There are some incredibly
kids this organization is working with and Rex and his crew are in the business of being a blessing.
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/groups/348412233847
Website - http://westernwishesmidwest.org

Have a Merry Christmas! Remember the reason for the season.
Dennis Auslam

Older, Seasoned Horses, Worth Their Weight in Gold!

2011-11-05T12:27:00.000-07:00

In our area of the country the riding seasons are just about finished and winter is almost on us. I hope everyone had a chance to get some good riding time in this year. It seemed the weather did not want to cooperate very much. With the wet spring and hot summer there were lots of challenges when riding and extra care needed to be taken.
Some of you had a great season and some did not. For those that did not it might be wise to evaluate your skills and those of your mount and began making plans now for next year. Which leads me to the question - do you have the right horse for your skill level?
I have talked about the older horse before in other articles, but I think it is time to bring the subject up again.
The older horse has the experience and depth of knowledge to help the less experienced rider stay much safer and they are far more forgiving in most instances. I have helped numerous riders find that more mature, seasoned horse and have found that now you cannot get that horse away from them, even when they have moved on to another mount. Those riders will tell you that had they not started or moved to their older horse they would not, most likely, be riding today, or have horses anymore. The horse took care of them, educated them in a safe manner, and kept them safe when they made mistakes. The older horse is truly worth their weight in gold, diamonds and silver.
Older horses may have slight physical issues, but many times those issues can be dealt with through correct nutrition, supplements and shoeing. Today’s older horses are much healthier and have a far longer life span than in days past. Many of these horses have received excellent care and have a good number of years of riding left on them. When taken care of an older horse can become practically new again!
Here is another way to think about this - when you need advice on something important are you going to go to someone young, with no life experience, or are you going to go to someone with some age and with years of life experience? Who would you have the most confidence in? The same thought pattern applies to the horse and though they may have a few aches and pains, they still like to work and enjoy life, it may be at a little slower pace, but for the less experienced rider that is really the pace they probably need themselves.
I will always tell someone when I believe they have the wrong horse, not because I know everything, but because I am that older individual who I would hope you would go to for advice, and when it comes to horses I have seen a lot. As a trainer I feel a heavy responsibility to keep you safe. Not everyone wants to hear that I think they have the wrong horse, but if I feel this is the case, and I don’t say anything, then I don’t feel I am doing anyone a favor and I feel responsible if something happens. If an individual decides against my advice, well, at least I have done my job and forewarned them. I want people to be safe, enjoy their horses and stay in the horse industry.
If your experiences over this riding season have not been what you had hoped for than spend some time over this coming winter to reevaluate and give some serious consideration to what your skills are and if your horse is right for you. If you feel you need help with this whole process that is what we, and most other trainers, are here for, or at least should be here for. At Redwood Stables we do numerous horse and rider evaluations throughout the year and take great pride in matching up the right horse with it’s riders skill level.
If I could get one thing across to people to have them take seriously, it would be this - Horses are wonderful and you can have that dream horse experience that you have in your imagination, but if you are new or inexperienced in the world of horses you are going to need help. Help with learning to ride, help with finding the right horse, help with how to learn to care for the horse and help with understanding the training aspects of handling a horse.
You may have already gotten a horse and it is getting you into trouble or you are getting nervous or even scared. Then it is time “to take the time” to evaluate the whole situation and make some decisions. Do you need more education, do you need a different horse, do you understand what the horse you have is telling you or why it is doing the things it is doing that make you nervous or scared? Do you know what your body language and posture are signaling to your horse? Are you the problem? Is the horse the problem? What is the age and experience level of this horse? You need to ask yourself all of these questions and if you are not sure of the answers you need to find a more experienced individual or trainer to help you reach the correct answers.
One other thing, if you are at the point where you are having situations that make you nervous or scared and you have already been asking your self some of these questions, then there is a very strong chance that you need to look at what the main topic of this article is about and give very serious consideration to looking for that older, well-seasoned horse, as well as getting some training and education for yourself.
We want you to have the horse experience you have always dreamed about, but you have a big part to play in accomplishing that. And starting with the right horse is a huge part of that.
Stay safe and happy trails,
Dennis Auslam

reprinted from Horse Digest

The Benefits of Dressage Movement in a Western Horse

2011-09-18T09:11:00.000-07:00

As Western riders many of us, over the
years, have had a tendency to force our horses
to side-pass, get in the bridle, two track, turn on
the forehand, turn on the hind-quarters, etc., to
quickly. We tend to rush those movements and
that, in the long run disrupts the relationship
between the rider and the horse.
More and more trainers are realizing this.
Many of today’s top trainers have been using
a certain amount of dressage movements on
their horses for years, though not calling it
that.

The longer I train the more I understand
that horses are no different than we are. If
we were going to run a 26 mile marathon we
wouldn’t go out and train for it in 15 days, or
20, or even 30 days. But we seem to have a
mind set that we can go out to work with our
horses and in one evening of training the horse
should learn to side-pass or two track and do it
perfectly. That said, I am also going to say this,
there is no such thing as a fully trained horse
after 30 days with a trainer. That is a fallacy in
this industry and is one of the reasons people
get hurt.

In all actuality each one of the maneuvers
mentioned takes a different muscle group in
the horses body to accomplish it correctly. 9
times out of 10 we haven’t spent enough time
building on those individual muscle groups and
working at breaking down the individual body
parts of the horse. We neglect to work the
hindquarters, the ribs, the shoulders, the neck
and the head and we have a tendency to rush
all of that. What then happens is the horse gets
frustrated, we get frustrated and before long
the horse learns to hate all these maneuvers
and most likely starts acting up.

You can work your horse on the ground
and teach him to disengage his hindquarter,
his rib cage, move his shoulders etc, and do it
efficiently, but when we are sitting on him we
are sitting on the weakest part of the horse, the
back, and we are in their way. What we have
to do is build the muscles, the whole package,
on an individual basis and attain their natural
balance, with you on them, before we start
asking for all the fancy movements.

