Twister's Philosophy
on Horse Training:
Through the years there has been a group of terms, or words
that have always caught my attention. I've had a real drawing
or desire towards words like horseman, horse hand, trainer,
cutting horses, reining horses, stock horses, performance
horses anything to do with riding a well broke, well trained
horse with good manners.
Through my life it seems like my everyday activities in one
way or another had a connection with horses and cattle, also
I might add, I was raised on ranches in Northern Nevada where
we used the horses to do the never ending work with the cattle.
I have been in Arizona now for 29 years, making me 52 years
old this year. In my early years in Nevada and Arizona as
I rode my horse I mostly thought of him as a tool to do the
work with the cattle, but there was always something inside
me that said, this horse ought to be able to do better than
this. He should be able to do this job a lot easier, he should
be a better performer, he should have much more class in his
maneuvers and on and on.
I used to think to myself, I need to learn how to improve
this horse. I need to have knowledge to help him. I always
felt any common horse ought to be able to out maneuver a cow.
He should be better to ride through the country, for example
not to get excited when he finds himself in a rough practically
impassable place on the trail. He should keep calm and alert
at the same time.
I must say not all the horses I rode in those days would
be classified in that category. We would brand calves by roping
them and drag'in to the fire.
We would work the herd at various times through the year,
meaning we would separate certain types of cattle from the
main herd, we would gather cattle and move them from one place
to another and so on, for various reasons. The horse was the
main tool we used to perform these activities.
Even though I rode some really well trained ranch horses,
I still was not satisfied that this horse was doing his best.
I just could not get that thought out of my mind. To confirm
this, I saw other people riding their horses and realized
their horses were doing the job a lot easier with much more
finesse than most of the horses that I rode. This is what
motivated me on a life long search for better ways, better
techniques and smoother ways of teaching my horses to perform.
I set out to try and perfect what I believed in. I tried a
lot of experiments with my horses especially in the early
years. I would get an idea and try it. Being I was only 12
years old when I started and trained my first horses, I didn't
have much experience in reading a horse, or understanding
how their thinking patterns went. This led to a couple of
messed up long yearling colts that I was attempting to train.
There really wasn't anyone who had the time or patience to
train me, so those horses didn't turn out to the best of their
potential. They were OK ranch horses but nothing special.
I continued on in this horse training career the next year
with a couple more, had a some better results this year because
by what I had learned on the first two through trial and error.
These two colts were of better quality than the first two.
I had a couple of previous projects the year before, so with
that combination they turned out relatively OK. On and on
I could go with my 38 years of horsemanship experiences and
probably write a book but for the sake of this article I'll
cut it short to say it's been really fun to ride and train
horses all these years. A lot of good results and of course
some bad happenings.
We must realize that sometimes I didn't have the horse figured
out quite accurately and I've been bucked off, I've been fallen
on, I've been kicked, run away with, pawed at etc., however,
most of the times it's been a great venture and I wouldn't
trade if for anything.
To show a horse in the show ring is something that I did
a little of but it was not quite the life style I wanted or
could afford. Another factor that helped influence me was
I wasn't really driven to be a competitive person in the sense
of going to horse shows on a permanent basis. I do believe
that showing horses is great and exciting, however, I also
believe that not all the great horsemen are people who are
in the lime light of society. There are some all time great
trainers who never attained national recognition, but do have
the ability to produce well trained horses that could be very
competitive. These people just did not care about showing
to strive in that direction.
My personal thought on this is to continue to train and do
some showing now as opportunity arises. My main focus or niche
in the horse world is to continue to start colts and bring
them along in their training in reining, cutting, trail riding,
roping, etc. and produce a finished horse that could be shown
by me or someone else.
I really enjoy helping people in general to learn to train
their own horse, helping them overcome some of the hurdles
in this career I had to overcome.
It's much easier and quicker to work with another trainer
and glean from his experiences than muttling through the whole
ordeal by yourself. Horse training can be very complex and
intense. In the early years of my career I really had a wrong
attitude about other trainers and learned the hard way that
I really did need them if I wanted to be successful in horse
training.
