True Californio Horsemanship

True Californio Horsemanship True Californio Horsemanship | Horses first, refinement in every ride honoring Vaquero tradition.

Regreso de Californio is the philosophy we approach every horse with. Stepping away from modern gimmicks to focus on timing, feel, and fundamentals.

It’s been a few days and I still keep going back through the videos from this session with Chulo. I know exactly how muc...
08/25/2026

It’s been a few days and I still keep going back through the videos from this session with Chulo. I know exactly how much work has gone into this horse and how far we still have to go, but I am absolutely thrilled with what I’m starting to see.

Apparently quite a few of you saw something in him too. That last video passed 5,000 likes and brought nearly 2,000 new people to this page. I share a lot of horses and a lot of horsemanship here, but Chulo clearly struck a chord with the people and I can’t say I blame you. I get it, I love this horse too!

The willingness we saw in that clip the other day is exactly why I stand so firmly behind the hackamore and the old Californio progression. Not because old automatically means better and not because putting a bosal on a horse magically creates softness. It’s the philosophy and discipline behind the progression that I believe in.

Anybody can get on a horse and get to pulling. It takes considerably more discipline to spend your time trying to make the conversation polite enough that eventually you don’t HAVE to pull on em.

That means setting standards for the horse, absolutely. I expect Chulo to search for the right answer. I expect him to become responsible for his own balance. I expect him to carry himself instead of depending on my hands to carry him.

But I don’t get to demand those things while holding myself to a lower standard.

If I expect him to be patient, I need to have patience. If I expect him to search instead of react, I need to give him the time to search. If I want him soft, I’d better pay attention to the softness of my own hands and understand timing. If I expect him to become responsible for himself, I need to stop doing for him what he is ready to do for himself. I need the self discipline to stay consistent and deliberate the my communication and not be reactive.

What I see when I look at this picture is the beginnings of a horse learning to carry himself because we’ve spent so much time having that conversation through the hackamore. I see the progression doing exactly what it was intended to do. And I see a reminder that those old Californio horsemen had already spent generations refining something I don’t need to reinvent.

My responsibility is to study it, preserve what I can, and become good enough to do it justice.

Everyone posts pictures of the sunset…Here’s a gorgeous sunrise for you al!!! 🌅Enjoy your week!
08/24/2026

Everyone posts pictures of the sunset…

Here’s a gorgeous sunrise for you al!!! 🌅
Enjoy your week!

A little housekeeping, because apparently the internet requires it from time to time.If you spend enough time sharing yo...
08/23/2026

A little housekeeping, because apparently the internet requires it from time to time.

If you spend enough time sharing your life and your work publicly, eventually somebody is going to wander into the comments looking for attention. Thankfully, that doesn’t happen very often here. Most of you are pretty damn cool, which is probably why this page has remained such an enjoyable place to share my horses and horsemanship.

But we’ve picked up a lot of new people lately, and there’s something about me worth knowing before one of those rare occasions comes along.

I’m not very good at being cordial when somebody is being an as***le.

Yes I’m very friendly and pretty easy to get along with, but I have no problem matching energy when somebody comes onto my page talking s**t. My filter tends to disappear rather quickly in those situations, and being the face of a business hasn’t magically changed that. I’m not going to manufacture some carefully worded customer service response for a stranger who came here looking to be disrespectful. Period.

Instead, I’ll probably just tell you what I think.

So if you’re relatively new here and someday stumble across a comment thread where I’m giving somebody hell, don’t be too surprised. Chances are somebody decided scrolling past a post they didn’t like was simply too difficult and learned that I’m perfectly willing to swing back.

I’m also not particularly worried about whether that looks “professional.” Respect gets respect around here. Come in acting like an as***le and you may discover that I can speak that language pretty fluently too.

There is, however, a shelf life on how much energy I’ll give it. I might have a little fun. I might call out the stupidity. Hell, I might let you keep commenting for a bit because engagement is engagement. But eventually I’ll get bored, block you, and we will all carry on like you never existed.

That’s really all there is to it.

The same basic principle applies to unsolicited advice. Questions are great. Wanting to understand something is great. But if watching thirty seconds of one of my horses creates an uncontrollable urge to explain how you would have done it, resist the urge. If you want an audience for your horsemanship, Facebook lets you start a page just as easily as it let me start this one and it won’t cost you a dime.

So often in the equine world we see a s**t ton of drama, I like that we can enjoy horses here without all the BS that so often comes with the equine world. I like sharing what I’m doing. I like the questions. I like watching people make connections and seeing conversations develop around mustangs and Californio horsemanship. I appreciate the hell out of the people who have helped make this community what it is.

And I’m perfectly comfortable protecting that by showing the occasional s**thead the door.

So, now that I’ve gotten that out of the way, let’s get back to horses.

Anyone interested in a beautiful little black Mustang mare project? Her owner is looking to rehome her. She’s a fiery little Mustang and will definitely take an experienced Mustang trainer. Send me a message for more info.

08/22/2026

Yesterday I showed you a glimpse of a refined more serious Chulo really showing up to do his job.