Dressage training makes the horse use
every part of his body fluidly, effortlessly and
cooperatively. It does it by building up the
horse one step at a time. With Dressage we
are taking the time and building the individual
muscle groups and learning to understand
the mechanics of the horse. One the biggest
problems today is most people don’t understand
the mechanics of the horse. We have to come
to the understanding that “WE” have to get
the proper education to attain a ready, willing
and able horse and build and maintain a great
relationship with the horse. Please notice
that my emphasis is on “WE” and not on the
horse. It is our education that will make all the
difference in the world.

Even I, as a professional trainer, am
always learning and I still takes lessons. I am
always trying to further my education. Over the
last few years I have studied with JP Giacomini,
Mari Monda Zdunic and others. Even going
and listening to qualified trainers will give you a
tremendous amount of information that you will
find beneficial, but there is nothing as valuable
as hands on training.

I had a young lady call me a month or so
ago that was a high level dressage rider. She
wanted to study with me for Western Riding
and I jumped at the opportunity. Though I
maybe able to teach her some Western Riding,
all of us here at the stable are excited to get to
watch her ride and learn from her as well.

The benefits of teaching dressage
movements to your horse, whether you are
a trail rider, team roper, cutter... is that it is
going to make for a much more balanced
and cooperative horse. The reason for this is
because we have taken the time to build the
proper muscles groups in the proper order.
When we do that every move becomes
effortless for the horse, plus each step is
perfected before the next step is undertaken.

You will become so in-tune with your horse
that just the slightest thought in your head kicks
in a certain amount of muscle memory in you
which then transfers right to the horse. At
that point you will have everyone around you
wondering how you are making the horse do
that. You will be able to get your horse to do
things the average rider won’t be able to do.
This was exactly how the old Vaqueros
and the Spanish used to do it and it was a 7
year process to get your horse in the full bridle,
not 30 or 60 days.

If you will put yourself in your horse’s
shoes and think about how you would like
to be taught you will gain a whole different
perspective of training and if you implement
that you will actually end up with a sane horse,
as long as you started out with one.
Midwest Western Dressage is having
Western Dressage clinics on a regular
basis. This may be something you should
check out. You can find them online at www.
midwestwesterndressage.com

About Dennis Auslam.
Dennis has been a trainer for over 30
years, working with many different breeds and
disciplines. He grew up with horses and has
worked with some of the best trainers in the
industry. His passion is horses and people and
he loves helping people learn how to work with
their horses, progress in their riding abilities
and make that connection with their horse.
You will find Dennis at various horse
related events in 2011. He also does numerous
clinics and demos, both at his stable, Redwood
Stables in Morton, MN and at other venues,
concentrating on Confidence Building for the
horse and the rider.
For information regarding his clinics
and demonstrations please visit his web site
at www.redwoodstables.com. Interested in
hosting a clinic? Call 507-525-6691 or email us
at redwoodstables@mvtvwireless.com

Clinic this weekend - Visit our clinic page

2011-08-22T19:05:00.000-07:00

There are still a couple of spots left in our Confidence Clinic this weekend. Aug. 27 & 28. Anke Johnson will be joining us again. She was with us at our Annual Memorial Weekend Clinic and it was one of the best clinics to date.

Visit our website or call 507-525-6473 to register.

Stepping Out of the Box

2011-08-22T18:38:00.000-07:00

When training horses it is often also about training the horse owner. One of the hardest things for many horse owners to comprehend or understand is that the horse wants and needs you to be in the leadership position. It can be difficult for people to “step out of the box” of their own behaviors and ideas without the aid of someone with more experience. To often I have heard people make what are essentially excuses for their horses behavior instead of realizing it is not the horse that has the issues but our lack of knowledge in how to deal with and correct the issues.

Again, it is the adage, “You don’t know what it is you don’t know.” Not knowing is what often leads to horses that end up being out of control and unmanageable. I realize it is a mind-set and, as I said above, many times individuals that are new and have not had horses before are not even aware of what is acceptable behavior and why certain behaviors should not be allowed. This is why the responsibility of owning a horse also includes learning the how’s and why’s of both the care of the horse and the training. We have to realize we are always training anytime we are around our horses!

As an example, if your horse is bumping into you and running you over when you are leading him, and you are not correcting him, you are abdicating your role of leadership to the horse. Allowing this behavior will not give you the relationship you may desire with the horse. When this type of behavior is allowed to continue it will eventually lead to a disaster, and I have to say this, in most cases it will be the horse owners fault, not the horses fault. I have probably said that in almost every article I have ever produced..... so have a hundred other horse trainers that are worth their salt.

Learning what it is you don’t know is an important and imperative step for every horse owner, new or old, and a never ending process. But the rewards are tremendous because it takes you down the road that leads to developing the respect you deserve from your horse and having the relationship you desire with your horse. When you start correcting behavior issues after the fact, you are going to meet with much more resistance from your horse than what you would have experienced if you had been correcting these behaviors from the start.

Most issues are actually simple to resolve. But the longer they go on the more difficult it becomes to fix things. Even those little things, like your horse bumping into you, which is the horse showing that he has a lack of respect for you and your space, will turn into bigger issues.

When these behaviors are allowed the horse will push for more just like a kid pushes their parents. A horse needs and desires boundaries just as a child needs and desires boundaries. We all need direction and correction in our lives, so does the horse. He is not just a big lap dog.

Natural Horsemanship is not about letting your horse run over you. You also do not have to hurt the horse to accomplish gaining the horses respect and teaching it boundaries. You can be your horses best buddy, but there has to be ground rules established and you have to be in control. I have said this next line a million times also - “If you are not in control, then you or someone else is going to get hurt!” I can guarantee that.

When I am working with a horse on the ground I want to gain that horses respect and have him listening and responding to what I am telling him to do, not responding to whatever fear stimulus might be going on. I don’t want him bumping into me just because I am moving him through an obstacle that he thinks is going to eat him. He has to learn that he has to stay out of my space.

When I am riding him I want him to know that the obstacle he fears is okay because I say it’s okay. I want him to trust me more than he fears the foreign stimuli. I am not the only trainer out there that is saying this and my ways of training are not the only ways to train, but every good trainer is working hard to educate and teach their students how important getting the horse’s respect is because this is a very big issue in the industry today.

