Saddle Talk with Sandy and Cara
'Saddle Talk with Sandy and Cara' is hosted by two saddle sisters, keeping you company one ride at a time. We discuss life, love, horses of course, and all the unexpected turns along the trail.
Saddle Talk with Sandy and Cara
Ponying Part 2: Getting Both Horses Ready For a Family Outing
Sandy and Cara discuss the steps you can take to get your mount ready for the adventures of ponying on the trail. They also discuss how to make sure the horse being ponied is equally ready. There are many strategies you can use to prep both animals and they suggest a few resources for anyone wanting to take the next steps towards trail training.
Clip clop goes the trail sun is rising high two gals in the saddle neath the big Nevada sky laughing and chatting as the desert rolls on by it's saddle talk come along for the ride Welcome listeners to Saddle Talk with Sandy and Cara.
Speaker 3:Whether you're here to laugh with us, learn, or just ride along, you're in for a really good time. So go grab your helmet or your pooper scooper and settle in with us as we discuss life, horses, of course, and all the unexpected turns along the trail. And hey, whether you're a seasoned cowgirl or you're still learning, remember we're sharing our own stories and opinions based on decades of personal experience. Always ride safe and check with a professional before trying anything new. Now let's go ride.
Speaker 4:Well, hello, listeners. Hello, Cara.
Speaker 3:Hello.
Speaker 4:So we had a really good day today. Yes. We did Yeah, we did some riding.
Speaker 3:Yes.
Speaker 4:And if anybody saw the video that I posted prior to, I was ponying shooter. I was not ponying Max. I have to say that right now. But it's a good lead-in because today we want to discuss ponying part two.
Speaker 3:Pony part two. We need to continue our discussion on how to actually get your horses ready for ponying.
Speaker 4:Right. The first time we discussed how do you build your confidence as that rider, getting yourself ready to feel comfortable doing the actual pony and being safe. Right. So now we want to discuss how do you prep the horses.
Speaker 3:I think that one of the most important things you need to have in a horse, obviously, is an animal that just gives to pressure. And if you don't have an animal that's able to give to pressure, then you can't pony. So there are a couple things that you can do to get an animal that isn't giving to pressure ready.
Speaker 4:Well, can I interrupt? Yeah, of course. Okay, so what if we start off with the like the three sections? So you have to have the horse that's going to pony, right? So you have to prepare that horse. And then you have to prep the horse that's being ponied, and then the third part would be bringing those two together. So let's start with the horse that's being ponied, which is what you were just about to talk about. Sorry, yeah.
Speaker 3:So I'm glad you tracked me back.
Speaker 4:So, but anyway, so that way we have this in section, so then everybody can put it together.
Speaker 3:So we'll discuss first the horse that's actually being ponied, depending on the age and experience of that animal, is really gonna dictate how you handle the actual pony.
Speaker 4:And the equipment you use.
Speaker 3:And the equipment you use. That's a really good point. Yeah. So if you have a baby horse, that baby horse is gonna follow its mama wherever.
Speaker 4:As long as you you're you have the mama.
Speaker 3:Good point. As long as you have the mom, the baby will follow anywhere. And I don't even know if that's how the term ponying came about, but I think it must have. It has to be something to do with that. It has to have something to do with that. Yeah. So if you have the baby horse, the baby horse will absolutely follow the mom. And then you just have to make sure that you're in a safe environment because everyone's environment's different. If you're gonna have a baby horse loose with the mom, that's you know, you have to make sure your your barn owner's okay with baby.
Speaker 4:Because you wouldn't be using a halter and rope and things like that.
Speaker 3:Technically could run. Yes. Yes, yeah. So there's that situation, and so as you would halter brake the horses, you could then put the halters on them, and then it would be a lot easier to actually pony with a halter. Yes. I took ponying classes at Cal Poly.(https://www.cpp.edu/agri/clubs-organizations/intercollegiate-equestrian-team/index.shtml) Did you know that you can take a halter braking class?
unknown:No.
