Mystic Ranch

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?

Liberty Hooves, Rasp, Face Mask, Back, Wait, ComeA week ago Antares got his first hoof trim in his six years of life. I...
07/12/2026

Liberty Hooves, Rasp, Face Mask, Back, Wait, Come

A week ago Antares got his first hoof trim in his six years of life. I realized that he needs daily liberty practice of the things we need him to accept that we can do with him.

This routine focuses on those key behaviors that as a domestic horse, he has to be OK with. As you will see in the video, he is not there yet on some of them, but he approves of this liberty approach to learning desired human behaviors. If he is uncomfortable with anything I ask of him, he either will stand aloof and not participate or, he will leave. That is his choice. If he does not participate, I can ask him again. If he leaves, I go with him, with my hand resting on his butt until he chooses to stop and offer a behavior. He gets as many opportunities to decide to not participate, leave or participate as he needs.

It is helpful to have Amadeo participate in these sessions, because Amadeo is happy to demonstrate the desired behaviors and show Antares that they are safe. Often, Amadeo will do something several times before Antares decides that he can also participate. The only behavior that Antares does better than Amadeo is to “Wait”, not surprising since his first choice is to opt out of participating in human ideas.

Here are the games we play at liberty:

Hoof Please: Keep your foot on the ground if I rub your leg; raise it and put it into my hand if I touch the back of your knee or hock and say hoof please. Allow me to clean your hoof, then put it back down gently when I say hoof down.

Rasp Please: When I have your hoof in my hand, allow me to rasp the hoof with you staying relaxed and only putting it down when I say hoof down.

Face Mask Please: Touch the face mask when I reach out with it to your nose. Allow me to touch you with the face mask when I say touch Antares. Allow me to rub it over your neck, nose, cheek and ears, eventually sliding it onto you. Today, it took 20 minutes before Antares was willing to do this. It is critical to him that I stay cheerful and relaxed when he leaves me, walking with him, waiting for him to decide that he is ready for the face mask.

Wait: Stand in place while I walk around you or clean the arena of its rocks and manure. Antares excels at Wait, while Amadeo is good at the short walk around version, but becomes impatient with the longer versions of wait and starts to follow me. Antares likes the fact that he gets rewarded for Wait, while Amadeo sometimes loses the reward because of his impatience.

Back: Back up when requested.

Come: Come to me when I ask. This often happens when I am in front of the horses. Amadeo will come to me from any position. With Antares, I found it easier to break his hooves loose by walking toward his hind end, putting a bit of pressure on it, while backing up and asking him to come. When his “come” becomes fluid, that is where I end our liberty session. I know he likes this game the best because he will volunteer to play it with me after I open the arena gate and he is in the open pasture.

Liberty Hooves, Rasp, Face Mask, Back, Wait, ComeA week ago Antar...

Antares First Hoof TrimWe got Antares and Amadeo, wild out of Utah, in November 2023. He was aloof and afraid to be tra...
07/05/2026

Antares First Hoof Trim

We got Antares and Amadeo, wild out of Utah, in November 2023. He was aloof and afraid to be trapped and I have spent the last 3 years slowly earning his trust.

While Amadeo accepted having his hooves trimmed within a couple of months, Antares left any time someone asked for his hooves. His hooves grew overlong, but I was committed to having his consent to hoof care. He got better, he got worse, but when Laszlo came to trim the other horses over the last year, Antares kept out of range, with his hooves getting worse each month.

I spent the last month daily asking both c**ts to give me their hooves at liberty for me to clean. Amadeo was my demo c**t, happily handing his hooves to me to clean at liberty. At the beginning, I would ask Antares for “hoof please” and touch the back of his knee or hock, Antares would leave, I would follow and, when he stopped, ask again. He left, I asked and eventually, he realized that Amadeo was OK with giving me his hooves, so it was safe for him to pick up a hoof and hand it to me to clean with a hoof pick. The daily routine, taking only a couple of minutes, became “normal” and thus not dangerous.

I brought out a rasp and, as it touched his hoof, he pulled it away. The noise and vibration of the rasp also needed to become normal. I did one single swipe with the rasp and put his hoof down again - before he could take it away from me. I asked Val to deliver cookies to Antares as long as he left his hoof in my hand to rasp. Within a minute, he figured out the rules for cookie delivery and left his hoof in my hand while I rasped his overlong hoof. I brought out a concrete block and asked him to “step up” on it and leave his hoof with the toe over its edge as I rasped down on the toe. Same rules regarding cookie delivery, with the same cooperative result. I texted the video to my trimmer, Laszlo Vandracsek, and he volunteered to come out on July 4 to try trimming Antares.

To boost our odds of success, I administered Dormosedan to Antares before Laszlo arrived. Antares easily takes my syringes since I taught him to accept them with apple juice when Amadeo needed dental work 2 and a half years ago. The Dormosedan syringe looked different and he backed away. I followed and just rubbed the capped syringe over his face until he relaxed, then rubbed it inside his mouth until he relaxed, then took off the cap and gave him the sedative.

