October is our favorite time of year here at Rising K Ranch! The day's weather is perfect, the wildlife is more visible, and the changing leaves are beautiful. This fall, I hope you make it out for some unforgettable horseback riding experiences!

​  Since we are open all year long, Rising K Ranch is one of the few places where you can experience horseback riding through the snow. Typically, in the winter, our shorter trail rides will have anywhere from 2 inches to 18 inches of snow on the ground. This is just enough to make for a beautiful winter scene, allow for a nice crunching noise as the horse's hooves stomp on the snow, and give the horseback rider a unique experience. If you decide to go on our longer "Mountain Ride", however, we will go as far up the mountain as we can until the snow becomes impassible altogether. (Usually somewhere in the two foot range.)

   The temperatures here at Rising K Ranch in the winter are usually just above freezing (around 35-40 degrees) in the daylight, and drop to aorund 10 degrees at night. Horseback riding here in the winter is plenty of fun as long as you wear the following:

1. Warm wool socks and boots such as snowboots or muck boots (I typically wear "Mud's" brand muck boots all winter personally.)

2. Good, waterproof MITTENS. Mitttens are much, much better than gloves when it comes to horseback riding in the winter snow.

3. A hat that covers your ears.

4. Good coat

5. Snow pants.

6. Thermals underneath your clothing.

   

 

   With regards to winter horseback riding here at Rising K Ranch, it is not so much a low temperature itself that can make a horseback ride too cold, nor is it snow falling from the sky that will make it uncomfortable. Rather, it is a high wind that will make you feel frigid. Thankfully, our ranch is nestled in closely enough to the mountains that we do not receive nearly as much wind as the valley closer to town does, so we only have a few high wind winter days each year. For the most part, our winter days have only a light wind, which is still very cold if you do not have a hat that covers your ears; but if you do have a proper winter hat, it is not troublesome at all. 

   As far as snowstorms are concerned, again, falling snow is not uncomfortable at all. In fact, riding a horse through a heavy snowfall is a fun and unique experience, and if you are dressed properly you won't feel cold in it at all. The only thing that would make a snowfall uncomfortable is if the snowfall is paired with a high wind, creating more of a blizzard condition. Again, this thankfully is not typically the case here at our ranch. In fact, our heaviest snowfalls are usually accompanied with a somewhat higher temperature. Of course, in the event of a true blizzard-like condition we have canceled a few rides- but this is only about two or three times per year.

   If you have all the winter clothes I mentioned above, you will be plenty warm all day long and you will be able to comfortably enjoy riding a horse even through a snowstorm. Still, if you are unsure of your ability to cope with a colder climate, simply take the "Cedar Trail Ride" which is only an hour and a half long. With this ride, as long as you have any winter clothing at all, you will already be back to the ranch and your warm car by the time you start to feel cold.

  Even though we are only a short distance from the West Entrance of Zion National Park, we are typically 15 to 20 degrees cooler. This is due to the rapid elevation change from Springdale's 3,898 feet, to Rising K Ranch's 5,982 feet. (If you go horseback on our "Mountain Ride", you will reach elevations of over 9,000 feet for even cooler temperatures.)

   Along with the cooler change in temperature, you will find the geography of Rising K Ranch to include a much more forested, "Rocky Mountain" appearance than does Zion Canyon proper, which is a bit more of a high desert. Visit Zion National Park for awe-inspiring red cliffs and red canyon walls, surrounded mostly by juniper, pinyon, sage, cactus, and Gambel Oak, and ponderosa pine, and visit our ranch to view similar red cliffs, pyramids, and red rock walls surrounded by more spruce, quaking aspen, and maple.

   If you are visiting Zion National Park and are looking for a unique way to get into some cooler temperatures, higher altitudes, and much less crowds (each of our horseback rides are private, consisting of only you, the people you bring along with you, and your guide) we hope you will consider taking a horseback ride with us here at Rising K Ranch!

   "Take the Time it Takes and it Takes Less Time." This is the adage I have heard many a time from Jim Montgomery training horses in Veyo, Utah, and it has become a large part of my understanding of making a good horse. Unfortunately, as has been the case for millennia, we are always in a hurry to move on to the next thing and tend to be just as ancy as any hot-blooded barrel horse ever was.

