KS Equine

09/26/2025

Some of the best horses sell without ever being listed. We sold another great young gelding today. Thank you Sophia for purchasing this guy and we wish you happy trails and look forward to hearing about the neat things you’ll do with Rip!

08/10/2025

Entered up in a hackamore class yesterday. Photos are some of the highlights and of the awful reality of how hard it is for me to get it right. But gotta start somewhere. A low score is better than no score. Here’s to prayers it’ll keep getting better and knowing that the good stuff ain’t easy.

My videographer was David, our 8 year old son, who got bored but was on point when it came time to video momma. Good job kiddo!

Take care, enjoy your horse, remember that goals aren’t achieved overnight, and that it’s ok to reach out and ask for help when it gets tough.

Have a great weekend everyone!

08/06/2025

***Unfortunately canceled***

Ready to sign up for the upcoming horsemanship clinic? Here is the link to the form to sign up. 😁 For both auditors and horse attendees.

https://form.jotform.com/223519549325057

See you soon!

08/04/2025

***Unfortunately canceled***

🎉🎊🎉 It’s finalized!!! 🎊🎉🎊

A 2 day horsemanship clinic taught by yours truly will be held on September 6 & 7 in Cottonwood California at the lovely Cottonwood Creek Ranch right off I-5!! Covered arena anyone???

I’m excited to teach folks how to have softness and relaxation in both groundwork and under saddle. Whether you are looking to just get a better understanding of the basics, or if you are wanting to progress to more advanced maneuvers, I am confident I can help you on your horsemanship journey.

I ride ranch horses predominantly, with some reined cowhorse showing, but my background in a variety of disciplines gives me an insight into most horse activities that allows me to help most people with their horses. I look forward to seeing what challenges and puzzles you folks bring that I can lend some clarity to.

The cost is $500 per participant for both days, and $20 per person coming to watch. Stalls and pens are available to rent for your horse, and dry camping is free. Lunch details are not yet confirmed. $200 non-refundable deposit is required to reserve your spot, with payment in full due by Thursday September 4.

I have shared a little video of my 4 year old gelding with 25 rides to show what softness and relaxation can look like in the beginning stages. Enjoy the video and I look forward to having this opportunity to share what I’ve learned and experienced on my horsemanship journey.

Send me a message to reserve your spot!

07/29/2025

Who would be interested in a 2 day clinic in the Cottonwood area in early September? Price will be around $500 for the 2 days, with more details to be shared as I get more people to commit to coming.

We will do both ground work and riding. Our focus will be on having a relaxed and confident relationship between horse and human no matter the discipline or background.

I am comfortable in showing people how to get the horse to become more relaxed and confident in their responses while I also teach the human to be more clear and confident in their cues.

Pictured is a horse of mine on his 2nd ride showing me that my ground work is easily relating to the saddle and the softness he has on the ground is there for the saddle work. I’ll be posting a video in a few days showing this same horse with 25 rides to give folks an idea of how cool it can be when the horse is relaxed and confident in knowing how to respond.

Let me know who would be interested! Also, share what things you would like to work on with your horse.

07/24/2025

SOLD!!!

“Cooper” is a 5 year old AQHA gelding who stands just under 15 hands. A kind and gentle gelding who loves attention is ready to met his next human partner, whether that be an adult or a youth. He has spent the winter and spring gathering and moving cattle, roping a few, and covering a lot of steep and rough ground. He has a basic foundation and is ready to advance in whichever direction his next partner takes him.

He is quiet on the ground, easy to handle even for kids, and is low man in the herd. He loads easily and backs out well, isn’t trouble for his shoes, and is a gentleman when being saddled and bridled. He truly enjoys being groomed and bathed, though he’s still nervous about fly spray. Easy to catch in a big field.

He prefers to be ridden in a group and is comfortable anywhere in the group. When ridden off from a group he will try to turn back to the group but isn’t violent nor does he escalate to dangerous behaviors. When ridden alone he spends time looking for other horses but doesn’t whinny constantly. In the arena by himself he will take a few moments to focus on his rider and then he’ll settle.

8 and 9 year old kids have ridden him in both the round pen and arena, and even around headquarters. But I haven’t taken kids out on trial with him, though he would probably be fine in a group. Since he does prefer to just ride next to another horse he would need a kid confident in pulling the reins around to get him to ride away from the other horse.

https://youtu.be/4aC-btJNDyk?si=ARKyUi-Yz6pfq1w9

https://youtu.be/4Ds7rp8g0Rg?si=aw92WGkhPH5h0DTQ

https://youtu.be/8lRUqoeaxJA?si=eWUdMvcRxsu5CxHQ

Located near Santa Nella, CA

$9500

07/12/2025

SOLD!!

“Oliver” is a 4 year old AQHA gelding. Standing 15 hands and 1050 pounds. Started in February with most of riding time spent out on the steep California Coastal hills gathering and moving cattle. He has roped a few yearlings and took to it easily. Not a fancy horse but he is very honest.