As a less experienced horse owner, the only difference between you and myself is the amount of time it may take to get hurt. This is one of the reasons I continually talk about the respect issue, because it is so important when it comes to your safety.

I don’t have issues with loving your horse. I do have issues with letting it get away with anything and everything because these animals truly are not lap dogs. Their natural instincts are not as predators but as prey, and those instincts are what will get you hurt if you have not learned to properly correct and expect the right behaviors from your horse.

Below is a short list of behaviors that I see and deal with on a regular basis.
• Allowing the horse to walk over you - Your horse should not come within 2 feet of you unless you invite him in.
• Allowing him to rush through a gate and practically trample you - Your horse should always be aware of you and respect your space. He should follow you through the gate and not come into your circle of space at any time.
• Allowing your horse to rub his head on you when he is hot or annoyed - this is a nono.
• Allowing your horse to not pay attention to you when you are leading him - I want him focused on me.
• Allowing your horse to continue walking when you say ”whoa” - When you say stop, you want him to stop and wait for instructions.

Everything on this list is a learned behavior and whether you are by your horse in the stall, leading him, or riding him, he is learning something. Is he learning what it is that will keep you and him safe or is he learning that you are not the leader?

Have a fun and safe fall riding season!
Bridle Up with Dennis Auslam

About Dennis Auslam.
Dennis has been a trainer for over 30 years, working with many different breeds and disciplines. He grew up with horses and has worked with some of the best trainers in the industry. His passion is horses and people and he loves helping people learn how to work with their horses, progress in their riding and make that connection with their horse.
You will find Dennis at various horse related events in 2011. He also does numerous clinics and demos, both at his stable, Redwood Stables in Morton, MN and at other venues, concentrating on Confidence Building for the horse and the rider.
For information regarding his clinics and demonstrations please visit his web site at www.redwoodstables.com. Interested in hosting a clinic? Call 507-525-6691 or email us at redwoodstables@mvtvwireless.com

Equine Chiropractor

2011-07-12T08:17:00.000-07:00

Equine Chiropractor Alana Altnow will be in our area again on Thursday, July 21st. She'll be at Dennis Aslum's arena for the afternoon. If you have a horse in need, either respond to her by email or phone: 651-983-6076.

Staying Safe on the Trail

2011-07-11T15:31:00.000-07:00

I truly have a deep desire to see people who decide to pursue the horse lifestyle stay involved in it. It is one of the most fulfilling and rewarding pursuits you can become involved in. Now the but..., in the last month and half I know of at least four separate incidences where people have been severely hurt and hospitalized due to riding accidents on the trail and unfortunately, much of this is due to a lack of knowledge, a lack of confidence or just not being prepared for the conditions encountered on the trail.

Every park has some sort of rating and you need to know the severity or the lack of severity on these trails. Especially with the rain we have had this year.

If you are going on a trail ride it is a good idea to talk to your friends or people who have been to the park you are going to and find out the steepness of the terrain, water level in any water crossings, and the severeness of the trails, from width to maintenance issues, etc.. You need to make sure that all the above are appropriate for your riding skills and your horse's skills.

Preparation - Preparing the horse and yourself for any trail ride is essential because it is not worth the possible accident and stress that you and your horse could encounter. With the amount of rain we have had this year hills are slick, creeks are high and the dangers are higher. Your horse needs to be in condition to handle these obstacles and if he is not in condition for this you increase the risk of accidents and getting you or your horse severely hurt.

Riding in Groups - Don’t be pressured by a group into something that you or your horse are not ready for. Just because the group wants you to do something does not mean you have to do it. You have a choice. Don’t put yourself or your horse in harms way. If you are riding with people that don’t have respect for you and your enjoyment you may either need to find a different group or just forgo the ride and stay at the campground.

We always need to be stretching ourselves and our horses, but you should also pay attention to what that little voice, the one that we all have, is saying. If you are truly not ready, then it is okay not to participate. But you also need to realize that you may need to seek more help from a friend or trainer if you are finding yourself in uncomfortable situations on a regular basis.
Have a plan - Make sure if you are going out on the trail you have a plan. You will want to carry a first aid kit with emergency supplies for both horse and rider and don’t ever go on a trail ride without a cell phone that is working. You will also want to check it and make sure you have signal.

Organized Trail Rides - On an organized trail ride there should be some ground rules laid down as far as trail etiquette. On most of these rides there will be every level of rider and every level of horse. I have seen riders let their horses run up behind a young horse who is on his first or second trail ride, which is not a good thing. 8 times out of 10 that young horse is going to react and it is not going to be pretty. Someone is going to get scared and everyone will be lucky if that is all that happens. A much more likely scenario is that someone is going to get seriously hurt.

Trail Etiquette - Use proper spacing between your horses. If you must pass another horse on the trail, or come up behind a horse on the trail, proper space is very important. Don’t pass at a high rate of speed. There are a good number of riders out on the trail that only do this 2 or 3 times a year. They don’t need it spoiled or need to get hurt because someone is having a yippee-yahoo time and being careless and thoughtless. Horses will also strike out and it could cause serious injury to the horse or the rider.

Helmet use - In my mind helmet use is just a good idea, especially for the more inexperienced rider, but as a matter of fact, it is a good idea for anyone. They also make padded riding vests that are a great idea for young people and novice riders. I have seen so many accidents that could have been less severe if safety equipment, such as these items, had been utilized. You can get by with no accidents for years, but it only takes one time to get severely injured.

Young people and ponies - Many horses have not been around a pony, or even seen a pony, and they can react defensively because of this. One of the things you need to be aware of, because of the size of a pony, is where your child’s body is at in relation to the full sized horse. If a full sized horse reacts to a pony coming up behind it, where is the strike zone for the rider of the pony? Your child is going to get kicked in the body or even in the head. I am not big on ponies for youngsters, but if you insist on buying your child a pony make sure they have the proper training, the proper safety equipment, the horse and rider are matched, and the rider is in control. You also need to make sure the group is aware of the pony and rider and where they are at any given time. Don’t get me wrong here. Ponies have there place, they are fun and can help children overcome the fear they may have of a full sized horse. But on the trail in a group of full sized horses is probably not the best place for a pony and rider to be.

