I'm a veterinary student who has an obstetrics exam later today. Dystocia was the last topic. I'm glad I came across this video. Learned plenty of hard-earned experience I couldn't find in any books. Thanks a lot Pat!

Pat did you mean a crupper that goes under the tail (you said cooper I believe, that’s what is in the transcript too). You also said britching ie around the hindquarters.

That mule probably thinks you are starving her. 🤣. Very good video on fitting and saddling. I didn’t get the long shoes for going off the hill. Maybe it’s because I’m on the flat.

Also if you have a situation with rubbing shoulders, just sew up a nylon satin cover ie fake silk (to slip over it and it will protect the shoulder). You can do the same anywhere something is rubbing.

Well I’m on the east coast and as you mentioned at the beginning this information maybe this isn’t for us. But I believe whether it’s blankets, sheets, saddle pads etc - the cleaner you keep these, the better your horse’s skin is and the lower your vet bills will be. Hygiene is a good thing to use a Martha Stuart saying. I don’t mean you have to wash them every week but the more they sweat or the more they shed, they need to be well brushed or curried and then either washed/dried or dry cleaned as per the manufacturer’s directions once a month. I don’t understand at all, the leaving of a pad that is just dirty and has the padding whether lambs wool, pure wool, or some synthetic material matted down. I have heard some say that it fits the horse better and if you “fluff” it up it won’t fit correctly. Well that’s a bunch of BS. And I don’t understand even for the dry west leaving a pad like that. Where the humidity is higher out on the eastern part of the country, you can’t keep that mess on a horse’s back unless you want skin mites, bugs, mold, mildew etc . But again if you use a matted blanket or pad - if the pad was meant to allow airflow- how is it going to do that if matted down flat. Think of your hair or clothing, if you never washed it or combed it - what do you think you would have or let’s look at something else like sheets, pillowcases, blankets and pillows too on your bed sleeping on them night after night. You would have skin mites, bugs, cells all from your skin, moisturizers, and other skin and hair products being rubbed into the bedding and back into your body. Not good, right? Not what you would want to sleep on or in. So I don’t care where you live, keep your horses blankets, sheets, saddle pads, and stalls clean, and odor free. I also don’t understand putting the thicker, heavier pad down on the skin. I believe you should use the thinner but well made pad down on the skin and it be something you can wash each week, or each month - all depending on the activity, time of year, and horse’s coat condition,.. is it winter January coat, is it April shedding season, or is it June/July fully shed summer coat. You need to keep your horses skin clean and well brushed and whatever you put on them the same. I had a pad that had mid weight leather all around the edges of a triple layer of quilted cotton flannel. The shape of the pad was basically a square sewn with large stitches to an old pure wool pad which was the top layer of pad. The cotton flannel side is what touched the horse’s skin. The leather was there for two purposes: 1) it kept the buckles from rubbing holes in the material, and 2) I liked to have the mid to heavy weight leather over the withers. This top piece of leather conformed up and over my saddlebred’s higher withers - a local saddle guy shaped it for me and it would work on any horse. There was also a piece of wide light to mid weight leather that went from the withers straight down the middle of the pad that confirmed to the horse’s back. Note, the leather was on the top side of the pad. I only had 2 that I switched back and forth. If you had a horse with a different back and/or withers - you would make the pad the same, but you would just have had leathers made on a pad for him and went from there. And as the leather conformed to his back and withers, it would be more comfortable and stable on his back. The “leathers” had holes punched in the end and when I took them off I just put a piece of heavy cotton quilting thread and hung it up until the pad was fresh, dry and ready to use again. I removed the Velcro’d “leather” pieces which was super simple to remove and thus they retained their shape. The cotton flannel pad part went in the washer, into the dryer for part of the drying and then out in the sun for the rest. I think the sun is God’s disinfectant. The wool part was washed the same, rolled in an old towel and dried outside. As pure woven wool, I didn’t want it to possibly shrink in the dryer. Sometimes if you live near a craftsman market or community ie lots of sheep around - you may find someone to weave you a wool blanket the size you need. Or even a sheep’s wool pad ie the fluffy wool with real sheep skin on it. And that you put the wool against the skin, if you use this the weight of you and the saddle will settle down onto the shape of horse’s back. If you have ever slept on real Dunlop latex with real sheep’s wool pad right under your sheet, you will sleep like never before. You do want a good supportive mattress under the latex and sheep’s wools. As I said, I had two pads made for me, so no issue always having one ready and my horses all had similar backs. Also I didn’t have to wash mine as often because my horses were mostly always clean. The big issue would be in early spring when you started working turned out horses as they started shedding or had that old white yucky sweat because they weren’t yet fit. Fit horses will typically have a clear, thin sweat. But for me, we had an inside wash stall with access to cold and hot water. And right before or as the hair began to shed, if it was warm enough, I washed each horse and then I body clipped. At that time of the year, you have to make sure you get them dry so don’t start at 3 in the afternoon because nights are cool and you can’t put damp horses away. I like to wash prior to clipping because it’s not so hard on the clippers and dirty clippers strain and get hot. Hot clippers won’t make you your horse’s best friend. Hot clippers burn and burn out early in their life. As my showing buddy would say when she got to the barn on whatever day I body clipped - “I see Mother Nature has arrived”. Horses worked throughout the winter had blankets, sheets, hoods etc to keep their coat short so you could work them a bit harder and it wouldn’t take so long for them to throughly cool out and dry before re-blanketing. Horses not ridden that much and mostly during the summer just did the usual shedding and didn’t get body clipped. You either want to clip early, or not at all or you will mess up their pretty coats by cutting the tips of new hair coming in off. If you cut it just before they start really shedding, the short winter coat will be there but it sheds too as the new coat pushes in. If you have shown the winter in Florida or California - long coats aren’t an issue, and you forgo body clipping. Just my opinion but I’ve only been around and/or dealing with horses since I was 12 when I got my first large pony: have ridden western, hunt-seat, and saddle-seat along with breeding and raising some colts and now finally at 70, don’t have any horses. Hopefully, I will find a piece of my own property and a few broodmares before to much longer. I have spent enough money over the years boarding to have purchased my on land. 🤣 Next time will be where I set the rules, don’t have to put up with other folks weirdness and will add to my own asset list instead of making other folks rich.