Speaker 2:I did not.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I took it my first year in college. I did not ever have experience working with baby Arabians. And they teach they literally how to pony teach you how to halter brake baby horses. Okay. And then from there you can just keep going through their equine program.
Speaker 4:And what kind of halters would they use?
Speaker 3:Oh, it was cool. It was back in the day day, so we hadn't had they didn't have all the Clinton Anderson rope holes. Nope, no Parelli. Like Parelli hadn't hit yet.
Speaker 4:Okay.
Speaker 3:So we just used regular halters. But the thing is, is when something's that small, it just does what you tell it. Which is why I understand people get babies.
Speaker 4:Yeah, now that I've been in this for 10 years now, I know that's not the right choice to make. But that's a different episode.
Speaker 3:But yeah, so you can actually learn how to halt or break baby horses at different Equine colleges. And the Equine courses that you can take at the agricultural colleges are amazing.
Speaker 4:But most of the people listening to us are not gonna go to Cornwall and learn how to pony a horse. No.
Speaker 3:So so I think And you're most of your people, all most of our listeners aren't gonna have baby horses to break to pony. Right. But I just wanted to put that out there.
Speaker 4:Oh, yeah, of course. That's what this is for.
Speaker 3:Because there might be somebody out there with a baby horse. Like, that's okay.
Speaker 4:That's the whole person.
Speaker 3:Accidents happen. Okay, can I tell you a secret desire? Sure. I legit wished that I had a horse that accidentally got pregnant so I could name the baby Tinder.
Speaker 4:Why Tinder? Because Tinder the app. Swipe left, swipe right. I have no what is that?
Speaker 3:What? What? Did I miss a book or a movie? Dude, you miss society for like the last 15 years. Are you kidding me right now? No. Shut the front door.
Speaker 4:What are you talking about?
Speaker 3:Tinder?
unknown:That's the hookup app. Oh!
Speaker 4:No, I know what Tinder is. Yeah.
Speaker 3:Could you imagine?
Speaker 4:What does that have to do with a baby horse?
Speaker 3:I secretly wish that some of those horses that we got were accidentally pregnant so that I could name a baby Tinder. Isn't that the perfect accidental baby horse name? Listeners, if any of you accidentally have a baby, can you please name it Tinder? And you have to tell us.
Speaker 4:You're insane.
Speaker 3:No, I'm not. That is the perfect horse baby name. Okay. Okay. So, anyways.
Speaker 4:Okay. So I think what most of the times what's gonna happen is somebody's gonna buy a companion horse for a single horse, and then they're gonna want to pony that new horse with their current horse.
Speaker 3:100%.
Speaker 4:Right. So in that case, how would you prep the horse? Well, you take the horse being ponied and you took the phone. I will take the horse that you're using to pony. Okay. Because Max is so amazing, I feel like I could speak to it a little bit. Yeah. And then at the end, we'll talk about how to break it together. So if somebody has a new horse, what would you do to prep that buddy horse?
Speaker 3:Right. So halter braking is the number one most important thing because even though it's not going to be the human walking next to the horse, it is going to be the horse walking next to the horse.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 3:And the horse walking next to the horse is going to have to put up with that horse being ponied. And so you need to have an animal.
Speaker 4:He was ponying Armani and he was having a meltdown. He was. Yes.
Speaker 3:He he was having insecurity, major insecurities, and he was, you know, nipping at poor little Maxie's bottom. But a lot of that stemmed from him just not having good manners and not being taught.
Speaker 4:Sure. So let's say somebody brings home a companion horse. Like Armani. Or just a second horse. It doesn't even have to be a companion, but just a second horse.
Speaker 3:You'll literally be able to tell by standing next to that horse. You're going to be able to tell whether or not that horse is rude or not rude. If that's a horse that invades your space and nips you and is kind of a jerk, he's going to do the same thing. He's not ready. Yeah. And he's going to do it.
Speaker 4:Any same thing to another horse.
