Weren’t we talking about prospects?

Where does time go - I know it was a long time ago, but I think I left off the discussion on prospects talking about the conformation of the horse we would like to have, and some of the things we really don’t care for toomuch. The last thing I talked about was the head and shoulders, but I’m still not done with the front of the horse.

For one thing, we don’t want to see a lot of room between the horses from legs nor do we want to see them looking like they came out of the same hole. And, we don’t want the heavy bulging forearms that are so popular on halter horses -we want an athletic forearm.

Although, I have heard about open knees, I have never had that cause a problem on any of the horses I have had. Off-set knees are something to stay away from because they will more than likely cause you trouble. An off-set knee is where the cannon bone does not come straight down from the knee and is off-set on the inside or the outside. This puts a lot of stress on the joints during training, performance and any performance maneuver done at speed. As long the cannon bone comes straight out of the horse’s knee, I have never had much knee trouble. Even horses that toe in or toe out haven’t caused me really much grief. I wouldn’t encourage anybody to buy a horse with crooked legs but if the whole structure of the legs follows the same line, I might take the chance if I really like the horse. Not for a whole lot of money though!

The lines and the angles of the front pasterns is something we do want to pay attention to. We used to want a horse with a lot slope and longer pasterns but that is not the case anymore. A reined cow horse has a lot of stress on tendons and ligaments during conditioning, gallops and cow work and the horses that have long sloping pasterns are more susceptible to suspensory injury during high stress activities. Also horses with longer sloping pasterns have more difficulties crossing over in the spins because their foot is too far out in front of them. Because of this we look for pasterns that are slightly shorter, without too much slope. If I had to choose, I would rather have pasterns that were short and steep, rather than long and sloping.

Now that we are down the horse this far, let’s look its feet. I am a believer in no foot, no horse. Horses whose heels are under slung instead of growing straight down can cause a lot of problems for the owner. As the foot grows the toe tends to get longer and the heel gets more under slung. This takes the foot longer to break over, therefore putting more strain on tendons and ligaments. That particular horse is more prone to tendon problems and joint disease. And the foot should be wide, especially through the heels, which is getting harder to find these days. We see more narrow heeled horses today then we use to see.

Now let’s talk about behind the saddle on the top line. Most of the power for stopping or starting in a high performance horse should come from the loin. A horse that is short on top where the saddle goes and really strong in the loin is a horse that I am really going to like. I like a long sloping hip with a low tail set, and the tail should sit tight instead of standing out.  As for the tail itself, although, I never turned a good one away that didn’t have one, we all like to see the long, full pretty tail!

As far as the gaskin on the hind legs go, it doesn’t matter make or break a horse but it’s important. I would never take a horse with good gaskin but a weaker loin over a horse with a weaker gaskin and a strong loin. Another words loins are more important then gaskins. I have seen horses without a lot of gaskin muscles that were really top performers.

Working our way down the horse, we know come to the hocks. This is an area that is under a lot of stress in any high performance horse so what we would want to see when we look at a prospect, first of all is low hocks. A hock is a fulcrum between the gaskin and the cannon bone so the lower the hock is set the greater the leverage it has and therefore, less stress within the joints. A high percentage of your Furturity champions have low hocks. The hocks should also be fairly straight and the bones should be good size. The hock should not appear frail or wobbly. Sickle hocked horses can have their hind legs up under them a little more but the stress and the torque on the joints is greater because of the greater angle. Straight hocks are stronger and more durable and if you combine that with a short cannon bone, you’ll have a much better chance of keeping your horse sound. A horse that squeaks or has wobbly hocks can also splay, or spread too much when he slides and that leaves too much from the joints all the way up to the hips.

The underline of the horse, the belly, should be a lot longer than the top line. The horse should have a nice full rib cage for air capacity - in a working horse it is very important. Also, it is very important for mares that are later going to carry foals. It’s very important that this horse has plenty of room for the heart and lungs to work.

So know let’s talk about over all appearance. We have looked at all of the nuts and bolts but where does pretty rank on our list of positives and negatives. A horse with a big pretty head and a kind eye is right up there. Usually, the horse’s eye is an indication of its character. Some horses just have that star quality, a “look at me” way about them that is so important in the show pen. A horse that strikes you in this way will probably get the same reaction from horse show judges.

