Setting 'em Up Win with Consistency | Apr 4, 2024 001

Tucker Martin (00:00)
I don't know if it's just because I am back at starting horses again or what, but over the last several weeks I have gotten a ton of questions. and people I know, people I don't know. And among those, the one that has stood out the most and has been most frequent has been, what's one thing you do?

when you're training or starting a COLT or even, you know, training on something older. Like what's one thing you do that makes them good? And as I have listened to these questions and read them and responded and had some good conversations over the last several weeks, it's got my wheels turning and I feel we need a podcast about that. So with that, welcome, welcome to the Ranch Ramlin. I'm Tucker, I'm the Cowboy Gal behind the podcast.

And I am super stoked that you're here, whether you're working full time on the ranch, you're being the ranch mom, ranch wife, day hand, whatever it is that you're doing, rodeo road, kids rodeos, showing, breeding, whatever it is that you're doing, or if you're a cow girl at heart, I'm so glad that you're here with us today. Hopefully there's some, uh, something you can resonate with in this conversation and, um, hopefully even something maybe you could take away. So.

With that, let's jump in. So among these questions, there's been a ton of them from like practical, you know, what do you do when type questions, you know, my horse's feet are about to pick up, you know, he tries to kick my head off. What do you do? And I also, you guys want to preface this by saying, I'm not claiming to be an expert. I have started hundreds and hundreds of horses, over the last 22 years. I've been doing this.

with my dad since I was eight years old and was snubbing him while he was riding the colts and soaking in everything I could possibly watch. I remember being so anxious the very first time I snubbed him on a colt. I was on, I had a big old white appendix gilding I called Danny. I had this old school hyzer saddle, had like a...

saddle horn and I've been watching my dad spend the first handful of days with this colt and at this point I don't remember how many days he'd actually spent but this little mare was a bucking son of a gun she loved it and I remember I'm eight years old and watching her go around their out pen I'm thinking my dad's gonna get on that horse so then he says

that we were going to go ride out and I needed to snub him and he's like, whatever you do, you know, don't cut me loose. And he obviously knew I had a solid, reliable horse. And I am so thankful to my dad for putting me in these situations because right from that very early age, and even before that, you know, I was doing things with the horses, but eight years old, I'm asked to snub dad.

while he gets on this mare that just won't quit bucking. And I remember getting on there and taking a rap before dad steps up. And then, you know, he showed me how to kind of stand a little bit in front of that colt. And so if she, if she blew up, she didn't have a clear lane ahead of her. You know, she was gonna, she was gonna...

hit, run into me and my horse. Couldn't get her head down because I had her down. You guys know the drill if you've ever been on the snubbed end or been on one that you needed snubbed on. Anyways, I remember doing that and feeling so anxious and then being so proud of myself when that was done. And I have Lottie here. She's chatting with all you guys.

Anyways, that little story, I'll just to preface that, it's been a long... When I say that I've been, you know, involved, that's not with like air quotes, that's legitimate for the last, you know, 20 plus years. And I've started, you know, I actually started my very first colt when I was 11. And...

It's just kind of been a never ending thing since then. And I love this first stage so much. And, um, my very favorite part, I really love putting on the, those first 30, 60, 90 days. And then I really love riding a finished horse. Um, I am learning and, and, you know, continuing to improve my skillset, um, in the in between stage and also in the, in the beginning stage that I, that I.

already know that I like and have spent the most of my time. I think it's important with horses that you never think you know at all and always look for people to learn from and I really love watching videos and watching other people ride and visiting with them about what they do for their programs and all the things. But the moral of the story is,

is you gotta take what works for you in your program and what you feel, what you like to do. And obviously that's within reason. I I don't - there's certain things I don't agree with. But then there's also some things that over the years I have misunderstood and have learned to implement those actually in a super beneficial way. And anyways, that's -

That is just part of, you know, part of the deal is learning what works for you, figuring it out, and then moving on and continuing to improve all the time because I truly feel that you do the horse a disservice in general is the minute you think you know it all you've screwed the horse over and I don't think that's fair. But anyways, back to these questions.