   As with so many areas of life, having a finished horse is a matter of years of preparation; not a matter of a week-long tuneup just before the horse is needed. Moreover, due to the number of clinicians and competitions out there that promote horsemanship in terms of how far a colt can be brought along in only two or three days, I believe much of the general public has the wrong idea about what colt starting, as well as the rest of a horse's training, really looks like. Moreover, starting a colt successfully requires more than two or three sessions, and these are just a few reasons for why.

   1. As far as I am concerned, a horse learns more through consistent daily training, even if it is only 20 minutes-45 minutes a day, than through a long, 3 day event. This is also true of our own learning process as humans.

   For example, if you were to spend a 12 hour period doing nothing but learning to play piano, you would indeed learn much more in that day than the person who only spent twenty minutes. However, such a level of commitment to piano playing is, for the vast majority, an unsustainable amount of time. Meaning, it will likely be a few weeks before you have the time and motivation required to repeat such a long session, by which time you will have forgotten nearly everything you had learned. Not only so, but even during that twelve hour session, there will be a certain point (likely no more than two or three hours in) wherein your learning ability rapidly begins to diminish. Meanwhile, if you had spent only half an hour per day, six days per week, you will have put in twelve high quality hours of practice in only two weeks; and being more highly motivated due to the lesson times being more manageable, you will likely have put in a few extra hours on top of that just because you felt like it. Over the long run (and really not even very long) it is the consistent player who will vastly outperform the sporadic player.

   It is just the same with a colt's mind. He can only engage at a high level of learning for about twenty to forty-five minutes. After that, you are greatly put to a point of diminishing returns in your training efforts. You can take longer rides on a trail and you can work fairly long periods gathering cattle, but as far as actual training is concerned the colt will learn much better, will be much happier, will have far greater confidence, and will even learn faster over the long run, than the colt who was rushed through the gauntlet. 

   Another thing to keep in mind is the colt's bodily condition. Training on a young colt for hour on end is something for which colts are not built. Naturally, they can travel, unsaddled, for many a prairie mile along with the herd; but training is a horse of a different color. We are typically asking them to remain soft and light as we train them to respond to our cues by easily moving their hips, shoulders, barrel, and all while remaining light in the face. You likely won't keep a colt light for hour upon hour. Not only are their minds unprepared for such mental exertion; but their muscles are not yet properly conditioned either. Rather than using a piano lesson as an analogy, you can liken this to yourself doing stretching exercises. Only so many per day are beneficial- there is a point at which working out and stretching can actually become detrimental to your well being.

   2.   There is a vast difference between a colt's being comfortable with a trainer like Nick Dowers, Stacy Westfall, or Martin Black, and his being comfortable with an average rider on his back. There are myriad ways in which these trainers are able to communicate to their colts through timing and feel, which is itself only attained through thousands of hours, not only on horseback, but on horseback while training and learning from other great horsemen and women. Such horsemen are able to stop many a storm from occurring long before the horse even has the idea of blowing up or reacting, simply because once you have started so many thousands of horses, you get a very good sense of how things are going to happen and, with that sort of a sixth sense, you can gently reassure your colt or propel him forward at just the right time without having to give it any direct thought. It becomes as natural to you as speaking your first language. The rider who has only started a hundred colts or less, is not possibly going to have such timing and feel, and will soon find himself in several awful predicaments which, while they may or may not injure himself or his colt, they will certainly be a setback to the colt's training to some degree. In the case of an average rider getting on a colt with just a few days' riding on him, it is pretty likely that he will do something to get hurt, regardless of how great the colt was going through an obstacle horse with a top hand in the saddle.

   3. These clinics and competitions are bringing the trainer tens of thousands of dollars (or at least have the potential to if they win) over the course of three days. Trainers are able to dedicate themselves wholly in such events to just one or two horses, without having to worry about training any other horses and without having to do any other form or ranch work. They can afford to do this because they will be so highly compensated with money as well as some amount of connections and prestige. However, even if the three day event-style of training was a great all-around method for colt starting, it would require that the owner be willing to part with several thousand dollars for the trainer to focus solely on one horse for those three days. The trainer would need such pay because he is only riding that one horse rather than the dozen or perhaps twenty or thirty head that he would normally be working with the help of his assistants to saddle, unsaddle, lope, and generally care for.

   In summary, such events are good for what they are good for- showcasing the ability of a trainer and a colt in an entertaining fashion in order to maintain general public interest in horsemanship. When it comes to real life at the ranch or the training facility, however, you should expect to find quite a different way of doing things.