Now that we have gone through the parts separately, we look at the horse’s silhouette in front of us. Is the total package symmetrical? Is it balanced? Is it slightly uphill in appearance? Not every horse that has this athletic confirmation is a good horse. But most of the good horses do have this confirmation. I’ll choose a horse with a natural slightly uphill build because it makes getting the horse in the correct posture to perform in high performance so much easier. Buying a horse that is built to do the job can you happy in the show pen. Hopefully, it will keep you from having a big pile of vet bills.

So where did Les Vogt go?

If you’re wondering why it got so quiet here, I have to confess that I’ve been doing something really fun - putting the final touches on the Maneuvers Level of the Cowhorse U Program.  Our December 3rd RFD-TV show, on Wide World of Horses is going to feature some excerpts from the program so we’re doing everything we can to make sure that it’s ready to sell on that date.  There’s a lot of material - over 6 hours of video and the book will probably end up at 150-175 pages - but you won’t believe how much is covered!  One of our reviewers said that if this were the mid-evil times, I’d be burned at the stake for giving away all the trainer secrets - I hope that doens’t happen!  Anyway, if you haven’t put your money down on that good prospect because you were waiting for me to finish my thoughts on that subject, I hope he’s still there!  I’ll get back to it, and to telling you more about the new program in the next few days.  I’m also working hard at visiting with my son and his wife in Hawaii, where I’ll also be giving a clinic this weekend.  Anxious to see what they bring - as always.  Hope everyone’s doing great, talk to you again soon! 

Answers to questions

Here are a couple responses to some of the comments made on our blog here. I figured I’d answer them first, then get back to “picking a prospect.”

 

First, Heather has a question about the Music Mount blood lines, she says certain trainers are pretty high on them; however, my experience with Music Mount has been negative. Personally, the Music Mount’s that I rode, and it was many, many years ago - back in the 60’s and maybe early 70’s - those horses didn’t have much to offer to me. So, personally I guess I’m kind of glad they are gone. I’m sure there were some good ones, but they weren’t in my barn.

 

The next one is from Al, and he says he’s is reading and seeing about all the great horses and trainers, and wondering where they go? You know that’d be a good book to write and someday I might give it a shot. These questions are about what has to be done to keep the food on the table for a trainer after his career is over? Well, that’s a real good question, and lots of young trainers should address it. Because there’s not a lot of money in the horse training business, so hopefully they’ll invest in land, maybe with a partner or however they can do it.  Something that gives them stabilization economically as they grow older.

 

What keeps you going through the dry spells, or cold spells, when nothing seems to work out?  Well to me, that’s just a matter of believing in yourself and your program. If you have a fundamental program that really works for you and you know it’s worked for you before, when time gets tough, go to fundamentals and you’ll pull through.

 

Here’s another question that says, I am looking forward to hearing about blood lines. I know it has a lot to do with how well a horse performs. But I wonder has there ever been a Futurity winner that’s come from mediocre blood line? No, not that I know of, but there have been some winners that were not produced by the most dominant blood line.  As a rule today, your winners are going to be pretty much produced by the most visible, most dominant bloodlines. The bloodlines really do determine a group of elite horses – they really have a huge effect.

 

Here is one that asks - are you going to post a photo of that diamond ring? Yes, we are going to do right away. The sun’s been out quite a bit here where I live, and the light flickers on it so brightly that is a little too much for my camera. I suspect maybe in the next few days we will have a little cloud cover and we will get a picture to put on the web here.

 

Next question -  can we spot a great horse or horse’s potential by watching its natural movement out in the field? No, no, no, no and no! I hear people tell me that all the time, I hate to hear these stories, they say, “Oh you should see my yearling, baby colt, it runs across the pasture and he’s a natural lead changer and he slides in the mud at the water tank and he spins around when he’s playing. I’m sure, this horse is going to be a winner.”

 

This has, in my opinion, very little to do with the future of the horse. You can sometimes tell that one who is standing in a group, may look like he has as a little bit more athletic ability, but it’s certainly would not determine which one I was going to buy. I’d be far more likely to buy one by bloodlines, and some of the other things we have talked about in the last blog.

