Map: http://goo.gl/maps/s1JD

Directions:
From the North/West:
1. From Newport Hwy 2, take E. Mt. Spokane Park Dr. (206) toward Mt. Spokane State Park.
2. Follow for 17 miles
3. Near the top of the mountain, turn right in the gravel parking area, follow this to the right and you’ll come up at the Selkirk Lodge parking area.

From the South/East:
1. From I-90, take exit 287, Argonne Rd to the North.
2. Follow for 10 miles
3. Turn right at the traffic circle for E. Mt. Spokane Park Dr. (206) toward Mt. Spokane State Park.
4. Follow for 15 miles.
5. Near the top of the mountain, turn right in the gravel parking area, follow this to the right and you’ll come up at the Selkirk Lodge parking area.

Length of ride:
You can choose the long course (15-20 miles) or the short course (5-10 miles), This ride should take between 3-5 hours depending on your speed of travel and the routes you choose. Saturday’s ride will be longer than Sunday’s ride.

DISCOVER PASS:
Discover pass is mandatory for park usage.
Discover pass can be purchased at park ranger station, walmart, or anywhere fishing licenses are sold.

Camping:
Camping is $14/night and includes the Discover pass (great option for those who are coming from a fair distance, Idaho or those who don’t have a Discover pass).

TIME:
Arrival: 8:30-9AM. (Leave yourself plenty of time to meet up with the rest of your team and be ready to ride)
Ride Meeting is at 9:30AM
First long course team departs at 10AM.

COST:
$10/person.
$8/Juniors.
Non-NACMO Members: +$5
NACMO Membership: $20/person, $30/family. (+$5 WA state fee)
NACMO membership can be purchased at the ride.

What you need:
• Orienteering compass (Make sure you get a good one, they can be purchased at Walmart, REI, outdoors outfitters, Fred Meyer, etc)

Ride Manager:
David Lewis – david@jedihorsemanship.com - 509-590-2372

What is Competitive Mounted Orienteering?
What is CMO? Competitive Mounted Orienteering (CMO) is one of the most challenging and exciting equestrian sports – for the competitive as well as family horse rider! CMO is like a mounted treasure hunt, which tests your horsemanship, your map reading ability, and your compass skills – all while having great fun with your horse!

CMO stresses sound horsemanship, and we like to call it “The Thinking Horse Sport”! The object of the sport is to ride out as an individual or a team on a prescribed course and find as many of the hidden Objective Stations as you can and get back in the least amount of time. (http://www.nacmo.org/)

What to expect:
A first-hand detailed account of Competitive Mounted Orienteering:
http://jedihorsemanship.com/event/competitive-mounted-orienteering-what-to-expect/

Registration required: Click here to register.

Take Your Horsemanship to the Next Level

This clinic, given by JediHorsemanship, will give you the tools you need to train your own horse and builds on the existing relationship that you have with your horse. Understand how to better communicate with your horse, learn how to work with his natural instincts and responses.

Whether you’re English or Western, competition or leisure rider, if you’re serious about improving your horsemanship skills and taking your horse training abilities to the next level, this clinic is for you!

The clinic will be taught by 3 clinicians, giving you one-on-one instruction and instant feedback from the clinicians and assistants. This gives us the ability to focus on each individual participant’s needs to help you reach your potential. Gain confidence in yourself as a horseman as you develop and improve your groundwork and riding skills. Learn the skills you need to work through training challenges and know that you can handle your horse safely on the ground and in the saddle.

This clinic is for any level of rider but is not for the rank beginner. If you’re not comfortable at least trotting on your horse, this clinic isn’t for you.

The clinic is going to be fast paced using a structured course work outline. Our goal is to get your horsemanship skills to the next level, zero in on your training needs, improve your feel and timing, establish trust and respect with your horse, and boost your confidence as a horseman and rider.

If you plan on attending a more advanced clinic this summer (2012), this fundamentals clinic is a prerequisite to being able to do the exercises in the more advanced clinics.

Requirements

The following equipment is required for the clinic. Participants will receive a 15% discount on all tack upon registration. Once you register, you can use the coupon code you received via e-mail to purchase any items you need.

• Rope Halter (Need this item?)
• 14ft Lead Rope (Need this item?)
• Training Stick and string (Need this item?)
• Riding Helmet
• Saddle and Bridle

Registration

This clinic is limited to 15 participants. Register as early as possible, spaces are expected to fill up quickly. If the clinic is full, you will be placed on a waiting list in case any of the participants needs to cancel.

Click Here to Register

Cancellation

If for some reason you need to cancel, you can transfer your reservation to a friend or a person on the waiting list, once that person confirms their space, your refund will be issued to you. Contact us as soon as possible if you need to cancel: clinics@jedihorsemanship.com

Introduction

Here is an introduction from the official NACMO (National Association Competitive Mounted Orienteering) site. What is CMO, how does it work, and what are the rules: CMO Introduction. It’s a surprisingly easy and simple sport to get involved with and start doing really well. There’s not much to it, this post outlines my experience with the sport that will hopefully give you a good idea of what to expect if you’re new to the sport and unsure how to jump in.

Arrival

We arrived at 8:30am, the parking lot was already almost completely full despite the light cold rain that had descended upon the Olympia Washington area. The ride manager’s tent opened at 8:30 for signing up for the ride. CMO doesn’t require you to register in advance, and allows you to purchase the annual membership at the ride, if you wish. The ride tent was quite warm and cozy inside, with muffins and other goodies for riders to snack on. Already we were getting our money’s worth! The rain didn’t seem to keep anybody home or dampen the mood. Most people are milling about, tacking up, or chatting with each other. During this time, it’s a good opportunity for new riders or those unfamiliar with CMO to meet riders and ask questions. There are a lot of very experienced CMO riders here ready to help newcomers with the sport, to show you how to read a compass, read a map, or how to locate the objectives. If you can ride a single introduction ride and on the first competitive ride, win a blue ribbon, you know it’s a relatively easy sport to learn. But don’t think it’s not a challenge!