  For a short time of my life, I was riding saddlebroncs at small little rodeos such as the nightly summer rodeo in Bryce Canyon at Ruby's Inn. Even though it was a very small rodeo, the Wrights would ride there as well as a form of practice, so there were some surprisingly good broncs as well as riders at that time (around 2013). With good broncs and riders, there was also plenty of good advice around if one was willing to ask for it, which most of us were. The advice I remember best are these two pieces of advice, and both of them serve me today just as well in the cowhorse industry, and I would say that they are true in every skillset.

   1. You need a Coach.

   All the great bronc riders are helped by a good coach. You need someone with a knowledgeable, watchful eye to tell you what you are doing and how you can improve. While you are in the saddle, it is simply impossible to know exactly what your body, as well as the horse's body, is doing. Things are simply moving too fast. Thus, you may believe with all your heart that you are lifting the rein, when in fact you are pulling. Or you may feel like you are marking out well with your feet, even though you are really far behind the shoulder; and there are hundreds of such variables that you will not be able to recognize on your own.

   A good coach, however, is able to observe from a still point and at a perfect distance and is therefore able to tell you exactly where you went wrong and what you need to work on in order to improve. Being in the saddle is similar to being lost in the middle of a thickly wooded area, and the coach is like a man up in a hot air balloon. Rather than belittling the advice of the balloon man, the man on the ground would do well to heed his directions, otherwise he may end up lost in the woods for the rest of his life.

   With making a good bridle horse and becoming a fine horseman, there are also thousands of variables that you will invariably overlook if you do not have sound, frequent help from a coach who has gone where you are trying to go and has trained the kind of horses you want to train.

 

   2. You Need to Emulate a Winner

   In my case, I was told to purchase the video, 'Born to Ride: Cody Wright and the Quest for a World Title.' The video is a documentary about Cody Wright, and his success as one of the world's greatest saddlebronc riders of all time. (Today his sons have the same distinction.) I was told to watch Cody Wright ride broncs over and over again, in slow motion and at regular speed, focusing one time on just his foot, another time on just his leg, and so on. When I was to practice riding broncs in any capacity, I was to picture exactly, down to minute detail, what Cody Wright does and mimic it- right down to his very facial expressions. 

   I'll admit, when I am training horses I do not go quite so far as to mimic any particular horseman's facial expressions- but the main point of that advice remains sound. You need to watch, in close detail, what the successful trainers are doing and emulate them as much as possible. I would even say that, at the beginning, the best thing you can do with ride primarily with just one or two horsemen and soak up everything you can from them until your method of training horses is exactly the same as theirs.

 

   The title of this article is "Individuality in Horsemanship", so you may be asking yourself why I am advocating that you become a mere clone.

   First, even if you are so closely mimicking another horseman, you will still develop your own unique style without even thinking about it. You do not need to put forth effort into coming up with a unique style- when it happens well, it happens naturally. 

   Second, so closely mimicking a successful horseman is simply a method that allows you to advance in your skills without having to go through years of trial and error. You already know that what you are doing works because it is exactly what -insert successful horseman name here- does and he has time and again proven that it it works. After several years, however, you will have naturally grown your knowledge base and your skillset to a point where you can easily recognize good and bad horsemanship and you will be able to pull your information from a wide variety of horseman across every field of discipline. You will also, at that point, be able to formulate your own ideas and methods that best suit your exact personality and circumstances.

   In fine, I advocate both. First become as much of a clone as you can until you really know what you are doing; but once you have reached a certain point make sure you are not afraid to branch out and do what makes the most sense to you in your own program.

