LS Ranch Naturally

06/20/2025

Hi folks, Summer will be here officially Saturday the 21st. For many of us it’s felt like summer for a while. In my part of the country summer says get to the mountains. We’re fortunate to live just 1 hour from the Sequoia National Forest (not the park). Jody and I and any folks who drop by can load up our horses in the morning and 1 hour later we’re up in the mountains enjoying cooler temperatures, stunning scenery, and wonderful rides on our horses. Occasionally we’ll come across a limb that has fallen off a tree and landed across the trail, sometimes even the tree itself. Our horses are able to drag a pretty heavy object off of the trail to either make our way through or to make it better for the next one who passes through. While packing I’ve even dragged limbs with several staubs hanging out to the campfire so that we could pick off limbs for the cook fire or the evening fire.

We raise a few calves each year. We don’t have a squeeze chute to manage them; so in order to doctor them or castrate or brand (which is required in California) we need to be able to rope them and drag them a short ways to the fire or medicine. Our horses can handle this with ease because we help them to accept the pull on the saddle and to have the confidence to remain quiet while doing so.

We believe that we’re not helping our horses when we shelter them from these types of work. In the long haul it helps our horses become confident in other areas by having been exposed to something as simple as dragging a log. In the Ranch Versatility Trail class it is a required task.

Below are a couple of clips from the latest video that we installed on our LSRanchNaturally video library showing how your horse can be your partner handling a needed job. You can see the full video directly at https://www.patreon.com/posts/131861268?pr=true
Or go to our website www.LSRanchNaturally.com and select the video library. We hope this little video can cause you to think about applying your horsemanship skills in ways that cause you and your horse to feel like a hero.

A little side note: even if you don’t wish to watch the full video, enjoy watching this little mare confidently and quietly helping me with these obstacles.

See you down the trail.

06/04/2025

Well folks Jody & Dave are heading back to the Rocking Z guest ranch in October 2025. It has always been a wonderful way to polish off the Summer and set up for Fall.
The Rocking Z has been raising their own horses and starting them using Natural Horsemanship principles. If you want to fly in and use their horses for the week, you can't go wrong. The leaves are changing, the sky in bright blue, evenings are cool and days are warm.
Come on out and ride with us.
https://conta.cc/4jFDfxh

Email from David Ellis Dave Ellis & Jody Grimm are back in Wolf Creek Montana October 13 thru 17, 2025 Dave & Jody have the unique ability to help folks develop confidence in natural settings. At the

05/20/2025

Hey Folks, you’re probably aware that I am a fan of counter bends. I’ve reached a place in my life where I just do not enjoy a rigid horse. One that stays straight throughout his frame through transitions. It feels to me like I’m riding a 4x4 post. I’ve come to get along well with a counter bend because my horse will do so when I ask and will not do so when I need him straight for power. Many of us enjoy a supple horse. One that can bend when you ask. One that can follow his nose rather than his shoulder. It just feels good to me.

I may be using counter bends laterally to excess but it improves my setup and gives me the opportunity to release my horse to a transition rather than telling him to turn. It allows him to make the decision to turn towards comfort instead of ducking away from pressure. The counter bend also helps my horses stay soft. When they’re bent they’re not a strong as when straight; so I use this to prepare him to become strong by stepping into strength and finding comfort. At least that’s how it feels to me.

My friend and mentor, Pat Parelli, has many interesting sayings; but my all time favorite is to complete my maneuver in a “Smooth and Flowing Motion”. That phrase plays well with everything I do with my horse. I don’t make it all the time; but I’m close. A counter bend allows me to apply that phrase much easier. As my horses, and I, improve, the amount of bend becomes less and less until you can’t see it but my horse & I can feel it

You can see my application of this in detail with explanations of what I’m looking for with a new video that I loaded showing some serpentines around log stumps in our video library on www.LSRanchNaturally.com
Also on the video I show a short session with what we call our “loading dock” as in backing a big rig up and loading or unloading supplies. Most of the maneuvers I do with my horses are meant to prepare them for a job of some kind. If I find myself in a situation where I need to hop up or down a drop off, I’d like my horses already prepared so we don’t have to learn on the fly.

Swing on over to the library, give it a look and let me know what you think.
See you down the trail.

05/09/2025

Folks, this last week Jody & I were fortunate to have 6 people visiting the ranch. 2 from Colorado, 2 from Wyoming, 1 from Italy, and 1 from Germany. While riding with us the subject of flying lead changes came up often, and with several different ways to accomplish them. As it turned out my mule, Annnie had not yet been able to pick up a left lead. She’s young and I’m not pushing her with anything; but I was interested in what she would need from me to want to try a left lead. Many years ago, back in the 1980s, Pat Parelli showed me a long string of logs placed end to end. He called these his lead change logs. The purpose of these was to give the student a chance to feel a change of leads without having to set them up or coax his horse in the change. This string of logs acts the same as cavalettis in an arena except there are many of them in a row.