Speaker 3:To another horse and worse. So you'll be able to tell by how that horse handles, like we were saying, how that horse handles being next to a human if they're going to be rude, right? If they have manners next to a human, that's a really good sign that they're going to have manners next to another horse.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 3:And if they don't have manners, I think it's really like a litmus test. And if they don't have manners with a human.
Speaker 4:And for some people that don't know what a litmus test is, what is a litmus test?
Speaker 3:A litmus test is just it's black or white. Well, it's really acid or base. But like it's for layman's terms, it's a black or white test of for what? For acid or base. Like the piece of paper that tells you something is an acid or a base. You didn't know that?
Speaker 4:I have no idea what you're talking about.
Speaker 3:Litmus paper?
Speaker 4:That sounds familiar.
Speaker 3:I feel so science? Is it science class? Science nerd status.
Speaker 4:Is that a science class?
Speaker 3:It's like a full-on science. Yeah, you take it in high school and I don't know. That's right.
Speaker 4:I went through high school in the 80s. Okay.
Speaker 3:I was in the 90s. We were always testing for acid and base. Okay.
Speaker 4:We were dropping acid for testing. I didn't do that. I just had to say it is happening.
Speaker 3:It's okay. It's cute. So anyway. Anyways, if the horse is being naughty with you, they're gonna be naughty with the other horse and they're gonna they're gonna amp up that naughty because they can. So you need to halt or break your own horse. And there are a lot of different ways to do that. And I think time consistency is the number one thing. So even if you just go out there, and I'm not exaggerating, if you go out there for 15 minutes a day, 15 minutes a day will make a difference. You don't and do what is just work with your animal, be near your animal, and correct that animal.
Speaker 4:So, like put the halter on them and maybe walk them around an area that is open and and correct them if they get out of line.
Speaker 3:Right. And you can practice things. Um, you can set up fake obstacle courses for yourself so that you have a goal. So you could say to yourself, okay, we're gonna go from here to that tree, and we're gonna see if they get into my space. And we're gonna count how many times that happens, and we're gonna correct it every time, and you're gonna try to get better every time you do it.
Speaker 4:Yeah, and I think that Clinton Anderson and Parelli both have a really good technique for backing up a horse. Yes. Because one of the things when you're when you're being when you're the person on the pony horse, sometimes they want that other horse, you know, out of their space. And wiggling the rope, giving them that cue to back off a little, is really important. So I know that you've been working with a Parelli trainer. Right. have you guys worked on any of that yet?
Speaker 3:Yeah, and I've had a lot of success with this horse with the Parelli natural horsemanship.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:And this is the first time that I've actually drank the Kool-Aid of the natural horsemanship world. And I was at wits end with Armani. And so we're we're making really fast strides with him.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 3:I've never had to go down this route. So if anyone's trained the traditional methods, I grew up hunter-jumper barn and showing, just showing a lot. And so when you grow up in that show world, I think it's different than the natural Parelli horsemanship world.
Speaker 4:Yeah, because I don't do they even teach you any ground stuff.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I mean that when I was in college, that's what I did. I learned how to walk a baby horse. Yeah, we halter broke baby horses, but that's not everyone's reality, right? You get this hot mess of a horse that, like Armani, you get a hot mess of an animal that knows how big he is.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:And he knows that he can end you.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:So I was scared of him for two months straight when I first got him. Legitimately. I felt that fear for my life. I felt that you thought that way. Yeah. And I honestly thought to myself, who does this? How am I gonna do this? Like, how is this gonna play out? Number one. And who the hell am I that I think that I can train this animal?
Speaker 4:Well, because you train Bob so well, yes.
Speaker 3:Well, and then I said to myself, Oh, it's people like me. I'm the kind of person that takes on a horse that's a hot mess like that and actually makes it through because I've got all of this experience. I mean, I am a horse trainer, just not professionally, and and I have time. I think that's one of the best things that I don't have to worry about. And this is probably what a lot of other women who are not trainers but who are amazing horse women, we feel is we don't have to be bound by anyone's time. If I was a trainer, I would be bound by someone else's timeline.