The one that I wanted to really cover today, and it doesn't take much covering, but I do feel like we could have a really cool discussion on it, and that is consistency. As long as you're not doing the wrong things, the consistency is gonna matter more than

what it is that you're doing. And this is, I mean, this can trickle over all your aspects of everything because there's some horses, really good friend of mine, she's on the podcast a handful of episodes ago, Shelby Humphreys. She made a post, I think actually just recently that says something about, she's talking about a horse that was a little more difficult and she had to peel back the layers. And I love that because there are some horses,

that aren't just ready to roll right off the bat. They're either, you know, maybe they've been started and handled before and you've kind of got to undo some stuff or maybe, or maybe it's just a horse that has a hard time figuring something out

Or whatever it is. If you're got one of those horses that you've got to peel back the layers, then be consistent. You can't just peel back a layer and then expect them to be all golden. You have got to continue to peel back the layers to where he's ready to absorb what you're learning and move on. And, um...

You know, that just takes the consistency over time. If you're seasoning a rope horse or a barrel horse or even a ranch horse, they're not going to be good if you take them out once a month and ride them here and swing your rope on them maybe a little bit there and then, oh, maybe we'll kind of do something sort of like this. And you have got to be consistent. You can't expect them to understand or retain anything.

or improve on anything if you're hit and miss with your training. And so as a trainer or even as just a horse person, every time you handle a horse, any interaction is essentially training and whether it's good or bad and whether you realize it or not. And so that's important to keep in mind that we do need the, that consistency is so important whether.

Like I say, it doesn't matter what it is, but they don't get good at it by doing it once or twice, just like people. I mean, look at, at, you know, ball players. I mean, I'm sure a number of you that are listening to this played ball or, you know, compete to some level. Coach isn't going to play you if you don't show up for practice, right? So it's the same deal. The horses are never going to figure out what you're asking unless you show up for them.

And I think that's so important as a horse owner and especially if you put yourself in the position of being a trainer or a coach of some kind, you've got to show up consistently and remain consistent. And look to better yourself too. You know, you can't just float along thinking that you've already got...

that you've already got it all figured out. You know, you've got to be looking for ways to, or places to learn, areas to improve on, different things like that. So that was the number one question that I have gotten over the last several weeks, which is interesting.

in so many different ways and I suppose that a better way to say that would be that that was the solution for a lot of problems was consistency. And I think that just rolls over to a lot of things in life. You know, you can't, you've got to, if you want to change your habits, if you want to shift some things in your life, you can't do it.

once a week and expect all to be well. You've got to hit the gym, you know, three times a week, every day a week, whatever it is, you got to go rope your dummy every day. You got to pattern your horse, you know, whatever it is, consistency is where the improvement lies. And, um, anyway, so that was just fascinating how these conversations that seem to be the theme and maybe that's just something I needed to hear.

which is entirely possible. But that was just, that was really fun to get my brain kind of in that, in that groove and, and, you know, go from there. And so one of my favorite things is talking with people about their horses they have going and, and, you know, see, see the improvement of, of horses that you might know, you know, like my friend I was telling you about.

Maybe they're a little difficult. She told me, um, a little while ago that she had one that she was like, man, when he's good, he's going to be real good. And I think you all probably know what kind that I'm talking about. But, um, anyways, that's, that was kind of that theme, I'm really excited to have more of these kinds of conversations and get some really cool guests

that are in the horse industry and we can really kind of break this kind of stuff down because I think I know personally I learn when I teach which is fun. But it's also really fun to listen and try to pick up some new things from new people and I'm just I love that I'm all about that continual learning and helping your horse out doing you know the best you can.

for you and them because you guys ultimately as trainers, our job is to set the horse up for success no matter where life might take him. Right? So.

