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Training Tips
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By Larry Trocha
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Dear Friend and
Horseman,
Here is another
"Training Tips" newsletter. Actually, this issue is more of an
"Important lesson learned" than a training tip. If you have any
questions about my horse training programs or products, feel free to
give me a call.
Before we get started
with the training tips, I thought I'd better let you know I have just
released my latest training videos plus I've added some videos by top
trainers that I highly recommend.
Topics include cutting,
reining, working cow horse and foundation training. After you finish
reading the new training tips, you might want to take a look at the new
videos. I think you'll like them.
Important Lesson To Learn
I'd like to tell you
about the time I hired on as a colt breaker for a big outfit in northern
Florida. My mother was living in Florida at the time and I went there to
stay with her and her husband. I didn't go there by choice though.
No, I went there
because I needed a place to heal up. I was pretty crippled up from my
previous job as a colt breaker for an outfit in Montana
That job was a
nightmare.
I learned a bunch, but
almost got killed in the process. I was a wet-behind-the-ears kid
starting 40 head of wild, 3 to 5-year-olds that almost never had a human
hand laid on them. Most of those broncs were wild, rank and down right
dangerous.
I was in way over my
head but gave it my best shot anyway. (When just starting out and
learning, most trainer's have some bad wrecks that hurt like hell at the
time but make for good stories to tell later :).
Anyway, I'm getting off
track. Montana is another story, let's get back to Florida.
So anyway, after I
healed up, I hired on to start colts for this big outfit in Florida. I
always thought of Florida as a big golf course, all green, manicured and
inhabited only by retired senior citizens. Nothing could be farther from
the truth.
Florida is loaded with
big cattle ranches. The ranch I went to work for ran 10,000 head of
cattle on 30,000 acres of pasture and feed lot. They also had around 100
head of horses. But these weren't your typical, run-of-the-mill ranch
horses.
No, this outfit owned
two NCHA world champion mares and several AQHA champion mares plus other
mares carrying top performance bloodlines. They also had owned Hollywood
Bill, the best breeding son of the legendary Hollywood Gold. Most of the
colts I started there were the offspring of Hollywood Bill and out of
their champion mares.
Man, those were good
colts! I was just starting out and literally didn't have any legitimate
training knowledge. Yet, in spite of my lack of formal training
expertise, those colts turned out great.
For example, I had
never trained or even ridden a cutting horse before, but all of those
colts were working cattle well in a matter of weeks. I had never ridden
or trained a reining horse before, yet all of these colts would stop and
turn around.
And, they did it with
style.
The ranch manager asked
me to train a couple colts for him and his wife to show at the Florida
Gold Coast Pleasure Futurity. If you aren't familiar with this futurity,
back in the mid 70's, it was a big deal. All the top trainers across the
U.S. competed there.
Even though I had no
idea how to train a pleasure futurity horse, I agreed to give it a shot.
All I knew was that a pleasure horse was supposed to keep his head low
and walk, trot and lope real slow. I had 90 days to get two colts ready.
I figured there was no
way. I didn't feel pressured though because I was up-front with the
ranch manager. I admitted to him I didn't have a clue. He told me to
just do my best and if it didn't work out, oh well.
You know what I did to
get those two colts prepared for the pleasure futurity? I rode them in
the pastures checking cattle. I walked, trotted and loped them for long
periods at a time so they would get tired, learn to relax and slow down.
That was it.
That was all I did with
those colts cause I didn't know anything else. And you know what, after
a couple months, they kinda started acting like pleasure horses.
Finally, the day of the
futurity arrived. It was two go-rounds and a finals. I don't remember
exactly how many entries there were but it was a lot. The ranch manager
and his wife took those two colts and kicked butt on the competition.
He made the finals and
placed 5th. His wife placed 9th in the finals. I couldn't believe it. I
was sitting in the grandstand watching and figured with all those top
trainers and expensive colts entered, the show would be a bomb-out for
us.
Now, I didn't tell you
this story just to entertain you. No, I told the story to illustrate an
important point that most people just never get
If you have a really good
horse
You don't have to be a top trainer to win something.
I knew
nothing about training a pleasure horse, yet the two colts I trained
kicked ass at the show. Why? Because they were exceptionally good colts.
And I can point out example after example of the same kind of experience
I've had with other good horses.
Having an exceptionally good
horse
is the key to success.
Look, I'm
not going to name any names, but there are people out there winning at
the shows that couldn't train a fish to swim, let alone a performance
horse. Yet, these people win over and over again. How do they do it?
They are smart enough to make sure they are mounted on exceptionally
good horses.
I consider
myself a good trainer. I've trained plenty of top performance horses and
have done my share of winning at the shows. However, I'll be the first
to tell you that I won't win much if I'm showing just an "average"
horse.
The
competition is just too tuff. If you want a shot at winning, you better
be riding something that's pretty darn good.
Now, a lot of
folks have their priorities mixed up. I'll see someone pull into the
show grounds driving a $50,000 truck and trailer, but inside that
trailer will be a second-rate $6,000 show horse. It doesn't make any
sense.
If you
want to win, spend your money on the horse, not on the truck and
trailer. Nobody will laugh at you for driving a piece-of-crap truck if you are leaving the
show with the winning check in your pocket :)
Until next
time, have fun training your horse.
Larry Trocha
www.HorseTrainingVideos.com
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