EC July/August, 2006

In Part I of this series, we reviewed the history of the Yearling Longe Line Class competition and how it has become one of the more popular classes in many breed shows. The new rules and guidelines for judging the class were also reviewed, while approved breed judges commented on what they look for in a winning performance by a colt and their preferences in presentation and showmanship by the handler.

In this issue, successful exhibitors and trainers of longe liners, both open and amateur/non-pro will share their perspectives on getting a colt ready to show. They will discuss what they look for in a prospect, how they teach the colt the basic maneuvers that are required in the class, and tips on training, presentation and showing the colt to its best advantage.

Bruce Walquist of Cleburne, Texas is a judge, trainer and exhibitor who has had a lot of success with both Hunt Seat and Western longe liners. Bruce has trained many colts to big wins at several breed World Championship shows, and the Congress, as well as High Point awards in Longe Line.

There are many colts that were successful as yearling longe liners and then went on to have successful pleasure careers. Bruce recalls one colt who won Reserve in the longe line class at the Palomino World and was the NSBA High Point color longe liner as a yearling; the following year he won the PHBA World in Two Year-Old Western Pleasure then came back his three year-old year and won the Three Year-Old Western Pleasure and the Five and Under Jr. Western Pleasure.

Being a breeder as well as a trainer gives Bruce a different perspective than someone who is buying, developing and showing only one or two prospects a year. “I can afford to give them the extra time,” he explains. “If a colt doesn’t like doing it, I will let him sit it out a year. A colt has GOT to like it, want to do it, and show the aptitude, attitude and ability, otherwise I will let him take the time to mature.”

Whenever a colt is on the longe line, Bruce wants him to know it is ‘all business’. “I want them to do their playing in the field, not on a longe line,” he explains. “My colts get turned out daily and put out with others to socialize, run and play. It helps develop their natural coordination.”

Bruce also teaches his yearlings to pony along a broke older horse. “When I take my colts to a show, such as the Congress, I don’t exercise them on a longe line. I will pony them which also helps to teach them how to socialize with other horses.”

When Bruce selects and begins training his prospects, he prefers to have 60-90 days to prepare for showing, depending on the colt. “Before I put them on a line, I will put them in the round pen first. Then, when I add the line, I won’t pull the colt’s head, but will let the walls guide him; I want him to learn to follow his nose and look where he’s going. If you pull his head on the line, it may cause him to drop his shoulder; I prefer to have the colt not pull and not keep a tight line.” He comments that the hardest thing to do is to get them soft on the longe line, where the body arcs as the colt moves around the circle. You don’t want anything to interfere with that picture.

Bruce uses a combination of cues when teaching his colts. He is consistent in the signals he gives whether voice, hand or whip. “I use my hand to indicate forward motion and use the whip only as a secondary cue for impulsion,” says Bruce. Once he has the colt moving around the circle to his cues, Bruce may work him only twice a week, keeping him turned out with the other colts. Before a big show, he will step up the routine, do his fine-tuning and get the colt consistent and focused on his job.

“I try not to take them to a show too fresh,” he comments. “I may take a colt to a few shows and just tie them up and let them look around. I make sure it’s not hard work for the colt.” Bruce tries to make the first trip easy and non-confrontational, and when going to a big show, like the Congress or the World, he likes to take several days to give the colt time to settle in and get comfortable.

Having shown winners in both the Hunt Seat and Western Longe Line classes, Bruce doesn’t change his approach as far as routine and progression, but notes that there IS a difference with the physical aspects between the two types of colts. “The hunt seat colts tend to be much bigger and slower to mature than the smaller western pleasure-bred colts, and it’s harder for them to be as coordinated while they are still growing,” he observes. “I may spend more time with a hunt seat prospect in the round pen getting him comfortable without having to pull on him.”

In Part I, the judges addressed how the longe line class opened up doors for new people to show. Amateurs and Non-Pros could prepare their longe line colt for showing without professional help, and people who physically could not ride a horse could exhibit their colts. Trainer Rhonda Replogle of Clear Springs, Maryland exhibited ‘Stridin In Blue’ to 9th place honors in the Yearling Hunt Seat Longe Line at the 2005 Congress. When asked about this successful colt, Rhonda gave all credit back to his Non-Pro owner, Ann Casto of Ridgely, West Virginia.

Ann is an Amateur/Non-Pro owner and exhibitor who selects and prepares her own longe line prospects each year. She is the perfect example of someone who might not be involved in horses if not for her longe liners. Ann explains, “I had knee replacement surgery, and although it was successful and I am physically okay, I still had mental trepidations about getting on a horse.” Being an avid horse lover, Ann was ‘feeling like her life was over’. Then she got involved in the Yearling Longe Line class.

