Fitting Into The Herd

The Uh Oh Ranch is located southeast of Denver out on the high prairie at 5,800 feet. Mindy Bower and Kevin Hall host an annual Buck-Brannaman Clinic at the Fairgrounds in Kiowa. It's hard to believe, but Mindy Bower has been training horses for 35 years. She has a lot of experience that everyone can draw from, and we appreciate her being on the Horseman's Corner.

So Mindy, when it comes to buying a horse, does it matter if it gets along with your herd?

"If they fit in smoothly I know that well the other horses like them so they must be okay. So that's always a good thing to see. And that's the other thing about looking at horses to buy. You know I really want, like I have this walking horse that I've got right now, he is horrible with the other horses. So I feel like that kind of relates to how he is to ride. He feels very pushy and he's a little bit reactive and he's not a real settled horse. And the herd does not like him. Like when he gets out there he's trying to get up to the number one spot and they're pretty mad at him. So even though he's kind of a bully he gets chased like unbelievably. So you know until that goes away I know that I'm probably not that important to him. He has to figure out where he stands and not heard. But that's one thing too I think you don't get the chance to look at a horse in a herd situation. Which I think that would be a really important thing. Well, how does this horse do with other horses?"

Great information from Colorado horse trainer Mindy Bower. For more on that extended podcast visit horsemanscorner.com. That's going to do it for today's program. Thanks again for listening and may God bless. I'm Brian Hale.