Hi guys! This is Colette again. We’re up to episode five in One Man, One Horse – A Mustang Story. This is a very pivotal episode because this is when Jay first tries to get a saddle onto the mustang. Up until now, he’s been doing exercises with the horse to get her ready for this step. I think it’s pretty amazing that anyone could get a saddle on a horse that started out so fearful. In the beginning he could hardly walk up to her without her running away frantically!

The next section of our interview with Matthew Ford is a good one, too. He talks about how he was about ready to give up finding a place for the mustang to stay when he moved back to Invermere. When he was told about Jay, it gave him some hope and then when Jay took on the challenge, well, that’s where this whole adventure begins.

“Spring has sprung” and with it we are rewarded with all that Mother Nature has to offer. The beginning of new life! What could be more adorable and touching then a newborn foal. Share this special moment with Jay as this newborn filly named “Late Lass” faces the challenge of standing on her own to take her first drink of mother’s milk.

Click “New Born Foal” to view!

Some Advice and tips from Jay about New Born Foals:

When you have the good fortune to watch a newborn foal struggling to stand up on her own and not having much success, the desire to help can become overwhelming. Why? As you watch her repeated unsuccessful attempts, you worry about the foal hurting herself. You also worry that if she doesn’t get the colostrum from mother’s milk within just a few hours after birth, she will not survive.

Colostrum is the first fluid a mare secretes from her udder after foaling. It contains the antibodies, which protect the foal from infection. There are protective immunoglobulins in the colostrum, which is more concentrated in the early hours of lactation. As time goes on milk production will dilute them. Also, the foal’s ability to absorb them decreases as her digestive tract matures. Peak absorption time is between 2 and 4 hours of birth.

However, I like to let nature unfold “naturally”, I think it’s important for the foal to face the challenge of standing on her own. I believe that it gives them spirit and builds character with a sense of drive. Like all things in life – if it is handed to us on a silver platter, it doesn’t have the same value as it would if we had worked for it. My recommendation, don’t help unless it is absolutely necessary!

Jay O’Jay

It’s not that I didn’t notice! It’s like watching your kids grow up; from one day to the next there really isn’t any change in size. Then one day they’re taller than you are. That’s how this winter felt to me; each day blended into the next and I thought for sure it was never going to end. Finally, spring is in the air!

Yes, and even with a winter blanketing program, the amount of hair my horses are now shedding is nothing short of amazing. I’m legging them up slowly to avoid any physical injuries, I want to have them in reasonable good shape to start what will be an exciting summer of clinics, workshops, and demonstrations, and of course a whole lot of traveling down the road. Hopefully, I’ll be seeing you on my travels.
 
On a personal level, one of the more exciting things for me this summer will be my colt starting workshops. I’d honestly have to say that I absolutely love watching these colts getting connected with their owners and then gaining the confidence in themselves to accept a saddle and rider. Giving a colt the right start in life goes a long way when you think of his future years. After all, don’t we all want a horse that is pleasant to be around and a real pleasure to train? It all boils down to building that solid foundation, a foundation that can be expanded upon as they continue to mature and grow. If there is a secret to producing a willing attitude and creating a horse that is light and responsive to your cues, it would be found here.

I’m limiting my colt starting workshops to four horses and riders simply because I want to give everyone a maximum amount of my personal time. When you leave this workshop, you will be leaving with a whole lot of my personal experience, knowledge and understanding of how to start a colt the right way. I want each participant to start their own colt under my guidance, I want them to learn and understand each step of the way. I will not have them hanging off the fence watching me start the colt. Being involved is how you learn. When they go home I want them to leave with more confidence in themselves than when they first arrived.
 
These workshops will be the number one ticket for this coming season, especially for anyone who is truly interested in learning how to start a colt correctly. I’ve always wondered how anyone can learn colt starting in a group of ten or more horses. In a situation like this it’s the trainer that does all the work because there just isn’t enough time to spend on either individual horses or their riders.
 
One of the things I always pride myself in is that I teach transferable skills and anyone taking this workshop is going to go home with a lot of knowledge and understanding.
 
Well, if you let me start rambling, it seems that I never stop, so on that note, I’ll just say – “keep on keeping on” as you prepare both yourself and your horse for another season of horse’n around.

A new episode of One Man, One Horse - A Mustang Story is out today! 

