C Bracket Horse Barn

05/27/2025

May Unmounted Mini Clinic: Herd Dynamics

How do horses act in a herd? Is there a clear and unquestioned pecking order? How do dominant horses establish leadership? Why is it better for horses to be able to roam free in a herd, instead of isolated in dry lots?

When: Friday, May 30, 5-6 pm
Who: riding students, boarders and lessees

Followed by May makeup class at 6 pm for any group students who missed a class and haven’t already made it up.

05/27/2025

Summer riding session begins next week!

If you or your student are in the barn club, we will be in touch to get their reservation made for their class of choice for the summer.

Options:
- Beginner adult western horsemanship
- Advanced adult western horsemanship
- beginner kids group horsemanship
- intermediate kids group horsemanship
- Canter Class (English, intermediate riders)
- Barrel Racing Skills and Drills (intermediate riders)

*intermediate kids are Level 3 and above in the C Bracket Riding School

If you are not in the barn club and would like to reserve just the summer session, visit this link: https://CBracketRidingSchedule.as.me/SummerGroups2025

05/26/2025

Paige, Belle and I were just having this discussion, and considering building an unmounted class around the concept of herd dynamics. Horses need leadership, in their equine and human herds!

Leadership & Friendship - The images show equine herd dynamics. The top left side horse has applied enough pressure on the gray horse at right to stop him in his tracks. The center horse is coming at the horse on the left. The question is, can the left horse pressured the middle horse enough to make the middle horse back off, or will the middle horse be able to pressure the left into backing off?

Everything in the pictures is part of how horses teach and learn in a herd. In my experience, most herd dynamics are like the top picture, with lots of intimidating pressure such as lifting a leg or turning a head or butt toward a subordinate horse. You don't often see the level of more extreme violence shown in the lower left pictures, but it happens.

Sometimes horses will greatly increase pressure to make a powerful point. In the lower two left images we see the light colored horse with black mane and tail put pressure on the spotted horse. Next we see the spotted horse's response as he swings his butt into the aggressive horse. The initial pressure from light colored horse with black mane gets a quick response of escalating pressure from the spotted horse. It's all normal teaching and learning of herd dynamics.

On the lower right we see two horses "making up" or forming a friendship. The dark horse has their ears forward with interest while the light horse has some interest by not too much. Breathing into each other's nostrils will comfort both, and in this way, they will learn to fit together inside the herd dynamic.

Everything we see here is pressure or release used to teach herd members boundaries and the herd pecking order. The pressure comes from leadership and the relief from pressure comes in offers of friendship once horses understand each other's position in the herd.

Many riders and horse owners today feel that pressure release is "negative reinforcement". This kind of increased opposition comes from people who feel pressure release training is abusive. Those who feel this way generally have spent very little or no time observing herd dynamics. Many are riding students who commute to a barn to ride once or twice a week for a lesson. Others are boarders who have never lived 24/7 with a herd. They are visitors to their horses. Because they have not spent the necessary time, they don't understand how horses act in a herd.

These opponents tend to be highly empathetic people and who project their human feelings onto horses. They sincerely believe that putting pressure on a horse is hurtful negative reinforcement, a very human viewpoint. We see many social media pages that promote this human misconception of how horses act. By now it's a growing trend of ignorance among people who are disconnected from authentic horsemanship.

Instead of calling pressure release "negative reinforcement", I suggest calling it "leadership friendship" because that is how horses experience it. The wellbeing of a herd depends on the training we see in these pictures. Each individual horse in a herd must be taught how to become part of the herd so the herd can function as an effective, integrated group for the protection of every horse in it.

05/26/2025

🌞 Friends + Freedom 🌞

Summer session kicks off next week with new group riding classes, summer horse day camps, new semi-private riding lessons options, and a summer trail ride series!!

Our horses are ready for you! We have options for beginners and experienced riders, for kids and adults. Here at C Bracket, there is a place for everyone who wants ride.

Get started here 👉 https://CBracketRidingSchedule.as.me/

Send a DM with questions or for more information!

Casper, Wyo.
Horsemanship for all.

05/26/2025

The 2025 C Bracket flag team is coming right along!

We’ve got some new horses, some prior horses, some new girls, some girls with several years under their belt. Watch for them at the CNFR and the Central Wyoming Fair & PRCA Rodeo!

05/24/2025

Thanks to everyone who came out for the spring schooling show! I never get many photos because I’m either scoring or timing. If you have some of your rider, post them below!

05/24/2025

What a perfect afternoon and evening to spend horseback!

Today we had the usual mixture of private lessons, a makeup class for Monday’s groups that missed because of rain and mud, and then we ended up with cattle class.

Come get in on the fun this summer!

Hopefully the weather holds for the schooling show tomorrow! 🌧️

05/23/2025

Come join us for our third annual participation in the 2025 Move for Mobility!

The Move for Mobility is a fundraising event for the Free Wheelchair Mission, which provides the transforming gift of mobility to people with a disability living in developing nations, as motivated by Jesus Christ.

When: May 28, trail rides at 5:30 and 7 pm
Where: Edness Kimball Wilkins State Park
What: one-hour trail rides, horses provided, and a potluck BBQ, burgers and hot dogs provided

Reserve a horse here: https://CBracketRidingSchedule.as.me/MoveForMobility

One hundred percent of your trail ride fee is donated to purchase one wheelchair!

05/22/2025

🔔 Spring 2025 In-house Schooling Show 🔔

- Saturday, May 24
- 9 am to about 2 pm
- C Bracket arenas
- five classes to choose from: speed, ranch trail, English equitation, ba****ck and working cattle
- $5/class, and $50 to borrow a C Bracket horse of your choice for the day

RSVP here (fees due the morning of the show): https://CBracketRidingSchedule.as.me/SchoolingShow

05/21/2025

🐮 Cattle Class, THIS Friday evening! 🐮

Friday, May 23, 5:30-7:30 pm
Sorting, boxing, ranch cutting, roping

Includes supper grilled at the indoor. Bring a side or dessert to share! And your drinks of choice. Discount available if you own or lease a horse.

Reserve ➡️ https://CBracketRidingSchedule.as.me/FridayCattleClass

05/19/2025

Day 2 of Lonny Johnson’s Colts and Cattle Clinic: Just another day helping horses and their people succeed.

Also, those new obstacles were a lot of fun to play with! And he made some great progress with the black and white Amish c**t Legolas.

05/18/2025

Day 1 of Colts and Cattle

We always cover a lot of ground when Lonny is here! We had a series of both private and group riders throughout the day, working on confidence, obstacles and body control, and finishing up with some work with c**ts on the heifers in the outdoor.