    We start a lot of colts here at Rising K Ranch. After they have learned enough in the round pen, I take them out on a trail ride with a little company from my wranglers and assistants. At a few points, or at least at some point, the colt is sure to spook at something, whether that be a log, a branch brushing up against them, or one particular boulder out there that every coly so far mistakes for a bear.
   Everyone who rides horses very long end up dealing with a spooked horse at least to some degree. While there are several methods out there that can work for getting a horse used to obstacles and objects and noises, my method is simply to ignore it and move on. In the case of the scary boulder, for example, I very well could spend fifteen or twenty minutes riding my horse in large circles around the boulder, gradually making my circles smaller, or I could work on other things like hip and shoulder control at a certain distance from the boulder and gradually get closer until he doesn't even pay the boulder any heed. I have done all these things before and they do work. However, I have also found that if you simply ride the horse every day and constantly expose him to new things, you really don't have to spend any dedicated time towards such desensitization, as the horse will naturally learn to trust you anyway.
   Therefore, if I am in an arena and the horse is afraid of one certain side or of something just outside, I do not focus on the frightening place and attempt to desensitize the horse. Rather, I simply continue to look ahead where I want the horse to go and continue working on whatever particular thing we might already be working on (loping circles, counterarcs, etc.) Even if the horse does shy away and makes it impossible to make the perfectly shaped circle I was attempting, even if we end up riding in oblong shapes rather than in circles due to the horses' shying away from one end of the arena, I continue to look forward where I want the horse to go and continue to train the horse rather than make a concerted effort to desensitize him to a certain area. It is very rarely more than two or three rides in a row until the colt is over his fear and is back on track just focusing on his training. 
   The same holds true for the trail riding. If the horse is afraid of a particular place or thing, I simply refuse to acknowledge said thing, and I continue to keep my own eyes fixed ahead as I ask the horse to move forward. Even if the horse moves past the object by veering off the trail further than I would have liked, he still got past it and almost never takes more than two or three more trail rides before he feels comfortable walking right alongside the scary boulder or whatever object it may be. (I will say that streams are a bit of a different situation, as you have no choice but to cross them when you get to them, so that is a time when you simply must take the time it takes to teach your horse to cross a stream; but I will write on that more specifically at a future date.)
   Perhaps the most important thing to remember where spookiness is concerned is that, no matter what, training a solid, confident horse in the arena and trail requires more than just a day or two- it requires daily exposure for several months, This is why we haul young horses to horse shows long before they are entered- it prepares them for all the activity. And this is why, if you are going to be showing a horse in a trail course or going hunting with him, you should have him prepared long before show time or hunting season. Preparing months in advance will take all the haste out of the situation and allow you to train your horse in a much more professional fashion, and will do much to reduce nearly all risk of injury both for the rider as well as for the horse.

   Stella takes some time to rest in a lush valley filled with bison and elk. In the backrgound is Yellowstone's Hayden Valley where Stella was the horse I was riding. It was good to be able to take my own horses and ride, not only here at the Rising K Ranch in the Zion and Bryce Canyon area, but anywhere else I want to go, from Arizona's saguaro deserts to Yellowstone's volcanic mountains.
   Stella is also a very handy ranch horse who I use, not only to guide trail rides, but also to start colts and work cattle. You spend enough time with these horses and go with them enough different places, and they do become your friends. For me, Stella is a "go-to" type of horse I can count on for about anything.

​What is a Bridle Horse?

 

   In the cowhorse industry, whether that be the NRCHA show horse world or the world of working cowhorses on working cattle ranches, we refer to the finished horse as a "Bridle Horse." This is because only our finished horses who have gone through about four years of training will be shown or primarily ridden in a bridle bit. The bridle bit is a solid bit and can be anything from a spade or ring bit, to a Mona Lisa, San Joaquin, or even a curb bit, or a grazing bit as they are sometimes called.

 

   For my own purposes, a finished bridle horse is distinguished by the following five traits:

 

1. The Bridle Horse is Ridden with a Bridle Bit

   This is the first and most obvious requirement. However, just throwing a bridle bit into a horse's mouth, proclaiming him a "Bridle Horse" when he doesn't pitch a fit, and riding him down the trail is not what I am talking about. The bridle horse knows how to carry the bit on his own, even holding onto the bit with his mouth. (Especially with a spade bit, which is why we go through a hackamore and two-rein process to get into the bridle.) The bridle horse is also soft and supple in his mouth as well as in his entire body, so that he will give to the bit without hesitation at any speed.

 

2. The Bridle Horse can Rein

   The Bridle Horse can perform all the reined maneuvers (sometimes called "dry work") well. This includes lead departures, transitions from slow to fast and back to slow lope without breaking gait, changing leads, sliding into his stops, correct spins at a decent speed, and having a good back-up. In addition to these things, he should be able to stop straight, draw straight, and turn completely around with a "cowhorse turn" and move out again in the correct lead.

 

3. The Bridle Horse is of General Use Around the Ranch

 

   The Bridle Horse, for my purposes, is not only a show horse, but he can also go out on the circle at a long trot for several miles at a time. He is handy at brandings and gatherings. He is patient and easy to handle when it comes to opening and closing gates without dismounting. He is not a nuisance on long trail rides and will cross bridges, rivers, and ravines without hesitation and can handle steep mountainsides and rocky terrain. He is a pleasure for the farrier to handle (if farriers can feel pleasure) and he is easy to load and unload from a horse trailer. And, though I would not consider it to be a requirement for a bridle horse, I do also like to teach my horses to handle mounted shooting.