Today I have a completely different attitude and would very
much like to help someone who really wants to learn more about
how to do this or that with horses. I certainly don't claim
to know it all by any means, but I'm a much better trainer
that I was 30 years ago or 20 even 10 years ago for that matter.
The big turn around for me was getting aquatinted with some
all time good trainers and people in the state of Arizona,
Colorado, Nevada and Texas. I really appreciate those who
have helped me through the years and to these individuals
I am forever grateful. I'm not all hipped up on mentioning
names but you know who you are and again I thank you.
I always believed if I could build a good foundation on a
horse that was solid and consistent, I was then equipped to
go on and finish this horse either as a good all-around horse
or an event horse, a horse that specializes in cutting, reining,
roping, trail riding, team penning, etc., for example.
First thing I had to learn was, "What is a good foundation?"
I must be a dense person and believe me, what I know today
did not come natural. I wasn't gifted with a car load of natural
ability. I really had to work at what I know now. Foundation
- foundation to me means a lot in fact, it means everything.
An old friend once said, "If we don't take the time
to build a foundation now, the horse will make us take time
later." How true this is. Because a horse has a mind
to agree or disagree, and a real live body to react to what
we do to them, it's much more of a challenge to train a horse
than to run a piece of equipment.
My interpretation of a good foundation includes several things.
Trained horses need to lope or gallop small or large circles
at a rated speed. Rated means to stay at the speed they are
told to go in whether it be a jig, trot, lope, gallop, run
and to stay in that speed until cued to do differently. Horses
need to wait for their cues and not anticipate the next move.
They need to yield or give to all pressure, whether it be
pulling on the reins or legging them or putting a spur on
them.
We start our young horses by teaching them to give to the
pull on the reins. As the horse learns to give to the pressure
on his mouth when we pull a rein, we release it. When the
horse gives, we release.
If we consistently practice this concept, the horse will
generally become lighter as time goes on.
Horses have various levels of sensitivity. Some are very
sensitive, some average, some are plain dull, and so on. We
adjust our program according to the type of horse we are training.
We use various types of bits depending on what the horse likes
and what he responds well with.
Usually, we start at the front of the horse and work back.
We will then begin to apply leg pressure to certain areas
of the body and teach the horse to give to that pressure.
Most of the leg pressure is applied to the barrel of the
horse. Pressure applied to the front part of the barrel moves
the front part of the horse. Middle part of the barrel moves
the middle part of the horse. Rear-barrel pressure moves the
rear of the horse.
Again, leg pressure is applied according to how sensitive
the horse is. Spurs will nearly always be used, but moderately
and with good judgment.
Horses normally will defend themselves when we start to use
spurs on them a little. To do this, they brace and become
tense in their rib cage. All we have to do is not force the
issue as this happens, but simply outlast them, and when they
finally give to the pressure, reward them by taking the spur
completely away. Soon, they will learn to give to the pressure
to avoid the spur, rather than bracing into the spur on defense
against the pressure. As horses become better at giving to
pressure, we begin to use what they have learned to advance
their training.
When galloping circles, we can use the pressure lessons in
three areas.
- There will be a part of the circle, generally closest
to the gate, where he tries to fade out by hanging his rib
cage out toward the gate.
- At the part of the circle farthest from the gate, he
may drop his rib cage and his shoulder inward to flatten
the circle. He's still thinking about the gate. In both
these cases, we will use leg and spur pressure if necessary
to keep the horse (and his rib cage) in the proper arc.
The leg and the spur lift and push the rib cage back where
it should be. If the horse gets confused during this, we
usually slow down to a trot for a couple of days until he
accepts his training. Adding speed creates a whole new atmosphere.
- Nearly all horses will naturally accelerate when we apply
leg pressure, because they don't yet understand that we
are just applying one leg to their rib cage. It takes awhile
for a horse to learn that pressure from one leg means to
move away from that leg, not to accelerate. The more body
control we have in a horse, the easier it is to train him
without frustrating his mind.