My daughter did not start on a pony. She started on a 25 year old, dead broke, full sized horse and even that is not a 100% guarantee of safety. The key here is finding that old, safe horse and still using all the safety equipment. I will also reiterate, at this point, that the idea of a horse and child growing up together is, and always has been, a very, very bad idea. I still hear it all the time and I have to wonder why anyone still thinks that is a good idea. Guess it goes back to the statement I use on a regular basis - “ You don’t know what it is you don’t know” To many times we use that as an excuse when something goes wrong, “ I didn’t know....” , but when it comes to our kids it is our responsibility to find out.

My goal in writing this article is to try and give you some knowledge from my experience. I don’t want anyone to be paranoid about trail riding, but I do want you to have a plan and not be caught off guard.
Have a fun and safe summer!

About Dennis Auslam.
Dennis has been a trainer for over 30 years, working with many different breeds and disciplines. He grew up with horses and has worked with some of the best trainers in the industry. His passion is horses and people and he loves helping people learn how to work with their horses, progress in their riding abilities and make that connection with their horse.
You will find Dennis at various horse related events in 2011. He also does numerous clinics and demos, concentrating on Confidence Building for the horse and the rider. For information regarding his clinics please visit his web site at www.redwoodstables.com.
Interested in hosting a clinic?
Call 507-525-6691 or email us at
redwoodstables@mvtvwireless.com

Pursuing The Passion “don’t give up”

2011-06-15T14:11:00.000-07:00

    We just held our annual “Women Over 35” Confidence Clinic. I think it is the fourth one we have done and we always hold it over Memorial Weekend. I have to say that, by far, this particular clinic was one of the best clinics we have ever hosted in all of our years of doing them.
    This year we included Anke Johnson, a life skills coach and excellent horsewomen, as part of the clinic experience, and it seemed like everything clicked into place. Anke has the same desire and passion that I have, which is to see people stay safe, be relaxed and enjoy their horse experience.
    Many of the women that come to this clinic are either new to the horse industry or coming back into it and though they have a passion for horses they also find that they have fears, confidence issues and a lack of knowledge of how the horse thinks and reacts. The goal with our Confidence Clinics is to help our participants understand their horse, realize how their horse thinks and learns, understand how our emotions effect the horse and what steps they need to be doing to achieve the respect of the horse and overcome any fear or confidence issues. It’s really kind of a tall order for a two day clinic, but I saw many participants grow by leaps and bounds at this years clinic. I learned a few things too, but find that is often the case with any clinic I am doing.
    The combination of information that we were able to provide by working as a team with the participants was, I thought, above the norm. Anke and I were on the same page from the start and she really helped facilitate reaching in and getting to the emotional aspect of working with horses and all the anxieties and areas of lack of confidence that arise. Anke was also able to help me work with the participants at a much deeper level that I had achieved in the past.
We worked with a number of individuals on just learning how to breath and relax when anx-ieties arose, and on giving yourself permission to work at your own pace and not what others think you should be doing. There is a fine line there, between making excuses and pushing ahead into the next challenge, but you just have to become aware of that line and use it to your benefit.
    We taught a number of training and desensitizing techniques on respect , control, and how to recognize behaviors, both horse and human. Often, confidence issues on the riders part are based on a lack of knowledge and experience on how to recognize what is happening and how to handle it. We misread the horse and think it is stubborn or naughty, when all along the horse is just looking to it’s owner to provide leadership. Great strides can be achieved when we learn to understand the mentality of the horse, the herd mentality. Recognizing behavior patterns, both the riders and the horses, for what they are, is the very, very first step and sometimes that step can be the hardest. We need to learn that it is okay if “we don’t know what it is that we don’t know” as long as we are willing to work at filling in the education gaps. At times, even when the issue is recognized, and we have the knowledge to correct it, we don’t know that we can break the training techniques down into smaller steps and take each item step by step, so we try to do to much all at once and end up not having the success we desire. Learning how to break techniques down into bits and pieces is often essential to our success.
    I have often talked about how we are always training our horses. What is easy for me to recognize, because of the fact that I work with horses from sunup to sundown and have for most of my life, is not necessarily going to come naturally or easily to an individual that has not had that opportunity. We have to become aware of what it is we are doing when we are around our horses. Just having a horse goes far beyond just going to the barn and riding, but if we can become educated and get the knowledge we need to learn to control what could essentially be a 1000 pound killing machine, we can probably handle just about anything else that life can through at us. Most things in life come down to learning the right techniques to deal with the situations that arise and horses seem to be great facilitators in this process, whether it is about the horse or about life in general. This might be what the appeal and passion for the horse is all about.
    Not every trainer can facilitate the positive things I saw happen this weekend and I realized that It often takes the right individual or combination of individuals to help us work with fear and confidence issues. So I would tell someone reading this - “don’t give up” - there is help if you are willing to seek it and get educated. If this is something you have an incredibly strong desire to accomplish then stick with it, but get the help you need and deserve to have.

About Dennis Auslam.
Dennis has been a trainer for over 29 years, working with many different breeds and disciplines. He grew up with horses and has worked with some of the best trainers in the industry. His passion is horses and people and he loves helping people learn how to work with their horses, progress in their riding abilities and make that connection with their horse.
You will find Dennis at various horse related events in 2011. He also does numerous clinics and demos, concentrating on Confidence Building for the horse and the rider. For information regarding his clinics please visit his web site at
www.redwoodstables.com.
Interested in hosting a clinic? Call 507-525-6691 or email us at
redwoodstables@mvtvwireless.com

Do Your Homework, Learn Before You Leap

2011-05-07T10:05:00.000-07:00

We are going to revisit a subject we have talked about before,
being informed and seeking knowledge to
enable us to make good horse related decisions.
Why this subject again? Because, as new people
come into the horse industry, or return to horses,
it just seems to keep cropping it’s ugly head up.

When we go see a doctor, many of us, on
anything that is substantial, would get a second
opinion, but it seems that to often people coming into
this industry try to do it without any type of professional
opinion. This is so unfortunate and it really hurts this
industry. It also causes unnecessary heartaches,
and injuries, that could be avoided.

