Mystic Ranch

We offer a natural horsemansip heaven for horse and human. We board horses in stalls and partially covered paddocks with daily herd turnouts.

Mystic Ranch was a horse - human paradise where people learned to read the horse, bond and ride with body language from 2002 until 2019 when we sold it and moved to Prescott Valley, Arizona. We give riding lessons ba****ck and without bits. Childrens lessons are $25 an hour; adult lessons are $50 an hour. Learn to understand the horse's point of view, communicate with body language and earn its tr

ust and respect. We train horses using the same techniques. Check out our web site for more information at www.mystic-ranch.com Watch videos of horses and people doing this style of horsemanship on youtube.com by searching mysticpasos or clicking on https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChfrbtOVy9IM8idqC3bcpZg?

01/12/2026

Antares Breakthroughs with Ropes, Hooves & Park Please

Sara came up to visit and played with Antares. We started with Give Me Rope games. Antares has been terrified of ropes and not safe to lead outside a small enclosure because if startled he would rip the line out of my hand. I took five ropes of different sizes and shapes: Shorty, Hasp, String, Rope and Halter and placed them on the ground, asking Antares to give me the named rope. He handed them to me. I then had Sara play the game with him. At first, he went for the wrong rope or tried to give it to me, but as he started to trust her, he gave her the requested ropes.

Trust gained through the Give me Rope game allowed Antares to hand his four hooves to Sara in the Hoof Please Game. Sara is the 5th person he has given his hooves to, not just in the small paddock, but in the large paddock as well!

Next up, I snapped on the lead. Ropes attached to his halter are the context where he fears ropes the most. Any pressure on the line would trigger panic. I allowed the belly of the rope to lie on the ground between us. He did not react in fear, freezing in place. He considered that rope, shook his head, experimentally at first, then more strongly, then actually sent the line toward me! He controlled that rope, it was not controlling him! I waited for him, allowing him to process this discovery. Janet came up. We chatted. Antares reached down to grab the rope on the ground. I asked him if he could give it to me and he DID! Fear and play are incompatible parts of the brain and Antares was crossing from Fear to Play in real time. I credit the Give me Rope game for this. It opened up the door to Antares seeing the rope, not as a threat, but as a toy.

Next up, I had Sara do some free lunging of Antares at liberty. Antares was a great teacher, responding to her body language, whether she meant to say what she did or not! She did a better whoa with him than I did, straight and soft. A good Wait too.

Next up, we played with Park Please and this video is a text book example of the human not paying enough attention to when the horse starts to become uncomfortable with your asks. I started by standing on the mounting block, rather than sitting on it. Antares showed doubt, but quickly said standing was fine, as was my rubbing his neck and back with my hands. I started to rub his back with my foot and he leaned away. I was consistently too slow in breaking off when I started to worry him. The goal at this stage of learning Park Please is to ensure that the horse loves everything you are doing with him because you want him to immediately ask if he can Park Please for you. I asked too much of him, not so much that I scared him, but too much, too quickly, for him to love it. Standing is now OK, rubbing his back and butt is OK for short time periods. Do not yet go over the center line until he is OK with my doing it with my hands. Pay attention to his body language and get out sooner! Live and learn Jackie

Many thanks to Sara for her coming up to play with Antares, Mystic and Amadeo.

Antares Breakthroughs with Ropes, Hooves & Park PleaseSara came up to visit and played with Antares. We started with Give Me Rope games. Antares has been t...

01/11/2026

Amadeo’s Breakthroughs

For a couple of weeks now, I have been leading Amadeo to the right 1/3 of a mile down Main Street, away from his brother Antares who has been his constant companion from birth. To distract him from that separation and to make him think taking walks with me is fun, I seeded Main Street with drops of carrot coins and cookies. First these were 30 feet apart, by the end of the week they were 300 feet apart. Finding treats on his walks triggered the seeking part of his brain, a desire to go forward to where he might find the next delightful treat. Far from worrying about leaving his brother behind, he came to my call to be haltered and was eager to go forward, yet never pulled on his lead line. That eagerness persisted when we came home again, when there were no treats to be found.

