My truck was in four-wheel drive and I was hanging onto the steering wheel with my eyes wide open. It sure didn’t look like springtime in Alberta with all the snow and ice I was driving through.

I was on my way to the Mane Event Horse Expo in Red Deer, Alberta for the 2008 Trainer’s Challenge. Equine Canada had invited me to be their color commentator for this very popular event. Together with Sylvia Schneider and Diana Balbar we were going to be interviewing each of the trainers and following their progress throughout this challenge. What a flip/flop!

Last year I was one of the featured trainers and Canada Equine covering my progress. It was fun being on the other side of the fence! You won’t be disappointed if you tune into these comprehensive podcasts. Visit The Equine Podcast and Clinician interviews on my web site.

Now for more exciting news! Lammles Western Wear is now selling my DVD’s along with some of my horse tack. They kicked off my new product line at the Mane Event – so, whenever I wasn’t covering the Trainer’s Challenge, I was at the Lammles Booth. Let me tell you that I have been shopping at Lammles for years and have the shirt collection to prove it!

On a closing note, I would like to thank all the people who came over to talk to me. There were so many and I must apologize for not remembering everyone’s name. If you only knew how encouraging it is to have that much support from the horse community! I want to thank each and every one of you for your support because it gives me the opportunity to be out there doing clinics, workshops and demonstrations. What a wonderful way to make a living - working with people and their horses – it’s my passion and it’s my life.

Jay O’Jay

Just got this photo sent to me courtesy of Jan Mansfield. It was taken at The Mane Event in the “final session” of the Trainer’s Challenge. In session one I started with a fearful horse, but as you can see, by the time I got to the finals my little horse had learnt how to be a “brave” horse.

Jay at the Mane Event Horse Expo

Wow! You want to talk about a journey! I’m talking about the Trainer’s Challenge that was held at the Westerner Park Grounds in Red Deer, Alberta. April 27-29 2007.

3 Trainers <> 3 Untouched Horses <> 3 Judges.

Yes, the Mane Event Horse Expo came to Alberta for the very first time, and may I add, the event drew an enthusiastic and larger than anticipated crowd. Allow me to give you a brief overview of each of my training sessions. But before I get started, you may like to know that we filmed each of my round pen sessions as well as the final go around. The good news is that you can download parts of this video footage here.

That’s not all, Canada Equine was there and they followed my progress as I worked with my horse over the three days of the Trainer’s Challenge. They have posted four interviews on their web site and you can download the podcasts here.

Friday - Session #1 - My horse was nervous, worried, and fearful, and as I would later discover – very willful. To top things off I had also come down with a terrible flu. Despite these challenges, I spent as much time as I could in forming a connection with this anxious horse. Getting and then keeping his attention focused on me and away from the gate was definitely a challenge – he wanted out. As I proceeded, and I have to be honest with you, the combination of working with this fearful horse along with a personal goal of getting him saddled was too much for this little gelding. As I was moving along, I suddenly realized just how much this horse needed me to help him with a confidence-building program. I needed to draw on my integrity as a trainer; I needed to put the horse’s needs first, ahead of my personal desire to win the competition. I needed to help my little horse find a way to become a braver horse.

Saturday - Session #2 – Still not feeling like a million bucks, but I was feeling better than day one. The plan for this session was to continue to help my horse build more confidence as I worked on making a stronger connection with him to the right. This is when I found out just how willful or stubborn my little horse really was. It took me over half an hour just to get him to travel around the pen to the right. One of my goals was to show the audience the importance of not giving up and the real value of patience. I knew that once he came out the other side I would have a great horse to work with.

Saturday - Session #3 - My hard work paid off - I had completely turned my horse around - I had a new horse to work with. My little horse was a relaxed horse, a trusting horse and a confident horse that was learning how to deal with his fears. I got on and trotted around the pen.

Sunday - Session #4 - I brought in trotting poles, the bridge and a plastic tarp. My horse handled everything quite well except for the bridge. I didn’t want to over expose him to the bridge so I just planted a seed of confidence in him and let it grow in preparation for the finals.

Sunday - The Finals - My little horse was without a doubt the quietest, most relaxed horse - I couldn’t have asked for more. He performed with a flawless style; he even crossed over the bridge. As I’ve been saying all along, slower is faster with horses.

All in all, I took a very fearful and challenging horse and made the biggest change in him. I still have an inner glow burning within because I gave my little horse the best start any horse could have. If people were there for an education, if they were there for the horse, I hope they recognized I was there for those very reasons and not just a title.