Although people will read books and articles
and get on the internet, which is a good thing,
they have to remember that they have to do their
homework, even on the information in the books,
articles and the web. There is a ton of information
available, but you still need to be able to discern
between the good and the bad.

Educate yourself and don’t rush into getting
a horse once you think that is the direction you
want to take. Take your time, talk to different
horse people from different disciplines, defi nitely
take some lessons…. even if you used to ride
when you were younger. You will be amazed at
the things you have forgotten or didn’t actually
even know. I can’t tell you how important it is to
educate yourself before you invest what will be a
ton of money into the purchase of a horse.

Believe it or not, just like making purchases
in the regular world, you want to make your
purchase in the horse world with caution and care
and from a person of quality reputation. There is
no such thing as a bargain horse and there are
people who lack integrity in this business just as
there are in any business. Unfortunately, though
many people have good intentions, dollar signs
may get in the way. If you are coming back into
the world of horses or new to horses the last thing
you want is to buy someone else’s problem.

I really cannot say enough about utilizing
a professional horse person, whether it is a
trainer or a knowledgeable friend. And even
when utilizing a professional you need to get
references. Personally I am willing to lose a dollar
rather than sell a horse that is not matched up with
the person’s experience and knowledge. I would
probably have a lot more disposal income if I was
in the training business strictly for the money, but
my passion is to train good horses, train people
to be responsible riders, and hook up the right
horses with the level of the riders ability. I refuse
to sell a horse to someone that it is not going to
be appropriate for. I want to be able to sleep at
night and not have to worry about that horse I just
sold to someone who really needed a different
horse. If it is not a good fi t it doesn’t matter how
much money I am offered for a horse, I won’t sell
that horse to that individual. Unfortunately, that is
often not the case in this industry.

A Sample Scenerio
A few weeks ago I did an evaluation for an
individual who had purchased 4 horses. They
were rescue horses and from the initial contact
I was pretty sure it was not going to be a good
scenario, but I went, with some trepidation, and
evaluated the horses. In this case, it isn’t going
to turn out to badly, but there is defi nitely work to
be done and skills that both the owners and the
horses need to develop.

Quite honestly, if you are going to buy your
fi rst horse, it should probably not come from a
rescue situation. It isn’t that they can’t be saved
or salvaged, but it takes skill and knowledge to
work with a horse that may have a lot of baggage.
Many people entering the industry haven’t
acquired the necessary skills to work with these
horses and have it turn out well. Horses have
emotions and experience trauma. They have a
lot of the emotions that we have and they have an
incredible memory. Figuring out what is tripping
their trigger and how to deal with it is not for the
untrained. In the case mentioned above the 4
horses also had to sort out the herd hierarchy on
top of whatever else it was they went through that
put them in a rescue in the fi rst place. It takes a
pretty solid minded horse to rise above all that.
All in all, a person entering the horse industry
paired with a rescue horse is really not the best
choice.

This individuals heart was in the right place,
but the picture in the individual’s mind, of how
it should be, was unfortunately, misguided, and
the amount of time, effort and money to achieve
the picture of the perfect life with horses is not
turning out as imagined.

In most instances, I have a very small
window of time to evaluate both the horse(s)
and the individual or family and learn all the
variables involved. In this instance, I was actually
pleasantly surprised, but one horse was only two
and in almost every case just the age alone is
enough to fail a horse for a first time horse owner.
Two of the horses seemed like there was a lot to
work with and are going into training. The fourth
horse is very willing, very pleasant and maybe
very workable other than it was a large breed
horse and the size maybe undesirable, but we
put that one on the back burner.

The other thing that is going to happen in this
case is the owner is coming to a clinic to start
filling in the holes in their knowledge base and
we are going to replace the 2 year old horse with
one that is appropriate for the kids in the family
who are all under 12. Preferably this replacement
horse will have one foot in the grave, figuratively
speaking, and even then, though you can find
baby sitter horses, they will still test you because
that is the nature of the horse.
So my goal in covering this subject again is
that hopefully you can avoid a similar situation
and start out right.

A few quick tips:
• Don’t buy based on emotion
• Find someone you can trust to help you
• Do your homework!!!!
• Take lessons
• Don’t jump into it, if you jump into it you are
being emotion based
• Don’t buy a horse on looks
• Have the horse evaluated by a professional
• Please where a helmet at all times

The cheapest part of a horse is buying it.....

Remember, horses can kill, they are not like
bringing home a puppy.
In the above scenario the individual really
let their emotions, and that pretty picture in their
mind, get in front of what was realistic.

Ride Safe and Happy Trails... Dennis

Placing Your Horse Where You Want Him and Having Him Stand Still

2011-04-19T22:36:00.000-07:00

Before starting any specific training exercise always work the excess
energy off your horse by longeing them. This will also help you gain
control of their mind. As you longe your horse you will practice
reversing him and work at reestablishing the “whoa” in the horse.
The goal here is to have him stop immediately when we say, in a calm,
natural voice, the word “whoa”. When you can say “whoa” in a calm,
natural voice, and your horse will stop, you have his attention and
you can move on to your training exercise. It may take 2, 3 or 4
sessions on just the whoa to gain the type of attention from him that
you are looking for, which is an immediate response.

Test the “Whoa” - You will start by leading your horse off, on the ground,
and testing the “whoa” again. Stop walking and at the same time use the
verbal cue “whoa”, again you want to be able to say it calmly and with
your body language relaxed and calm. This can be done in a small area.
You don’t need much room or space to practice this. Once the horse starts
responding off your verbal cue, as soon as the word whoa is said, then
you are ready to move on.

In an open area large enough for the horse to move around freely, layout
2 or 3 three inch round cavalettis or pieces of pvc about 6 to 8 feet long.
Spread them out approximately 10 feet apart, parallel to each other.
You will walk the horse over the cavalettis and get him comfortable with
them. Once he is comfortable going over the cavalettis at a walk you are
going to stop with the horse centered over the first cavaletti. Have him
stand there for about 30 seconds and give him positive feedback, patting,
rubbing, whatever he responds to the best. No treats though, please.
Move to the next cavaletti and do the same, repeat this again with the
third cavaletti. This exercise will also teach you timing (learning when
to give the command to get the right response), and horse mechanics
(how each part of the horses body ties together as a whole).
Practice this.