Speaker 4:Right, because it they want their horse on. Yeah, and I don't give a and I think that's another thing too, not to cut you off mid-curse words, but I think the other thing too is a lot of people rush. So one of the things I know that I've rushed into is I've always been advised, whatever you want to do out on the trail, practice in your arena, and it's like, well, that's boring. Of course they're gonna be good in the arena. Yeah, but it's important. I think what I do is I did a little bit of it. Right. Okay, I'm gonna go out to the trail now. But that's just because sometimes stupidity is confidence, and I can be stupid. You know, I think we were more confident than smart when we took our money out and ponied him that first time.
Speaker 3:Right.
Speaker 4:He wasn't ready.
Speaker 3:He wasn't ready.
Speaker 4:The only one ready was Max, and Max had a limit, right? Right. And he let me know when we reached it. You know, everything was safe. We recognized the signs early, and everything was perfect, everything was great. But that's what I mean because on the way home from that situation, he really did invade my space. He never bit me, but he was unconfident, sort of like nipping me and just nervous, and he didn't know where to put his feet, and he was kind of freaking out. Now, was everything okay? Yeah, because you had two horses and I was following you, right? And he's just gonna follow the herd, right? Right? They're herd animals. Yeah, so I wasn't scared for my life, but I was nervous for our safety, and then that was the moment when Max was like, Oh, hell no, I don't want to do this anymore. And he showed us that physically, he let us know physically he was finished. And we are smart enough to read our animals' body language. Yes, tune in, tune into your body's language horse's body language. That's the only way to fly, right? So we tuned in and he said he was finished, and so we listened, and I got off of the horse I was riding because Sandy was in front of me ponying, and she ponied my horse, and I walked jackass all the way home. And so please take that moment for yourself. If you are in a fear factor sort of situation, take a buddy and stop when you're done. If you are emotionally done, physically done, don't go past that limit when you're trying something new. Okay. Now, other than us posting a video of training a horse or Armani, which I guess we could, but there's a lot of videos already out there.
Speaker 3:Yeah, there's so many resources. Right.
Speaker 4:I mean, like Parelli has free. You can go on YouTube and look up Parelli.
Speaker 3:You know, he just had a whole thing on Amazon. He has like a whole show on Amazon that you can watch if you have most of us have Amazon Prime.
Speaker 4:And Clinton Anderson has one on YouTube where he got a rescue horse and he took it through all of his fundamental program, and at the end, somebody won the horse. Oh, that's cool. The name was Cider. Oh, yeah. And it was it's really good because there is a section in there where he teaches backing up and responding to the wiggle of the rope.
unknown:Okay.
Speaker 4:And I know Parelli has a wiggle of the rope lesson as well. So we certainly can't sit here and tell people how to do that, right? Right.
Speaker 3:I mean, there's so much there's so much out there.
Speaker 4:Yeah, so definitely look those things up.
Speaker 3:I really like Josh Nichols, (https://joshnichol.com/) if anyone's interested. Josh Nichols is pretty amazing. Yeah. And if you haven't heard of it, there's a it's like a a learning masterclass, basically this archive, and you can sign up for it. And I want to say it's Noelle Floyd Plus.(www.noellefloydplus.com)
Speaker 4:Noelle Floyd.
Speaker 3:Noelle Floyd, yeah. If you haven't heard of her, she's this amazing equestrian. She's world-class top equestrian, but then she got into vlogging and blogging, and then she started a magazine, and basically she built this empire. She started a couple different podcasts over the years, and then she also built this huge archive. Part of her media empire she has built is she's taken professionals from all different disciplines and she puts their training up online. And so, if you're somebody who's not super into you know, any of the people we've mentioned, like Clinton Anderson, sure, probably, you can go learn from people who are specialists in your discipline. So if you want to learn from the Western Masters, if you want to learn from people who are cross-country specialists, you can go onto this archive and they have anything you can think of. They have amazing resources. They have riding videos that you can listen and ride to. They have training videos you can watch. It's just it's an outstanding resource for anyone who's looking for help.