Skills and riding with a mentor

If you want to ride with a mentor, just ask the ride manager what to do and they’ll connect you with an experienced CMO-er you can ride with if you want. It’s a good idea to have your team established and discuss how you’re going to operate. There are three pieces to a really good team:

1. Navigator: Someone who can read a map and compass, who knows how to orient themselves based on the trail and map.
2. Clue spotter: Someone who is very good at being able to spot clues and finding the objectives.
3. Compass reader: Someone who is good at being able to shoot an azimuth, which points you in the direction of the objective.

Some people are good at all 3 skills, some people are good at only 1. A 3-person team is ideal, although you’ll see some people riding solo, and others riding 4 or 5 people if they have juniors. I’m told that if you go more than 3 or 4 on a team, it doesn’t really feel like everyone gets to play — so if you have a large team, do a long course or split the group up. But 3 or 4 is probably ideal for starting out. Once you get better, 2 or 3 is optimal, or solo if you really like the challenge. There are no electronic navigational gadgets allowed, so no using a GPS to find your way around. You have to rely on raw orienteering skills for this sport. They’re very useful skills to learn as well!

Pre-ride Meeting

The ride manager will alert everyone with either a horn or whistle for everyone to gather for the pre-ride meeting at 9:30am. They’ll go over some of the basics, what the trails and footing is like, anything on the trails that you should be aware of, such as hazards or the area in general. They’ll announce the teams for each course: Short course, which is 5 objectives, and long course, which is 10 objectives. Then one member from each team can go draw a number for their ride order. Lowest number leaves first. First rider out is at 10am, the long course riders depart first. They call your name(s) when you’re up next and give you a few minutes warning, while you’re waiting for the leave time, they give you your maps and then you’re off. You don’t get to look at the map until you actually leave the starting line.

We had to wait until 11:10am to depart, so it can be a good long wait. Being on endurance rides before, I wasn’t nearly as nervous with the CMO ride. Although the horses seemed more nervous than anything. They can get pretty excited waiting to go. Getting there earlier can really help you relax if you’re worried because you haven’t done anything like this before. We all get those butterflies!

Ride Distance

The ride distance really depends on the location and the ride manager. Rides are intended to last at least 2 hours, but not more than 6 hours, unless otherwise specified by the ride manager. This means the distance can vary greatly between 5 miles and up to about 20 miles or so. The distance traveled is never linear, it’s a treasure hunt, so you might be traveling a lot, or you might not, depending on your navigational skills (or lack thereof). My team last weekend traveled very little, we bolted from location to location, and had a navigational error at one of the waypoints (we thought we were in waypoint 3, but were actually in waypoint 4), so we went back and forth a few times before we realized we were not where we thought we were. We did the short course because Royal (Lisa’s horse) had a foot abscess the week before, so she didn’t want to ride him too long and hard. However, we all prefer the long course and we’ll do the long course at the next ride.

Find your Pace

The pace that you choose is entirely up to you. Some people compete for speed and to win, others do it purely for fun. I do it for both. Some of my friends like to dally and count animals, birds, frogs and crazy lunatics riding horses. (Should I worry that I kept being added to their count of “squirrels” every time I passed by?) They don’t mind coming in later in the pack, they’re there to have fun. Other people (like my team) is very competitive and we’ll burn up the trail in our quest for clues and glory! … which is… uh… a pretty ribbon! … and points, which accumulate and can earn you some pretty cool stuff by the end of the year! You get points for finding plates, but you can also get time points. So there are benefits to going faster if you like to do that. But the point is, make sure your team is in sync and likes the pace you all decide on. You might decide to ride faster or slower throughout the ride. Most importantly, find a pace that’s safest for you to ride.

Navigating and Finding Clues

When you’re out on the trail, if you’re the navigator (and maybe 2 of you would navigate, just depends on your team), you want to plot the course to the first waypoint in the most efficient way possible. Make sure you get your trail turnoffs. Once you enter a waypoint circle, which may be as large as 3/4th of a mile, start looking for the clues for that waypoint number. The back of the map contains numbers with corresponding clues. e.g.: “Big round log”, or “3 rocks on a stump”, or “black and white striped ribbon”… look for those clues. If you think you’ve found it. Go stand by the clue and shoot an azimuth from there. e.g.: “210° from Pink ribbon on dead branch” Your objective is going to be 210° from there. If you get 2 clues, you can usually triangulate the exact position of the objective. The next challenge is to look for that objective. It’s a white paper plate with 2 words and a date listed on it. It can be challenging to find, but it’s always visible from horseback. You should never need to dismount during the ride. The nice part about CMO that I enjoy for training is that you’re riding fast between waypoints, but your horse has to stop and hold still while you shoot an azimuth with your compass. This was not an easy task for my horse, who was sure we were endurance racing and didn’t understand why in the world we would need to stop and hold still, took her a few waypoints for her to get used to it.

Finding Objectives: Be Sneaky!

When you find a plate, if there are other teams around, you don’t want to give it away! You’re competing against them, but you should have some kind of signal or code word that you can secretly give to your teammates to let them know that you’ve found the objective. Our team rode up on to about 10-12 other riders searching for a plate, we found the plate pretty quickly and then signaled each other and left. Leaving the rest of the riders baffled with where or how we spotted the plate, who knows how much longer they all spent looking for it, we were off to the next waypoint! When we were out of earshot, we’ll communicate the plate letters so that we can write it down. (Don’t try to memorize it for the entire ride). The plate has a date, and 2 words. You have to write down the plate number (1-10) and the first letter of each word to receive points for finding that objective. For example, The waypoint 4 plate might read:

#4 True Grit 3-24-12

You would write down “4 T G” in your notepad or on the map.

You found all the Objectives!

Now go go go!! There’s no time to waste. You can make up time or lose it on your way back to camp, so if you’re competing for time, now’s not the time to slow down. You need to cross that finish line sooner rather than later. When you return to camp, the ride managers mark down your time to the nearest second. They calculate your ride time and you can determine what place you’re in at that point. They’ll ask for your findings, so give them the paper with your plate answers on them, they’ll verify the correctness to award you the points. Now it’s time to relax, but the tension isn’t over yet! If you’re in first place, you don’t know if you’ll still be in first as riders arrive. Since my team was one of the last to leave, we only had to wait 10 minutes to find out if we earned the blue ribbon! That was a nail-biting 10 minute wait! We came in before most everyone else did. Now that the competition is over, you can be friendly with other teams again, congratulate them on their win (or on doing a good job, if you beat them).