 

Here’s another question asking about my trip to Australia. Well, my clinics in Australia, at least the first part of the year, are canceled. The best explanation that I can give is that they have a certain variety of equine influenza that has caused an epidemic down there. All gates are locked really.  The last I understood there were no horses being transported, no horse shows. They were having a horse race somewhere, but only for telecast, no people allowed at the race. They are doing all they can, or were for a period of time, to get rid of this flu bug. That’s the last I heard. It’s a big deal that they canceled all the horse events in Australia and has had huge economic impact on them.

 

Okay well that’s about it for right now Folks! Thanks for reading!

Looking at Prospects

Conformation. Let’s talk a little about that. There are three things to consider when looking for a performance horse prospect: conformation, attitude and aptitude. We are going to start by talking first about confirmation. When you’re looking at a horse, it’s a good idea to keep track of the pluses and minuses. Does he have a long list of good points against just a few things that you don’t like? Or does he have an equal list of positives and negative things? If you have more checks in the minus column, or one really big negative, he probably is not the horse for you, no matter how much you like him.  

If you know anything about me, you’ll already know my five most important things for performance horse are stop, stop, stop, stop and stop! There other things that it takes to make a horse a perfect package but a good stop is one main ingredient that we cannot do without. What qualities make a good stopper? Well first, we will talk about balance.  What is balance? What does that mean when one has balanced confirmation? That means the horse is pleasantly portioned, and that he is portioned to do a chosen job.

For a reined cow horse prospect, I would like to see the weight distributed to the back end of the horse. I’ll outline the confirmation that I like to see on a prospect. For the front of the horse, I like to see a swan-like neck for a lot of reasons - flexibility being the first reason. Lots of flexibility gives us the ability to bend this horse and create the lateral postures we need for high performance. The next big thing is the ultimate curvature of the spine, both laterally and horizontally allowing the rider to create better posture for high performance activities. These days we like horse’s neck to come out fairly high on his shoulders, what we call flatter-necked horses. That doesn’t mean the top of the horse’s neck is a straight line, it should have a slight curve to. It means he is not a high-necked horse.  

Today, because of the way we have changed our riding styles from where they once were, we like the horse’s neck to come out even with the  wither s  , fairly high on his shoulders with a real swan-like, clean throat latch. The whole neck can have some curve to it but we like the curve to be most obvious towards the poll. The under side of the neck should be really clean. We don’t want a horse that has big bulging muscles on the under side of its neck, like what we might call the pelican look. The bottom of the neck should come out very clean from the shoulder, and match the top line, curving smoothly to the throat latch. The throat latch should be very clean, although you might not see that in studs. Horses that are thicker through the throat latch might be more difficult to flex. Neck length should be either average or longer. I have never had trouble with a horse’s neck being too long, while a short neck limits the flexibility and makes the horse stiffer. Prominent withers are really an asset. Even one inch will make a lot of difference as to where your saddle sits. The further back your saddle sits, of course, the more weight will be distributed more towards the back of the horse, and it’s important to move all the weight we can towards the back of the horse, it will help them to perform. I like a horse whose withers are high, in fact as high as the height of the hip or maybe even slightly higher than the hip. Having withers set back also gives a little slope to the shoulder. A sloping shoulder is usually a little lighter shoulder, which is what we want in a performance horse.  Big blocky shoulders like we see in some older-bred type horses, can actually get in the way when a horse is performing reining or cow horse maneuvers.  A combination of a short neck and heavy shoulders means much more work than some.  

Well, I’m not quite halfway through this, and I have a whole bunch more to say. So I invite people to throw their comments in after this is all done, which will take a few more entries I’m sure! I’d love to know what you think, or maybe help you out a little with what I’ve learned over the years!  If there’s a mistake out there, I’ve made it, so I’d sure like to help you avoid it! 

Thanks for reading!

Buying a prospect

Over the next couple of days,  I want to talk a little bit about how to choose a horse to buy and how to hold your money together, and still have fun in the future.  How to have the fun that we all dream about when we buy a new horse!

 

So now that the fall sales are in full swing, I’m going to try and give you some pointers on what to look for if you are picking out a nice young prospect.  Pretty is important, color is important, but what we really look for is star quality. Some horses just stand out. Remember when you buy a horse, your horse show destiny is chosen at that moment! Whether you are going to be happy or wondering why you ever did this, is all decided the moment that you buy that horse. So learning how to make a good choice is really important!