He quickly became mellow and we thought to rid him of the irritation of flies by wiping him down with fly spray. Big mistake. He blew, I tossed the lead line after him, and he went racing around my small compound, but only 3 laps before stopping to stare at me and the lead line lying on the ground. He allowed me to pick up the lead line and lead him back to my chair. Ten minutes later, Laszlo arrived and Antares woke up enough to give him a gimlet eye. Laszlo sat down and we chatted until Antares became well and truly drunk.

Laszlo started by rubbing him all over, then his legs, then asking for a leg. At first, Antares felt he needed all four hooves on the ground to keep from falling down, but eventually he agreed to give a hoof to Laszlo, then the next and the next. Laszlo got his nippers and hoof stand to support Antares’ leg while he cut off an inch of excess concrete hard hoof. For the front hooves, he needed me to support Antares’ knee so he did not take the hoof forward or back. He did not need my help for the hinds.

The goal for this session was to ensure that Antares had a good experience first, and to get rid of the horrible excess hoof wall, if possible. Not knowing how long the drug would last, Laszlo concluded that using the hoof knife to clean out the frog and rasping the hoof could wait for another session. We sat with Antares while he came awake and it was so sweet to see him cuddling with Laszlo. The man who he had avoided for a year was the one he trusted to guard him while he was under the influence. I am over the moon happy and proud of my c**t and grateful to Laszlo for his compassion, patience and skill with Antares. Well done, both of you!

Antares First Hoof TrimWe got Antares and Amadeo, wild out of Uta...

Step Up, Rasping and Leading OutsideToday, we started with Intimacy Bucket, then halter please, then hoof please, then r...
07/03/2026

Step Up, Rasping and Leading Outside

Today, we started with Intimacy Bucket, then halter please, then hoof please, then rasp please, then I introduced a concrete block and asked Antares to step up on it, with his toe over the edge and allow me to rasp the toe of his hoof. He picked it up quickly and seemed relaxed allowing me to rasp the toe while Val fed him cookies. It is not a hoof stand, but it is a beginning.

Next up, Val snapped on a lead line and led Antares on a loose line, first in our small area, then in the larger arena weaving some cones, then out in the pasture, opening a gate and leading him through it, turning him around and repeating the exercise, asking him to back through the gate. With repetition, he did it all calmly, on a loose line and greater flow. Val next led him to the obstacle course, to weave the cones there, walk over the cavaletti, and around the outside of the reverse round pen. He was a little concerned when he got stuck and she lifted her supporting hand to encourage forward motion, but he considered, then tried forward motion again. We also had him step up on the low pedestal and pivot both left and right, keeping his hooves on the pedestal. While he had done that months ago at liberty, this was the first time he had done it when on lead! Val opened the obstacle course gate and led him back to the training arena, relaxed and licking and chewing and not once thinking of bolting away from her. We were blown away by this seismic shift in trust and try from Antares. How could we not love this horse?

Step Up, Rasping and Leading OutsideToday, we started with Intima...

Antares First Pedicure Today was a red letter day for Antares. Antares is in desperate need of hoof care, having never ...
07/02/2026

Antares First Pedicure

Today was a red letter day for Antares. Antares is in desperate need of hoof care, having never had his hooves trimmed in 6 years. I have been asking him for hoof please at liberty the last three weeks and that daily practice has him handing his hooves to me and letting me clean them with a hoof pick, swinging them forward, back and sideways before placing them back on the ground. Today, Val sat in the chair and offered him cookies as long as he quietly held his hoof in my hands while I rasped his hooves. When I put the hoof down, the cookies stopped until I asked for his hoof and he gave it back to me. This was the first time that Antares allowed me to rasp his hooves. The video of me rasping is sped up to reduce boredom, but even so, you can see that he is relaxed and happy to leave his hooves in my hands. I did not make material changes to his concrete hard hooves, but the attitudinal shift was remarkable. From fleeing to looking forward to giving me his hooves and letting me rasp them. What a good boy he was.

After the rasping session, Val did a scratch fest with Antares, reducing him to a puddle of gratitude and delight. It was a fabulous session with a c**t we love so much.

Antares First Pedicure Today was a red letter day for Antares. A...

Happy Birthday KamiA 20th birthday tribute to my brilliant, beautiful, creative and playful Kami girl. I was with her w...
07/02/2026

Happy Birthday Kami

A 20th birthday tribute to my brilliant, beautiful, creative and playful Kami girl. I was with her when she was born on July 1, 2006, and I helped Talaria dry her off. While Kami enjoyed carrying us on trail rides, above all, she loved doing tricks and playing with us at liberty. I taught her some tricks, but she invented her own, picking up and spinning barrels, and if you threw a ball or cone, she would go fetch it, carry it and give it to you, generally after smacking Mystic in the face with it.

The favorite game she created was liberty on horseback. I can’t describe the magic of having her lead us on trail rides, race off a hundred feet away from us, then turn and gallop back to us to give us her patented smiles and kisses.

