06/04/2026
What I often find impressive in other trainers is their duplication ability. Their ability to create similar results with different horses.
I noticed early on in my learning process that some trainers use the same horse for years. It’s in almost all their photos and videos when they are showing off their skills and abilities.
Is that bad? Not at all, to accomplish the things they’ve accomplished is generally pretty amazing! But I personally started to seek out people who were creating similar results with many different horses. That trainer was more confirmed in their ability to teach that skill to horses regardless of the horse’s individual differences.
My favorite mentor, Mark Lyon is very impressive in this way. One time I went to watch him start a handful of Arabians in my preparation for Road To The Horse. He got most of them started using a high tie but one mare just wasn’t having it. So he heads down to his trailer and saddles a young mare to use as a pony horse…a mare he put the first rides on about 3 weeks prior! 😱
He warmed her up for a few minutes, pulled his cinches into her and then got to work!
And when Mark works a horse from his saddle horse it’s full contact, dallied up and lessons are learned. Many folks use a pony horse and never dally, if the horse being ponied wants to get away, it can, and it will. And hey, that’s fine! It’s a safer way for a person to do it who isn’t as skilled or lacks certain understanding. But make no mistake, you aren’t solving the same issues. You may be getting that young horse used to you above them and doing some gentling, but you aren’t prepping them in the way we want to prep them for a first ride.
From then on I really noticed how most people using a saddle horse to pony c**ts will use the same one for years. Again, nothing wrong with this, the horse is confirmed in the job, so it’s safer and likely going to do a better job.
But this awareness trickled into other things as well. How many different horses can a person teach to spin? To slide stop? To change leads? How good is their duplication? When a trainer can teach a draft horse (or multiple of them) to spin and change leads, it’s a bit more impressive than a guy doing it on reining bred quarter horses. Again, both are impressive, but draft horses are generally harder to get to do those maneuvers.
I’m very aware that not all horses will be good at maneuvers, but as trainers we have different skill levels for different tasks we are trying to do.
I saw a post the other day where a person talked about how long c**t starting takes. They stated it as a fact that c**t starting takes many, many hours and how they can only do 2 at a time (in a full days work). Obviously there was an underlying tone that people doing more a day than that are obviously doing it wrong or skipping steps.
It was a funny thing to read when only a few years ago I was talking with Wade Black and he told me c**t starting only takes 3 days. After that you’re doing foundation work, not c**t starting. That mindset shift was helpful to me.
And about a year before that I asked Mark how long it takes him to do a first ride and he said, probably around an hour and a half of work. So that could be 30 minutes a day for 3 days or 45 minute a day for two days. But I’ve also seen him go much faster that that. And for the record he’s starting to reach a point where some horses he doesn’t get on. They just aren’t probably going to make it and he’s got nothing to prove. I’m pretty sure he can get on anything if he felt the need. 😆 All I’m saying is if the zombie apocalypse comes, it don’t matter what horse is in the corral, he’s riding it out of town. 🤣
I guess now I use duplication as a bit of a measuring stick for my skill level at different tasks. I’m more skilled at trailer loading than lead changes because of the speed and regularity with which I can create similar (and quality) results. It’s also a far easier task to achieve. Young trainers should have consistent, quality trailer loading be one of their first expert level skills. They should know how to achieve it on a “fire drill” level and a teaching a crowd level. We once trailer loaded a barely halter broke mustang in under 5 minutes, in the dark, with a fire over the hill behind our house. Fire drill trailer loading is different than normal teaching. I’m pretty sure that horse actually loaded in under 60 seconds.
This year my focus is on sliding stops. I do them okay. But my duplication and quality both need to go up. I’m getting lessons, watching videos, and trying to be a keen observer of how it’s going with my horses.
If there’s something you want to get better at here’s what I’d suggest you consider before choosing a teacher. Have they accomplished the things you want to accomplish with different horses? Can they do it in higher difficulty situations (at a horse show, in town, in an open field, etc)? You should also tell them about your situation, the horse you have, what you want to achieve, and straight up ask them if they can help you with that. If they can’t they’ll probably suggest a different trainer.
Picking the right trainer to help you is a major key. You want someone skilled and experienced. Not someone who hit a home run with a horse or two. The ol one hit wonder of a certain skill loves to say things like, “more time” after you’ve paid for a year of them trying to figure out how to teach something they aren’t skilled at teaching. 🤣