Speaker 4:Okay.
Speaker 3:Yep.
Speaker 4:So I guess once you once you feel that your horse is prepared to go out and be ponied, the next step is to make sure that the horse you're using to pony that horse is also prepared. Because not every horse likes another horse in their bubble or their space.
Speaker 3:On that booty.
Speaker 4:And I have to say, the three horses I have, Autumn and Shooter and Max, I can pony off of all three of them.
Speaker 3:Right.
Speaker 4:But their tolerance levels, they're all different.
Speaker 3:Right.
Speaker 4:And Max has the best tolerance level. So when I first got Max, he did not like a rope on his butt. He did not like a rope under his tail. If I patted him on the butt when we were out in trail, he would do a little bunny hop, you know. Right. I remember. Yes, he hated it. I don't really know where it happened or when it happened, that all of a sudden he was okay with it. I think it was consistency and time, like you've said before. So I do feel like that's what it was because I don't remember a defining moment when all of a sudden he was good.
Speaker 3:Yeah, sure, fine, let's do it. Yeah.
Speaker 4:Exactly. And I know that you and I have discussed that, you know, one of the things you could do is on the ground, work with that horse and take a long lead rope, throw it around their butt, put it up underneath their tail, see how they react.
Speaker 3:Right.
Speaker 4:See how they feel about that.
Speaker 3:Desensitizing, basically.
Speaker 4:Exactly. But what did what did your Parelli teacher call desensitizing? Oh. I love the what I love the term that she used. I don't remember.
Speaker 3:I can't. I'm so old, girl. It's not gonna happen right now.
Speaker 4:Well, we'll have we'll have her on as a special guest. I mean, and we will have her use all her new terms.
Speaker 3:Yeah, perimenopause got me in his grip right now. There's no way I'm gonna remember.
Speaker 4:Postmenopause has got me.
unknown:Okay.
Speaker 4:Yeah, we're on both spectrums. Um, I did use Max. I did Max in the arena first. I think I ponied, I think the first one I ponied was Autumn. I think the first one I ponied was.
Speaker 3:So you did practice.
Speaker 4:I did practice.
Speaker 3:In an enclosed environment.
Speaker 4:I did in an enclosed environment. And maybe not as long as I should have, maybe not as many times. But you know, everyone's gonna have their own time limit. One of the things I needed to make sure of though when I ponied is that if the other horse got too close, that I could wiggle the rope and get that horse to back off. And all of my horses understand what that means. So that really worked well for me. And I did practice on him with the rope on his butt, with the rope under his tail. Autumn doesn't really like the rope under her tail because when you pony jewel and that rope got under their shoe, I'm very happy.
Speaker 3:No, and what they'll do is when it starts to get underneath their tail, they'll actually get afraid and their tail will clamp down and get tighter. And it'll get, yeah, it'll get worse, and then they get even more freaked out, and then you're on a horse that's spinning around, right? Feeling like it's getting its ass bit by a lion. So you have to really make sure that your horse that's actually doing the ponying and getting ridden can handle that rope in every crevice. And I love what you said about your horses backing off because they need to be able to respond. So whether you use Parelli or you use Clinton or you use Josh or whoever, whatever your resource is.
Speaker 4:To wiggle the rope however way you want to.
Speaker 3:Yeah, whichever way that you can get that animal to be responsive to pressure in every single direction, that's gonna be your clue that the animal is ready to be ponied.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 3:Because when you flip that rope, you're gonna have the rope in your hand, or if you decide to tie it to your saddle, which I just don't like doing. I like to hold the rope. But if you decide to hold it in your hand or whether it's tied to your horn, you can flip up that piece of rope and that horse will move away from you. Right. You need that spacing in order to be safe.
Speaker 4:Right. Yeah. And so you bring up a good point holding the rope versus dallying.
Speaker 3:Dallying the rope.
Speaker 4:Is that what it is? It's a dally, it's a dally. You can do a single dally or a double dally.