I’ve constructed the same on each ranch that I’ve owned. Mine are about 400 feet long. A little more than a football field. When I have a horse that struggles maintaining a lope through the lead change, I’ll come out to these and lope up it and back down about 3 times. It’s easier to hold the lope after a bit and my horse learns a bit more about maintaining his balance through the transition and I become more familiar with his way of making the change. After a few sessions with the lead change logs, my horses can handle the changes without the log aid much easier.

So I thought that it may help my mule find the left lead if she could maintain a lope over the logs. By the way, these logs are just telephone poles. Well off we all go, my guests , my mule and me. We trotted the logs both ways twice; then moved on up to a lope and lo and behold Annie held the lope and switched leads on each little hop over the logs. I was thrilled and proud of her for trying and pleased with the result.

We have a full video of these logs on our video library with me playing with a horse. The nice part about the video is that my mare is not successful each time. As she becomes excited, her mind fades away and you can see how I help her find her way back and successfully change leads.
If you are already a subscriber to the library, you can go directly to the video with
https://www.patreon.com/posts/111808118?collection=750260
If you’re interested in seeing this then go to
www.LSRanchNaturally.com click on video library and follow the directions to the library.
Hope you enjoy it and I’ll see you down the trail.

05/07/2025

Hey Folks, Dave will be back in Port Angeles WA July 18 at Freedom Farm. It is a beautiful place and the indoor arena is super and large.
Come on up and ride with us.
click below for details
https://conta.cc/4d1IQvW

Email from David Ellis Dave Ellis will be in Port Angeles, WA July 18 thru 21, 2025  Seeking Lightness on the Ground and in the Saddle Dave Ellis, a Parelli 6 Star Professional, has been riding with

04/30/2025

Folks, Dave is coming back to Spear Z Spear arena in Buffalo WY this June.
This year we'll be focusing on lightness with our reins and lead line.
All of us strive to be light as we can and often find our horse non-responsive so we go back to what worked in the past.
Well, this June Dave will be helping his friends overcome this hurdle throughout this 4 day clinic. If you've wished for soft, quiet hands, and a fluid response from your horse, this may be the ticket for you.

https://conta.cc/42Wno7e

Email from David Ellis Dave Ellis in Buffalo WY at Spear Z Spear arena June 9 thru 12, 2025  Seeking Lightness on the Ground and in the Saddle Dave Ellis is a Parelli 6 Star Professional and has been

04/26/2025

Hi folks. A few weeks ago Jody & I were presenting a clinic in Virginia to some really nice folks. One afternoon after the clinic a fellow asked me about lead changes, particularly flying lead changes. He was asking why we needed them; then how we got our horse to even do them. It was an interesting discussion where I suggested that while using my horse for work, such as livestock management, or traveling any distance in a hurry that I would need my horse to sometimes change leads to facilitate our next direction change. Of course, flying lead changes are a requirement in many competitions; but these competitions are designed to emulate actual work with our horse anyway.

My mentor, Pat Parelli, regularly advises me to allow my horse rather than get my horse to do something. So, I can add the Dorrance’s advice about setting it up and waiting. In this case I’ll set up a counter bend and wait for my horse to soften then ask for a change of direction towards where his nose is pointing along with an increase in gait. It sounds simple and it is. In a short time I can increase the gait from walk-trot to trot-lope on to lope-lope in the new lead. Back when I came upon this pattern, I contacted the late (& great) Jack Brainard about what I was doing. He advised me that what I was doing is a good idea at the beginning but I’ll need to modify it later on for competition. I so much enjoy the feeling that I get from my horse through this maneuver that I’ve not yet felt the need to modify it. At this point I only need to change my balance on my horse to effect the change of leads.

I realize that there are countless techniques for causing your horse to change leads and if they work, they’re probably good ones. This simple routine is slow, quiet, and comfortable for me and I’ll stick with it. It increases the partnership with my horse and that’s what I’m about anyway.

See the full video at www.LSRanchNaturally.com in our video library.
See you down the trail.

04/23/2025

Hey folks, just a heads up for the Seeking Lightness clinic in May with Jody & Dave sharing information on achieving this very nebulous feeling.
We're in Lone Jack MO. If you're at all close this may be just the clinic you have been searching for. True soft feel and light hands are such elusive features and we'll be spending 4 full days sorting them out.
If you give your horse a soft touch will he hand you back a soft feel and carry that on thru your transition?
Think about it .....contact Nancy in the linked flyer..

