Ride Every Stride | Horsemanship And Personal Growth With Van Hargis

In today's episode I want to pay tribute to some very influential men and mentors. Allen Gammill my grandfather. He taught me several lessons in loyalty. Boley Crawford assistant football coach at East Texas State University(now Texas A&M Commerce) who gave me an option between class or practice Dick Atwood owner of Atwood Hats Randy Snodgrass owner of ArenaWerks These men left a lasting impression on me!

In the most recent previous episodes we discussed The Path of Least Resistance, Forward Motion, The Control of Forward Motion and now it's time to discuss The Stopping Forward Motion. Let's face it. There are tons of ways to stop a horse. Heck, there are even different kinds of stops. The thing I focus on first is a true understanding between horse and rider as to WHY your horse is moving. Today we will focus on what I refer to as The 3 Steps To Stopping. First         Quit making him go. Remove your movement/rhythm Second    WHOA Third        Support with your reins As my horse develops, I may actually train them to stop by also using The 3 Steps to Stopping individually. I'll explain. Bottom line is that we must ask ourselves why our horse is going. Our horse must learn from all previous steps of The Basics that they are moving because we've established a working relationship and we are creating rhythm to get the horse to move. When this working relationship is established and practiced first then The 3

Last episode we continued a new series titled Nothing Beyond the Basics and spoke about forward motion and the control of forward motion as we talked about establishing aworking relationship by working on speed control. Today we will focus on the control of forward movement by focusing on directional control. Directional Control- left and right and turns. Turns or change of directions using turns. Inside turns and outside turns. I personally prefer outside turns initially. Why? Preparing for what comes next and having faith that what in my opinion too many focus on; hooking on or joining up or whatever term you want to put on it. Not that it’s not important it’s just not on my priority list in front of preparing for where I’m going to be, in the saddle. Eye to eye transitions better prepare a horse for a rider to be behind them. As I work on these things and the other important priorities the horse soon craves the hooking on... it just happens anyway. It’s not something I have to work on. I have faith it will

Today we will focus on the control of forward movement. Directional Control- left and right and turns. Turns or change of directions using turns. Inside turns and outside turns. I personally prefer outside turns initially. Why? Preparing for what comes next and having faith that what in my opinion too many focus on. Hooking on or joining up, or whatever term you want to put on it - Not that it’s not important it’s just not on my priority list in front of preparing for where I’m going to be, in the saddle. Eye to eye transitions. Better prepare a horse for a rider to be behind them. As I work on these things and the other important priorities the horse soon craves the hooking on… it just happens anyway. It’s not something I have to work on. I have faith it will come. I know it will come.

Today as we progress on the forward motion and obtaining it via the path of least resistance I'd like to address the use of the round pen for a moment. I'm certainly not gonna dog any other credible tools such as no pen at all or a square pen, rectangular pen, or any other shape. Yes, a tool can assist greatly if you know what project you're working on and the purpose. What tool one uses might, just might, depend on one's experience and the exact purpose being attempted. Here we will discuss a bit about a Facebook post I interacted in regarding a guy bashing round pens in favor of square pens. Forward motion; for the sake of discussion we are going to be referring to horses that make up the vast majority of horse's world wide and not necessarily gaited horse's. Please note that I have absolutely nothing against gaited breeds at all. Just for the sake of simplicity I'll refer a lot to a walk, trot, canter, and perhaps a gallop. In the beginning, on any horse at any training or trained level I ask them to go fo

Welcome back to Ride Every Stride. It's been quite a while since our last episode. Thank you all for your patience, continued encouragement and support. You all may have noticed a change in the voice on the introduction piece. Well, let me formally introduce the new Ride Every Stride co-host, my lovely wife Melanie Hargis. For those of you that visit our website, join theTop Hand Club, or see us on the road at speaking engagements, clinics, or expo appearances chances are you may have already met Miss Melanie either directly or indirectly. I'd also like to give a shot out to our former host, Miss Laura McClellan. She was a huge inspiration to me starting Ride Every Stride and I'll forever be grateful to her for all she's done to help me on countless projects, but most of all for being a great friend. We wish her continued success on her podcast The Productive Woman. Today we are going to take a trip back... we are going to restart by focusing on a series... this series is going to take us back to THE one thin

You’ve probably heard me say this before, “Horses aren’t people.” You may have also rolled your eyes at me, because it seems obvious. Doesn’t it? Yet you’d be surprised how often people misinterpret horse behavior as being the same as human behavior, with the same emotions and causes involved. But the truth of the matter is different. Horses are a different species, with different instincts and social hierarchies. This episode goes in depth into the herd dynamic, and most importantly, where you fit into that dynamic. Spoiler alert, your position is to be the leader. Key takeaways If I could leave you with one clear message about herd dynamics it would be to observe your horses objectively. How can you be the leader of an organization you don’t know anything about? We have to watch our horses and see how they interact. Sure, a calf may be nudging against their mother because there is a mother-offspring bond, or the calf could have a spur on its neck. Humans can be very selfish in our love. However, horses ar