Packing for Trail Rides

As with any extended trail ride, make sure you have your basics:

• If it might rain, pack very warm and waterproof. Nothing is colder than cold rain.
• Make sure you bring plenty of hay and water for your horse.
• I like to boost electrolytes for my horse leading up to the ride and upon completion, as well as beet pulp.
• Carry a small saddle bag with some basic essentials, maybe a protein bar and a couple gatorades.
• I always trail ride with a trail-ride-aid kit, but not very many people do this. I just like being prepared.
• CMO can be a faster paced ride, wear a helmet, even for those of you who prefer not wearing a helmet (like me). I wore a riding helmet for this ride. You should always wear a helmet while riding anyway!
• Take a camera with you if you’re not in the racing mindset. The experience is pretty awesome. Unfortunately, I was traveling too fast to hold reins, a map and a camera all at the same time.

What to bring for Mounted Orienteering

• An Orienteering Compass. This is a compass with a rim that can rotate to allow you to shoot an azimuth. These are $11-$20 at most stores (Fred Meyer, REI, etc)
• A small notepad and small pencil, this is the easiest way to write down the plate numbers and the first letter from each word.

And that, in a nutshell, is the CMO riding experience. Be careful! It’s terribly addicting! And at a price point where it’s never going to make you go broke doing it. Unlike most shows or horsey events you could otherwise be going to, CMO is perfect for awarding you with great fun and experiences, while keeping your pocketbook intact. With all that money saved, it’s worth the extra drive to attend more of these events!

If you’re interested in joining a CMO chapter near you. Visit the NACMO.org site, or the WACMO Facebook group. Our Eastern WA / North Idaho chapter is called Selkirk CMO.

This happened to me at one point last year. Work and weather was preventing me from being able to spend much time training and riding my horse. She’s mostly arab and very hot-blooded, the kind of horse that really requires a great deal of attention and work. Much greater than most the other horses that we have. As time progressed, my mare became more and more disrespectful when I would approach her. She would pin her ears, she’d turn and just leave when I’d walk up to her. It seemed like she was mad at me for not spending time with her! I felt pretty bad about it. When I would take her out to do groundwork with her, she would give me a pinny-eared attitude and was giving a very lazy effort into all of the exercises. It was easy to think that she was resenting the work. Her attitude was really getting to me, it made me feel a lot worse about it.

I got a tip from one of my mentors on what was happening. As soon as I realized what was going on, the next time I went to work with her I approached her in the barn, she turned and started walking out, I chased her off, I had a training stick with me and when she turned her butt on me, I whacked it with the stick. (Remember, 2 eyes is always better than 2 heels) I gave her a reason to run. When she turned around to yield two eyes, I removed the pressure and asked her to come back in, she came in with a significantly different attitude, ears forward, head down, licking her lips. I took her out and did the groundwork exercises with her, I was no longer afraid to not ask her to do something, but just did the groundwork like I should. Her attitude was night and day different. She appeared so much happier and willing. She didn’t give me the pinny-eared response, but was doing each exercise with a much greater degree of hustle and effort.

So what happened? What changed her attitude so significantly? She was playing dominance games with me. Horses look for and want a leader. Some horses are quicker to accept a leader than others. Some particularly strong-headed horses need a firm and disciplined leader. While horses don’t have the capacity for complex emotions such as resentment, they are extremely sensitive to body language and energy. When I was feeling bad that I wasn’t spending enough time with her, my body energy reflected that and it showed that I was not being a strong or sufficient leader for my horse. But when I got after her in a similar way that a lead horse would go after another horse, her attitude was that of: “Ah ha! So you are my leader after all!”

She was able to pick this up pretty quickly, but if you have a horse that is just learning about this thing called “respect”, you might not see a change quite as quickly. Horses want you to prove to them that you are worthy of being their leader. You have to do what it takes to get the job done, don’t be the nagging mother and beg your horse to do something, and you don’t want to be the barbarian that makes your horse afraid of you. You need to be firm, but reward the slightest try. You don’t need to give them a treat, and in fact I would discourage it, when you feed your horse treats, he’s going to view you as a gumball machine. You want to see if your horse wants to be with you rather than come to you because he knows you’ll give him a sweet. Make everything simple, black and white: Make the wrong thing difficult and uncomfortable by moving their feet, and make the right thing easy by letting them rest and rubbing them.

One mistake I often see horse folks make is they get all caught up in the relationship with the horse first. You cannot establish trust with treats. Trust follows respect. How do you gain your horse’s respect? Do it the same way they do it in the wild or with their herd. Whoever moves first loses. When the lead horse makes all the other horses feet move, he has established himself as the leader. For us this means move their feet forward backward left and right, and always reward the slightest try. Once you have established a pattern of respect, you’ll see it in the horse’s response to you. Does he drop his head and relax around you after you’ve asked him to move his feet? Does he lick his lips when you reward him by letting him rest?

Establish a habit of respect by being a solid leader, and trust will build on that respect and leadership.

Happy trails! Let us know if this tip helped you, and be sure to share it with your friends!

However, it immediately became apparent that there are some problems with slightly decreasing PNER membership and somewhat insufficient support. Coming from a perspective of a new endurance rider and some of the challenges I’ve had to face with the learning curve of the sport, as well as learning about the AERC and PNER organization, I spoke with some of the PNER members at the conference last weekend (January 20-21, 2012) and several felt that my input may be helpful to PNER. Many felt like they don’t realize what it’s like to be new to endurance and PNER since many have been around for so long. I’m hoping that my perspective will help shed some light on those areas and hopefully assist the organization in improving and growing.