Email from David Ellis Dave Ellis & Jody Grimm near Kansas City MO. May 28 thru 31, 2025 Sitter Downs Arena Lone Jack, MO. Using Parelli Natural Horsemanship skills to focus on Seeking Lightness I've

03/26/2025

So Folks, as we continue to explore our relationship with our horses we may occasionally find ourselves in a tight spot. Your ability to manage your horse’s feet one at a time may be necessary to keep your horse quiet and calm (and you too). Often the tight spots tighten us up as well. Having spent some time slowly and methodically managing your horse’s feet when there is no danger can help when a problem does show up. Being able to manage one foot at a time from the ground and in the saddle should be a requirement in your personal program.

Every clinician helping folks these days constantly reference the value of controlling the feet. Many go so far as to say we shouldn’t even be riding if we can’t do so from the ground. Well, that’s a bit much for me; but Ray Hunt did say “It’s all about the feet”, and Pat Parelli says “Our horse is just an attitude with 4 feet”. I’ll take them at their word.

Knowing where your horse’s feet are and even better, when is he going to move it affords you the option of suggesting where he should put it. Moving on the ground and in the saddle with your horse’s feet opens up a whole new world of capabilities for you and for your horse
The video we just released in LS Ranch Video Library demonstrates the way that Dave has found to be very successful. Dave is helping a really nice yet somewhat a skeptic mare work her was around a 4-foot platform and a very narrow teeter totter. Dave works with one foot at a time and provides his mare with release when she is right helping her work her way 360 degrees on the platform and to find some comfort on the teeter totter.

None of this is very exciting; but we feel that is so very important to our horses and to our ability to help them in a pinch, and to ask them to move when it makes the most sense to our horse
See the full video at www.LSRanchNaturally.com. Video Library in the Riding Collections under Teeter Totter. See you down the trail.

03/05/2025

Hi folks. I just wanted to remind you of a video series we have featuring Jody Grimm working with a really nice 3 year old PRE here at the ranch. We all know by now that when the lines or ropes come off, what we have left is the truth. We also know that you don’t just take off the halter and expect your horse to understand what you’re looking for.
This 3 part series was loaded up several months ago and Jody shows us how we can use some of the great techniques learned from Pat Parelli and expand them to help your horse enjoy playing at liberty and to further his development, trust, confidence, and rapport with you as his leader and his friend.
This short clip can give you an idea of what’s in the full video series on www.LSRanchNaturally.com in the Ground Skills collection of our video library.
Enjoy and we’ll see you down the trail.

02/26/2025

Hey folks, in our part of the country Spring is in the air. Many people are dusting off their horse tack and looking at which clinic they may attend. This causes me to think back over the clinics I’ve done and people that I’ve helped over the years. In the beginning days of this clinic stuff, I and many of the others out there would offer a clinic or Workshop based on the experience level of the participants. Things would roll along nicely for the most part because all were looking to learn foundation basics and particularly horse safety.

Well, that was 10 or 15 years ago. I’ve been on this Natural Horse roller coaster for over 40 years. It’s a new world out there now. Like Bob Dillon said, “the times they are a-changing”. Many folks now get their foundation training from pod casts and from video lessons. Having done so, they are now wishing to apply their newly learned expertise on an advanced clinic or on a Specialty Clinic like Working Equitation or Reining Cow Horse or any of the very many newly designed clinics. As a result, one of the biggest complaints Jody & I hear is about inexperienced riders participating in an advanced clinic. The sad part is that the inexperienced riders do not consider themselves to be so. They spent hard earned money and valuable time participating in the social learning and feel entitled to ride in any venue that they wish.

So what do we do? This video clip just touches on thoughts about the subject. The entre video discussion is on our LS Ranch Video Library under Discussions and Clinic Safety and Solutions. There are many ways to still make the clinic experience valuable and fun and safe. We covered and videoed a few of these at a clinic in Missouri last year. Take a look and see if something there would be of value to you.

In the meantime, stay safe, get your horse out and have some fun. See you down the trail.

Dave & Jody

02/21/2025

Parelli® Presents Our Annual Event:
The Horse Psychology Summit
Pat will be passing on, to you, the knowledge he got from his mentors such as Ray Hunt and Tom Dorrance
Learn about:
Solving problems naturally
Ages & stages
Trailer loading
& much more!
Join us VIRTUALLY on FEB 28 - MAR 1 2025 for THE Parelli Event of the year; The Horse Psychology Summit!
Discover more & get your tickets here:
https://bit.ly/42vTVSY
The event will be livestreamed in English
There will be breakout sessions in Italian , Dutch , German and French