LS Ranch Naturally

05/20/2026

Today my 2 boys, Chase and Boon took the next step into Californio style horsemanship by accepting for the first time a full bridle. Both were very content with the bridle which is a Spade Bit, and went through several patterns that we have been using preparing for this upward transition. Both horses have been in the Spanish Hackamore for many years.

Both horses will be in the “two-Rein” for several more years or until while using only the bridle reins, I don’t need to assist with the bosalito.

My other two mares, Willow and Harmony, have been in the “two-rein” for 3 or 4 years and are currently working with just the bridle rein assisted by an occasional feel on the bosalito.

This process is considered by most bridlemen to be the best path to a truly finished bridle horse. The journey has it’s difficulties; but the end result is an amazingly soft and responsive horse.

Once again, this is the Californio/Great Basin method of developing a bridle horse. There is nothing wrong with the “Texas(?)” style of transitioning through a transition bit from snaffle into the bridle. This builds an “active bit” style horse while the Californio style builds a “signal bit” style of horse. Both are good, I just prefer to follow the Californio journey.

I’m having fun, I hope that you are and I’ll see some of you down the road.

05/14/2026

Hi folks. Couple of weekends ago a group of advanced riders came to LS Ranch and rode with Jody & I under the tutelage of Lester Buckley. We all were earnestly looking to move our horsemanship forward within the 4 days that Lester was here at the ranch.
It was an extremely rewarding clinic with all of us exploring upper-level horsemanship, some for the first time. We played with such maneuvers as haunches-in, shoulder-in, upward and downward transitions maintaining frame, two-tracking, three-tracking, beginning pirouettes. These and more advancing from our current horsemanship capabilities. We all saw much improvement within ourselves and with our friends riding with us. Lester took much care helping with foot-falls, rein positions, leg positions as we learned more each day to set our sights high with our horses.

We all came away with a higher standard of horsemanship, softer horses while maintaining snappy and smooth departures. It gave me the opportunity to improve my Classical Riding skills which I exclusively use with Cowboy Dressage. Can’t wait to do it again.
Here are a few photos.
Take care and I’ll see you down the road.

05/06/2026

Just one month away to get your name into Terry for Dave's energy filled 4 days of Versatile Horsemanship. Dave's promising very little "down time" this year. Lots of things to cover in just 4 days.

https://conta.cc/4ewM0Ld

Email from David Ellis Dave Ellis back in Buffalo WY at at Spear Z Spear arena June 8 thru 12, 2026 for 4 jam packed days Horsemanship Versatility Dave Ellis Parelli 6 Star Professional Dave has been

04/26/2026

Hi folks, a little while back I was visiting with Pat Parelli about my green mule Annie and her inclination to change directions at will and scamper off. Pat asked me if I played his Clover Leaf pattern each time that I rode her. I answered “no”, and he said “there you go”. I had become so interested in where my mule and I were going that I was sliding through some very basic patterns. He said sternly, to not leave the arena until I have loped the cloverleaf successfully. Pretty firm there; but he was most interested in my safety, which I surely appreciate.

Pat’s Cloverleaf is an impulsion provoking pattern that encourages a long horse to slow, and a short horse to maintain. It also, because of the specifics of the pattern causes your horse to gain more respect for you and to follow your leadership more readily. Even though Pat showed me this pattern way back in 1985, I did not fully understand the implications and the value of it until many years later. As it happens, I’ve aged a bit and lost a bit of presence riding my horses and my mule. I find myself many times just a bit late. So, the value of the cloverleaf becomes more meaningful especially working on developing my young mule. These days I’ll ride the cloverleaf each time with each of my horses as a part of my “pre-flight checkup”.

This lengthy video clip (5 minutes) is from the video that I just added to our video library and the full video exceeds 10 minutes because there is just so much stuff in there. I can’t find a way to just gloss over them. Pat’s words for this pattern are “Hard out, high in the corners, and easy in”. There are no direction changes in this pattern until you and your horse have become very good and you both clearly understand the pattern. It needs an arena with corners. I ride from the center (X) to the fence continuing until I feel my horse say “did you notice a fence is coming up?”, I then ask for my turn toward the corner and ride the same way into the corner. After my horse has advised me of the oncoming corner, I turn again and proceed very softly and as peacefully as possible back to X where I leave off again in the same direction to the opposite fence. I’ll continue on through all four corners approaching X with the idea of stopping; but not stopping my horse but to stop riding and give my horse a chance to stop. I’ll continue the pattern until my horse askes for a stop at X; where I’ll just sit for a long time letting him soak. Then off the other direction to repeat the pattern.

