The motor is running slow this morning. So I'm goofing off watching video, lacking the energy even to sit and read.
The first is Colonels Shining Gun, a very nice reining stallion that recently came back to the States from Europe. I'll probably be sending a mare to this stud next year.
This next one is Special Nu Baby tying the all time record for the highest score ever recorded in a cutting horse contest, marking a 234.
Punch it out to about 52 seconds, there's a bunch of nothing going on before that.
My colt has graduated from cutting the flag to working buffalo and remains ride for ride miles ahead of any colt I've ever been around in a lifetime spent playing with horses.
He probably has about a hundred rides on him by now.
Here's a minute video of Earthquake Ike, a finished Appaloosa cutting stallion working a far more mature buffalo than anything I'll be messing with anytime soon.
Click on the photo to the right to go visit Earthquake Ike's site.
A number of people continue to ask about the colt.
He is outstanding, thank you.
This is his baby picture.
We've had no more episodes of colic since he returned home from the convalescent home and he is by far the best two year old I've ever been around ... actually by way far.
He's been so good that the people who own the place where I ride asked me to ride their two year olds while they're off showing horses, thinking that it was my skill as a trainer of colts they were witnessing when in truth it's my colt the genius, picking it up as fast as I can show it to him, who is special.
This is a perfect deal for them as they can't pay me if I want to maintain my non pro card and good for me because I've lost 6 or so pounds, about an inch I didn't need anyway and have cleared my lungs out pretty good just from fooling around three or so hours a day, six days a week with four two year old colts.
The downside is that going from riding no horses a day to four colts a day in about two weeks has left me a little beat up and temporarilly reliant on the Tylenol to accomplish pretty much anything else.
Small price.
Remembering that I'm riding babies and am training mostly at a walk or a nice working trot, here are two vids that demonstrate how I've been spending my mornings.
The first is from Larry Trocha who offers a useful conversation about setting up a wall with the bit, and maybe more importantly proper riding posture into your stop.
The second is from Les Vogt who certainly has a glorious work environment and presents one of my favorite thoughts on stopping, that being the notion of 'letting them stop" rather than making them stop.
Drive your colt into that stop, say whoa while you're pulling your legs off him and pretty quick you'll get that "melting into the ground" thing that everybody loves.
I had promised somebody an update post on my colt when I got him back from the convalescent home and then didn't do it.
Apologies.
If you remember we made not one but two breakneck trips across the state of Michigan to the MSU large animal hospital this fall, the first for emergency colic surgury, the second mostly because the colt must have figured I didn't spend enough money on him the first time.
I picked him up and brought him home two weeks ago.
Went back to work on him the next day.
Mostly because I am way too old to be getting my butt bucked off a horse, Scotty got on him for the first time a week ago Friday.
I got on him Saturday and put his eighth ride on him this morning.
I had him saddled in September before he got sick and had hoped to be on him by Halloween, so my colt was way ahead of the filly in this Richard Winter video.
Still it's very good stuff and will probably surprise those people who think horses are getting broke ..... literally.
I left out the first video in this series as it was beyond introductory, videos 3, 4 and 5 are very good as Richard Winter gets this very nice, mature, and easy going two year old filly saddled and mounted in the course of an hour or so clinic.
It's always way easier and a lot safer after some hours of handling and ground work.
Here's a promotional video for the Dennis Reis Colt Breaking Challenge.
The colts in this vid are far more physically mature and far less experienced and mentally mature than the filly in the previous video.
These are some real good hands with a horse getting run over mostly because when these colts were babies they didn't get handled almost dailly like mine are.
These are most likely ranch raised colts that have been probably, mostly herded to and from after having been halter broke on a burro.
When I was young, I was still too old to be getting run over by somebody's knucklehead colt.
Still, nobody gets hurt here and everyone ends up going home safe, happy and ready to go on.
Sheila P. messaged me straight out of left field or God's country depending on your point of view something to the effect that you don't want an airplane for Christmas, what you want is a horse.
Well ..... Ok ... not necessarily at this moment but yeah, most of the time.
Then she said, "You only post cutting horse video's. Why don't you put up a reining video?"
I can do that.
Here is Shawn Flarida and the great Wimpy's Little Chic, the National Reining Horse Association's all time leading money earner with $514,800, winning the 2007 NRHA Open Futurity.
Who, if she could be bought at all, might start at auction on the low side at about the price of that seaplane.