Goals

I write this letter following the PNER conference in hopes that it will achieve the following goals:

1. Increase participation in endurance rides.
2. Increase membership in PNER.
3. Make information easier to find and better organized.
4. Help PNER understand the needs of new endurance riders, assist and educate them in the sport.

I’d like to discuss a number of current challenges that I believe new riders face with PNER, as well as the issue of membership, not only bring to light some of the problems, but I also want to present possible solutions as well with the goal of benefiting the entire PNER organization and it’s growth.

Finding Information

From someone who is new to endurance riding, I wanted to find information on what is involved in endurance, what is required, how to train, what information do I need to have, so I began by asking: Where can I educate myself? This proved to be a significant challenge. The PNER website contained ride schedules, but it was cumbersome, difficult to navigate, and challenging to find adequate information on what I needed to know about endurance and about each ride.

I discovered the PNER Facebook page sometime last year, but very little information was posted in that group, although it was nice to be able to connect with other endurance riders in the region. However, information was never posted on the group and I had no idea that the PNER website, and the Facebook group was connected.

I had not realized that PNER had it’s own mailing list group on Yahoo! until I attended the PNER conference.

Problems

• The PNER website is not well organized, it’s challenging to navigate, and find adequate information on a number of topics.
• The website does not always appear completely up to date.
• Information within the mailing list is not re-posted in the Facebook group, website, and other sources.
• Is the website updating responsibility falling on the shoulders of only one or two individuals? We call this the Bus Factor. If one person is responsible for updating the site and that one person has a busy personal life, limited time availability, or a major life(style) change, it will negatively affect the organization.

Suggestions

• The website should use a CMS (Content Management System) to enable the easy creation of content by multiple individuals.
• Increase the Bus Factor. Since PNER is a volunteer organization, it’s important to find ways to take the sole responsibility and pressure for large tasks (such as updating the website) off of the shoulders of the one or few individuals who are responsible for it. Updating a website with constantly changing information is a daunting task, and most organizations need to have a team of people responsible for “content creation”. Without this, the site becomes too static and easily outdated. We’re in the age of technology and everyone needs an easy source to navigate to and find all of the information they need for anything related to the organization.
• A good content-producing and interactive website can be one of the greatest assets for drawing in new members and participation into the sport of endurance.
• For greater content creation and management, enable multiple people within the organization to be able to update and create content.
• Replicate information between all PNER sources: Mailing list, website, newsletter, Facebook group… and?
• Ideally, all information would originate from the website and be re-posted (and linked) to all other information sources.
• Greater presence on Facebook needed.
• A presence on Twitter could be beneficial (this can be something which automatically re-posts content from Facebook, it would not need to be maintained).
• Website needs to be better organized, especially with navigation of the site.
• De-clutter the site and focus each page to specific topics of information.
• The website needs an “activities”, a blog, or some kind of source for people to possibly share articles, stories, photos from rides, videos and other media and useful information.
• Encourage PNER members to write articles, share experiences, tips and information through the website. Make this process very easy, and people will do it.
• All PNER Staff should have the access to post and create content on the website.
• Any PNER member could have an account on the website and be able to draft content (but not publish access rights). This could be reviewed by the staff and then published.
• The PNER Database should be easier to navigate.
• The website should be able to automatically obtain information from the AERC site and display that information for PNER.

If there are any concerns about implementing some of of these suggestions, or if it seems overwhelming, I’d be happy to assist. Everything I mentioned here is fairly easy to create and implement. This is what I do for a living.

PNER Membership

Once I discovered that PNER is an organization with which one pays membership dues to belong to. Immediately began asking the questions:

• Why should I become a PNER member?
• What are the benefits to becoming a PNER member?
• Does a PNER membership replace an AERC membership?
• Do I need a PNER membership if I already have an AERC membership?

I began asking these questions several weeks ago, but I’ve had great difficulty getting answers to them. I still don’t know the answers to most of these questions. Some of the answers I have received have been greatly conflicting. I searched the website hoping it would provide the answers, but no luck there either.
I’d like to think that becoming a PNER member is worthwhile, but as it currently appears to me that the benefits to being a PNER member are:

Benefits?

• Newsletter
• PNER Points accumulation — but limited to only 1 year.
• Annual awards
• Camaraderie?

These benefits were only realized once I attended the conference. To a newcomer/outsider, it’s difficult to validate a reasoning for becoming a PNER member.
I’ve asked several members who couldn’t give me a reason to join PNER aside from the camaraderie and the newsletter, I could not determine a monetary or worthwhile value. At least until coming to the PNER conference, even then, I question if much of the reason the membership to PNER is low due to not realizing sufficient benefits. To an outside or one who has never been to the conference, the value may be completely lost on them. The website gives no indication of what “benefits” members would receive.

Why does PNER only count points for one year? Databases are vast, we should be able to track and generate reports for points across multiple years.

Suggestions

• Website should have a page “Become a PNER Member” which details all benefits of becoming a member.
• People should be able to become a PNER member online or by sending in the membership form. Make it easier for people to join, and membership should increase.
• Find more ways to benefit members of PNER, make this a significant worthwhile membership.
• Ask vendors to give discounts to PNER members, even minor discounts could significantly entice membership.
• Create a database of member locations to allow PNER members to find other PNER members, local groups could be an important aspect in keeping PNER and the sport of endurance strong.

Conference

For Vendors and PNER, Credit cards could be accepted on-site by using a Smartphone and the app and device called “Square” by Squareup.com
Because I work, I was unable to make it to the Friday events during the conference. Is there an important reason why the conference is on Friday and Saturday rather than the weekend (Saturday/Sunday)?

New Endurance Riders

One of the biggest challenges we had in getting into endurance riding is not the lack of information, but difficulty in finding the information we needed to get into the sport. There is a lot to know and it’s difficult to find the small front door.
New endurance riders feel as if we’re jumping off of a helicopter into the middle of the ocean. We don’t know what’s in there! It’s a big plunge and we don’t know how to swim in the ocean yet. There is a lot of guesswork currently involved in preparation for introduction into the sport. How do you prepare? There are books on the subject, and we’ve read those, but I think it needs to be easier for horsemen and women to get involved in the sport, and I believe PNER can help them. I believe this is critical for survival and growth of the sport of endurance and PNER as an organization. I love the fact that a survey was created to try and address some of these problems, and I hope that the information gained will help find ways to solve them.