This pattern has so many options to address problems you may be having with impulsion, too many to cover here. I spend quite a bit of time with some examples in the full video. This pattern can be used at a trot; but the best value is at a lope when you are ready with your horsemanship to lope for a few minutes. The clip below has a few samples.
Full video through my website www.LSRanchNaturally.com. Go to Riding collections and find cloverleaf.
Direct link https://www.patreon.com/posts/impulsion-help-156612244

Enjoy and we’ll see you down the road. Dave

04/20/2026

Say folks, Dave Ellis will be back in Buffalo WY in June this year. He'll be teaching elements of Versatile Horsemanship. He'll be sharing techniques that cause your horse to want to set himself up for the movements needed in most of the current recreational competitions in vogue today.

Give Terry a call and check it out (click below for info).

https://conta.cc/4mD4Cek

Email from David Ellis Dave Ellis back in Buffalo WY at at Spear Z Spear arena  June 8 thru 12, 2025  Horsemanship Versatility Dave Ellis Parelli 6 Star Professional Dave has been with Pat Parelli s

04/13/2026

Hey folks, just a little over 6 weeks for Dave & Jody to be in Lone Jack Mo., just outside of Kansas City. The focus of this clinic will be versatility horsemanship. We'll be emphasizing communication rather than training. Your horsemanship with this perspective affords you the ability to excel at any of the versatility competitions so prevalent these days.

Give Nancy a call or email her for any details.
(818) 215-7842 or [email protected].

We'll see you there, Dave

04/09/2026

Some while ago Martin Black was here at our ranch and we began commenting on how some horses seem to naturally backup well and others just complain and drag their feet as though it were the worst thing imaginable. It then occurred to me that these same horses struggled with their backup on the ground as well as when ridden, and in some cases, had an even harder time backing on-line than while being ridden.

I recall Pat Parelli telling me years ago to have eyes in the back of my head and to see where I was going backwards. Then, when my horse puts a little effort into going towards my focal point to release the pressure and give him some relief.
I started thinking about all of the little things that we do with our horses that involve backing such as backing out of a trailer, or backing from a wash rack or even just backing to help the horse transfer his weight to the hindquarters. It becomes easy for us to say to our horse “Get Back from us” rather than “Get over to there”. Mother Nature seems to program us to tell our horse to get away rather than ask our horse to go somewhere in a backwards direction.

From the very beginning of my journey in natural horsemanship I have searched for ways to get myself to really use my focus, to establish a focal point; then go to it. Trying, often unsuccessfully, to not rely on merely technique. I am regularly reminded by my mentors that backing helps our horse become better at practically everything else. When asking for a backup I do my best to disallow forward motion and get my horse to look for a place to be; then make sure that he’s comfortable when he gets there. If I’m teaching a youngster, I’ll provide release from the pressure to back several times during the journey to my focal point. Then he gets complete relief from the repeated slight pressures

Over the years I’ve noted that the best of techniques may not provide you with a soft smooth backup depending upon your attitude. If my horse is getting away from the pressure of the bit while riding or the lead line while on the ground, he’ll probably just be going backwards, weight on the forehand, sour ears, etc. When he’s trying to get somewhere expecting relief, he’ll most likely be actually backing up with his weight on the hind quarters, ears erect, footfalls in a smooth and even cadence and actually making an effort to get to our focal point with no opposition.

In the end it may be that a good backup to get somewhere could be one of the greatest gifts you can give to your horse.
This short clip is from a video in our Patreon collections under Backing Circles. You can see the full video from our website www.LSRanchNaturally.com go to Video Library, or you can go directly to https://www.patreon.com/posts/111808110?collection=750260

See you down the trail, Dave Ellis.

03/29/2026

Hi folks, this morning while watching Jody put a nice ride on her Dutch Warmblood I watched the patterns she was riding in the arena, and I was reminded that everything moves in either a straight line or a circle, and for that matter circles are actually several straight lines connected. If you were to look at our webpage at https://lsranchnaturally.com/LS-contact.html you’ll see 7 round pens of 4 different diameters. They are all in a perfect circle from the satellite photo; but if you are leaning on the fences, you’ll see that there are no curves anywhere. Just straight poles connected. I still remember from sophomore geometry class in high school that a circle is a polygon consisting of points equal distance from each other and equal distance from a point in the center.