At this point in the series, Jay has been able to touch this scared and wild mustang, and get a halter on her. But, the horse is still quite frightened. Jay uses his three principles of training – cause movement, follow a feel, and yield to pressure – to help the horse recognize him as a leader. So it makes sense that this episode is called “Respect and Control“!

The thing I like about this episode is watching Jay how takes control and leadership of his horses peacefully and not using brute force. It’s in the little reinforcements like getting the horse to move out of his personal space. Jay’s always working on how quiet he can be around horses and still be in full control of them. I think that’s really great because it gives horses the respect they deserve!

We’ve got another segment of the interview with Matt Ford up today, too. He tells us the story about how he got the Mustang to begin with… and how he got a sore toe that day! Definitely a must-see!

Hello everyone! Colette here, from the Jay O Jay Inc. team. Some of you may know that I’m the one who’s doing the editing of the footage for the mustang series. Well, I’m happy to announce that today we released the latest episode of A Mustang Story. This episode is called “Building Trust“. I think my favourite part of this episode is when our mustang goes back in the program a little bit, and Jay says, “This is where some people give up, but this is where I get strong.” And it’s true, he does have a lot of patience and confidence with horses.

One thing I’ve learned from Jay while watching and editing these video clips is that patience does grow out of understanding. This is true of people as well as of horses. At first, I’m sure it’s easy to get angry when your horse seems to always run away and forget what you teach it. But then when you work to understand what the horse is feeling, it helps give you patience. When you remember, horses are prey animals and predators sometimes try to jump on their back when they attack, then it’s quite easy to understand why horses can be fearful sometimes! I find it’s the same thing with people, too. When you really understand where someone’s coming from, you can be more patient with them and their mistakes than you would be if you didn’t know anything about them.

Something special about the release of this episode is that also on the Jay O Jay website, we’ve released an interview with Matthew Ford, the owner of the mustang. This is a great inside peek at how he got the horse and what he was feeling when he first saw the wild mustangs. I remember when Matt came into our office to do these interviews with Jay. He was a little shy at first but he really got the hang of it fast. And what a nice guy he is! I think the mustang is lucky to have such a loving owner. There’ll be more segments of the interview to come, so that’s something to look forward to. Until next time!

I was standing at the BBQ when I saw a black pickup truck make its way up the dirt road that leads to my place here in Invermere BC.

Yes! Paul Schofield had just arrived with his four-year-old mare “Betsy” and for the next five days they would be my guests here at Stoddart Creek Stables – or at least that’s what I thought! Allow me to start from the beginning.

Paul Schofield arrives at Stoddart Creek Stables

Paul, his wife Velma, and a group of friends traveled to Red Deer, Alberta to attend the Mane Event which is a large horse expo that features “horse trainers” of all disciplines. However, Paul and his friends were there to watch the “Trainer’s Challenge” – a colt starting competition with three trainers and three range raised colts.

To make a long story short – I just happened to be one of the featured trainers and as the competition unfolded, Paul was convinced that I would be the winner. He even made a $50.00 bet! Well, he couldn’t believe it when he lost that bet – so he ranted and raved about it all the way home – driving his wife and all of his friends “Insane”!

The Trainer’s Challenge was held at the end of April/07 and as the summer fell upon Paul, he went about his business of farming and ranching in central Alberta, Canada.

As fate would have it, we were to meet again – this time by total surprise! Paul had tickets for Big Valley Jamboree in Camrose, Alberta – a huge outdoors Country & Western Music Festival and to his amazement – he saw me there doing a series of Colt starting demonstrations.

Not only was he surprised, he was eager to share the story of how he had lost fifty bucks. You could say that Paul was having trouble accepting the fact that I had not won the Trainer’s Challenge – and you guessed it – he started to rant and rave about it once again.

This is how we met and this is where our friendship began. As we talked, Paul asked me if there was any chance of him coming out to my facility to learn more about Jay O’Jay Horsemanship. I could see the eagerness in his eyes and I could feel his energy, the kind that only comes from a strong his desire to learn – so we made plans!

On September 13/07 at 7:30pm, Paul rolled into “Stoddart Creek Stables” with his horse “Betsy”. I put the BBQ on “hold” as I focused in on getting Betsy settled into what would be her new home for the next five days. Then it was Paul’s turn to un-hook the trailer and get bunked in.

Stoddart Creek Stables – Indoor Arena

As I finally sat down to eat my diner the conversation started, and let me tell you – it never ended. Paul wanted to learn the right way – he wanted to know the techniques, the strategies and the mechanic’s of horse training. His enthusiasm was contagious!