Speaker 3:You go, girl.
Speaker 4:Thank you. I learned that from my friend, Darlene. So I think the hardest part about ponying is getting used to that damn rope. What am I gonna do with this rope? Because I think I'm using a 25-foot No, you're using a 14. It's a 14, thank you. Okay, thanks. A 14-foot, I use Clinton Anderson equipment. So I use his rope halter and I use his 14-foot lead rope. And so you have a lot of rope in your hand and it's really awkward. And that's the hardest part to me, is figuring out what to do with that rope. I worry about doing even a single dally because, first of all, you still have a lot of rope hanging on the other side, which you could if you drag it and the other and your horse steps on it, then you're screwed. So then you double dally, but then that's a little tighter. So if the horse you're ponying stops and rears or pulls back, it's pulling against your saddle.
Speaker 3:Right.
Speaker 4:Then I've also had it in my lap, and I and and that, if you're not paying attention, it can slip out, and now it's really dragging. Or one of the things that I found that I was so impressed with myself was I have a saddle bag, so I just took the other end of the rope and stuffed it in my saddlebag on the opposite side of me. That really does work well, but I always forget to do it. But it does work really well.
Speaker 3:I think that I when you do that, I never see the rope dragging. Exactly.
Speaker 4:But see, now I'm using my saddlebag for treats on a phone, so right. Anyway, I have to figure that part out. But that I really did stuff it in your saddlebag. Because then it just feeds out, right? You know, and you don't have to worry too much about it.
Speaker 3:Like dental floss. Right, exactly.
Speaker 4:That works really well. And the other thing too is my suggestion is when you're ready, go out with somebody. That way, if your horse that you're using to pony gets tired, you can hand off to the other person. And then they can pony until your horse regroups and then take the rope back. I think provided that your buddy's horse knows how to pony a horse as well. Like it's all right, it's a big circle. And learn to recognize your horse. When we had Armani, I knew that Max was over it. Yeah, you know, and and he got he was getting a little tired because of the just the antics of a baby, of a young horse. He's a baby.
Speaker 3:I know he's a baby hand.
Speaker 4:He's a baby. Yeah, so there you go. I I hope that we have, I mean, we'll move on to the third step, but if there's any questions, comments, anybody else has any other ideas, tips, tips, tricks, tips, tricks, yeah, please post them. We're happy to share. Like, we know we're not the end all. We know that. And we're telling you we're not. We know we're not, and we're telling you we're not.
Speaker 3:So I think when you go to finally officially pony, right?
Speaker 4:That is do it in the arena first. Yeah, do it in the arena first.
Speaker 3:Uh like Sandy was saying, do it in the arena first or in a closed area. If you have, you know, two acres and it has a fence. Yeah. Cool, start there. For sure, that's the best place to start. And then I would love for everyone to have a buddy on the ground, like you were saying. And I think there's a lot of nervousness and there's a lot of anxiety surrounding something like this. And it's crazy because it's one of the most relaxing things that you can do for your animals is just to take them on a walk.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Because when you pony, you're not gonna go trotting and cantering. That's not what this is. Ponying is you're going on a chill walk. We like to call it a family.
Speaker 4:A family outing. Yeah, family outing.
Speaker 3:So when we have our family outings, for me, it's one of the most relaxing things that we do together. And I think that when you finally go to marry those two horses together after you practice in the arena, please just baby step it, baby step it to success. Yeah. And you can even have two small mini lessons in a day. Yeah. Because I think those short, sweet mini lessons for a horse's brain, they are so much more effective than trying to work a horse for an hour. You can get locked into trying so hard for an hour and the horse just gets frustrated. Yeah. But if you do like a mini lesson and you're a success, okay, cool, come back later in the afternoon, do another 10-minute session. You know, and then the next day do a 15-minute session.
Speaker 4:And we actually have a friend who is asking us to help her with a new horse that she got, and we're gonna record it. Actually, what we're recording is the horse that she's going to use to pony her new horse because that horse is a spoiled brat. Yeah, and and she's gonna need some help. She needs a little guide.