What does this mean to us as horsemen? It means that the better we are at riding point to point in a straight line, the cleaner our circles will be and the straighter our lines will be. Several years ago, Craig Johnson, million dollar reiner, shared with me that his circles are similar to his analog watch or his compass, and that he rides for example from twelve o’clock to nine o’clock to six o’clock to three o’clock and back to twelve o’clock. Completing a full and ROUND circle. Sometimes with his compass he rides from north to east to south to west then back to north completing a full circle. He shared that as his horse improves and begins to make more of a diamond than a circle, he adds more points as in north to north east to east to south east to south to south west to west to north west and back to north. Once again riding a perfect circle.

The key to this maneuver is to focus on each upcoming point until you can feel your horse tell you that he’s got it; then focus on the next point. I’m pretty sure that all of us have felt our horse cut the circle off smaller when we did not ask for it, and that is usually because we were looking across the circle to the other side which influenced our horse to cut in. Circles become excellent moves to control your horse’s speed without pulling on the reins. Pick a circle size and adjust it to fit your horse’s needs at that moment.

This accompanying short video clip consists of cuts from one of two videos on our library. I’ll address the second video next time as it works with circles and balancing and re-balancing through patterns at different speeds.

You can watch the full video at https://www.patreon.com/posts/111805219?collection=750260
Or through our website www.LSRanchNaturally.com clicking on video library, selecting collections, then scrolling to Circles & Straight lines part 1

Understanding this geometry is important for reining, for Cowboy/Western Dressage and Dressage itself. Take a look and give it a try.

See you down the trail.

03/14/2026

Hi folks. The other day some friends came by and rode with us. While here the subject of hind quarter control came up. The question to me was why do we make such a big deal out of it in the first place? It’s been over 40 years that this natural style horsemanship has been shown to the world through lessons, clinics, and now through the internet. There’s lots said about control of the hind quarters; but not often why; so I’ll just add my two cents worth here. My thoughts stem from time spent with Pat Parelli, and many other horsemen that follow this natural movement.

Firstly, the hind quarters are the horse’s engine and resulting power. If we are unable to displace the hindquarters laterally, we have no actual control. For years we’ve been told in an emergency to bend our horse. What we really mean is bend him to disengage his hindquarters. It’s not bending to circle, although that is not a bad deal, you won’t have control of the situation, should it occur, without disengaging the hindquarters. In some instances over bending your horse in an emergency may actually trip him.

So initially we control the hind quarters to stay safe. As we advance with our horse, we begin to realize that virtually all of the athletic maneuvers our horse can perform physically begin with the hindquarters. Our horse will transfer his weight freeing up the forequarters to move in the desired direction. I’ll not attempt to explain how to achieve this weight transfer. My father would say “there are a thousand ways to skin a cat”, and there are probably as many ways to shift your horse’s weight forward and back as there are internet clinicians today. You pick the one that makes sense to your horse.

The subject came up the other day and I expressed to my friends that our reins and our horse’s forequarters are primarily for direction and for the shape your specialty desires. The action comes from the rear, longitudinally as well as laterally. The more I think about and feel through the hindquarters, the smoother and softer my transitions flow.

This short video clip shows briefly the value of using your weight to affect my horse’s hindquarter rather than pushing with my legs or spurs.
If you’d like to learn more, I go into quite a bit more detail about this on two of my videos in my library.
You can go to them through my website
www.LSRanchNaturally.com,
Or directly at https://www.patreon.com/posts/111808117?collection=750260
Or https://www.patreon.com/posts/116151006?collection=750260
Take a look the next time you ride give some thought to your weight shift to effect your horse’s weight on the hindquarters allowing him to gracefully work for you.
See you down the trail, Dave

03/05/2026

Hi folks, just a little reminder here about our Precision Riding Workshop this weekend March 7 & 8. This time of year is just unbeatable for beauty here at the LS Ranch. The grass is green, the trees are leafing green, and the sky is bright blue. Our Precision Workshop will be lots of fun and rewarding as you and you horse begin to move as one and to move into precise positions. We’ll be riding in arenas and outside on the ranch.

It’s the last workshop for this month. Give Jody a “heads up” at (303) 503-2911, or [email protected].