I told him that the techniques and the strategies were more or less the easy part. It’s the relationship with your horse – the communication – the emotional knowledge about their behavior and the mental knowledge of how they are – that’s the challenge! In fact some people never clue in enough to get it – and yet it’s the very core of every great horseman.

Stoddart Creek Stables – Top Barn & Round Pen

We woke up early that next morning, got the chores done, put the coffee pot on and had a good breakfast. Fueled up and ready to go, we started day one of what would be a “private work shop” with Jay O’jay Horsemanship. 

Can you believe it – in five days we started two colts – a big black Friesian and a big brown German Warm blood. We also stayed overnight at a backcountry lodge where we did a one day work shop – trailer loading, round penning techniques and then took an incredible trail ride into the wilderness of the Canadian Rockies. On top of that I was filming Paul and Betsy’s lessons so we could discuss them in the evenings. And somehow I found the time to ride my own two horses – Coco & Cisco.

Then, when the five days were up – Paul blew my mind – he said he didn’t want to go home! What about your wife, I asked – she’s okay with me staying was his reply. Well aren’t you tired of horse’n around yet? No – is the only thing he said.

Paul stayed another five days – and let me tell you – I worked real hard on getting him to understand “how” to become a better horseman. As you’ve probably already guessed by now – if you want to be successful with horses – you had better start working on yourself. It’s our personality that’s the deciding factor as to how we do all things with horses. Our attitude is a big part of this equation – and a healthy attitude is only achieved through the knowledge and understanding of the horse.

At the end of the ten days, I asked Paul – in a word or two can you tell me a little bit about your experience here with Jay O’Jay Horsemanship? Are you happy with the knowledge and understanding you gained? He didn’t really answer me in words – he just stood there with this look on his face – so I thought I had better photograph it.

Paul Schofield – Expressing his experience with Jay O’Jay Horsemanship

All that I know for sure is that Paul left Stoddart Creek Stables with a big smile on his face!

Paul Schofield & Betsy

It was time for Paul to get back home, his family was missing him and the cows were calling. But as he was pulling out of the driveway – he shouted out the truck window – “I’m coming back”! 

Click here to see what Paul had to say about this time spent learning from me!

Jolene Sitting on Cisco

Jolene was only ten years old when she came to take riding lessons from my wife Caroline, here at Stoddart Creek Stables. Right from the very beginning everyone knew she was going to grow up to be a horse girl because she never wanted to go home. She would get here first thing in the morning and stay all day long. In those days Jolene was a shy little girl who “never” and I mean “never” took off her riding helmet. Looking back one could say – she didn’t talk a lot, but she was always ready to ride.

Riding with Caroline gave Jolene a wonderful opportunity to ride a lot of different hoses and to go to the horse shows. What can I say, Caroline’s kids were always in the ribbons – and for that matter – they still are wining championships and reserve championships in the Hunter/Jumper show scene in Calgary Alberta.

Jolene & Peso
(Peso is our Conamara Stallion)

Yes, Caroline taught Jolene how to ride a horse centered and balanced, but more importantly, she taught her how to develop “rider feel”. I can remember, because Jolene had a nice feel with the horses, Caroline would get her to ride all of the ponies that the younger kids were having problems with. This really helped develop Jolene’s riding skills and at the same time it saved Caroline from having to ride them herself.

<> <> <> <> <>

Well I guess we all have to grow up and leave home sooner or later – no different for Jolene. On August 22/07 Jolene left for Taiwan as an exchange student to “Tie One On” – oops – I mean to study in Taiwan. Don’t worry it’s my weak humor.

I can’t speak for Jolene, but I was sad to see her go – she’ll be gone for a whole year. I will miss her company – she was one of the few people that every laughed at any of my humor. I will also miss all of the help she so willingly gave me. Yes, she got to ride a lot of horses and learn a lot with me, but she also got to clean a lot of tack, do a lot of grooming and cool out a lot of horses – it wasn’t all fun.

Jolene also helped me start a lot of colts – we worked well together – she took the time to learn my program, but most of all, she took the time to work on herself. I always told her that success with horses is all about learning how to be like and think like a horse – so she started wearing a ponytail hair due. That’s just another wonderful zap of my humor!

In closing, I just want to wish Jolene the best with her new venture in Taiwan and tell her that the horses are here waiting for her return to Canada – Home Sweet Home!