Don’t know what you can do unless you let go of comfort zone. It’s easy to hold onto what we know and stay in one spot, but unless you branch out, you’ll never know what is just beyond our reach. So there a lot of things that can hold us back in both our humanship and horsemanship. Most of these are in our mind—like a stake in the ground that keeps an elephant from running off from a circus. They could easily tug it free, but they’ve been conditioned since birth to believe that can’t yank that thing out of the ground. So we will be talking about how to not be that elephant, and how we can let go and let our horses grow with us. Key Takeaways So how do you ride every stride if you let go of the reins? Well, I like to look at the reins as a last resort steering wheel. There I so much other communication to learn between you and your horse, your body, voice, and weight. And 9 times out of 10 if you do let go, your horse isn’t going to bolt. Thinking your horse is a ticking time bomb is detrimental to your growth

This episode wrangles with a topic brought up on Facebook by a great friend of mine, Steve Stevens up in North Texas. Now Steve asked over Facebook if his followers thought that organization played a role in their horsemanship. The way they hang up bridles and saddles and lead ropes, could that at all impact their horsemanship. A lot of people said no. They drag their ropes, leave stuff on the ground till the next day, and so on and so forth. But professionals chimed in and said that this kind of organization was a key component of their horsemanship. I agree with this. Organization can definitely play a role in how you approach your horsemanship, and this episode dives right into why that is.   Key Takeaways So what’s the connection between how you hang your tack and your horsemanship? For one, I use organization as a teaching tool. When I know exactly where everything is in my barn, I can say ‘Hey Laura, go grab me a Snapple bit – the second one on the left.” Now Laura may not know what a snapple bit is, b

As you all know, we love getting listener questions. By far the most common questions we get revolve around confidence, anxiety, and a slew of other mental barriers that get in the way of our horsemanship. Everyone experiences these kinds of roadblocks, even me. At every clinic I’m at I tell folks the only difference between them and me is that I’ve had more practice, I’ve just screwed up more than them. And that’s it. Everyone at times feels like they aren’t normal—like they aren’t failing by doing X or Y. But the truth is that’s completely natural, we are all trying to figure this out together, although a lot of people don’t want to talk about it. But that’s the focus of this episode—the three roadblocks between you and your horsemanship and humanship. Key Takeaways Our Past: often times we let what’s happened to us completely dictate what we do in the here and now. People get sucked into dwelling on their past, and it puts a damper on the present. But you shouldn’t do that—you should reflect on the past to

If you’ve been around a while you know I love it when we get listener questions in. Recently, I got a few of the same question back to back—which I how I know it’s time to talk about it on the show. The question that’s been coming in is “Do you use snaps on reins?” What they mean is the small metal snap loops to attach the reins to a bit. The short answer to their question is this: no. The main reason for this is that I’m not a fan of metal on metal contact on anything having to do with equipment on horses. The reason for this is that it is distracting, the snap sliding over the bit is a harsh point of contact. I get why some people use snaps—it makes it easier to swap out reins. But the barrier of metal on metal is something that I find gets in the way of communicating what you want to the horse. Key Takeaways So what are some alternatives? Many people use nylon reins. These can come in all sorts of colors to match the rest of your equipment, and can be looped right on the bit. The thing about nylon is tha

It’s easy to get wrapped up in negative thinking, even if it doesn’t seem like that big a deal. We might complain about the weather, it being too hot or too cold. We might say, “Well my mare is in heat right now and you know how that goes.” We find it so easy to fall into negative thinking, and I think a lot of it has to do with the media we take in. There’s always bad news in the paper and people arguing online, over the radio, and on T.V. Being positive is a practice, one where you take a negative and see the bright side of it. When we do that we’re able to visualize a better road forward for ourselves and our horses. Key Takeaways Positivity is ultimately a conscious choice we have to make. It may come easier to some than others, but all of us have to work at it in order to find the positive in every situation. Not just in life, but directly with our horses as well. When our horses do something we don’t want, like buck or turn the wrong way or won’t load on the trailer—it’s easy to get wrapped up in the

The coming episodes are going to be tackling a trend I’ve seen lately from our listener questions and the clinics I’ve been hosting–and it has to do with the mental side of horsemanship. Often times our brain gets in the way of our ride more than the horse does. And one of the key parts of our brain to exercise is our imagination. When Laura first came to me she told me that she rode horses as a kid but fell out of it later on in life. She told me she was dreaming of riding horses, and that dream was incredibly important. We’re going to talk about those dreams and the imagination to make them happen. Key Takeaways We’ve all been caught in daydreams before—imagining riding down a beach, through pasture, or by a herd of mooing cows. Often times this can be seen as unproductive or a waste of time. We’re adults, right? We live in reality. But the only way to change that reality, move forward and grow, is to dream and then take action on those dreams. As kids our imagination can get us in trouble. We might climb a