Happy birthday beautiful girl, you still bring joy to my heart!

Happy Birthday KamiA birthday tribute to my brilliant, beautiful,...

Asher and Caden’s Horse AdventuresMy nephew Trevor, his wife Nush, and their 5 year old son, Caden, and 3 year old son, ...
06/21/2026

Asher and Caden’s Horse Adventures

My nephew Trevor, his wife Nush, and their 5 year old son, Caden, and 3 year old son, Asher, came to visit. I took Trevor and Asher out to meet the horses. Asher was intimidated by Mystic’ size, only willing to lean on and pet him as Trevor held him. No problem. I never want a frightened child on a horse.

The next day the whole family went out to visit the horses and Caden volunteered to get on Mystic. He was a bit worried about the speed of Mystic’s walk. I asked him to notice how Mystic’s walk moved Caden’s hips from one side to the other. Then I asked Caden to deliberately slow the movement of his hips, which asked Mystic to slow the speed of his walk, which gave Caden more confidence. Seeing Caden successfully ride Mystic, Asher asked to ride him as well and he quickly relaxed. The focus of the first ride was simply to find and stay in the center of Mystic’s back and feel and move with Mystic’s movement. I had a lead line on Mystic so they did not have to worry about guiding him.

For the second session I put a neck string around Mystic’s neck and asked them to hold onto the ba****ck pad with one hand and put a thumb through the neck string and point in the direction they wanted Mystic to go. Mystic mirrors the body language of his rider. When they raised a hand, it tended to tilt their pelvis forward, which causes Mystic to go forward. When they wanted a turn, by pointing in the desired direction, it started to rotate their pelvis, and Mystic would turn. To change directions, they needed to change the hand that held the neck string. To stop, all they had to do was inhale, sigh and sit back a little, and Mystic would stop, sinking onto his hind end. To back up, all they had to do was think about walking their hips back in time with his feet. Getting the body language consistent takes practice, but when they got it right, Mystic flowed with them and their confidence grew.

By the third session Caden’s concerns had evaporated and he wanted more speed. Sadly, Mystic gaits faster than I can keep up, so he only got a short bit of gaiting! I told him how to stand on Mystic’s back, then jump off with his Dad holding his hands to help him with his balance as he landed safely on the ground. He then learned how to ride Mystic backwards. It is based on Mystic following his body language, and required that he think backwards, but it worked! Lastly, he asked that I ride Mystic with him. That was helpful because he could feel my body language and Mystic’s immediate response and his grin showed how much fun he thought it was.

I took advantage of having Trevor there to ask him to play the hoof please game with Amadeo and Antares and both c**ts cooperated. We went out into the pasture and Nush met Antares and my reserved c**t took to her. She gave him a hug and he not only accepted her embrace, but followed her up to the training area, played the park please game with her sitting on a fence above him, and hoof please game, handing her his hooves.

It was a great visit with the family and I was very pleased with how much progress Caden and Asher made in learning to ride with feel.

Asher and Caden’s Horse AdventuresMy nephew Trevor, his wife Nush...

Maia’a 19th Birthday FunAnne’s Paso Fino mare, Maia, turned 19 and we celebrated by sharing territory with her, grooming...
04/22/2026

Maia’a 19th Birthday Fun

Anne’s Paso Fino mare, Maia, turned 19 and we celebrated by sharing territory with her, grooming her itchy shedding coat, having her do some of her favorite tricks, a few (well maybe more than a few) cookies, getting her a pedicure, playing on the ground in the new arena, having pear pieces (her favorite treat) added to her supper and a trail ride. Anne and Maia have a soul deep connection impossible to miss as you watch them play together.

Take a few minutes and enjoy their connection and joyful play in this short video. Mary Ann Kennedy’s song “Mares” is perfect for this video and is used with permission of the artist.

Maia’s 19th Birthday Fun

Reunion with MaiaOn April 13 I left Nadja Rietdorff and Berlin and took the train from Berlin to Hamburg to visit Anne F...
04/16/2026

Reunion with Maia

On April 13 I left Nadja Rietdorff and Berlin and took the train from Berlin to Hamburg to visit Anne Frankowski and her Paso Fino mare, Maia. Anne was my exchange student in Oregon from 2012 to 2013 during which she used my mare Maia in her Equestrian Team activities. Maia was my beloved Tori’s only foal and the niece of my beloved Mystic, a perfect mix to two incredible horses. Anne and Maia bonded during that year and Anne came back to visit us the next two summers. It was clear that mare and girl shared a soul deep bond and I could not keep them separated so Maia moved to Germany ten years ago. I come to Germany to visit them every 2 to 3 years, the daughter of my heart and the mare I thought would be my “old age” horse.

This video captures the first few days of our reunion, the love we share and Maia’s willingness to carry me around as she explored the new home to which she had just moved. Mary Ann Kennedy’s Language of Love is perfect for this video and is used with permission of the artist.

Reunion with Maia

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