Y Knot Performance Horses

Y Knot Performance Horses Our names are Jillian and Phil McGinnis and we have always shared a passion for the Horse.

Tagg is extremely difficult to take photos of because he wants to follow me around everywhere. But here he is! I am REAL...
05/26/2026

Tagg is extremely difficult to take photos of because he wants to follow me around everywhere. But here he is! I am REALLY enjoying this little two year old!!!

05/17/2026

Ba****ck ramblings.

05/15/2026

Evenings with Mithril. She has been getting some extra attention while I wait for her to foal. This means I spend 10-30 minutes scratching on her before I go to bed. She has always been a friendly horse but she’s also very independent and doesn’t care much for scratches in general. She’s been feeling pretty sweet lately though!

05/09/2026

Tagg going for a jog down the road. This is ride 28 for him and he has taken everything in and gotten better every single day. He lopes nice circles both ways, hunts his stops, and turns around so naturally. So today, we just went somewhere. No pressure, no training. Just letting him take us somewhere with those happy, game ears.

Last calf hit the ground today. A little heifer out of an old cow of mine. She only has three good quarters but still ra...
05/08/2026

Last calf hit the ground today. A little heifer out of an old cow of mine. She only has three good quarters but still raises a nice calf!

Smidge watched her brothers as they tuned on the yearlings after trucks unloaded yesterday. These will be going out to f...
05/03/2026

Smidge watched her brothers as they tuned on the yearlings after trucks unloaded yesterday. These will be going out to forest in a few weeks and I find it pretty important to put some good handling on them before they go. If things get wild out there, it can really make things difficult. This is A nice group of steers and they figured the dogs out in a hurry and got them trailed to some water without any chaos. I’ll do several more sessions with them of gathering little groups and making sure they let me point them somewhere and stop them in the next few weeks.

Cue is turning in to a really nice dog and I’m extremely excited about him. Chunk has always been a little behind him in maturity but I don’t think he will be any less of a dog because of it. In fact, I think Chunk will be the more powerful of the two. Pretty cool to be able to see these guys develop from the very beginning!

I really enjoy looking back at older photos of horses from when they first began their riding career. You can see in the...
04/29/2026

I really enjoy looking back at older photos of horses from when they first began their riding career. You can see in their muscle development if you’ve been riding them correctly. Everything should start looking rounder! The first photo is of Savvy, a little less than a year ago. She’s five in that photo, with about 10-15 rides on her. The next photo is today, after close to a year of pretty consistent 2-3 rides a week. I love seeing that roundness in her neck top line as well as a smoother angle across her croup. I wish I had a better unsaddled photo to reference to see the difference in her muscling along her loin. I also look at the trapezius muscle that runs along the base of the neck and see more curve in it rather than what was nearly a straight line before.

Her neck and head placement has been something I’ve had to be very aware of. Savvy, naturally, would really like to pack her head up and back. And while I love a natural headset, it made her very uncomfortable in her poll, and corresponded to some hip discomfort she was also having to carry herself that way. If I ride her correctly, I can help her to find a more comfortable position without forcing it.

It. Takes. Time. This slight change has taken a year. But it’s still very satisfying to me to see some results. I personally believe that you have to be very patient with the head and neck set, especially on a horse whose natural position is less ideal, if you expect them to actually be comfortable and receptive to a position that better suits the work required from them.

It’s just like training an athlete. Sometimes you have to fix their natural tendencies and rewire their mind to run their body in a way it can be more easily and more fully engaged. I will never argue with a natural headset whether it is high or low, so long as it isn’t encumbering their athletic ability and overall softness.

A damn good horse and a damn good kelpie dawg!
04/22/2026

A damn good horse and a damn good kelpie dawg!

This is Mithril. I don’t say enough about this girl. One of the absolute COOLEST horses I have ever had. She has an endl...
04/21/2026

This is Mithril. I don’t say enough about this girl. One of the absolute COOLEST horses I have ever had. She has an endless motor and also somehow, an endless amount of patience. She is an independent thinker but also takes well to guidance. She is a rarity in my opinion. To have one that is as gritty, tough, hard working, fast paced and active as her and to still be patient and kind and advisable. Yes, she is an appaloosa. Yes, I have cussed appaloosa horses! But If they were all like this mare, that’s all I would own. She is that special. She has been cooking a baby this year and is due in 21 days. I realize she doesn’t look bred and she’s had me wondering for months now but she’s finally starting to show some bag so I think there’s one in there. I’m not a horse breeder, I only breed the mares that are so stand-out that I have to try my chances at having a second one of them. Let’s hope I’m not fooling myself and she starts showing more and more!

04/13/2026

I looked out in the neighbors pasture yesterday and I saw this sad little guy standing out there. They have no cattle there until summer time, so I knew he was ours. Luckily he came to me when he saw me because he’s lonely. I got him roped and stepped off to pull him back through the fence. The poor guy hasn’t had a meal in way too long. He’s nearly a month old and doesn’t weigh more than he did when he was born. Who knows where his cow is and why he ended up where he was. It was a little bit of a way from there to any vehicle accessible area, so we had to guide him along until I got him to where the pick up could come for him. He was a pretty sad little guy but was real happy to figure out the bottle and what it feels like to have food in his belly again! Savvy has the grit and toughness to last all day long on the hard days, the speed to catch those squirrelly little calves, and the life to sort on cattle very respectably, but she also has PATIENCE for these situations. Horses that read the mindset they need to have in every situation are hard to come by and invaluable to me.

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420 Brandenburg Road
Miles City, MT
59301

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