I think the first question we need to ask ourselves is: How do we entice new riders into the sport?
Here are a few of my suggestions, but I hope many of you will come up with your own as well:

• First time riders could be heavily discounted to encourage more prospective members to give the sport a try.
  • The database could be used to search and track all riders to reduce the opportunity for abuse.
• First time riders may need to register ahead of time through the website to get a discount on their first PNER ride.
• New riders are the life blood of the endurance sport, if PNER can be a little more flexible in it’s incentives to entice new riders, it will pay off significantly in the long run.
• Incentives, such as discounts at PNER rides would be a great way for existing PNER members to invite new friends. Give members a cash value for bringing friends or introducing new people into the sport.
• Additional incentives could be given if that friend signs up as a member for PNER.
• Open a dialog with all new PNER members and try to gain more feedback from them on ways to improve the introduction process of new members.
• Experienced people could make an effort to connect with new members and do what they can to assist new members along. One of the things I’ve really enjoyed about PNER is the friendliness of the people, it’s a great group to belong to, but it’s the best kept secret in the equine industry! Everyone is so willing to share knowledge and help others, but I think we need to find ways to make this a little easier and specifically be able to help folks just getting into the sport. It’s a big challenge to dive in, and if we can make this easier in some way, that would help drive membership and participation.
• If PNER members have a local database, find a way to connect a new member with the local endurance group, this would allow new riders to be mentored over the course of a period of time.

How-To Camps for New Endurance Riders

• Schedule Endurance Riding Fun-Day’s to entice new riders who are unfamiliar into the sport.
• Fun-day’s would be free or cheap (e.g.: $5-$10/rider to cover any expenses may be sufficient) to encourage greater participation.
• Each fun-day would have a series of mentors, these would be folks responsible for walking the new riders through the entire endurance riding event. Mentors would also be a great way to make newcomers feel right at home as quickly as possible, and may remove much of the “cliquish” nature of PNER.
• Mentor duties might include:
  • Travel: What you need to know, how to travel, when you should leave, how much to rest, what the horse requires, how long before the ride you should arrive.
  • Camp: What to bring, how to camp with your horse, how to tie your horse to a trailer overnight, a tie-line, small portable stalls.
  • Nutrition: What nutrition your horse needs, electrolytes, what to feed your horse before and after a ride. etc.
  • Vet checks: What do vets look for, how do they score your horse. How can you read your horse’s vital signs, how to check for lameness, etc.
  • Outchecks: How do they work, how much time is spent. What should you bring to the outcheck, how much time you have, how to cool down and pulse down properly.
  • Tacking up: Some basic info on tack, how to prevent chaffing, boots or footware, weight of the rider and accessories, etc.
  • Riding: What pace should you set, should you get off and walk/run with your horse, how to drink and cool at water stops along the trail.
  • Further Education: Obviously everything can’t be covered in a Fun-Day, it should be a good overview and summary meant to introduce newbies to the sport without overwhelming them, but also should be focused on getting literature and resources into the hands of perspective endurance racers.
  • Follow-up: Everyone who participates in a Fun-Day should fill out a form which would contain their contact information. Someone should get in contact with them following a ride and see if they have any questions, directing them to a resource which can answer those questions. Newbies should be given easy and open access to a mailing list, forum or other means in which to ask questions and immediately receive an answer. — The PNER e-mail list might be sufficient for them, as long as it’s not intimidating.
  • Volunteering: Encourage prospective riders to volunteer at a ride to get accustomed to an actual ride. Enable new riders to have easy access to volunteer, give them information and contact.
  • Encourage LD’s: Most breeds, especially hot breeds, are going to be able to easily participate in LD’s without significant conditioning, encourage new riders to try out endurance racing by participating in an LD as soon as possible. Great way to get them hooked onto the sport.
• Perhaps one way to handle the first-ride discount, would be to give out “ride coupons” at fun days, so anybody who participates in a fun day automatically receives a significant discount at their first ride.
• Fun days could be posted publicly, at barns, feed stores, craigslist, Facebook, mailing list groups. Encourage members to spread the word. You’ll have a massive turnout for a fun-day if all basic and simple marketing avenues are explored, and these should prove to introduce a large number of people to the sport that might not be familiar with it.

Summary: Take a pro-active approach finding, introducing new riders, educating and making them feel welcome.

Your most valuable asset is your members. You can help grow the sport of endurance and the PNER organization, people just need to have an easy means of doing so and an incentive.

More Rides?

• Do we need more rides in places like Eastern WA, Northern ID and Western MT? There are hardly any rides in those regions, but there are huge horse communities out there.
• What is keeping new rides from being created?
• Are ride managers being sufficiently compensated or benefited for the effort involved in organizing and running a ride? Is this an issue at present? I bring this up because I heard it mentioned during the conference that it was hopped there would be new people being taught how to become ride managers.

Final Thoughts

Hopefully this letter will serve to stir some ideas within the group on increasing membership, participation and growing the sport of endurance. I would like to make myself available to discuss any of these topics and am willing to help anywhere I can. I look forward to meeting so many of you at rides this year!

–David

About David:

David is a passionate horseman, trainer and clinician out of Spokane, WA where he trains with his “horse crazy” family. He is also a Software Engineer by trade and currently lives and works in Redmond, WA for Disney Online, Disney Interactive.
You can follow JediHorsemanship on Facebook or Twitter

"[Clinician X] is just a showman or a TV entertainer, he’s not a ‘real’ horseman." Have you heard this line before? It’s surprisingly common in the horse world from critics of Natural Horsemanship. Are some (or all) of the TV clinicians just showmen who use gimmicks to lure unsuspecting souls into their cult?

To the outsider, the person unfamiliar with Natural Horsemanship, these methods may look very strange and odd, not very "Horseman"-like, compared to what we grew up with. We’re used to the ways of doing things, horse can be ornery, frustrating, we have to make them do what we want… right? But stop for a second and take a look, there may be something new and important for us to learn here.

