Super Natural Horses Newsletter

March/April 2011

Happy spring (or fall, depending on where you are)!

This has been an incredible spring for me — lots of amazing changes and tons going on. Combine that with some computer issues and the beautiful weather that has been pulling me out to play with my own horses instead of sit in the office, and you get a late newsletter. Sorry about that!

We have some great contributors this issue — Glenn Stewart takes part again in our Horsemanship Pro Q&A with yet another brilliant article, and Alicia McKendrick joins us for her first Q&A with her own spin on how to prepare horses for flying lead changes. Paul Dufresne is back with the second instalment on Endotapping, complete with photos to illustrate his points. And we have a new contest that you should definitely check out if you’re interested in winning Glenn Stewart’s complete colt starting DVD program!

Thanks so much for joining SNH, and be sure to drop me an email at if you have any questions, comments or concerns. And happy riding!

Cheers,
Celena

Anna-Marie and Celena, owners of SNH, would like to extend our best wishes to Dr. Robert M. Miller for a speedy recovery. Dr. Miller has played a vital role in the revolution in horsemanship — he has lots of exceptional books and DVDs out and, in addition to being phenomenal with animals, has tons to teach the world. Thank you, Dr. Miller — we wish you and your family health and happiness!

Horsemanship Pro Q&A

Our Horsemanship Pro Q&A is our newest feature, and offers the opportunity to learn from different natural horsemanship professionals as they explain how they would solve common horsemanship issues. We’re looking forward to getting a few different takes on solutions to natural horsemanship techniques!

Did you see our last two Horsemanship Pro Q&As? Find out out what Glenn Stewart, Paul Dufresne and Frank Bell had to say about horses that pull back in our November 2010 feature, or read our January installment to discover how the pros solve common problems with Glenn Stewart, Nancy Faulconer, Hertha James and Frank Bell.

This month, we received articles from two natural horsemanship professionals, Glenn Stewart and Alicia McKendrick.

Question: How do you prepare a horse for flying lead changes?

Glenn Stewart’s Response: Where to start? Lead changes done well are something I greatly admire and seem to be the talk of many trainers and riders. The how, when, where, and why are questions of great conversations. It is somewhat like asking how to you build a spaceship to land on Mars. Not an easy answer if you were to answer it completely from start to finish. View the whole article.

Alicia McKendrick’s Response: Horses have grace, beauty, performance, power. All of it coming naturally to them. We must think about how perfect our horses present themselves in the pasture. Running, playing, and those fancy manoeuvres including the dances they perform with the lead changes. View the whole article.

Suggest a question for to ask our natural horsemanship professionals! Please contact us with your suggestion for our Q&A — we'd love to hear from you!

Are You a Natural Horsemanship Professional?

If you’re interested in participating in our Horsemanship Pro Q&A, please email us at . We encourage creativity and would love write-ups to be accompanied by photos and/or video. It’s a great opportunity to share your knowledge and get some exposure.

Inspire Us Photo Contest!

Win Glenn Stewart’s Colt Starting 3-DVD Series (valued at $89.00) with our spring Photo Contest!

Last year, we gave away horsemanship books in our spring contest. This year, we’re joined by The Horse Ranch’s Glenn Stewart to offer a phenomenal prize – the winner will receive his complete Colt Starting 3-DVD set, a value of $89.00!

Glenn Stewart is a respected natural horsemanship clinician and owner of The Horse Ranch, located in the mountains of BC, Canada. He frequently contributes informative articles and great photos to SNH, and offers clinics, camps and horse development programs, as well as an online store to support your natural horsemanship journey. Do you remember why you got into horses? Glenn and his crew at The Horse Ranch would love to remind you!

So what do you have to do to be entered to win? Send us a photo with a natural horsemanship theme and a great caption – we want humorous, we want inspiring, we want heart-warming.

Submit your photos, with captions, by email to Celena at or post them on our Facebook page.

Check out our Contest page for all the details!

Endotapping - Part II

By Paul Dufresne

As discussed in last month’s issue, Endotapping is a physical stimulation of the horse’s neurohormonal system by tapping its body with a special ball type whip. Tapping the horse rhythmically, while it is in a positive emotional shape, causes the horse to release endorphins in its body. This facilitates keeping a horse calm when introducing new stimuli or training challenges.