Well this is the other side of Chulo’s personality. Yeah he’s a bit of a party animal.😜🤦‍♂️🤣

Video credit:Scott Tanner

08/22/2026

With a willing partner, it can truly become a dance.

I had a bit of an unexpected session while working a mare, our newest student we have in today. While I was walking her around the arena, I left the round pen open and Chulo happened to find his way in. When I came back with the mare, he was still standing there.

I’d already spent a little time working with her on the ground and she was proving to be pretty willing, so seeing Chulo standing there gave me an idea. I figured I’d hop on him and play with her a little from horseback to see what she thought about me being above her. I hadn’t planned on riding anything, so I had no saddle and no tack for Chulo. Hell, I didn’t even have my boots tied! I climbed on ba****ck, looped the tail end of the mare’s lead rope around his neck and went to work.

I was so focused on trying to glean a little something from this new horse that I almost missed what Chulo was showing me underneath.

Watch him when I ask him to back. There’s nothing on his face. No bit, no bosal, not even a halter. I’m riding him from the tail end of another horse’s lead rope around his neck, yet when I ask, he gathers himself, frames up and carries himself through the movement without me physically reinforcing anything through his face.

That’s the part that gets me.

This video only shows the early stages of what we’re working toward, but it tells me we’re on the right track. I’m not interested in manufacturing a frame or holding a horse together with my hands. I want the horse to learn how to carry himself and become a willing participant in the conversation.

Chulo has always been my boy. He’s always shown up for me in ways he hasn’t necessarily been willing to for others, and as his education progresses, I’m starting to feel more and more of that partnership find its way into how we move together.

There’s still a long road ahead of us, but moments like this give me a glimpse of what I’m chasing.

As we progress, eventually the cues get smaller, the conversation gets quieter, and horse and rider begin to move gracefully together, in tune with one another.

08/10/2026

This one’s a little different than what you normally see on my page.

Most of the mustangs I get in for gentling are 4 years old and up. I’d guess a lot of that is because people tend to pass on the young ones in favor of something old enough to get started under saddle. I’m guilty of doing the exact same thing. But I gotta say, this change of pace is exactly what my soul needed.

Meet Rye, a yearling Adobe Town filly who I actually met before she ever came here for training. I went over to her owner’s place to help get a donkey loaded and noticed Rye still had a tag around her neck. Of course I had to ask if I could try to get it off. Removing tags might be a bit of an addiction at this point. 😂

Her owner obliged and almost immediately things went south. Rye wanted absolutely nothing to do with me and wasn’t shy about striking to make her opinion known. We didn’t exactly have a lariat handy, so I tied a loop into her owner’s brand new long line and eventually managed to get it over Rye’s head. Of course, right about then it started pouring rain.

Things got pretty western for a minute, but we worked through it without adding any more chaos than Rye was already bringing to the situation. I got the tag off and her owner was even able to get in there and touch her while I still had her on the rope.

Once the tag was off I went to take the rope off and discovered Rye had pulled so damn hard that the knot I’d tied in this poor woman’s brand new long line had basically welded itself together. 😂 There was no untying it, so after successfully removing the tag from her horse, I got to inform her that I was also going to have to cut her brand new long line off.

Afterward I told her she might want to get some of that rage under control before Rye got bigger, stronger and realized just how much power she could put behind those opinions. Her owner mentioned that for as western as the whole thing got, I did a pretty decent job of not contributing to the chaos while still getting the job done.

Apparently I passed the audition because now Rye is here with us for gentling. 😂

I don’t get the opportunity to work with them this young very often. Any wild horse carries some risk when you step into that round pen, but there’s definitely a difference between a yearling throwing everything she has at you and 1,000 pounds of mature mustang doing the same thing. For obvious reasons, the protests from these babies are usually a little less consequential.

She’s already starting to cool down now that she’s settled in and we’ve gotten some actual work done together, and honestly, I’m enjoying the hell out of the change of pace. This video was Rye’s first haltering.

I’m honored her owner trusted us with her and pretty damn excited to have the opportunity to bring this youngin into domestic life the right way. Give her a good foundation from the beginning, work at the pace she needs and never push beyond a threshold just for the sake of getting something done.

I think I’m going to enjoy this one.

The face of a girl that probably didn’t learn her lesson. 🤣This was a few weeks ago, and she’s completely healed now. I ...
07/29/2026

The face of a girl that probably didn’t learn her lesson. 🤣

This was a few weeks ago, and she’s completely healed now. I still have no idea what got her, but she seemed completely unfazed. Almost like she knew she’d done something she probably shouldn’t have… and would absolutely do it all over again given the chance. 😂🤣

We call her… BEEF!

Love this pup!

07/26/2026

After long days and nights working so hard to produce and get The Hackamore guide out, this was the perfect calm I needed. The sunset, green grass and an evening of building fence with the kiddos!

These monsoons have really made the grass grow which we are grateful to see but it made for some nice soft ground compared to the cement we’ve gotten accustomed to.

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