While there are many different styles of Natural Horsemanship: Pat Parelli, Martin Black, Buck Brannaman, Craig Cameron, Jonathan Fields, Chris Cox, Stacy Westfall, John Lyons, Clinton Anderson, Ray Hunt, the Dorrance brothers… (I saw you cringe over at least one of those names!) What do they all have in common? They are all using what we label Natural Horsemanship, some may call it Horse Whispering. Each clinician has their own style, their own personal method based on their experiences, knowledge and background. However, all of these men are teaching the same principals, the same techniques, the same philosophy. You’ll see similarities in them all, and differences between each of them as well. Just as you’ll see differences between different horses and people. Does it make any one of them wrong or bad? Does it make one significantly better than the other?

Here’s the thing. People don’t all learn the exact same way. That’s why I’m glad there are so many of them. Sure, each has their "fanatics", their followers who are opposed to ALL other evil, greedy trainers who call themselves clinicians, who we’re sure are going to Horsemanship Doom! However, I have found that almost entirely, people who oppose these clinicians do not understand what is really going on, they haven’t taken the time to study what that horseman is teaching. Or others may have simply found a way that works better for them. I myself have not always agreed with every single thing each trainer has said, but that doesn’t make them or their methods wrong. It could just be that I learn a little better from one trainer versus another. But I respect them ALL. Don’t be so quick to judge. Look at the fruit, how are these horsemen working with their horses? Watch how they are training?

Do you see their horses calm, relaxed, responsive, collected (mentally and physically), unafraid, and in tune, listening to their rider? These are all great horsemen. You may prefer the method from one trainer or another, I guarantee you, these horsemen (and women) are teaching people a better way to not only properly treat horses, but how to train them, how to ride them, how to communicate with them. How to understand how they think, how they react. What they fear, what they enjoy and how to recognize when a horse is responding. Or perhaps a better way to look at it: You’re working on yourself, not the horse. The horse will come along when you improve.

One of the most common aspects of Natural Horsemanship trainers is their emphasis on Groundwork. Why? Because you can teach a horse everything from the ground first. You can teach him to be relaxed, soft, supple, to respond and yield to pressure, to de-spook him to scary objects from the safety of the ground, to teach him how to use his brain and think rather than react. To learn to respect your space and your leadership from the ground first.

Why is groundwork so important? Because your LIFE is important. Some stress groundwork more than others. Chris Cox, for example, wants people to get into the saddle sooner and focuses effort on the most basic groundwork and then getting into the saddle. But he’s also willing to ride out a little more than most people would be willing to handle — He’s a fantastic rider, I think it’s because he’s short! Parelli focuses on more of the Psychological and relational aspect of the horse. Buck Brannaman focuses on making life better for horses by teaching people how to properly treat and work with them in a gentle but firm manner. Clinton Anderson focuses primarily on safety, to save your life. Every exercise in his program is designed to make your horsemanship safer. All of them focus on Groundwork and getting that respect from the ground first, where it’s safer. Why? Because horseback riding is on the top 5 most dangerous outdoor sports. There are so many fatal riding accidents that it is near impossible to keep count. Working around any living, thinking animal immediately presents obvious risks. Then you’re riding a fearful 1200lb animal, you put your only life into the outstretched reaches of their flying hooves as you ride them at speeds car manufacturers wouldn’t allow without airbags, seat-belts and multiple collision tests into brick walls using crash test dummies!

I’ve often said it, and you may have heard it before: There are three ways to get a well-broke, well-trained horse. You can buy it. You can send him off to the trainer for 3 months at a time. Or you can train him yourself. If you don’t learn the philosophy and how to properly treat the horse, you’re going to untrain him and end up sending him back to the trainer. You’re always either training or untraining your horse. A horse never knows when he’s out of school, so what are you teaching him? These clinicians will show you how to communicate with him, how to understand what he’s saying.

I’m sure you never ever ever been frustrated with your horse. Have you? — It’s actually quite common. You’re trying to get your horse to do something and he has other ideas. He’s trying to race back to the barn or his buddies, he’s trying to avoid going into the trailer, or the wash rack, he won’t stand still and let you mount him, he won’t canter without kicking out, he won’t stop no matter how hard you pull on the reins, he won’t turn, he won’t go. Frustration begins where knowledge ends. It’s rarely the horse’s fault. Nature designed him the way he is. A prey animal. But just like us, we can change. And they can change. It starts by understanding how they think, how they react, how they learn, how the communicate, what motivates them. Then how do we use that knowledge to teach them to be relaxed instead of reactive, trusting instead of fearful, respectful instead of pushy, and responsive instead of dull and lazy?

How do you know about all these clinicians and horsemen? Mostly because they have a vision to reach as many people and horses as they can with a better way to train and work with horses, they are usually great teachers and great horsemen. It’s how their methods spread. People saw how well they work with horses and told other people. We should admire them for that. All of them have changed a lot of lives for the better, and in many cases, I know for a fact that their methods have actually helped save lives and limbs.

Don’t scorn the teacher because you don’t like the fans or don’t completely agree with his method of teaching. I have my own preferences as well. Even then, if you see a follower of their method, that person who says to you “the method I follow is one true method!” If that method they follow has changed their horsemanship for the better because of a teacher that I don’t care for, then who am I to judge that teacher? He’s made a positive impact and that person’s horsemanship has improved. It doesn’t mean we all don’t have something to learn. Just like your horse, you’re either growing and learning, or you’re not and standing still.

I firmly believe that Natural Horsemanship is better than traditional horsemanship because it is about communicating in an ideal way with the horse, in a language we know they understand, without using fear or force. It focuses on safety, and on teaching you… the rider how to understand and train them. Most of the time, the "problems" that we see in the horse is not because of the horse. It’s a reflection of the people working with him, on what we’ve allowed him to do or not do.

The most important thing is this: Be respectful of these Natural Horsemanship teachers, who’s methods are proven, changing lives and improving overall horsemanship… even if you don’t 100% agree with them. Did you know that most Clinicians have had at least one primary mentor and several other key role models in their learning, all the great teachers continue to learn themselves. So keep your mind open and keep learning!