Likes to move out, comfortable on rough and technical terrain, hooks onto cattle easily, and is easy to handle. Wants to be gentle and kind, low man in the herd, good feet and legs, no soundness issues, and is UTD on vaccines and deworming. Loves water, both riding through it and being washed off.

We have 6 other brothers by the same stallion and from the same breeding program. We like the dependability of these horses and the natural cowiness, some with more style than others. Solid ranch horses and good for the whole family.

He can easily keep on being a ranch horses, adding more experience and skills in that area. He could happily pack someone on trails, especially if that rider likes to do more than mosey along. He’d probably have fun doing barrels or gymkhana but he’ll need more training before he could start those skills. A roper may enjoy taking him to the arena and seeing how he shapes up there, and I do have a video of his first time tracking the roping sled (he did really well).

Message for videos and I have several out on the ranch and a few arena videos. Again, not a fancy broke c**t, he has spent most of riding time moving cattle out on the nasty steep country where we ranch. Solid in what he knows, honest, and wants to be with people figuring out how to do the right thing.

Located near Gustine, south of the San Luis Reservoir. I have an arena to try him in and can take him right out to the ranch and ride.

All the pictures have all the info needed to decide if he fits your finances.

04/09/2025

This is soooo key to gaining a really good relationship with a horse. This idea has vastly changed my way of being with horses over the last four years.

INAPPROPRIATE TOUCHING

I'm reading an amazing book called Amphibious Soul by Craig Foster, the Academy award winning documentary film maker of "My Octopus Teacher".

If you haven't read it, I highly recommend it, it is simply profound.

In the book he says "As a rule, I never touch an animal unless they touch me first".

In my work building relationship with horses, I do this too. Most times a horse will touch you with their nose/muzzle first, and matching that greeting (versus labelling the horse as a biter) is a game changer.

But there's a phenomenon I have noticed going on with people trying to build relationship with their horses that I have labelled "inappropriate touching", and it looks a bit like the photo below.

This picture was taken at a horse expo in Pennsylvania recently, where I worked with a demo horse who has a "biting issue". He would reaching out in a way that his owner was termed as nipping, whereas I interpreted as him saying hello, similar to reaching out to shake hands with someone.

When he reached out I would greet him with a flat hand that he is able to to nuzzle, lick or even scrape his teeth on. After doing this a while his snappy acting motions got less so, and he was no longer needing to say "hey, pay attention" , but was more "hey, how's it going". I was explaining to the audience that I was meeting him in the way that he was meeting me (with his muzzle) and that it's not an invitation to touch other parts (yet).

I then said that it's many people's default to reach up and rub a horse between the eyes, whether that's what they are offering or not, and that if you do, it's inappropriate touching and it gets in the way of connection. It doesn't meet their needs, and is all about yours.

With the horse in the picture, he'd been engaging me with his muzzle, and I said to the audience "watch what happens when I try to rub him between the eyes". As you can see in the photo, he has raised his head up and is clearly indicating "No, not there, on my muzzle".

We had a Connection And Attunement retreat here at the Journey On Ranch a week ago, and I used my wife Robyn to illustrate this point to the participants. I said "imagine I'm at a gathering and meeting Robyn for the first time". We walked up to each other in that way people do when they see someone new and they can tell an introduction is shaping up, Robyn reached out with her hand to say hello and instead of me reaching out to shake her hand, I gently reached up and lightly brushed a wisp of hair from her cheekbone and tucked it behind her ear.

The participants all gasped and the ick factor was high.

Even though it was caring, and gentle, it was inappropriate at that moment.

Now Im not saying you can't rub your horse on the forehead. I'm saying if your horse has a disregulated nervous system around humans because they don't feel seen (and safe), try to meet their needs first, before trying get get yours met.

I recently saw an instagram post from a University in the UK, and the professor was explaining that they were doing studies on horses to determine levels of stress. In the background a horse was standing with his head out over a Dutch door. While he was explaining their investigations on stress, a female student (or maybe another professor, I don't know which) walked up to the horse. The horse reached out with his muzzle to greet her.

She ignored this and reached up to rub the horse between the eyes.

He turned his head 90 degrees to the left to communicate that wasn't what he was offering.

Her hand followed him and kept rubbing.

he then turned his head 180 degrees to the right, saying "No, not like that".

Smiled, gave him another pet between the eyes, and walked of camera.

While the professor was saying that they are doing experiments determining the amounts of stress horses are under, someone in the background was actually creating stress, without either of them even knowing it.

Once you understand how sentient horses are, and how subtle their communication, you can't unsee it.

09/08/2024

Does anyone want or need a horse hauled from anywhere along this route? I’m heading back from Los Banos Thursday afternoon and will have an empty trailer.