 

Spending - well you know - we all have our limits!  But spending more than you can afford at the time you buy the horse - will literally save you money down the road. It’s always been my experience that when I raise my hand and I felt really guilty, and thought, “How in the world am I going to pay for this thing?,” I always found a partner, or I always got a loan - that is - I always figured out a way to come up with the money. Something always happened.  But the most successful stories I have ever had, as far as horse purchases go, were the ones where I had the gut feeling, and didn’t let the price hold me back.

 

Keeping in mind that your low-end, mid range and even your upper mid range horse, they are still part of a math. Your elites are elites. And if you are talking about a horse to show at the futurity level, the top of today’s horse show world is put together of a small group of elite horses. There are more of them around than there use to be. Still, you have to have the elite horse if you are going to play ball. It costs the same amount of money for the winner as it does for the loser. Buy the horse that is high enough quality to compete at the level that you want to compete at - otherwise you are looking for a headache and heartache.

 

No matter what, I think you should always do a pre-purchase vet exam, and take as many x-rays as you need prior to the time you are going to buy the horse. It might be expensive at the time but it still cheap insurance. The vet will give you his findings and help aid in the decision on whether or not you purchase the horse. Remember, this is still not a guarantee of life-time soundness. Next time I have a chance, we’ll talk a little about bloodlines.  

Thoughts on this year’s SBF

Well, we made the long drive home last night from Reno, Nevada all the way to Arroyo Grande, California where we live. We had a fine time at the Snaffle Bit Futurity there in Reno.

We got to see Boyd Rice win the Futurity, the open division on a horse named Oh Cay N Short, who’s by Oh Cay Quixote and out of a mare called Bit of Shorty. This is a new blood line for us at the Snaffle Bit. This breeding is mostly cutting horse stuff that obviously worked very well at the Snaffle Bit Futurity too.

Lance Johnston was reserve champion on a horse called Shes Full Of Diamonds, and this horse is by Hes A Peptospoonful, and out of a mare called Shining Rings.

What we have here is a little signal - and it is something that I’ve always kind of felt – and that is that we all want the same horse: the cutters, the reiners and the reined cow horse people. I think the reiner’s horses have to be a little more placid but not much. We (reined cowhorse riders) have to have a relaxed horse that will fire on command, and although the cutters can handle a little more heat in the horse’s blood line - I think they are breeding that out cause they have to gallop so darn far with those hot ones, which means more work. Basically what I am saying here, bottom-line, is we all want the same horse.

This horse has a low neck. This horse does one big thing the best: stops, stops, stops, stops and stops. And they stop hard! They’re hock users, they’re really limber and they’re low-necked horses. Futurity horses have to have a lot of stamina and strength too because the Futurity is such a huge endurance test for a three year old. They have to stay sound, have the strength to compete, even when they are tired - which these Futurity horses all are at finals time - or it seems like most of them are anyways. And in our reined cowhorse event, they have to have the speed to run and catch the cattle, and then be able to stop when they get there. So, horses that can run, and are extreme athletes are in high demand for the winner’s circle.

What we are also seeing here is the “wheel turning”. This is my way of describing what I see happening - the political regime, the competitive “who’s who” list, seems to change in cycles, and it will go somewhat in age groups. We see the survivors that stay in the dominant group - that go on agelessly and are as competitive at 60 as they were at 30. But we see these 30-year olds too, young trainers coming up through the ranks with a lot of really, really good horse power bringing them along.  It takes a really good horse to bring a young trainer up, but when they get one or two good horses, they learn how it is supposed to feel. The good athletes just kind of seem to surface and stay there for quite period of time sometimes. Then, there are other ones you see that bloom that have their one day in the sun with a good horse and they don’t seem to stay out there, and they are not as visible as we might like to see them. In other words, they only had one good horse and that horse is what pulled them through. The always seems to be the way it happens – a really good horse pulls the young trainer through. Then the good trainer, or the smart one finds out what really went on, so they can do it again, and they continue and become a force in the industry.

But we have seen at this particular Futurity a lot of the old stand-by trainers, meaning they are not too old but they have been dominant in the industry for a number of years -that weren’t in the finals this year. Not that they can’t come back next year. There was quite a turnover this year. We did see Justin Lawrence and Zane Davis, some new names in finals. There was Jake Telford from Idaho, who has been coming on strong for the last few years anyway, and he did a nice job on some horses. We saw quite a few that were new in the finals and we missed a lot of the old names.