People who don’t make mistakes don’t try hard enough. Mistakes are often the greatest teachers.

I am a bit beside myself.. I am green with horses as is my mare that I have.. She has the sweetest disposition.. I had to put her in with a alpha mare as I have not got a pasture fenced for her yet.. This mare has bit her a lot and now the alpha has gotten my girl to where she won’t come near me.. I don’t blame her every time she does she gets bit… Will this alpha ruin my girl from me permanently or will this be something we can work out when I am able to have her with me?
- Vivianne via Facebook

Hi Vivianne, this circumstance is quite common for horses. In the beginning, horses will battle each other until they establish dominance, or determine which horse will be the dominant leader. Horses being put together for the first time will take some time to get used to each other. This can get fierce at times and it will continue until the most dominant horse has established herself completely as the alpha lead horse. Generally the horses lower in the hierarchy will learn to give the lead horse it’s space, as you’ve likely already seen. The alpha horse will stay after the lower horses until she so much as looks at them and they will give her a wide berth. This can be very challenging for us humans to watch and accept as it appears extremely rough at times. I’m going to guess that this lead mare also wants all the attention at the gate and keeps your girl away?

To the first question: No, the alpha mare will not ruin your girl permanently for you. You’ll really only see the greatest problem while the two are together with you. We like to keep many of our horses in a mixed herd (geldings and mares), and currently have a gelding that is extremely dominant and usurps attention at the gate while keeping the rest of the herd away. Here are some tips that you can use:

Work with the lead mare. Establish respect with her by moving her feet, forward, backward, left and right. I would do lunging for respect and lots of backing exercises. The better you can get her to back up, the better. You have to be a firm leader with a dominant horse, proving to her just as she would with the other horses, that you are the leader and she has to respect your space.

Go into the pasture with both horses and work with them together. While we are around the herd, we demand respect at all times. This means that we are not going to allow the alpha horse to attack the other horses while we are there. There’s nothing we can do to change the behavior of horses on their own, but we can change how they interact with us and each other while we are around. This is why we can train stallions and mares together without a problem. We demand respect and attention, when they are focused on us, they don’t have time to worry about the other horses. If the lead horse goes to attack your horse while you’re standing there, immediately back her up 30 yards. Notice the difference in her disposition when you do this. She’ll voluntarily follow you around with her head down. You should be able to walk up to your other horse without her chasing the other horse off or attacking.

If I come into the pasture and the lead horse is pinning his ears, keeping the other horses away, I’m going to immediately get his respect by yielding his hindquarters and backing him up with energy. Then I will call the other horses in. When you’ve established that respect with the lead horse, you will be able to bring your other horse to you without having her chased off.

The more consistent you are, the better behaved both will be around you, and the more your mare will build up confidence to be around you even while the alpha mare is there. Make sure you’re firm with them. If you tolerate disrespect sometimes and other times you demand respect, not much will change. Notice how the alpha mare will threaten the other horses to stay away from her, and she backs up those threats by either a bite or a double kick to the opposite horse. Put yourself in her hooves, you are the leader and do what it takes to get the job done. Get that respect, and then reward them when they do the right thing.

When you are alone with your horse, you should not have any change in attitude toward you. Just stay consistent with respect training and keep the rules of horsemanship in mind: You establish respect by moving the horse’s feet, keep them out of your personal space, be firm, and whoever moves first loses.

Let us know if this was helpful to you!

The object of Natural Horsemanship methods is to get the horse to do what we ask him to do, the moment we ask. We do this using respect, communication and trust rather than fear and intimidation employed by traditional horsemanship methods. The relationship that you have with other people and with your horses is built on respect. Sometimes you have to give respect in order to get respect. Trust requires a foundation built on respect. So why do we use “respect” to describe this method?

The reason we use the word respect is due to the definition of the word. While horses do not have the capability to feel some of the more complex human emotions, respect is used to describe the behavior that they exhibit. A behavior you can observe in the wild or even in a herd of horses. Notice how the lead horse has gained respect from the rest of the herd. When she walks toward the water trough or a pile of hay, the other horses move away, they respect her space. In the wild, that lead mare is responsible for leading the herd and the herd will follow her. They respect her as their leader.

Let’s look up some of the definitions of “respect”: (verb) “To avoid harming or interfering with”, a horse that respects you is going to avoid harming or interfering with you. This means that he is going to respect your personal space. This is important since horses typically outweigh humans 6 to 1. More people are seriously hurt or killed every year because they’ve been bucked off, bit, or kicked. A horse that is respectful of you is going to avoid harming you. Horses will not automatically respect you or your space, they have to be taught that respect. And each person that works with that horse must establish respect as well. Horses will often treat humans just like other horses, which means they are going to test you to determine if you’re a worthy leader. If you establish your personal space on the ground, the horse is going to learn to respect that space.

“To recognize and abide by” If you have a horse that respects you, he’s going to respond to what you ask, and do it immediately. A great sign of respect is a horse that, instead of running from you (hard to catch), comes up to you, knowing you don’t have a treat. A horse that respects and recognizes you as his leader is going to follow where you lead, he’s going to learn to trust you based on that respect. A horse won’t trust someone who is not a leader. How do you gain their respect? By moving their feet, forward, backward, left and right and always rewarding the slightest try.

Another definition of respect is “Proper acceptance or courtesy; acknowledgment” A horse that is being respectful is going to accept you. This also means accepting you as his leader. Acknowledgement is a good example: There are often cases where we’ll see a horse running over his handler, pushing him around, or he’s spooking from something, he may not even acknowledge the person’s presence. Have you ever been run over by a horse you’re leading? This is why when a horse that hasn’t been taught respect is given to the hands of an experienced Natural Horsemanship trainer, when that person get’s the horse’s respect, there is a sudden and dramatic change in the demeanor and behavior of that horse. He acknowledges, perhaps for the first time, that the trainer is there. He puts his full attention on that trainer. You’ll often see this demonstrated by the horse licking his lips and lowering his head in a display of submission and… respect.

