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John Coffee Hayes |
Cowboy Valentine |
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Stallions… starting
them under saddle
We handle our horses from a young age, though we do not "imprint them". We let our foals' natural sense of curiosity bring them to us, and from there get them used to being touched and teach them personal space using pressure and release. We can worm them, or rasp a rough spot on a foot or take a foal's temperature without having to confine or halter them before they are weaned. Sure takes the stress out of it when they are not frightened by our presence. We don't ride our horses before 3 years of age (we still remember when a 3 year old was considered a baby, too immature to be expected to do any hard work). We feel starting horses under saddle later, adds productive years to their working lives. Working horses in their teens and early twenties can be counted on to know their job and do it comfortably and well. Our horses are introduced to ropes and saddles etc. before we send them out for their first riding experiences, mostly because we really enjoy the entire training process. We wanted the person who put the first rides on our colts to have excellent timing and feel, who could read a horse and was committed to becoming a better horseman. Our quest became no easy task. There are lots of horse trainers out there but few horsemen. After going to a public horse starting clinic, put on locally, we knew within a matter of minutes that we had found the right horseman. Brent Trout, who had moved back into the area he had grown up in, and his family still lived. Brent had suffered some very serious health issues as a young teenager, which resulted in a kidney transplant as well as other complications... he lost some of his hearing and eyesight. He truly loves starting colts, and appreciates his unique gift. We have stayed good friends and sure plan on using Brent again to ride more of our horses. |
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John Coffee Hayes, 2002 blue roan stallion. These are pictures of John the second time he had been saddled (the first and only other time was at 18 months of age). These photos were taken November 2005. John was in his full winter coat. From the time Brent started working John in the round pen to getting back from their first ride, 2 ½ hours had gone by. During this time we stopped to talk, more than once, and go over technique. Rummaged around in the tack room for a bridle. John had never worn a bit before this 1st day. Brent was more than happy to share what he was doing and why. Brent was also very proactive in having Don in the pen to encourage John to turn on the rail, so that he would not have to touch John's head. Don got to be the "flag horse". |
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| Everything had gone so smooth that Brent decided to take John out for his first short ride. There was no reason to continue working John in the roundpen, at this time, because of the groundwork we had accomplished before. Brent returns to the round pen to try new things but prefers to ride out cross country as soon as possible, using natural obstacles to his advantage. Brent lead John out of the roundpen, up the lane and across the gravel road to the entrance of the old "Imperial Ranch" a ranch once owned by Burns & Co. a company that originally started with fish before branching out to the cattle business. Pat Burns was part of the "Big Four", who monetarily backed Guy Weadick by investing $100,000 in Guy's dream of "the greatest show on earth", the Calgary Stampede Rodeo, first performed in 1912. Brent mounted up and off they went. John was allowed to pick his own way and speed and with lots of room to roam it's obvious that John was having a good time. John never offered to hump up or buck at anytime. On subsequent rides Brent and John rode up, over, through, and around all manner of obstacles. They encountered deer, grouse and waded through creeks and trailed cattle. John enjoyed the cow part. On the fifth ride Don and Brent rode out together and exchanged horses partway so that Don could ride John. They practiced riding together and apart, out of earshot and eyesight of each other, popping up on hilltops to find each other again. On this fifth ride John was still being allowed to pick his own speed and direction. John could have cared less if the other horse was there or not. Brent Trout's assessment of John Coffee Hayes? 'Smart, bold, show him once, not scared of anything.' One of the easiest colts he had ever started. | |
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| You'll notice that where Brent goes, his dogs go. John was not phased in the least at having them enthusiastically flushing out birds from the brush, on that first ride. | |
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Cowboy Valentine These pictures taken in April 2006, of Cowboy, show Don introducing him to the pad and saddle for the very first time. It was a muddy spring day, please excuse Don's rubber boots, (the horse does not judge what you wear only how you treat them), and we were anxious to see if Cowboy would accept this phase of training with as much intelligence and cool, level headedness as he had the rest of it. The only prep done before Don started was to give Cowboy a nice scratchy curry combing to get rid of some winter hair. No longeing or roundpenning to get Cowboy tired so that he would stand still. His first sight of a saddle and pad was that day. |
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| Definitely NOT our best saddle, it's an old light weight something "er" other, used when Don doesn't want a good saddle wrecked and has no intention of mounting and riding that day. Yes, the back cinch was done up snug. No humping no bucking. The first photo of Cowboy wearing the saddle pad for the first time was taken at 4:59 pm - the photo of Don removing the saddle was taken at 5:20 pm. | |||
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Don saddled Cowboy on 3 other occasions while we waited for Brent Trout to have an opening. |
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Brent described starting John as easy & Cowboy as easier. The photos of Cowboy being mounted and ridden were taken the second day. Brent was so sick w/ a cold that day, if Cowboy had wanted to hang him out to dry, he would have had no trouble. But as you can see by Cowboy's expression he had no intention of taking advantage of the situation. The riding routine was the same as for John, over hill over dale. Through belly deep spring water creeks, brush, trailing cattle. Cowboy took everything in stride including sometimes coming back from a ride in the dark. Brent Trout's assessment of Cowboy Valentine? 'Super easy to train and "all there", could have put him on the payroll the third day.' |
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Specializing in colt starting with
a proper foundation |
John Coffee Hayes | Cowboy Valentine
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