One thing we did see in the finals, and through the whole futurity, was that so much of what I teach as far as the collection: the roundness on top, the softness, the form-to- function theory that we use in Cowhorse U, and that I teach in my clinics – it’s what makes the winners the winners. I feel like going to the Futurity and really watching this year, seriously validified everything that we are doing.

I always want to stay on top of the game. I always want to know whether I am current with trends, and new theories, and ways of doing things. Not so much what the fashion is, but what the style that creates the winner is. What is the form that is creating higher levels of performance? So I saw a lot, and everything that I saw that was really good, I totally agreed on, and totally understood how it happened. It takes a great horse to get to the top of the top in the Futurity horses, or other high performance competition. But, it also takes a trainer or rider that can create the perfect form that allows this great horse to function on a level that lets him win.

So I feel very good and very current as far as all of our thoughts and teachings methods are concerned. There are the five most important things - that are: stop, stop, stop, stop and stop. And it’s in the neck. The speed horses don’t do any good unless they can stop when they get there!

And then we had the Hall of Fame ceremony, which was quite an honor to be involved in. They had us crawl out of a limousine, which I don’t understand why anybody would ever want one. I had to crawl out of the dang thing on my hands and knees. The seats are so long and the roof is so low, you are so cramped up in there. Gosh, I would rather ride in the back of a pick up truck, myself!

Anyways, we had to ride in this limousine, and the red carpet was put out there in front of us. They had the pyrotechnics fireworks. It felt like a PBR bull ride with the firecrackers and all the sparklers going off behind us. They had quite a ceremony and they presented us with these diamond rings that are just gorgeous. Big old gold and diamond rings that say “Hall of Fame” on them. It was a very touching experience and I feel very fortunate to be included in that ceremony with a group of people that I totally respect.

More news from Reno

Hi folks. Well, we are still at Reno, Nevada for the Snaffle Bit Futurity. We are starting to wind up with a little more excitement than we had a few days ago. We had the Hackamore class won with a good ride by Lance Johnston, and the Bridle class was pretty darn exciting. We had Jimmy Paul, with not only good work, but what I consider a really traditional style in his work. He had a lot of speed and a lot of control, a real true Bridle horse run. That was pretty exciting to see and he won that class going away.

 

Then we had sales during the rest of the day and we saw a lot of 2-year olds sell for a lot of money. The prices looked really good and it looks to me, without a question, if you are going to play this game and be competitive you have got to come in on the high-end of the quality as far as the type of horse you purchase. I think your destiny is pretty much decided about the same day you buy that horse. And it looks to me like there is hardly anyway you are going to compete at the upper level without a real special, special quality of horse.

 

Today, the weather has warmed up, a lot of smiling faces and old friends and meeting new friends. The trade show seems to be clicking right along and picking up a little momentum. Everybody is doing a little bit business and having fun at the same time. That’s about it for me today. Talk to you again after the finals.

 

I almost forgot the most exciting thing for me today is that they present the hall of fame members, which I am fortunate enough to be one, with diamond rings! I have seen pictures of them and they are really, really special. They are supposed to bring a limousine in the arena with us in it, and roll out a red carpet, and we apparently get to step out and get our moment in glory! So, we are all looking forward to that. I will fill you in with the rest tomorrow!

First day at the Snaffle Bit Futurity

Well here I am, Reno, Nevada 2007. This makes, I believe year 37 for the Snaffle Bit Futurity - and it’s fun as always. It seems like there are more people and of course, more people you seem to recognize and know from experience in the past. Lots of action as always.

 

 The temperature’s a little different than past years! As the day has progressed it’s gotten colder and colder. There’s even snow on mountains!  And there are lots of people around here that look like they wish they had another layer of clothes on!  I brought my long overcoat and neckerchief, so I’m pretty happy. Now, for one thing, the cold weather does drive a lot of people inside, which here would mean the retail sales area - which looks really nice to to me this year. There is a higher volume and more people buying than normal.

 

I hear good reports on the horse sale too, and I have talked to people quite a few people that are telling me they made some pretty good buys this year. Really nice horses going through and they seem to be pretty affordable at least in the yearling age bracket.