 

4. The Bridle Horse is a Good Ranch Cutting Horse

 

   The Bridle Horse may not be one you would show in the NCHA (just as you would not likely show him in the NRHA), but he can sure enough hold his own at a cowhorse or ranch cutting event, as well as in a sorting pen. He can also turn the cow down the fence and circle him in both directions. The Bridle Horse enjoys dominating a cow, and doesn't have to be reminded of what he is there to accomplish- he loves working a cow in much the same way as a border collie does.

 

5. The Bridle Horse Can Work a Rope

 

   Finally, the Bridle Horse is good in roping situations, especially with regards to steer stopping and ranch roping, and he can work a rope for a lone cowboy who is doctoring.

 

 

   In fine, the Bridle Horse is a true partner and can be trusted to take care of you in any situation at a ranch, rodeo, horse show, or mountain trail. 

 

   If you would like to learn more about making and understanding the Bridle Horse, I hope you will join my Free Private Facebook Group, "Cowhorse Community".

 

www.cowhorsecommunity.com

 

www.risingkranchtrailrides.com

   Because of Utah's drastic changes in elevation, Utah contains several types of countryside. From sagebrush deserts such as you find around St. George, Utah, to the juniper-pinyon woodlands that surround Cedar City, Utah, to coniferous forests on many of Utah's mountain ranges, similar in many ways to the Rocky Mountains. On many of Utah's mountain ranges, you will also find some high alpine meadows and tundra areas, such as in the Uintas in northern Utah. Rising K Ranch itself, lies within the juniper-pinyon woodlands, a few miles away from Cedar City, Utah, and our Mountain Ride takes you high up into the coniferous forests of Utah. The change of countryside along our Mountain Ride, is due to the elevation change, from 6,000 feet above sea level at Rising K Ranch, to above 9,000 feet elevation on the mountain. From some areas around Rising K Ranch, you can see all at once: areas of pure sagebrush, hills that are juniper-pinyon woodlands, and the coniferous forests on the mountain.
   The juniper and pinyon trees grow well at Rising K Ranch because of paucity of water and an abundance of volcanic rock and soil. Most of the mammals and larger birds migrate, so that they are primarily at the ranch from December through May, and higher up in the mountains from June through November. As the Utah weather grows colder, the mule deer descend to the lower elevations in greater numbers, where they will find less snow and more vegetation upon which to browse. Since mule deer are the primary food supply of most of Utah's mountain lions, they often follow along with the deer. Not only do mammals migrate to the Rising K Ranch for the winter; but also such birds as bald eagles, Clark's Nutcrackers, Wild Turkey, Stellar's Jays, Scrub Jays, and Robins. 
   Often, you will find particular sections of the forest where junipers abound with only an occassional pinyon pine, and other areas where the pinyon abound with only the occassional juniper. In other sections of the woodlands, you will often find a juniper and pinyon growing mere inches from each other, almost as if they were one tree. The pinyon pine grows pine needles which are sinmilar to many other pine trees; but its bark is much darker, almost completely black, and its wood is incredibly hard, resembling a hardwood more than a typical pine. The pinyon pine tree is notable for its pine nuts, a favorite local food for people and animals alike. Many people will harvest the pinyon pine nuts in the fall and roast them before eating them.
   The juniper has a much different type of needle than a pine tree has, with a much more scaly appearance. Junipers have a stringy bark that can even be braided into rope, and it is an aromatic hardwood, making excellent firewood. The juniper is known for its small, blue "berries" which are a favorite food source of robins and are also a key ingredient for making gin. 
   On a horseback ride through the juniper-pinyon woodlands, the wildlife you are most likely to see are mule deer, coyotes, foxes, dsquirrels, wild turkey, jackrabbits, cottontail rabbits, red-tailed hawks, ravens, other smaller birds, and many kinds of lizards and snakes. To have the best chance of seeing wildlife, it is best to begin looking right at sunrise, and keep your eyes peeled, always looking around the forest and not gettins mesmerized into only staring at your horse's ears while you ride. 
   I hope to go on a horseback ride through Utah's wild countryside with you sometime soon, right here at Rising K Ranch!

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