USING YOUNG HORSES AS TURNBACK HORSES.

Question: I would like to know when starting young horses is it all right to use your future futurity horse/competition horse as turn back horses, and when is the right time to stop doing this. We have always used our youngsters in the corners and out the front, but as the horse has advanced we stopped doing this, but still would sit in the corners on them. What is the opinion of others, should you or shouldn't you use them.
Donna Flynn

Answer: Using your future futurity horses as turn back horses is OK in moderation. As you get closer to the Futurity it is a good idea to stop doing so. I would suggest to stop doing from now on (March), but up until now is OK.

Using your youngsters in the front and the corners first up and then just staying in the corners as the horse advances is pretty spot on, but if the horse is doing good work don't work them just for the sake of working them. Give them a reward for good work. If they aren't working well, keep on them.
Phil Dawson

ADVICE FOR THE STARTING NON PRO

Q. What advice would you give to someone starting off as a non pro?A. (Donna Flynn) Neil and I being little non pro competitors know how hard it is to train your own horse and keep them at a level to keep showing them and just how satisfying and rewarding it can be when success comes your way. I want other non pro people starting out to understand dont be intimidated by people that are professionals and well known non pro competitors, these people can help you, and you can learn from them just by watching how they warm their horses up, doing any dry work exercises that they perform.. EACH person out there is struggling at their own levels, they are experiencing their own dramas with themselves and their horses, whether they are a professional trainer or the back yard non pro it all boils down to being passionate about what you are doing, and having enough determination to keep improving and learning. Keep believing in yourself and your horse, learn as much as possible about basic horsemanship and cutting training, and dont close your mind, keep it open and be able to cope with criticism from whom ever is your mentor. I don’t really have anyone in my area, so Neil and I only have each other to train with. Neil helps me in training to never back off and get to the spot that controls the cow that I am working, when we do any good work, no matter how small it is we quit. We don’t have the luxury of lots of fresh cattle and have to train on old sour ones, so in our training programme we train on angles and go where the cow goes and try and get something positive out of our work. We also train on a mechanical cow and vary the speeds on this. Sometimes we might go fence to fence to teach our horses to travel and then stop and wait. Other times we back off our ends and catch the cow. Sometimes we practice our angles, or just getting our horses to go slow and relax. We throw it all in, and just try and keep them correct. Now that the 2 mares are trained, we don’t really concentrate on cattle training every day. We concentrate on keeping their muscles strong and their minds relaxed. This is done with riding up in the hills, mustering or going for a beach ride now and then. I probably only work them approx 2 days on the bag, and maybe once on cattle before a show. I feel this keeps their minds fresh and keen to work cattle.

If non pros suffer with show nerves, I find this a valuable exercise…..dont forget to breathe deeply to help relax your muscles, but when going into the show pen, think where are my feet, it just helps you to think about your feet and use them without thinking of how nervous you are. I have suffered with show nerves for years, and you have to just work it out.. Be confident in yuur cuts, even if your not, act like you are and you make the decisions and you will gain confidence by this. When you are trying to teach the horse something and its not coming together, don’t beat up on the horse because your frustrated, get off, cool down and then get back up and work it out. Keep enjoying the challenge of you both learning together. Horses are very forgiving creatives, always trying to please you. Reward them when they do well. Like walk them off on a loose rein, no pressure at all, hop off and loosen their girth, they respond well to rewards.

The most important ingredient is to enjoy what your doing and love it.....we both do…..and are now looking forward to the training of our next futurity horses.

Donna Flynn rode her mare Blue Boon to the 2006 AQHA Non Pro Cutting Hi Point award and their other mare Mark That Spin was runner -up just one point behind. She is also Area 5 $3500 Non Pro Champion. Neil Flynn is Area 5 Open Non Pro Champion.
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MECHANICAL COWS

Q. We are trying to source a mechanical cow for horse training purposes and would like to know if you know where we can find one of these or instructions to make one .
Janelle Pugh

I am unable to define these options on other products, however in regards to the 'Udder Cutter', I can advise that the following are our features:-

1. A remote control that fits easily in the palm of your hand with NO trailing wires.
2. 4 speeds without leaving the saddle.
3. Competitively priced.
4. A 12 month return to base warranty.
5. Kit comes complete including galvanised stands.

You also asked where to find the instructions on manufacturing one. I don't think there is any quick answer for this. The trick is an electronic system that will reverse the direction. The quick answer is a 3 phase motor, so by reversing polarity, you achieve your change in direction. Then how do you get 3 phases out of a standard residential supply, which is 240 volts single phase. Well the answer only becomes more complicated from there.

You can contact our sales team on 07 54635984. ask for Kent. The other brands available are Cutters best friend from Nijawa Pastoral 07 32455784, and Clayton Cow (Gympie area), and Cowcutta in Tasmania 03 62396197

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USING BISON FOR TRAINING CUTTING HORSES

Q. I found your article quite interesting on the bison. In my situation I don't get to work cattle on a regular basis and the Bison sound as if they could work for me. Would you be able to supply me with contacts who may have some for sale. Also it mentioned that they can be trained to a pattern so to speak but can they be retrained? If you could help with this it would be greatly appreciated

Wilba Thornberry (area 7 snaffle bit beginner)

A. We here at Beetoomba Bison have bison for sale and can be contacted on 02 6077 5219 or by email bison@corry.albury.net.au. We have approx 150 head here and always have stock for sale. As for the training of the bison, the ones that leave here are livestock straight from the paddock that are excess to our breeding needs,. They have not been trained in any way when they are received from us. The cutting horse trainers do get them to work quite successfully to a set pattern and like the qualities the bison offer over regular cattle. I would not know if they are retrainable. You would have to ask cutters who use them how adaptable they can be.

Ashley & Deanne Brown
Beetoomba Bison

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