When you have the horse stopping with the cavaletti centered
under he his body and he is standing calmly you are going to start
specifiying where you want the cavaletti to be between the front legs
and the back legs. Example, I want him to stand with the back of his
front feet a half an inch in front of the cavaletti. Pick your spots
and concentrate on achieving placing your horse exactly where you want
him. Get the horse to stand and accept this, giving him positive
affirmations. Every time you do this you are looking for a calm, quiet
horse that stands where you place him.

When you have mastered this take a 5 gallon bucket and turn it upside
down. Do not stand on this bucket, ever. You are going to walk you
horse back and forth next to this bucket, working to make sure he gets
comfortable with it and that the bucket is not going to eat him. When
he is good at calmly walking back and forth next to the bucket you are
going to place him next to the bucket, specifying where you want the his
feet to be in relation to the bucket. Your goal is to get him to stand,
without moving, exactly where you place him. Remember to be patient and
to give him positive feedback when he responds correctly. When you have
practiced this and you have him standing calmly every time you place him
where you want him you will move up to the equipment you actually utilize
to mount, such as a mounting block, etc. Practice the same technique with
your equipment.

Remember - after mounting, you also need to build on the stand still time.
The horse needs to remain standing until he is asked to move. He is not
allowed to move his feetuntil you allow him to move his feet.

Now you will have a horse that stands still and lets you mount or stands
still when you are just standing there. This is a process and it is not l
earned overnight. Be patient and consistent.

About Dennis Auslam.
Dennis has been a trainer for over 29 years, working with many different
breeds and disciplines. He grew up with horses and has worked with some
of the best trainers in the industry.
His passion is horses and people and he loves helping people learn how
to work with their horses, progress in their riding abilities and make
that connection with their horse.
You will find Dennis at various horse related events in 2011, including
the Midwest Horse Fair in Madison, WI., the Minnesota Horse Expo in
St. Paul, MN and the Red River Valley Horse Fair in Fargo, ND. He also
does numerous clinics and demos, concentrating on Confidence Building
for the horse and the rider.
For information regarding his clinics please visit his website at www.redwoodstables.com.

Interested in hosting a clnic? Call 507-525-6691 or email us at redwoodstables@mvtvwireless.com

Don't miss this Clinic at The Natural Gait - Dennis and Mari Monda Zdunic - May 6-8, 2011

2011-04-13T08:48:00.000-07:00

Don't miss this Clinic at The Natural Gait - Dennis and Mari Monda Zdunic - May 6-8, 2011

Call 877-776-2208 for info or email ntrlgait@acegroup.com

Addie O'Neil loves horses

2011-04-12T23:10:00.000-07:00

Addie O'Neil loves horses

Getting Your Horse Ready for Spring

2011-04-08T13:05:00.000-07:00

Keep in mind when starting to work with this program that the days may be warming up but
the nights are still going to be cold or chilly. Don’t sweat your horse up and then turn them out, they can get very sick.
Also, realize that you are not going to get your horse ready or conditioned in a couple of
days. In all actuality, it is going to take at least two weeks of consistent long trotting every day to get them in really good shape. You start off slow and work up the mileage and it takes a good, consistent program to get your horse to get his air back, build his stamina up and get the soreness out of his muscles.
We’ll start this program off on the ground doing a couple of days of long lining (longeing).
Your horse is going to be feeling good and be fresh and you need to do the ground work to
get the respect level back up. Our goal is to get the horse paying attention to
us before we ever even think of putting a saddle on his back. We
want to make sure that as we work through the exercises over the next
few weeks that we are getting that attention and focus.
Your ground work is going to consist of longeing to move the horse forward, reinforcing the whoa, reversing the horse and controlling the shoulder (this is where you are reversing the
horse, having it roll back and move it’s shoulder away from us). If you don’t understand the terms I am using or what I am asking for here it would be in your best interest to seek professional help to learn the longeing techniques I am referring to.
As we work with our horse we want to test that we are gaining his attention, respect and
focusing. We test this by doing the following: walk off, stop, back up. When you do this is your horse mirroring you? Does he walk off with you, stop when you stop and back up when you back up? We are not talking about whether he kind of does it right but I have to tug a little on his lead line to get him started, or he only takes a few steps more when I stop, or as I back I end up backing into him before he notices he needs to move. We are talking about our horse mirroring every move we make and doing it immediately. If you are not getting that type of response you are asking for trouble sooner or later. You do not have his attention or his respect.
We will do the ground work for two to four days before we even think about saddling our
horse. When we are finally ready to saddle the horse remember to use care. If they haven’t had a saddle on all winter don’t over tighten the cinch. The girth area is going to be more sensitive and you run the risk of galling them. If you use a back cinch be very careful when you snug that up. If anything will set off a horse it will be the back cinch. On the other hand, if your horse has a tendency to buck in the spring, if that rear cinch is to loose, and hanging down with a bunch of slop, that can make things worse too. If he starts bucking that cinch will come up and slap him in the belly, causing even more bucking. The key here is for the back cinch to fit just right, snug but not tight is the key.
We are going to do the same exercises we did without the saddle with the saddle, and also incorporate some desensitizing at this point. Just because he was fine last fall and never spooked once on that last trail ride does not mean he will be fine this spring. When we start desensitizing we start at a distance, with our flag. As the horse’s reaction goes down we start coming closer to the horse and start making body contact. Desensitizing is a whole different article, so we are not going to go over it here. If this topic is new for you there are lots of articles, videos and clinics that you can read, watch or attend to learn desensitizing techniques and it really is an important factor in preparing your horse for spring riding. We offer clinics, as do many other fine clinicians, that cover these exact techniques and truthfully, many accidents will be avoided by attending even one clinic with a reputable, professional clinician.
The time frame for working with your horse, to get them prepared for spring riding, is going to fluctuate with each individual horse. For some it make take more time, for others it may take
less time. Again, if you are not comfortable or experienced with this process utilize a qualified trainer to do the spring tune up.
With the winter we have had this year not everyone is going to have the luxury of dry ground to lunge your horse on. If you don’t have that luxury and are not able to trailer to an arena or a place where there is some good ground, then start taking your horse out for walks. Be aware of the footing, making sure it is safe. Here you can kill two birds with one stone, walking is good conditioning for both the horse and for us. One of the best exercises for a horse, believe it or not, is walking. When they walk they apply all their weight on the supporting foot. As they are stepping down it requires that they use all the muscles in the limb they are putting their weight on, so it is an excellent exercise to build strength in the muscle groups. Again, if you are going to take them out for a walk make sure you have you have to know that you have their attention and respect or there will be trouble.
If you have gotten through the “getting them ready” process and are ready to ride you need to be careful as you venture out. Roads and trails may still have icy patches. Whenever we are riding we are not going to ask our horse to do anything more than a walk. The first ride
will be a simple ride. Don’t do a lot of turning or aggressive maneuvers. There are still numerous muscles that need to be stretched out, so just do a nice walk. At the end of the walk, if things have gone well you can do a little easy trotting. Again remember, if the horse has sweated up do not kick it outside in the snow and cold. Make sure
he is dried off first.
If any of you have any questions on something in this article or an article subject you
would like to see us write about please send us an email.