Speaker 3:She's getting used to a rope around her. Yeah. So we'll see how it goes.
Speaker 4:She's her bubble is very small, and she doesn't like other horses in her bubble. We're gonna work on that. So we will do some recording of that and post that. Hopefully.
Speaker 3:I think she's gonna end up having to ride her and then just take a rope, not just do it on the ground, like desensitizing with the rope on the ground. She's gonna need to desensitize the horse when she's gonna be.
Speaker 4:We could be the horse and then she can hold the rope, and we could be back there messing with the rope around as the horse.
Speaker 3:Her back end.
Speaker 4:Because I've never seen Emma kick.
Speaker 3:Okay.
Speaker 4:So I don't think she'd kick us. And I but I do think that we could be far enough away with that rope and just practice with Emma. Because I think that's what she's gonna need. Because the horse she's ponying is old and doesn't give a crap.
Speaker 3:So I'm I think that we should start her on we should just have her tied up and just see how comfortable she is with the rope.
Speaker 4:Of course. Yeah, no, no, no. That's the first step. I'm saying when we get past that, right, when we get past that, then put put her on the horse and then walk beside her with that rope, she can hold it. We can pretend to be the horse where we're going from side to side. Obviously, I wouldn't get into her bubble because I I say I've never seen her kick, but that doesn't matter. So I think that'll be a good I think that'll be a good video. Did we cover everything?
Speaker 3:So one of the other things you might want to consider before you even do all of this is make sure that both the animals that you're working with don't need dental care, that there's no pain in their mouth, or pain in their legs, or pain in their legs, that they are fully physically able. And I I'm just putting this in there as not a disclaimer, but it is a disclaimer. Sure it is. We've come across so many older horses that we've gotten, and even horses of our own that we didn't realize weren't up to snuff physically before you put them back into work.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 3:And if you just have them looked at by a vet and have your teeth checked, I mean, think of horses we've met, they had awful teeth, and I wouldn't want a halter on me with those awful teeth.
Speaker 4:No, or pain or arthritis in their hawks or they're anywhere else, and now you're trying to pony them up a hill. Yeah. And they're they're gonna follow you, but they're in pain. So make sure that both horses, because your other horse might also the one that you're using to pony may not be in the best of health. You know, pain pain radiates, like the energy it radiates could cause a lot of other issues, and you think it's oh my horse doesn't like this when it has nothing to do with that.
Speaker 3:It has nothing to do with that. Yeah, and it will throw off the horse that's doing the ponying. Like when I remember ponying Jewel, she was older Mustang that we had.
Speaker 4:And her f and she needed boots.
Speaker 3:She needed boots, and I was riding Autumn, and Autumn was not happy that Jewel was so slow, and so I think that was the last time I ponied Jewel.
Speaker 4:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Because we were just like, oh, okay, she she doesn't she doesn't need this in her life anymore. Wait a minute.
Speaker 4:Let me let me another caveat. Yeah, make sure the horses are equally matched. Autumn is a foxtrotter, right? All right, very forward, very fast. Joel was old.
Speaker 3:She was short, she had little tiny feet.
Speaker 4:Yep. And and it was it was not fair to pony her on autumn.
Speaker 3:Autumn just got frustrated because I had to keep holding her back.
Speaker 4:Well, but I mean, even before you, like when I was doing it.
Speaker 3:Oh, okay.
Speaker 4:Like when I would pony her, I because I would take autumn out too and pony Joel.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 4:And I felt like I was dragging Joel. Even when I ponied Max off of Autumn, I felt like I was dragging Max. Yeah. Because autumn is so forward. So make sure that your horses are equally matched.
Speaker 3:Equally matched. And pain-free.
Speaker 4:And pain free. Yes. I think that was.