“I like the young ones; I love bringing them along and do a lot of my own work,” says Ann. “I show non-pro at the NSBA shows and although I have a great helper, Patty, who teaches them basics and gets the ‘wild’ out of them, I work them for longe line and get them ready to show.”

Ann explains her routine. “When I bring one home, Patty works with it first teaching it how to lead quietly, stand tied, handling its feet.” Ann laughs as she talks about a new prospect she recently brought home. “When I got her, she had been handled but not a lot. We ran her into the trailer loose and brought her home. It took us 45 minutes to get her into a stall! Now, she has settled down and is just the sweetest thing.” Ann has just started preparing this filly for the 2006 longe line classes.

“Because of my knee and the fact I am not a kid anymore, I take over after Patty gets them gentled. I can’t afford to have one get physical with me. Once they have their basic manners, I start working them, first taking it slow at the walk and trot only. I won’t start them loping for awhile.” Ann says when she is working with her colts and assessing their suitability, she wants to ensure that the colt likes the job; otherwise she will put him up until the next year and let him grow up.

Ann likes to have about three months to get one ready, starting first with getting them used to the basics in the round pen, not on a line, just walking, trotting, getting the colt used to forward motion. She will also begin teaching the colt the signals, body language and voice commands that will be her main tools in the show ring.

Her training program, the timing of which may vary depending on the colt, follows this general guideline:

• Stage 1 – walking, whoa, starting first in the round pen, eventually moving out of the round pen
• Stage 2 – add the trot, still keeping everything slow and quiet, begin refining the reverse
• Stage 3 – add the lope

Ann says she takes it very slowly, particularly the first month, for good reason. She wants to keep her prospect quiet and not rush or push him. “If a colt is not having fun, it shows. There is nothing worse than an ear-pinning longe liner,” she says. “Babies have short attention spans, if he is not ‘getting it’, I will put him up. I don’t want the colt or me to get upset. If you work into a problem, you gotta work yourself out of it.” She adds, “When I work a baby, I try to keep the sessions short, maybe 10-20 minutes. They can be just like teenagers – they’ll try to test you. I try to keep everything around them low key and not overwork them.”

Once she gets her colts working both ways in all gaits, she may go to a local show just to get him used to the sights and sounds. “It’s a good gauge, you find out what your homework is going to be, what you need to go back home and work on,” explains Ann.

Ann says her role is to prepare her yearling for its riding career. “With ‘Stridin in Blue’ (Elliott), I worked him as a yearling for the longe line classes, got him used to the sights and sounds at the shows, and this past Spring, when Rhonda (Replogle) threw her leg over him for his first ride, he just accepted it, no fuss, no buck.” Since some colts spend their first month or two at a trainer just getting to that stage, this can save training dollars as well.

As an Amateur/Non-Pro owner with some physical limitations, and jokingly admitting to be of a ‘certain age’, Ann certainly has been successful with her program. In addition to his Congress award, Ann was just informed by NSBA that she and ‘Elliott’ won the NSBA 2005 Reserve Non-Pro Hunt Seat Longe Line, quite a surprise and a big reward for all her efforts. She has high hopes for his replacement, Ala Skyblue, for 2006.

Sherry Haynes of Joshua, Texas has trained, judged and exhibited longe liners for years in several breeds. Sherry stands three pleasure-bred stallions at her Joshua, Texas training facility, so she has a ready supply of potential longe liners in addition to what her customers may bring to her. Sherry’s first time exhibiting in a Longe Line class resulted in a World Championship, and she still enjoys working with the babies.

Asked how she goes about evaluating a customer’s colt for suitability for longe line, Sherry says, “First, I look for overall balance, not necessarily halter type but good, sound conformation. I will put him the round pen loose, watch him move naturally, taking into consideration he is in a new, strange place and will be looking around. Once he’s relaxed, I can evaluate his gaits and movement.” She adds, “However, a good longe liner isn’t all just good movement, they have to have a good mind and the right attitude, and you aren’t going to find that out in a few minutes in the round pen. You need to spend some time with one and work him on different days and with different levels of stress. Just like people, horses have good days and bad days.”

To evaluate one mentally, it takes about 30 days of working with them, seeing how they react to different situations. Like children, colts have short attention spans so you don’t want to overwork them and create a bad attitude. Sherry will start her colts in the round pen with a longe line but not use the line for control. She just wants the colt to get used to the line hanging loosely from the halter without having to tug and pull. Once the colt is relaxed, she gets him out of the round pen as soon as possible.