Don’t miss our spring clinics here at Redwood Stables or if you would like to host
one contact us. We look forward to seeing you at the Horse Fairs and Expos around the Midwest, come look us up!

We will be doing a really wonderful clinic with Mari Monda Zdunic and I together at The Natural Gait, which is near Marquette, IA. It is a beautiful facility with camping, log cabins and bunkrooms and miles of scenic trails. This clinic is May 6-8, 2011. Visit our webpage for contact info or go to www.thenaturalgait.com


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Don’t Lose the Dream, but Don’t Miss the Good Things Along the Way

2011-02-22T22:31:00.000-08:00

Over the past few months, and with the advent of the new year, I have been evaluating my life, my dreams and my goals. As I have gotten older I have found that one of the factors that I have let get in the way of some of my dreams and goals, in my mind, is my age and my physical condition. Yet, one of the very things that I have preached throughout all my clinics, expo events, seminars and demonstrations is don’t let anyone steal your dreams, including yourself. As human beings it is a pretty normal behavior to do some self sabatoging and one

way to do that is to let the dreams and goals overshadow your life and take away the enjoyment of everyday living.

There will always be people that do not want to see you succeed and that is unfortunate, but a part of life. But a larger problem than that is many times one of the major culprits in this scenario is ourselves. One of the biggest situations I deal with myself is that I have a tendency to miss all the little things that were good that led up to the goal I was trying to achieve. I forget to be thankful for all the good things that happen along the way. In fact, I can miss them completely.

Sometimes the closer we seem to get to our dreams the more we tend to overlook the little successes and be thankful for them and because of that we can end up sabotaging the final outcome. I am a big one to always negate my achievements thinking that I could have been better, I could have done it differently, etc., instead of enjoying the accomplishment. I have had a lot of people who have believed in me and have backed me and want to see me attain my goals, but it always comes back to me and my beliefs, especially my belief in myself.

The other thing that I have a tendency to do is to put my goals before other things in my life,

things that are more important. I think that this is, again, a common human trait, or at the very least an unfortunate learned behavior. Because I have always desired to make a comfortable living for my family and myself, and view that as a form of success, the path to that should not come before God and family. But it can be difficult to balance these things and even more difficult to become aware of tendencies in our behavior that cause us to let our lives become unbalanced.

I have some opportunities coming up this year that put me in sight of some of my dreams and goals. What I have been learning is how to find a balance in those opportunities and put God and my loved ones first. I know that if I can’t find that balance and get it right, then it doesn’t matter where I want to go, or how many dreams and goals I accomplish, because I am not going to be happy when I get there.

At almost 50 years of age it can seem like time is short, but I am learning that if I just do what I do best, to the best of my ability, and base my goals and success on that, than I am a success. So often we move on to the next thing on the never-ending list and don’t savor or appreciate the moment. I have a wall full of buckles and plenty of championships that I have won, and quite frankly, it should be a big deal, but I have often let my longer-term goals diminish those accomplishments. I have been successful in many endeavors, yet I have only now been learning to appreciate those times and to thank God for the ability he has endowed me with in working with horses and riders.

I can’t tell you how many times I have had someone talk to me, at a clinic, a roping or just riding, about how they would like to be able to do this with their horse or do that….. and it never fails that I tell them you can do anything you can put you mind to. I often find it easier to build everyone else’s confidence up, yet much more difficult to do it for myself. I love working with horses and people and helping them attain their goals and I feel that I am good at what I do, but finding that elusive happiness can be the more difficult challenge, I believe now that much of that comes from overlooking the smaller things in life.

At times I seem to be reaching for that indefinable success, when in fact, what I have come to find out is that success is right in front of my nose all the time and I’m missing it. It’s the good things; the little things that happen every day that bring us true success! In every day there is something good, yet we so often miss it because we become absorbed in the daily problems. The good things are all around us all the time, but we are to busy, we have to many things we need to get done. We tend to think the whole world is going to fall apart if we miss doing this or don’t get that done. And so while we are busy doing all the so-called important stuff… the good things in life are going unnoticed and ignored.

I think what I am trying to convey here is this, we should all have dreams and goals, they are important, but we should not let those dreams and goals become more important and overshadow everything else in our life. My life is probably more than half over, and I am finally realizing that instead of worrying about the next task on my list I need to appreciate more of the day to day stuff, the little things, and enjoy the journey. If you can’t appreciate the good things in each and every day than life is truly passing you by.

Hope you all had a great Christmas and wish for you a wonderful 2011 and I want to thank everyone for all the opportunities that have been given to me and look forward to working with everyone in the new year.

Be a Responsible Rider ~ Take care and stay safe!

Dennis

Happy Holidays to all!!