Jolene & Cisco
Stoddart Creek Stables

August 2-5/07

For those of you who don’t know “Big Valley Jamboree” is an outside country music festival that is held each year at Camrose, Alberta. The unofficial word is that they get approximately 30 thousand people attending each day.

For more information visit their web site at: www.bigvalleyjamboree.com

This year “Steak & Beans Horse Trailer Company ” & “Sundowner Horse Trailers” made arrangements for me to come out to Big Valley Jamboree to demonstrate both my colt starting and horsemanship program. For each of my performances they asked different questions about Sundowner Horse Trailers and Jay O’Jay Horsemanship – they also rewarded the correct answers with $20.00 & $50.00 bills. These demonstrations where held in the Bulls for Breakfast Arena each and every day of the event.

For more information on Steak & Beans Horse Trailer Company visit them at: www.steakandbeanstrailer.ca

I arrived a day early to give myself time to set up my booth and campsite. This of course gave my two horses, Cisco & Coco a chance to stretch out their legs, settle in and check out the new environment they would be working in for the next few days.

A Behind the Scenes Report:

To make a long story short – with the “help” of my staff – Sara Leppington, her daughters Becka & Jackie and my right hand man Mathew Ford Twogood – the show came off without a hitch.

From bathing, grooming, feeding and exercising the horses – to setting up and running the booth – right to the countless number of details that had to be covered each day – these dedicated folks proved that without them the show could not go on. To them I offer my sincere gratitude.

Day One:

On day one I had a real nice quite soft minded filly to work with. Her name was “Suggie” (short for sugar) and I spent about 45 minutes working with her in the round pen. Because of her temperament I had plenty of time to discuss what I was doing and why I was doing it. I got as far as putting a saddle on her without her bucking, plus I started to work on my exercises for respect and control. Through the entire process “Suggie” consistently grew more and more braver and confident.
For the last 15 minutes of my allotted time I worked with my two horses Cisco and Coco. Cisco is 3 years old now and has about 20 rides on him. Coco is 4 years old – I started him last year and he is finally starting to grow into a seasoned horse.

You know, for me training horses is always a work in progress – there never is an end to it. It seems that once I get my horses to a certain level of training, I’m back at the drawing board to plan out the next level training, and on and on it goes.

With that being said, my goal at Big Valley Jamboree was to show the incredible connection that I have with my two horses. To do this I did a liberty act where Cisco was totally free to leave me at anytime if he wanted to, no strings attached.

As I rode Coco, I had Cisco at my side as we walked, trotted and loped around the arena. We did big circles, small circles, sliding stops and back ups. At one point I had Cisco stand with all four feet on a small pedestal and stay there as Coco and I loped around the arena. I finished off with having Cisco bow for the audience. What beautiful horses they are – I’m so proud of them.

Day Two:

What can I say! I was happy working with “Suggie” but it seemed as though everyone else want me to have a challenge and work with a horse that was more of a “wild thing”.

So for my second session in the round pen I worked with “Blue Rose” an un-broke Thoroughbred. She was a big grey roan with a soft eye and to everyone’s surprise, very quiet and mellow. I got quite a bit accomplished in our 45 minute session, but even though I spent a lot of time desensitizing Blue Rose and preparing her for a cinch, she bucked when I put the saddle on. This is not a bad thing, I figure if a horse has the urge to buck then I want her to get it out of their system before I swing a leg over the saddle.

Again, I ended with another liberty session with my two horses Cisco & Coco.

Day Three:

When it rains, it pours! We had great weather right up until the announcer said “Ladies and Gentlemen” please welcome “Jay O’Jay”.

He no sooner got the words out of his mouth and a cloud burst wide open on us. It rained so hard at one point I had mini water falls cascading off of my cowboy hat.

The good news is that only a hand full of people left, everyone else stayed and got as wet as I did. The bad news was that Blue Rose had come up lame. So there I was standing in the rain with a lame horse! I couldn’t round pen the horse so I did some very light halter work before I swung a leg over the saddle – just to prove she could be rode.

Day Four:

Blue Rose was still too lame to work with, but at least the sun was back out and shining down on us.

For this session in the round pen I brought out Cisco, my three year old and I talked up a storm not only with my philosophy of training, but I also did demonstrations on the ground as well as in the saddle.

Summary:

I have to say that I had a blast at Big Valley Jamboree and that I met a lot of very interesting people who were very appreciative of Jay O’Jay Horsemanship

The good news is that I will be back again next year. See you there!

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