Haha, Pat, you can't convince me you "don't talk to horses". ;)

I noticed that Chinaco is drooling what is that from? Thank you

What an awesome project to be a part of

PRICELESS! God bless you both for all you do. I pray that yall are blessed with much love, health and prosperity in the new year. Thank you for a great year of education and enjoyment. Keep Smiling and Stay Grateful Phillip

Your view on the herd affect, I've been saying this for years but sadly our leaders and government want us to all struggle. 😢

thats amking the world a better place for horses and humans

There's release but there's too much release. Great lesson.

Can I ask what is Chinaco’s breeding.I have PRE horses and he looks to have a lot of Spanish blood with some TB maybe?

Great story. What a beautiful tribute…to both of you. Thank you so very much for sharing it. 🙏🏻

This type of video is terrifically helpful to create a deeper understanding of how learning unfolds. Please keep these in your lineup!

Deb, Can youexplain teh "VALOR" Program so I can send it to my Beautiful Niece in LAW out in sparks Nv.?? BTW this VALOR is a BEAUTIFUL horsse ..

So many smiles. Memories and healing. Laughter and respect. Great work Pat and Deb.

What a wonderful program! Loved the shot at 4:11 - just perfect.

Beautiful program and congratulations on the new endeavor. 🇺🇸🐎🇺🇸

This shows just how therapeutic horses are! Thank you.

Merry Christmas to all and best wishes for the New Year. Thanks for this video. Tears.

Merry Christmas to all of you. And have a great and happy new year.

I love how you transition from one stage if training to the next. Thanks for sharing your experience and knowledge. Much appreciated.

Merry Christmas to all of you. The courage to keep trying, keep going is in us all. God bless you.

I have to watch this several times to make sure I get it for schooling my new horse! It is outstanding info! When are you having a clinic in Texas??

Merry christmas and have a happy new year everyone..🎉🎉❤❤

A million ways to skin a cat but something to try; get the lateral flexion soft first before doing what you did here and you could cut out a bunch of the resistance in his face and cut straight to controlling the feet. Plus it gives the student a chance to learn the release with one rein instead of two which in my experience is an easier way to learn

One thing I noticed is everyone has a smile. If that’s all you did for them is make them smile and have good memories it was worth it. Great work you’re doing there.

Merry Christmas everybody.

Merry Christmas from MN

Their smiles says it all! Bless you Pat and Deb and have a Merry Christmas.

Feliz Navidad

Merry Christmas! Happy Hanukkah! Happy New Year to you too 🎉🎈🎉❤

Oh man this is a perfect example of how to solve a problem you create in the first place. What a world we live in!

Thank you, sir, I have a couple of youngsters being delivered just after New Year and I wanted to try the bosal on one or both of them. This has been really informative. I know where to purchase them but your description has gone further to helping me understand the workings of it. I have had horses for 60 plus years but am in the UK and I really wanted to try this and this is the first opportunity to try them out on youngsters that I've had in a while. I would have tried bitless but because a lot of those cross under bridles apply pressure in areas that can really hurt horses, I wanted to try this or a plain side-pull halter to see how it goes. Luckily I'm very light handed and look forward to this as it seems like the best way to go with youngsters.

Thank you for another page in my lesson about these great animals.

Never have I seen a horse that more closely resembles my horse that has passed, both in the color and head carriage, and in the forward movement. But I can tell this horse is smart, he’s looking for a partner, and he’s wanting to please. Mine would always try to think ahead and predict what I was going to ask so I was constantly trying to slow him down in his process- it kept me always learning in my skills. But once he gets confident with you, he will be the best horse you’ll ever have, I know this! Thank you Pat for the “He’s a good horse, he just needs to know that.” So many people would think this is a bad horse but really, you just need to know how to ride him.

Great video and beautiful horse.

Buckskin AKA lunkhead but once they got it they'll take you through fire

So good thankyou

Great job young man ! A pleasure to watch this developement .

Very interesting and informative

Again, thank you for your work at the facility. I liked the young man's phrase "I really love this." There is so much to learn from this video. Consistency and persistence being the two that meant the most to me. Most students do it once and think "O.K. what is next?" Same for schooling the horse. Thanks for all of your videos.

Could this horse benefit from a hackamore?

Thank you for the video