2010-11-24T17:39:00.000-08:00

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

Fall and Winter Training Special

2010-11-19T10:51:00.000-08:00

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

"You Don't Always Know What It Is You Don't Know"

2010-10-27T15:47:00.000-07:00

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

The Mustang Competition at the Wisconsin Horse Fest

2009-07-11T14:55:00.000-07:00

The competition at the Wisconsin Horse Fair was tough, but I have to say that I was with some really good people. Really top quality horse trainers and everyone was willing to help everyone even though the competitive spirit was there, it wasn’t a hinderance or obsacle to camaraderie. It was a very good group of people who participated in the event.
There was a total of 33 horses and the top 30 were very well done. The whole experience was phenomenal. I ended up thirteenth, which was disappointing for me but was not due to the horse. It was due to the idiot on her back. Making wrong turns costs you points, but Kickstart performed nicely, just as I knew she would, so it was rider error not horse problems or anything she did.
Kickstart got as high of a score as you could on body condition. When I train a horse I train the whole horse, so with 3 months
of hard work her body condition really showed
off all the hard work she had put into the training. In the in-hand trail course we had a little problem because of my bad knee, so we lost some points there, but she did everything she was supposed to do.
In the riding course she picked up good, did her lead changes very smoothly, did her turnarounds well, went over the bridge without hesitation and side passing through the cones she did really well. In the free style she did lead changes, loping, moving her hip and her shoulder, had a tarp on her tail, side passed nicely, two tracking went well. The crowd was reall pleased with her performance, hooting and hollering and clapping., which did not bother her at all. I had been hauling her around the country to different shows, one in Mississippi and one in South Dakota and a few other shows as well so she was used to the crowds and the noise. A few horses had issues with the noise. Some of the trainers were able to prepare their horses for the noise and crowds and some were not, so a few horses had issues with the hollering and clapping in the auditorium.
I was not in the top ten, so at that point we were done except for selling our horses at the auction. That had me pretty blue, as we had developed a pretty close relationship and bonded well. To be honest, when I prepared for the sale I did not ride her through, I let her roll in the mud, I wanted this horse but she was not really in my budget. They handed me the mike to tell about Kickstart and I said ”She kicks, she bites and she ain’t worth a damn, don’t bid on her” Course I had to say it with a hint of a smile cause anyone who had seen the competition and had seen her go new better. People were laughing and clapping. She laid down and rolled 4 times in the process of me trying to down play her ability. She was very comfortable with me and with the environment.
The bidding started and it wasn’t long before it got out of my ability to buy her. I was heartbroken and walked outside of the pen when it was done, quite disappointed to have to part with her, I was pretty close to tears, as I had really bonded with this horse. I was standing there talking to TJ Clibborn, when one of my clients came up with the paperwork in hand and gave me the horse saying “Here’s her paperwork and here’s your horse.” What a blessing that was!
So now Kickstart is on a 30 day sabbatical and when that is done she will be trained for roping, ranch horse versatility and extreme trail, my plan being to make her my signature horse working with her to make her a well rounded horse.
I would like to thank Michelle, my wife and Emma, my daughter, for all their patience and support during this whole process of training and traveling with Kickstart. Addie for all her hard work, grooming and caring for Kickstart at the shows, riding her down and all the extra work she took on during this intense time of training for this event. The Meyers family for all their support and a special thanks to my very good friends TJ Clibborn and Tracy Porter for their support and friendship during the process of training, during the challenge and just for being friends.

2009-03-08T14:31:00.000-07:00

Meet Kickstart! My special friend and partner in the Extreme Mustang Makeover. The climax for this partnership is this spring at the Midwest Horse Fair with The Midwest Mustang Makeover Trainer challenge.
Kickstart is a three year old bay mustang with a little white star between her eyes and she comes straight from the high desert in Nevada.
I named her Kickstart and she came by that name honestly. In fact, to name her anything else would have been unthinkable. Due to the unruly, snowy Minnesota weather, I was 2 weeks late picking her up. Another horse training friend of mine, who is also working with a Mustang, was kind enough to pick her up in Southern Illinois and haul her to his training facility in Wisconsin, where she stayed until I was able to shovel out of the snow and cold and get her picked up.
Our first meeting was a true challenge. But having worked in the past with mustangs I expected nothing less. It consisted of her coming at me with teeth bared and ears back. I didn’t surrender my ground, although I wanted to. My heart and stomach were in my throat. We ran her out of the barn and into an open round pen, where my job began.
I was limited on time to work with her and I needed to get her in a trailer and haul her home within a couple of days. We worked together in the round pen for quite a long time, to no avail... as her instincts were kicking in. Hence her name "Kickstart".
I finally had to resort to a hoolahand loop (back in the old cowboy ways), to get her caught. At that point I started working her back and forth, with pressure and release, until she understood what it was I was asking from her. I then asked her to move forward with pressure and release, until I could get a lead rope on her. I had to start working on her confidence in me.
Her whole underside was cake with dried mud, and I knew I had to get her somewhat clean to get a saddle on her, so we started working on some desensitizing techniques. By the end of the first day, I was able to lead her back to her stall and brush her as far back as her front shoulder. By half way thru the 2nd day I was able to wave a flag around, get a blanket on her back, and brush the girth area (using great care). By the end of the second day, I was on her back trotting circles in the round pen. The 3rd morning, I was in the open arena trotting circles and going over some obstacles. The late morning of the 3rd day I was able to walk her into my three horse slant trailer, quietly and calmly.
I have worked with a few mustangs in Idaho. in the past, and my experience has been pretty much the same with these wild horses. They show their emotions and feelings honestly, there is no BS in these guys. It’s actually a breath of fresh air compared to some of todays domesticated horses.
You will also be able to meet her at the Central MN Horse Fest in April and she and I just got back from the Mid South Horse Fest in Tunica, MS. We entered a trail challenge there and though we did not win, Kickstart did extremely well.

Kickstart Visits Horse Fests

2009-03-08T13:47:00.000-07:00

We loaded up Kickstart and headed to Tunica, MS. Here second trip, this one really long. She did great.
This weekend we headed to the Black Hills Horse Expo. We will let you know how that turned out soon.