For the first two weeks, she will work the colt about 10 minutes, sometimes twice a day. This is to get the colt used to a routine, learning and listening to cues. Sherry teaches the colt what ‘whoa’ means and will spend time every day teaching them to set up square and stand quietly, how to trot on the lead and trot the turn, as required by the new longe line rules. As the colt becomes conditioned, Sherry may work longer than 10 minutes but will back off the daily work once the colt learns the commands and cues. “I want one to peak for the big shows and not do their best work in the training pen,” she explains.

When the colts are not being worked, they are given free play time. About 2 weeks before the shows she will bring them in to begin final polishing and grooming before starting shows. This is also when a colt is shod if that is needed.

Whether or not a longe liner gets shod depends on the colt itself. “Most of the time, if the colt has a good hoof, I will keep him barefoot as long as possible. If he needs shoes, I will try to get by with doing just the front, and use lightweight aluminum shoes.” She adds, “Shoeing does help keep the hoof shaped, but it can also cause other problems like contracted heels. Some farriers cut the heel off and leave the toe too long. I see horses that have too small a shoe on them, or they are set too high up on their heels. A colt is still growing, and as long as he has a good healthy hoof, I prefer to keep them barefoot as long as possible.”

If you will be showing a lot, a light shoe may be a good idea to keep the hoof from chipping and to help with all the different arena footings encountered such as clay, sand, or with small gravel or rocks. Sherry adds that if she does shoe a colt, she will have him shod just a couple of weeks before the show to give the colt time to get used wearing the shoes.

Like Bruce, Sherry says her colts learn that when they have a line attached to the halter, that means work time, and to pay attention. If a colt is fresh she will put him in the round pen free, not allowing one to buck and play on the longe line. She adds, “You may think your horse is pretty broke at home, and even do well at several shows in a row, then at one show he’s like a bad little kid. You can’t react negatively to that; keep with him just like you do at home, don’t make a big deal out of it. The more you react, the more that incident will stick in his mind too. Just stay quiet and stay with what he’s used to.”

Sherry spends more time working on transitions than drilling the colt at any specific gait. “I jog and lope just enough to get them to learn cadence so I can evaluate what his best gaits are, his prettiest transitions and his best direction so I can present his advantages at the show. From the walk to the lope, from a lope to a jog, from a walk to a jog, I just mix it up and get him comfortable with changing gaits. I also like to see a nice walk with a pretty level topline. If he can quietly transition into a lope without upsetting that picture, it can be impressive to a judge.” Sherry uses training time to learn what that colt does best, then refines it to determine the best order of the gaits she will use at the show. “I will show him just a little longer at his strongest gait, determine which direction is his best,” she says. “Each colt is different.”

As the colt gets solid in his cues and cadence, and closer to the first show, Sherry begins timing her routine. She will determine how many seconds she will jog or lope each direction, depending on the colt’s speed, stride and cadence. “That way you can judge how many circles you will do at each gait, each way of the circle,” she explains. “When they call 45 seconds, I won’t stop him right at that instance, I let him take a stride or two to keep him from anticipating.”

“I also want him to perform his reverse out on the perimeter of the line. When I am training, I will not let one walk towards me, because in the show pen if the line drops on the ground it may put the colt in a position to step over it, which is a disqualification. I teach him to stop completely, pivot at the end of the line, using my whip to guide him.”

Sherry uses a combination of visual and verbal cues:

• The whip at ground level and hands held low means walk.
• Bouncing the whip up and down slightly with the tip up, moving hands up a little, clucking with his cadence/rhythm only loud enough for the colt to hear means trot.
• Lifting the hand without causing line tension that may make the colt lift his head, adding a light rolling wave with the whip, kissing at him means lope.
• Uses the whip and a hand signal to ‘whoa’ – switching the whip and line into opposite hands slowly are his cues to turn around.

From a presentation standpoint, when exhibiting a colt in the ring, Sherry tries to make sure her feet don’t move out of the ‘spoke of the wheel’. She tries to stay within a foot’s length and not outside that circle.

“Showmanship is being aware of what your horse’s best gaits are, doing your homework, and presenting that colt to demonstrate his best abilities. My goal is to make the judge see I have the softest, smoothest horse out there,” comments Sherry. “I always try to keep everything soft and quiet. The softer you cue the more polished and relaxed the presentation becomes.”

The Longe Line class will continue to grow in popularity. It allows non-professionals to prepare and show their own horse. It gives horse lovers with physical limitations a way to be involved in the show ring without having to ride. Owners and breeders have a mass-market venue to display their sale colts and to promote their stallions. Increased Futurity and Sweepstakes purses draw larger entries and more competitive participants.

Patience, planning and a good prospect can get you ‘going in circles’ in no time, too.

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