Take a client horse say, you have zero control over what that client does with the horse. Once that horse leaves your property, right? So it's your job as a trainer to give him the best foundation, the best tools in his toolbox you can possibly give him.

when he goes to his new home and the kid, the neighbor kid maybe that doesn't understand about horses goes running up behind him, doesn't freak the horse out. He's like, oh yeah, I've had dogs running behind me. I've had little kids running around, whatever the deal is, pick up their feet, get them soft so they're not running through people.

where they understand what you're asking without having that scary brace reflex that we've seen it all, you know, cause a lot of problems. And you see them, I see these little clips on Facebook and whatnot, and these people are on this horse and it's just, they're, you know, whipping on it, wailing on it, thumping on it, kicking on it. And you're just thinking, oh man, this horse is going to flip over. Right? So it's our job to set this horse up. So they don't feel.

panicked, as they feel calm as much as possible, and they're equipped as much as possible to handle whatever that person's ability is going to throw at them. If it's our own horse, you know, we're setting them up for, obviously, to be successful for us. But if it's in the sale part of our program, maybe it doesn't fit our program, and we're looking to sell this horse, maybe it's just, you know, one we've decided to send down the road that doesn't fit very good, whatever it is.

the tools you give that horse are gonna go with it. And that's its survival guide, right? So, especially if you are in those first, you know, 30, 60, 90 days. It's, it's, you do the horse an injustice when you shortcut, when you cut corners and leave holes, that's, it's not fair to the horse and it's not fair to whoever gets it next. Honestly, you know, if you're keeping him, it's not fair to you.

But you gotta watch out for the horse because it's our job to care for them. It's our job to set them up. And we want these horses to win, to be successful, to have, lives where they have, they work good and they, they do the job that was asked of them, whether it's trail riding or competing or, you know, jumping, whatever the deal is, the same foundational tools apply through whatever discipline. And I'm...

I'm so big on that, setting your horse up for success. And I, while we're on that, I want to just take that a little step further. So not even in a, in a starting, um,

you've got your good ol' reliable, right? Maybe you just spend a lot of money to get your horse that's gonna win you the jackpot or you can go enter on whatever the rope in, bail race, and whatever you're doing. Maybe even just ranching on. But...

our day -to -day interactions with our horses, setting them up for success when we ask them to do something is also critical. Now, of course, there's times the job needs to be done and it used to be done now, and that's fine. But when you have the minute that you have the time that you don't have the time crunch, you need to go back and set that horse up to win. And even if you're brining calves in the pen,

You're not going to take a freaking Hail Mary shot across the random pen and rimfire your horse and blah blah blah just to get the calf caught, right? Like you can take a couple extra seconds. Set yourself up, get right in behind him, scoop up your two, turn and go nice and gentle where nobody's, you know, boinging off the fences. Nobody's getting rope burned. You're not having to whip and spur on your horse to get him out of the way of a wreck.

And so that setting them up for success goes, goes even that step further into just our day to day operations. If you're going to ask him to open a gate, then position yourself where you can hold the gate safely and properly where he doesn't have to fight and worry about, Oh my gosh, this is bouncing off my leg. You know, any of that kind of stuff. So, so as you're riding, just keep that in mind, set them up for success, whether you're teaching them something new or just asking them to perform a task.

It's really important to set them up to continue to win. And so anyways, with that, I feel I have rambled enough. I'm really excited to get some guests on here that can really drop some horsemanship knowledge and we can chat some cool things and.

share our love of the industry with each other and you guys. And I am going to throw this out there too, that if y 'all want to be on the podcast, if you feel you have something to share, anywhere, ranching, cattle, horses, business, mindset, fitness, health, whatever it is, you know what my umbrella is. And I would love to chat with you about being on the podcast if that's something that you would like to do.

I do have some fun guests in the works and so super excited. Can't wait to add you guys to that list. And yeah, I'm just, I love where this is going. I'm excited. Rant Tramlin has some really cool things underway and just super stoked to make it happen and then share it with all you guys. So with that, you guys, if you enjoyed the listen, please share with your friends, leave a review, anything helps.

even the social media interaction is a bigger help than y 'all realize. So keep an eye out for what's next. Catch us next week. And until then, you guys, don't you dare cut your dailies on that drink.