This is the reason that we and so many other Natural Horsemanship trainers and clinicians focus so much effort on gaining the horse’s respect and teaching others how to get that respect. Without a foundation of respect, you cannot build trust. Without trust, you cannot have a partnership with your horse. Respect is a word easily understood by humans, although to the horse, it’s perhaps much more simple: “Are you my leader, or are you not my leader?”

I have been riding my mare a lot in the recent weeks, and a big majority of this has been some pretty steep mountain side riding. She is doing really well for the majority of everything I have asked, but there is one issue I have a question on. When going downhill, she wants to trot. This mare NEVER wants to go faster than she has to. Now, my thought was that she is still weak in her hind end and so she doesn’t yet have the muscles to keep us slow.. but I wanted to have an outside opinion.. She wants to start trotting down some inclines that really spook me, and she really NEEDS to walk! Should I just keep doing what we are doing and perhaps just go around some of these inclines if possible? On the road its not such a big deal, I can get her attention and keep her slow.
- Nichole via Facebook

Man from Snow River!!

This is a very common problem for trail riders. I would absolutely work on the issue rather than avoiding it or going around. I love riding my horse on the trail and finding out what makes them uncomfortable. Each issue or obstacle that I can address is going to make my horse that much better. They’ll listen to you better, be more respectful and you will be able to accomplish more and expand the boundaries and capabilities of you and your horse. Plus you never want to get to that obstacle on the trail that you cannot cross because of inadequate training. Fortunately, it’s a difficult problem to solve.

There are a couple of things to keep in mind while working on this issue: Find a starting place. There’s nothing like trying to solve the problem on a steep mountain cliff, you’re going to end up scaring or endangering yourself. Plan your rides out. If you’re taking a green horse out on the trail, that’s not the time to become the Man from Snowy River and run down a sheer cliff. Ride in an area that is going to be easier for both of you to work. Don’t wait until you’re at the top of the Grand Canyon to fix the problem. If your horse won’t walk down a hill slowly, find a smaller hill that has a gentler slope and start from there.

Start from the Ground

Many horses want to speed up going downhill because it takes more effort to go down slowly. They have a tendency to ramble on down the hill and don’t really pay attention to where their feet are going. However it can be dangerous if they fall over with you. You can start from the ground. Take your horse on a trail ride from the ground. Get control of your horse’s feet and get him respectful from the ground first.

We’ll take every green horse out on the trails from the ground first. It’s a great experience for them and there is a lot more freedom to work with them on the ground where you’re safe.

Start by sending the horse back and forth over slopes up and down hills as you walk up or down the hill. The main thing you’re doing with this exercises is to concentrate on you rather than just rambling on down the hill. This a great exercise with a young horse, a green horse, or a horse that has not been out on the trail.

Another exercise you can do is ask him to back down the hill. Again, you want to start on a slope that isn’t extremely steep. Make it enough to challenge them, but keep it safe and give your horse the opportunity for success. The more you walk up and down, back up and down the hill, the calmer and more responsive your horse will become and he’ll begin to listen to you more. Make sure you have a good back up on flat ground to begin with before you move on to hills as it is more challenging for them.

While you’re on the ground, find other obstacles you can send them over, have them jump over logs, send them in between trees, walk down a gully and have them walk up and down both embankments. The more diverse terrain you can challenge them to on the ground, the more they will be able to handle different situations and take care of their feet from the saddle.

From the Saddle, Stop and Backing

In the saddle in the beginning pick a smaller hill, and just walk up and down the hill. Start by walking down the hill a few steps, stop and back up a few steps and then just sit there and flex a couple of times so that they don’t get into a hurry. Then continue on down the hill, stop and back up a couple of steps and let your horse sit there. Flex and make sure they are listening to you. Continue this going up and down the hill. You get them to thinking about you rather than thinking about where you’re going. A lot of people get into the habit of going down a hill, the horse goes down too quickly, the rider doesn’t like it, but instead of fixing it, they just continue riding on.

Make sure you can stop and back up easily on flat ground first. If your horse is not listening to you asking him to stop and back up on the flat, you’re not going to have much success on a hill. Find your starting place and work from there. Get your horse to be well controlled at home, they should be soft and supple and listening to you at home, then move on to the trail.

In a Rush? Put the feet to work

When you get near the bottom of the hill, many horses will speed up right at the bottom. Redirect their feet, bend them around and keep their feet moving. Then take him back up the hill. He’ll figure out that if he rushes to the bottom of the hill he gets to hustle his feet, he’s not going to be in such a hurry to rush down to the bottom of the hill. The same goes for going up a hill as well. If they rush to the top, bend him around and ask his feet to move, then take him back down.

The more you stop and back up while on the hill, the more they will listen and wait for you. You’ll find they’ll be a lot more patient. You want them to have stop on the brain. Instead of forcing your horse to slow down, you’re making it more comfortable for them to go slowly and listening to you.

When you’re done with the more gradual slope, move up to the next level, and so on. Do the smaller hills first and then move up as you have success.

Make sure you work on this problem alone on the trail or with a friend who will do these exercises with you. If you’re on a trail with 20 other riders, and they go off down the hill and run off, there’s no horse in the world that isn’t going to want to rush down the hill after them. Work on it back at home by yourself first before introducing them to those obstacles on larger trail rides. Remember, set yourself and your horse up for success and you’ll have it conquered in no time!
Take your time, you might ride up and down the same hill for 30 minutes or an hour. That’s okay, take the time you need to get the job done. Don’t be in a hurry. This will also transfer to your horse. If you’re in a hurry, he will be too. If he starts to rush down the hill, stop him and back him back up.

One of the major benefits of walking up hills is that it will build up their hindquarter muscles. The more time you spend going up and down hills, the more they’re going to build up that hind end, which helps not only your trail riding, but those are also their collection muscles.

If you’d like to boost your horsemanship skills, have safer rides, become a better rider, and learn how to train your own horse. Sign up for a JediHorsemanship clinic.

2-day Fundamentals Clinic: Nov 5th and 6th, click here for more information.