 

I gave my bit and spur lecture like I do every year. I do one usually on Friday, which is today, and then Saturday about noon time. We always have a huge response to it. We make new friends and get to visit with old ones. Lots of people come with lots of bits and spur questions. I get to explain a lot of things that I understand, and I like the opportunity to share with other people. We have an exciting afternoon ahead too.  The sale’s about finished, then we start with the intermediate and limited finals for the rein work and fence work. We had the herd work this morning.

 

Well that’s my take so far on the Snaffle Bit Futurity. Sure is cold but wonderful. If you want to watch the live action along with me – just click the link on the right! 

Whipping on the kids at a local racetrack

Howdy to All,

Thought I’d share my Saturday night with you!  My car is the silver one that brushes the white one (it crashed) then the guy on my left turned into me (he was trying to take me out)–BUT–as you see, I got between them (fender flying in the air) and went to the front—BUT– I really crashed into the wall a lap or so later(not on this video). I hear they are still pickin up parts off the track.  My poor car doesnt look so good—BUT—IT WAS SURE FUN! and those kids are nervous!

Here’s a link to the race footage from  YouTube -   

http://youtube.com/watch?v=KCMaDnpyLyI

Adios til the NEXT LAP

Les Vogt

New to Blogs? So am I!

Hi this is Les Vogt and I would like to welcome everybody to our new blog. I am new to the computer world, at least in the last couple years and five years ago I had never heard of a blog. It is still new, so bare with me! I want to use this first installment to welcome everybody to our blog and tell you a little bit about me and how fortunate I am to do the things that I do.  People on airplanes ask me, “What to do you do Les?” and I always tell them, “I help people fulfill their dreams.” They stop and look at me and say “Well what do you mean by that?” and I say “Well I can’t give people their dreams but I can, give them the tools that will help them to acheive the goals they have for their horses.” And that’s my job. Everywhere I go I give people tools to help them fulfill their dreams. Everyone that comes to my clinics has a dream, and I am the dream maker. I am the guy, and I have a huge time helping people learn what they need to know to have fun with their horses.  And aside from that, I believe I am very fortunate to be able to do something that I love doing. This year we have been blessed with a television show that has worked magic for us and our sponsors. We have had really a lot of fun. Asking my friends questions that I would never dare ask them, except in front of a camera where they’re compelled to come up with some form of an answer!  It’s pretty interesting, and both Linda* and I enjoy doing these television shows and hopefully we can continue. This year, my fiance Kay and I have also had the opportunity to go to lots of different foreign countries and teach our horsemanship program. And some of the places that we have been are Brazil, Sweden and Canada. Today, I am in the process of booking a clinic in Australia for three weeks which would be January and into the early part of February and it’s not just going to be on just someone’s horse training ranch. These three weeks will be, as I understand, in the outback teaching the cattlemen on their cattle ranch stations how to work cattle and create the type of type of horses we have here in the United States. Sounds really, really fascinating and it will be in all different locations of Australia. We are also looking to go back to Brazil, Sweden, and also Canada. It will be exciting, as we go along with this blogI to talk a little about the difference that I find in these counties versus what we do here. And some of these experiences have been pretty fascinating.  I showed horses this summer, in my spare time of course. In July and August, I showed 6 times, placed near the top in all of the classes and had a fine time. Kay showed in her limited non pro classes also, and she had a great time with that too. We show usually in July and August and then shut down to get back to business. However, that doesn’t stop me from being a little diverse and becoming a team roper, which is total obsession I have to warn everybody about. Team roping is just something that gets in your blood. So, I take the show horses that we are showing in July and August, at least two of them and I go to rope in the evening, two to three times a week at a minimum. I have aspirations to become somewhat competitive. I think it’s a lost cause to think I am going to be a world champion, so I am just having fun and that’s the name of the game. So that tells you a little about me and what I’ve been up to.  Hopefully I can add to this at least once a week with things I’m experiencing and learning in the horse world, and one of our first stops will be the finals at the Snaffle Bit Futurity, so stay tuned – as they say!     *Linda Boggs is my partner in Les Vogt Performance Programs LLC, the company that produces cowhorse U and Les Vogt’s Equine Insights