Speaker 3:I think those that would probably would be a really good place to actually start. Yes. Yep. And then you can sort of look at rope handling for yourself, rope handling with the horses, halters. Halter, giving to pressure, and just being able to scoot that pony horse back if you need to. Because I think on the trail, when you're ponying, this one of the scariest things is just coming up across unexpected things like dogs or deer or whatever it is. And when the horse gets scared and it's got the pony rope on, and that's why I don't like to put it on the saddle.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Is because if that horse pulls back, I don't want that horse to move my saddle.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 3:So I prefer to hold the rope in my hand. And then that way I can just drop it or move it to the other hand, the other side. For me, that's what I prefer. 100%.
Speaker 4:And depending on the horse, I I follow both. Like I was ponying shooter today, he's so lethargic. I I probably didn't even need a rope.
Speaker 3:It's so true. It's so true.
Speaker 4:But I don't have a problem doing a little dally on with him. But when I started out ponying Aspen, I held the rope.
Speaker 3:Absolutely. Yep.
Speaker 4:Yeah. Yeah. No. I you're absolutely right. And that goes to show there's not one way. It's just because I say one thing doesn't mean that's the way that I'm saying, oh, I should be done that way. No. It's so black and white. And and the problem is though, when you start out, in horses in general, you learn a certain way, and you kind of get this feeling like that's the only way. And then you have a hard time opening up your mind. I'm like, well, I can't learn from somebody else. What does she know? Like, what it is. Like, you know what I'm saying? Yeah. That's like, Sandy, you're being stupid. I mean, like, you can and you need to pull all these likes out that I keep saying.
Speaker 3:I can't.
Speaker 4:Okay. Well, sorry, everybody. I swear I'm not a valley girl. I swear I'm not 12 years old. I just use the word like too much. But you know, sometimes I look at certain things and I think to myself, well, what do they know? Like, what's their you know qualification? Right. That's mine.
Speaker 3:But what's yours? I have zero. Oh, don't say that. You have so much experience.
Speaker 4:Well, yes. And I'm not putting myself down. But in the scheme of things, I know. Other people. So whatever. Anyway, I I really hope people, you know, can get a lot out of this. I I know that I I get a lot out of the talks that we have just because it kind of reinforces what we're doing, or things that you might see that I do that maybe you feel like I could do differently, and I I hear it.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 4:I might not do it, but I hear it.
Speaker 3:When I talk to you, I think it helps me process. And I think one of the things I've learned as I've gotten older is that nobody really knows what they're doing. No. And everyone's kind of winging it.
Speaker 2:Yep.
Speaker 3:And so if you stay safe and you wing it, and you're kind. And you're kind, you're half you're more than halfway there. If you can kind of check off the boxes of is my horse halter broke?
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 3:Is it okay with a rope on its ass?
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 3:What'll happen if it gets clamped under its tail? If you can practice clamping that rope underneath the tail before it ever actually gets clamped underneath its tail on the trail, your horse isn't gonna get scared when it gets clamped underneath on the trail because you already did it 17 times on the ground. On the ground when you were standing next to it and told it it was a good horse and it didn't care, and you rubbed its butt and said it didn't die. Good horse. Yeah. And you gave it a treat and a love pat. For me, if you can just be safe and have all those check boxes, there's nothing really holding you back from that next step, especially if you have a friend or you have a very experienced animal that you trust.
Speaker 4:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 4:So I think we've done that one.
Speaker 3:I think so too.
Speaker 4:So until next time.
Speaker 3:Until next time. Yeah. Toodles. Toodles. Hey friends. That's the end of today's ride. We hope you enjoyed listening. Don't forget to follow Saddle Talk with Sandy and Cara wherever you get your podcasts. Please leave us a review, share us with a friend, and saddle up with us next time as we ride through more stories, questions, and our wild tangents. Till then, friends, keep your boots dusty and your hard hats on. We hope to see you out on the trail.
Speaker:Dandy and Kara stir up swinging free, talking about life and love and mystery. From coyotes to coffee, they'll cover it all with a sagebrush blowing and the wild birds call. So cinch up your boots. We're hitting the track. Saddle talks on, and we're not looking back.