It's important to try not to correct a horse of too many
mistakes at one time. We usually only try to solve one problem
at a time. It all depends on the disposition and temperament
of the horse. We try to judge what the horse can grasp in
any one training session.
TWISTER HELLER (Article
by Mike Laughlin):
My first acquaintance with Twister Heller
came from a Wickenburg, Arizona newspaper ad that says "Twister
Heller, Horse breaking and Training ...Honest job, Honest
price, A durn good horse!" With a name like "Twister"
and an ad like that, this man rose to the top of my "To
Meet" list. I had heard of Twister by reputation, but
had never met him personally.
I drove from my winter camp in Wickenburg
to the O X Ranch, north-east of Congress, Arizona, where Twister
and his wife Sandy now live. During my visit, I found out
that Twister is the son of Lope Heller, who, at one time ran
several big cow outfits including the Squaw Valley Camp on
Ellison Ranching Company's Spanish Ranch, north-west of Elko,
Nevada and the Circle A Ranch in Paradise Valley, out of Winnemucca,
Nevada. Twister was raised on the big wagon buckaroo cow outfits
of Northern Nevada and broke his first ranch horses when he
was 12 years old. I am well acquainted in that part of Nevada,
having lived there for a number of years. We knew a lot of
the same country and cowboys, and had a lot to talk about.
Twister said he left the high sagebrush desert
country of north-eastern Nevada and drifted into Arizona to
work on several Arizona cow outfits. I learned that Twister
had been featured in a pair of articles called "Bill
Owen, Twister Heller, and the R O's Horses," written
for Western Horseman Magazine by Chuck King and appearing
in the August and September editions of 1978, and another
titled "Use of the McCarty," also by Chuck King,
that appeared in June, 1981. Twister, in 1978, was the horse
foreman for the R O's Ranch, one of the largest cow outfits
in the state of Arizona. The R O's (as it is called locally)
is near Seligman in northern Arizona. He was responsible for
150 head of their horse breeding stock-- mares, colts, and
stallions. Twister's job also was to start young ranch horses,
riding them until they could be put into the R O's remuda.
[saddle horse geldings for the cowboys who work the cattle]
After reading those articles, the first of
which was written when Twister was 29 years old, I realized
that the intervening 19 years have added numerous refinements
and tricks to his extraordinary horse handling talents. It
was time for the magazine to revisit Twister and his techniques
for the first saddling of a colt, the uses of the McCarty,
and the tricks he uses on older or problem horses, including
the "Cowboy Martingale", "Cowboy Training Halter,"
and "Cowboy Draw Reins."
Twister has worked with a number of good
trainers over the years. Among those were reining cow horse
trainer Melvin Jones (deceased) of Carlin, Nevada, Mike Kevil
of Cave Creek, Arizona, and Al Dunning of Scottsdale, Arizona.
The trainer he credits with being the best communicator and
teaching him the most was a reining horse trainer named Ray
Hall of Colburn, Colorado. Twister said that some trainers
can teach other people what they are doing with horses, but
some cannot. Twister himself has this facility to explain
to someone else exactly what he is doing.
Today, Twister trains, rides, and breeds
horses for himself and the general public. He has three stallions
standing at stud and has lots of horses in every level of
training. He trains outside horses for working cow horse,
reining, cutting, team penning, ranch work, trail riding--you
name it Twister does it! Starting colts and working with problem
horses are specialties. Twister's latest project is an apprenticeship
program for aspiring trainers and horse owners. These individuals
can spend a custom-tailored amount of time with Twister, riding
horses and learning Twister's common sense training techniques.
Twister says that his struggle has always been to find someone
to teach him how, to express to the rider how to accomplish
what the trainer was doing with a horse, and he wants to communicate
that to his interns.
Twister's horse training camp sets between
the Weaver Mountains and the Date Creek Mountains in the upper
Sonoran desert--A country that looks like the real Arizona--rocks,
cactus, mountains, and desert cattle. It is a big desert country
that is ideal for riding horses outside, year around.
Mike Laughlin
|
|
