Having Some Turbo Powered Fun with my New Horse!

I want to tell you all a little more about Turbo.  Turbo is a really, really a special, special colt.  It’s hard to describe how Turbo nourishes my soul.  Turbo does things, I tell people he’s the best I’ve ever had, I’ve had some really good ones, but Turbo does some real specific things, and Turbo, putting it bluntly, is a pet!  Turbo is in your pocket all the time.  He always knickers when I head towards his pen – he puts his face on my shirt and if I move he puts his nose right on my shirt again.  He doesn’t nibble, he just puts it there and he likes that comfort and he just adores being petted, but he likes his nose in contact with me.  I’ve never made him quit, some guys would, but he’s expressing himself and its part of my day I spend a little time everyday with him when I catch him or put him away.  And he will actually walk away from his dinner to come over to me to put his nose on me.  We’re pretty good buddies! 

I would have to say he’s a very good minded horse, he’s very programmable.  You have to be careful for what you wish for, because you might get too much of it.  But at this point in time, Turbo he’s a really nice horse to be around.  He never aggravates you.   He never causes you to wish he would move over, and he doesn’t stand on your toes and he doesn’t blow snot in your face, he’s just a nice nice mannered horse.  He’s pretty, so I enjoy cleaning him, enjoy brushing him and he stays real sound. 

So Turbo has been working out of the herd, and while I went to Australia, for three weeks or more, Kate Neubert had him.  And Kate did a nice job, he was better when I picked him up than when I left him which is thrilling and gives me a lot of confidence in Kate.  So that’s a blessing for someone like me to be able to have a substitute trainer that does really good things that you can really trust.  And I’ve been through a lot of my friendly horse trainer buddies in different times in my life, and I’ve not always had good success, but with Kate I sure do. 

So anyhow, Turbo’s status is that out of the herd Turbo works good enough to show tomorrow for sure. He’s very competitive the way he is right now.  He’s not really cutting horse style, he works more upright, more bridle horse style, but he’s a big hock user.  He gets on his butt and makes deep moves, but mostly deep behind – he doesn’t ever get down real low in front.  He’s not really particularly a clever horse, but he’s plenty quick footed and he’s a big mover – so he can pick himself up and make big turns with his butt way deep in the ground, and it looks pretty good.  I think he’ll be good out of the herd.

That’s the big thing about Turbo, there are no issues.  I’ve been very careful in his training program, it’s been just dialed in straight from what I share in the Cowhorse U programs, so you know exactly what I’ve done with him, and to him if you’ve seen Cowhorse U.  Turbo is a horse that wants to be a good horse, but not ever enthusiastic, and he doesn’t want to be opinionated particularly about anything.  So that means he’s right down the middle and that makes it really nice.  He’s nice in the face and he’s got a lot of lateral control and collection on him.  Yesterday, when we had people out here for the filming I ran him down the pen which I’ve done hundreds of times – I don’t run him a lot, but I run him every day once or twice across the arena.  And I ran him down and asked him to stop, and God he stopped as good or better than any open horse I’ve ever had, and turned likewise.  He can get in the dirt and turn around. 

I’ve been going down the fence with him a little too; he’s been down the fence a dozen or more times.  I’ve held him out away from cattle like 15-20 feet and the last two times I let him close in.  I leave him out so I can keep him stopping  straight – I don’t want him dropping in.  A result of the last two times where I let him drop in around the corner and stop cattle, was that out of the herd, yesterday, he would have a tendency to drop in just a hair when he stopped on the ends, so that would be something you should sure look for because it is not really what we want; we want him to stop straight.  So Kate and I talked about it, and we straightened him up real easily and casually. So he did what we wanted him to do.

So it’s good to alternate back and forth, going down the fence to the right I think that horse is really really good and he circles cattle really really good.  I think he’s pretty much of a speed horse too – this horse can run too.  He’s got a lot of leg under him and he can move out, and he enjoys running up and catching cattle and circling them.  He’s getting that down – he has no fade to him – he feels like he’s got glue from him to the cow.  That’s a good thing.   And then his left turn – my God I tell you he just wants to swallow the cows up!  It’s a harder turn.  It’s a lot harder to ride that is, he drops down real low and he uses a little more front end, not that he props at all.  It’s just like the horse kind of almost disappears. Anyhow he really does it, it’s a crowd thrilling left turn and there is a lot of stress.  But not so much on him I don’t think, but it gets to me.  That’s where I tore my leg muscle! I thought I really wrecked it, but I’m going to be ok in a couple of weeks. 

So that’s Turbo’s stuff, he could go show tomorrow and be competitive; there’s no question in my mind.  I know that most Futurities are won or lost down the fence, so I’ve got more work to do down the fence.  I’ve got a lot of time, I’ve got two months actually more than two months.  Someone asked me yesterday, well how do you keep him peaked out like he is for that length of time?  Well we all know that there are more Futurity horses ruined from June on into Futurity time than there is in the whole 18 months of training prior to now, so how do I keep from ruining him and keep him peaked?  Truth is he doesn’t think he’s peaked, I’ve done so much alternate training and by that I mean alternatives training I do other things with him.  I don’t just practice maneuvers, I practice fundamentals and the fundamentals is what his whole program is built on, and he thinks he’s just doing fundamentals –  he doesn’t know he’s doing high powered maneuvers and I don’t ask him for his life.  I have never asked him for his life.  Never ran him as fast as he could go, and I never tried to make him turn as fast, he’s a good lead changing horse too.  Transitions are real good I have to be kind of careful because he could take a trot step – he really makes a big transition from fast to slow in the circles.  Anyhow he doesn’t feel stress as part of our training program – he’s not stressed and he’s a happy camper. 

We ride him out in the mountains and do things he likes to do too.  I don’t feel any problems with him.  People say “Oh my God he’s going to win, I’m going to come and watch you win”, well I welcome you all to come and watch, keep in mind my goal is to create a really nice horse.  For me, I need a really nice open horse, and in the bridle, I would like to have one that I can go rope on in the arena, and go show the next day or maybe the same day and win in both.  And Turbo is the deal – if he stays sound, which he will I think – I do believe that he will be that horse.  And it’s not a matter of him winning at the Futurity.  My goal at the Futurity is to show him for as best as he can be shown, and the biggest thing is to have fun doing it.  So if it’s not fun of course, I don’t want to do it!  But if it’s fun, I think Turbo will be fun to show, he’s a laid back horse.  Anyway I don’t think he’s going to be afraid of things, I think he’s going to look at things with curiosity. Yesterday during the television shoot, they had a hand held mic on like a broomstick and it looked like it was the size of a football, and it had a lot of hair or fuzz on it, that stops the wind noise I guess.  Most horses, if you were to hold it over their head so that they could hear me talk, would have some kind of fit, he thought it was his mother I think he wanted to nibble the damn thing!   Anyways he’s a character.  I totally adore him and I’m very fortunate to have him.  Life is good, thanks for listening!

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