The first and most important position we have to achieve is the head down below the wither while the horse is in a positive bend around us. The bend should go evenly from the horse’s tail to its poll. This shape is achieved by tapping the horse in the area your leg would hang on if you were riding, while you ask the horse to lower the head and offer its poll. Tapping in zone one, which was demonstrated in the last issue, is very productive in aiding the horse to begin relaxing its body on a lateral bend and then leading to a softer poll. Tapping in zone two aids the horse further in releasing the poll. This approach is the SIMPLEST way I have ever experienced in showing a horse to offer the release of its poll. I have always said, “Control the shape - control the emotions”. It is difficult for me now not to use the endo-whip when convincing a horse to yield and feel good. It accelerates the learning process in such a positive manner.

Read the whole article or check out Endotapping - Part I.

Chris Cox Takes the Road to the Horse – Again!

This year's Road to the Horse colt starting competition was held in front of a sold-out crowd at the end of February. The audience was riveted as three huge names in horsemanship competed with their unstarted three-year-olds in the eighth annual event. Pat Parelli, Clinton Anderson and Chris Cox battled it out, displaying their own individual styles and treating spectators to an "electrifying" show of horsemanship.

Ultimately, it was Chris Cox who took home his third championship title – and the colt he won with. "We thought it looked like [Cox] had the long-range plans of the horse in mind," judge Bill Enk said. "It looked like he was preparing his horse for the next step in training the whole time."

Each clinician choose an unhandled colt from 6666 Ranch, and each discovered their horse’s personality as they worked with them and started them under saddle in three hours, spread out over the course of the weekend. Parelli’s sorrel pick started off well, but quickly turned into more of a challenge as he unseated the famous clinician early on. Anderson's chestnut colt was interesting from the beginning, with rodeo-worthy episodes of bucking and a definite mind of his own.

Cox's pick was different from the other two — insecure, really seeking the leadership that Cox offered him. Cox spoke about his gray horse during the competition. "This is the first contact these colts have had with people.... I want him to have a future. I'm not going to use him up just to win a competition."

By the end of the second round, all of the clinicians had put excellent rides on their youngsters, and to the crowd, it seemed like anyone’s game. It would all come down to the final round, where the horsemen would ride their colts through an obstacle course that included weaving through polls, jumping small obstacles and using a rope to drag a log.

Anderson went first. His chestnut put on a show with a bit of bucking and a refusal at the tarp, but the Australian horseman finished with the youngster with a bridleless gallop around the arena.

"He's a very reactive horse," Anderson said of strong-willed colt, "but overall I think he is a good horse. He’s going to make a good horse for somebody. He may be challenging at times, but sometimes the best ones are."

Cox's connection with his gray colt was obvious when they went second through the course. The horse was calm and confident as they performed every move beautifully and finished with the Texan cowboy’s now-signature move at this event – standing on his colt's back and jumping off. He finished with a lap of the arena on foot with his gelding, high-fiving his fans and running alongside his gray.

Last to go was Parelli, and he started his finale with the announcement that he and Linda had purchased the sorrel colt that earlier in the day. "When I started this project, I thought about the cowboy who would be messing with him," he said of the spirited colt, "not thinking it would be me."

Parelli choose to use a hackamore with his colt instead of a bridle, and the sensitive colt excelled in the obstacle course, even allowing the horseman to bounce a huge ball high in the air while the horse stood calmly.

"One of the things about it, no one knew who was going to win it until the last hour," said judge and legendary horseman, Jack Brainard, "which made it more interesting, more thrilling for the crowd. It was just fantastic. Fantastic trainers, fantastic horses. I really enjoyed it."

The crowd had loved it all, giving each horseman a standing ovation and applauding the progress that each had made with their very different horses, in their different styles. Finally, scores were tallied and Chris Cox was announced as the winner, taking home a $10,000 prize, a custom-made Martin Saddle, a giclee by artist Susan Edison, spurs by bit maker Daryl Davis and Road to the Horse Legends World Champion gold and sterling silver Gist Silversmiths belt buckle from Road to the Horse founder/producer Tootie Bland.

"It feels pretty good," Cox said of his third championship. "I feel honored to be here and go up against these great horsemen.... What I really appreciated was that the horse connected with me and that means more to me than the win."

For more information, visit Road to the Horse.

What do you think of colt starting competitions like Road to the Horse? Next issue, we'll be looking at different views on these competitions. Tell us what you think by emailing !

Get Involved!

Do you have an idea for the newsletter, or a story you’d like to share? Maybe an indispensable training technique that you’ve discovered? Or a natural horsemanship question that you’d like to see answered in our Horsemanship Pro Q&A? Drop us an email at and feel free to include photos!

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