A couple of days ago, I turned left on Main Street taking him toward the round pen and hay barn. The first time he was wide eyed, but I pointed out that there was a little grass on the side of the road if he did a whoa and head down. We only went 60 feet that first day. My goal was to have him relax enough to graze and then we went home again. Today we went all the way down to the round pen, with Amadeo leading the way, happy to graze and unwilling to let Mystic take the lead. Mystic did lead the way into the round pen and Amadeo followed him in and we unsnapped the lead lines to let them explore for maybe ten minutes. Amadeo remained curious, exploring the barrels, cones and tires to be found there and happily led the way home again. I am making sure that his introductions to new things are creating an optimistic and curious partner.

We also played the park please game with Amadeo, with me asking him at liberty to line up with the mounting block where Sara first rubbed his back with her foot and then slid on, the first adult person on his back. Amadeo was at ease with her sitting on him and she slid off. Sara then played some tag with Amadeo.

When it was my turn to play the park please game, Amadeo was completely relaxed. I started by rubbing his back with my foot, then sliding on, then sliding off multiple times, asking Sara to draw him away and bring him back. The horse will follow the person on the ground in the direction she turns. Sara found this confusing since her instinct told her to turn away from Amadeo and the mounting block, not invite him to turn with her toward the mounting block. She got it eventually and this kind of repetition at this phase of learning is good. Each time the horse leaves the park please next to the mounting block and returns, it strengthens his desire to stay in place in park please, rather than leave it. Why should I leave when I could just stay here? I finally slid completely on Amadeo, rubbing him for a minute or so before sliding off and calling the session done.

I am so proud of this c**t. His willingness, his trust, his eagerness to please, his calm acceptance of new things, they are quintessentially Amadeo! The temptation is huge to do more, but I wanted him to digest park please and feel happy to have us slide on him while staying relaxed. I want him asking for more, not me forcing more on him.

We were done for the day and Sara took me out for breakfast before heading back to Phoenix, reminding both of us of the joy we shared with the horses during her exchange year.

Amadeo’s BreakthroughsFor a couple of weeks now, I have been leading Amadeo to the right 1/3 of a mile down Main Street, away from his brother Antares who ha...

01/07/2026

Approach and Mutual Consent Matter

I recently read a post from someone who was sad that her horse did not appreciate her grooming her, or giving her cuddles.

On the grooming front, my horses tend to prefer to be scratched rather than groomed with a brush, and always at liberty.

I share territory with my horses almost daily. I’ll sit on a chair or on the pedestal and just hang out with them. They know that if I’m seated that they can come up to me and ask me to scratch whichever part of their anatomy tends to be itchy. Since I do not stand up to do that the horses have to maneuver their bodies around in order to place the correct part in my hands for me to scratch. Tori would move her belly literally over my chair so that my fingers were right underneath it to scratch. Mystic would back up and place one of his hocks on my knee so that I could scratch the front of his hind leg for him. Antares loves me to scratch under his heavy mane where he tends to get overheated and itchy. Amadeo always has an itchy right hind leg.

Their preferences are different, but I think the fact that they get to control access to their body has a lot to do with the fact that they get such enjoyment out of it. They choose what they want and I choose to give them pleasure by responding by lovingly fulfilling their requests. That builds their desire to request my touch and cuddles.

Antares and Amadeo were wild, suspicious of my touch, but over the two years I have had them, they came to accept my scratches and cuddles, then enjoy them, because I pause the instant they stop leaning into my touch. Touch has to feel good to us both.

Consider for a moment, from the horse’s point of view, the more typical interaction where the owner goes out, halters them, ties them up and does as they wish with their bodies, particularly when the horses are telling their human, by pinned ears, that they are not enjoying it. Consider what your own emotional reactions would be if someone did that to you.

Of course you will want to knock off the mud before you tack up your horse to go for a ride, and sometimes you need to give them medication that tastes terrible or treat a wound. All that might be necessary, but how you approach her and whether she consents matters to building a mutual respectful loving relationship. She cannot truly consent when she is tied up.

All this has led to me doing 99% of my care interactions with my horses at liberty. Since they know they can walk away, they most often decide they don’t have to. I groom my horses at liberty, medicate my horses at liberty, treat their wounds at liberty. Only when the vet shows up do I halter them, but my line is loose and I still ask for permission.

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01/05/2026

Gifts of Growing Trust

We have had Antares and Amadeo for two years now. Antares had two big fears that prevented us from making progress: he would walk away from anyone, but particularly any MAN, who asked for his hooves and he was terrified of ropes touching him or leading him.