As you should know, we love getting listener questions and feedback on the show. This episode is centered around one of those questions, and it has to do with the “It” factor—meaning greatness. Can greatness in our horses be taught, or do they have to be born with it? I find this to be a fascinating question that clearly straddles the overlap between horsemanship and humanship. Key Takeaways First, let’s get my definition of a great horse that has the “It” factor. There are many aspects to what makes a great horse, I don’t think it’s just one thing. Athleticism is important, because the things we tend to ask of our horses require them to be strong and swift. Eye appeal is important too, a horse that easily displays that strength and athleticism and stirs that thing inside you called beauty. The biggest part of greatness in my opinion is trainability. If you can’t train your horse, they won’t do a single thing with that greatness. You can’t teach this quality to your horse—all you can do is take what is alre

This week we are talking about setting your horse up for success, but really offering them a decision to make and being prepared for the result—be it what we wanted or not. I’m talking about the Controlled Wreck. This is a training tool that works a bit like a pop quiz for your horse, and often times the rider and trainer too. The Controlled Wreck highlights what to do when you get a “wrong answer” from your horse and how to correct them. Key Takeaways An example of a Controlled Wreck would be to walk your horse around in a circle over and over again, stopping each time at the same spot. Then, on the next circle, keep walking past that spot and see how the horse reacts. Do they try and stop again out of anticipation, or do they keep moving? You have to be extra prepared when seated on the horse as well. In case anything goes wrong you need to know how to regain control or take away their ability to buck. And along these lines, we need to know not have to telegraph what we are trying to test our horse. You ne

Horses and humans have a lot in common. For instance, aging. Just like we get old, slow down, have back pain, dietary problems, and need to adjust to keep our minds and bodies active—horses do too. They have a specific set of needs and issues that may arise as they enter old age, and we’ll be covering exactly when, why, and what to do when our horses start getting up in years. They become members of our families and require all the attention and care we would give ourselves. Key Takeaways Age can be a relative term. A horse might be called “old” even if they are 5-6 but are competing in high-intensity competitions. But as some veterinarians have told me you can start thinking about a horse as “older” around the age of 12. This is when stresses can add up and start to lead to issues like arthritis or other dietary and joint issue. Activity plays a huge key in a horse’s older years. Especially if they have been high performing and very active their whole lives. Retiring them full stop into a pasture full of gr

Welcome back to Ride Every Stride—Laura and I know that it has been a while since we stepped behind the microphone, but we’re glad to be back and at it. We’re coming back on this episode to talk about something that straddles the line between horsemanship and humanship. Are you a leader or an authority figure? What’s the difference? Well, for starters, we’ve all had a boss or two that seems to be more of a dictator than a leader. Sure, they give instructions and force you to carry them out—but the difference between a leader and this bad boss is in the why of why you, or your horse, are carrying out these orders. Key Takeaways I see some people raising their children in a way that they are more of their friend than a parent. The parent worries about being “liked” by their kids more than anything else. Well, when it comes time to put their foot down there is often resistance. The same goes for our horses. In being a leader we can’t just be a friend, we have to set our horses up for success and help them ma

There comes a point in everyone’s life where they hit setbacks. Obstacles enter our path and sometimes they are easy to get around, and sometimes that can bring our lives to a halt. Likewise, some people seem to deal with obstacles better than others—somehow staying positive no matter the trauma or odds that stand against them. I was moved recently by a video I watched of Mandy Harvey – a contestant on America’s Got Talent. She lost all of her hearing when she was 18 years old. But being deaf wasn’t enough to stop her from reaching for her dreams. And in the video she sings beautifully, using her feet to sense vibrations through the stage to keep the beat.  So this brings me to the point of this episode, which is to try. Before you can do anything, even if it seems impossible, you first have to try, and try hard. Key Takeaways You can expect to succeed right off the bat. That’s why, especially in the face of great difficulty, you have to reward yourself for trying. You have to habitually put in effort to keep

97% of people involved with horses as of today are involved with them as a hobby. That means only 3% make their sole living off horsemanship. It’s something I wanted to touch on as I get asked all the time about recommendations for good trainers, or how to become a trainer. It often takes a lot longer to become a trainer than most aspiring professionals think—it’s not something you just go to school for, pass a test, and then start making a professional living. However, if you’ve ever accepted money for interacting with horses, or giving advice, then you are technically a professional. We’ll be keeping that in mind as we discuss the effort, time, and skill that goes into being a reputable horse professional.   Key Takeaways  Setting boundaries is very important when it comes to practicing your horsemanship professionally. It’s real easy to take a call on a Sunday afternoon when you’re with your family and get whisked away to someone’s aid. But professionals, in any field, set working hours for themselves. Do

Getting your horse back from a trainer, or bringing a new horse home for the first time is an incredibly important transition. If you listened to episode 064 you heard Laura and myself talk about bonding with your horse. This episode touches on very practical applications of that bonding. There are ways to set your horse up for success by being attentive during the training and afterwards as well.   Key Takeaways The best way to set your horse up for homecoming success is to spend as much time as possible with the horse in the previous environment. Go see what the trainer is doing, know exactly how your horse is being handled. Being in the environment so the horse is comfortable with your presence will help when they’re introduced to their new home.   Now, don’t go and absolutely copy what the trainer or previous owner did. If you are getting your horse home from me, go and do Van-like things as you transition into doing more you-like things. One of the mistakes I see people make all the time in this process