I’d like to congratulate Steve Rother on a job well done and for winning the competition, as well as Raye Lochert for being a big part of the challenge. All in all I was very impressed with the sportsmanship and integrity of this year’s challengers and was happy everyone stayed focused on the educational factor and the well-being of these horses. I think we all had some serious fun. Don’t forget that success with horses starts with us. Until next time…

Jay O

Photo courtesy of Terri Mason - Canadian Cowboy Magazine

“My Point of View”

When Ron Barker, the promoter of “The Mane Event” discussed details of the Trainer’s Challenge with me, I was excited. His priority was the welfare of the horse and to accommodate this concern he allotted an extra hour of round penning for each horse. The other thing that impressed me was that he wanted the very core or essence of the Trainer’s Challenge to be “educational”.

I accepted the Trainer’s Challenge based on these priorities!

For each and every step of the way, I put the horse first; there would be no over exposing the horse in order to win! I put my integrity on the line, demonstrating professionalism and respect for my peers. I was also honest with myself, my fellow competitors and to my horse.

Allow me to share some of my personal experiences, challenges and rewards.

The Horse

My wife Caroline had been asking me for months if I was nervous about doing the Trainer’s Challenge. I kept saying no, but this didn’t stop her from asking me several more times. Finally, minutes before walking into the round pen at the Mane Event, Caroline asks me one more time – are you nervous?

I told her that my worst fear was drawing a horse that lacked forward impulsion. I related that in my career with horses, some of the most difficult horses I worked with were those that did not want to go forward. It’s not that you can’t teach these horses to respond obediently to your go forward cue; it’s just that it takes a lot of time and patience. Point being, since I only had four round penning sessions to work with, time would not be on my side.

Then the moment came – there I was in the round pen, and as I tossed my lariat out at the hindquarter to ask for movement - my horse just stood there! Could this be true? Did I have a horse that lacked forward impulsion? Was my worst fear truly becoming a reality?

Still in denial, once again I tossed out my lariat, and then again, but my horse barely moved. My heart sank as I stood there in the round pen at the Mane Event.

My horse was telling me, I will not move forward for you - I only do what I want, when I want and nobody can make me do anything different. However, because I am not afraid of you I will be friendly and rub my nose all over your shirt, walk on top of you and use you as a scratching post if I get itchy. So, go ahead and shower me with pets and murmur words of sweet nothing into my ear as I totally ignore you. I will do all these things because I am dominant! I have no respect for you and if you even so much as think about challenging me in any way, I will resist and fight you.

Being aware of this, I was careful not to put too much pressure on my horse in order to re-enforce my go forward cue. But, even though I did not raise my pressure above three or four - on a scale from one to ten - my horse immediately got resistant and started to kick out at me with both hind feet. He was warning me that if I continued to challenge his dominance, those back feet would connect with me next time. Bottom line, my horse not only lacked forward impulsion, but he was also very dominant and ready to fight.

Force and intimidation does not work on any horse! And, this is especially true with horses that already have built-in resistance. In fact, I have seen these types of horses get so willful, stubborn and oblivious to pain, that all the pressure in the whole world couldn’t get them to move. Instead, with each stroke of pressure they just became more and more resentful, defiant and tuned out. If you were to continue adding pressure, this horse would eventually have a mental break down, become totally enraged, and then fight back with nothing less than pure survival. To say this horse could be dangerous - would be an understatement!

I needed to earn some respect and I needed to do it in a way that was non-confrontational and safe. This is when I turned to the audience and said – If what you’re doing isn’t working, try something different. That is exactly what I did.

The Audience

Stage fright is real!

I really don’t think there is any cure for stage fright, however, a receptive audience can do wonder’s for a person’s confidence. I should know - the audience at the Mane Event proved this to me.

I was rewarded with encouragement and appreciation for the slightest try - this made my confidence soar like an eagle. Enthusiasm out-powered doubt and I begin to perform with zest.
Isn’t that interesting - this is no different for a horse!

The audience truly did allow me to get into “the zone”! This is a mental and emotional headspace that allowed me to get focused and have some “serious fun”! And I truly did get serious about the physical, mental and emotional condition of my horse, but at the same time, I got serious about having fun with both my horse and the audience.

As I looked out into the audience it was encouraging to see so many of my friends who had made a special trip, just to come out and support me. To all of them, I say thank you!

Naturally, there were also a lot of people in the audience that I didn’t know, but to my surprise, a staggering amount of these people knew about me! I had numerous people saying they “religiously” read all of my articles in Pacific Prairie and Horse Journal and that they even cut the articles out and saved them or sent them to friends who didn’t have access to the magazine. I had other people tell me that they had heard about me from a friend or from a friend of a friend.

A steady stream of positive feedback was flowing my way! So many people believed in my training program and the way I worked with my horse in the Trainer’s Challenge. They knew I had a sticky horse and they saw first hand how I got results without force or intimidation - they saw a better way and they liked it.