Over Christmas there was a seismic shift increasing his trust in us and reducing his fear of requests he simply could not tolerate before. His nervous system literally changed. From spooking dramatically fleeing from us to quietly turning to see what something was, considering it, then returning to us within a minute.

Val’s husband Dave is kind and quiet. Antares trusts him, to give him all four of his hooves, to clean those hooves and to lean on top and over him. Dave, says Antares, is good people, highly trustworthy! Antares is a good judge of character.

Then there was his perception of ropes. Before, ropes were there to trap you, highly dangerous, never to be allowed to touch you or put pressure on you. It was beyond his comprehension that a rope could connect you to someone you love and help communicate between you. That started to change when we threw down 4 ropes of different lengths and encouraged him to touch them, grab them, give them to us and catch them in his teeth as Val dangled them over his forehead. Some ropes were more scary than others and it was Antares who got to choose when he was brave enough to grab the most scary rope and he did it after successfully grabbing the easier ones many many times. Antares loves that game and picking up ropes and giving them to us had HIM dangling and moving the ropes, not us. His fear of them dropped with each game.

This made so many things possible. He is allowing us to rub the lead line against his right neck, back and side (though not the left yet). He came to a feel on the line (instead of resisting or pulling back) and backed up a good 15 feet, with flow. He lunged easily going to the left, picked up a gait to a gesture and slowed and stopped to a sigh. He still worried when the belly of the lead line lay on the ground, shaking his head to shake that rope, but it was worry, not blind panic and he is holding it together. That fear will also diminish over time because nothing bad is going to happen to this c**t in our hands. He even allowed us to combine his two greatest fears: being on line when someone asked him to give them his hooves.

I then led Antares through the gate and into the tack shed enclosure where I have the mounting block. It was the first time I had led him through a gate and it took him a long while to decide that he could do it, but I waited patiently and he came to me. Val sat on the mounting block and I asked Antares to park please next to her so she could rub his neck, withers and back and then lean on him. The line was loose because I want Antares to know he CAN leave if he wants to. When he took a step away, I led him away and asked him to try again. Each approach increased his confidence, allowing him to come closer and more parallel.

After Antares was done astonishing us with his gifts of trust, Amadeo got a turn at park please, with me sitting and standing on the mounting block while Val led him. Amadeo allowed me to rub him with my hands, and then my foot and then sit on him as I would on a sofa and then stretch my leg over his back gently resting 80% of my weight on him. None of that seemed to bother him so I think we are approaching the day he will invite me onto his back.

All in all, we had the best time with Antares and Amadeo, richly blessed with their gifts of trust.

Gifts of Growing TrustWe have had Antares and Amadeo for two years now. Antares had two big fears that prevented us from making progress: he would walk awa...

12/29/2025

Leading Amadeo Down Main Street

Amadeo leads well in his paddock but it very bonded to his brother Antares. When I started leading him down Main Street without Antares he became agitated, bumping into me for comfort and lipping at me in distress. I decided to plant a carrot piece every 20 feet or so for him to discover as we walked down Main Street. It worked well as a distraction from being separated from his brother. He only realized that he was separated as we neared his paddock again. Success!!

Leading Amadeo Down Main StreetAmadeo leads well in his paddock but it very bonded to his brother Antares. When I started leading him down Main Street witho...

12/24/2025

Antares Deciding that Ropes are OK

When our Paso Fino stallion, Antares, was captured in Utah 2 years ago, they placed a web halter and 8 foot lead line on him to make him easier to catch. He carried that halter and lead line, tripping himself for 3 months, two months before they found a vet to geld him and a month after we trailered him home before he trusted us enough to remove the halter and lead line. During that time he developed a deep fear of halter, ropes and lead lines. It took us close to a year before he trusted us to halter him and he still tended to panic when we snapped on a lead line to his halter.

Today, that changed. Antares decided that my string and the lead line were both toys that could be grabbed from our hands or off of the ground and handed to us. This video captures the day Antares’ world changed and he opened himself up to listening to a feel on the line as communication with us, not something to fear. He still worries about the rope touching him behind his face, but look at his soft expression and willingness to lunge around Val on a loose line, even dragging on the ground at times. What an amazing breakthrough with this special c**t!

Antares Deciding that Ropes are OKWhen our Paso Fino stallion, Antares, was captured in Utah 2 years ago, they placed a web halter and 8 foot lead line on hi...

Address

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White City, OR
97503

Telephone

+15412614289

Website

http://www.mystic-ranch.com/

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