Selecting and Starting the Ideal Yearling Longe Line Prospect
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By Kristen Spinning
Longe Line classes can be a great way to show your yearling and have fun introducing him to the world, but it can also lead to burnout and dismal under saddle performance. With futurities and incentives luring exhibitors with big payouts, more and more young horses are being campaigned. The popularity of these classes increases while some are cautioning restraint. Are we pushing too hard on young minds and bodies? Three highly successful Longe Line exhibitors share their insight about how they train, show, and win without ruining a young horse’s prospects for a long show career.
Randy Haines
“If they can walk and stop, then they’ll jog and lope,” Randy Haines reiterates with his straightforward approach about getting a Longe Line prospect ready. Randy and his wife, Kim, know a bit about youngsters. They breed 8-10 of their own mares each year, so they have a nice crop from which to chose from. “We start handling them from the day they are born,” Randy says. “We watch them as they are out in the pasture running around with their friends. I kind of know by the time they are weaned if they are going to make a good prospect.”
Randy keeps a watchful eye on the mechanics of movement as their little band cavorts in the pasture. “I look for the ones with a nice cadence at the jog and one that’s flat. I also want to see that they are slow-legged enough. It’s easier to start one that’s slow than to have to try to slow one down that’s going too fast.”
“There is nothing that will beat pretty,” Randy asserts. He looks for a nice, level topline and good shoulder angle. He evaluates how the neck ties into the shoulder, because that controls the flow of the gaits. “I want them to be pretty firm in the ankle as well. Too much give affects the knees, and that affects the jog.”
Not everyone has the ability to know his or her prospects from birth, so how does one evaluate the mental attitude of a yearling upon first impression? “Well, if you are eyeing a bunch of yearlings, the one who is running to the back of the pack is probably not your best bet,” he quips. “The one who is friendly and likes you is a good place to start.” When evaluating a colt, he maneuvers them to walk, stop, turn, stand, and go in both directions, while looking for signs of willingness or irritability. However, Randy is quick to point out that once you have started a yearling, you have to keep a close eye on them. “If they are pinning their ears, getting nippy, or you have to drag them up from the pasture to work them, it’s a sign they don’t like this job anymore.”
Randy starts his prospect in October. When work begins, it happens without pressure. He is always vigilant against blowing their minds or creating problems he has to fix later. “I try to stay out of the round pen as much as I can,” he says. “With that rail there, they drop their shoulder to the inside too much, and they kick their hip out. Then, when you aren’t in the round pen, you have to break them of that habit.” Instead, Randy goes straight to an eight-foot, thin lead rope and works at the walk, often in his front yard. He lets them go around a few times in both directions, and then he asks them to stand quietly. Loping is the last thing he introduces, and not until April or May, just before the Tom Powers Futurity. He is dead set against teaching young horses to ‘run around like idiots.’ He is all for them kicking up their heels out in the pasture. However, on the lead, it’s all about business and going low and slow. Kim playfully interjects on this subject… “Randy is always going a hundred miles an hour,” she laughs. “To get the yearlings to slow down, we first have to get Randy to slow down!”
Randy doesn’t have a grueling training regime, opting instead for fewer sessions and more time for being a horse. He admits his winning filly, Im Fancy Schmancy, didn’t have the best hair coat going into the major competitions this fall; she spent 90% of her time ‘out with her friends.’ She was worked only a few times before heading to the Congress and her resulting big wins. He firmly believes her good expression in the pen was the result of this healthy balance of work and play.
When getting ready for that first foray into the arena with a young horse, Randy continues his practical, mind-preserving approach. In late May, he packs up the prospects and takes them to some local shows to let them experience the sights and sounds. He walks them around casually, explaining, “We don’t get in anybody’s way. I might longe them a little bit out in the grass.”
The Haines’ approach results not only in wins, but also in sound horses that move on to success under saddle. He doesn’t let them burn out young, because he doesn’t let any fires start in the first place.
Kathie Kennedy
Kathie has been involved in Longe Line since the mid-’90s. She was drawn to the discipline as a way to keep her hand in the ring, so to speak, after a bad wreck. “I had an incident with a horse that flipped over on me,” she says. “Besides knocking my front teeth out, it shattered my tailbone.” Following back surgery, her doctor and surgeon advised her not to ride anymore. “It seemed to be the next best thing,” she says. It proved to be a good move, as Kathie has produced many champions through her program.
Kathie loves the diversity of yearlings that she can choose from in both AQHA and APHA. She feels fortunate there are so many great bloodlines available, which offer different strengths and routinely produce remarkable movement. She says, “I’m not as stuck on any one bloodline anymore, like I used to be,” she says. “It’s more about trying to get the best out of the prospect’s positives.”
She does have an eye for conformation though, citing that any prospect, regardless of its breeding, must be balanced, correct, and have eye appeal to succeed in the pen. When visiting farms in search of prospects, she first watches them run in the field to evaluate their natural movement. She looks for balance and cadence in their stride. “I want to see if they can stand up as they lope around the corners and look for the changes in movement as they lope down the fence.”
She agrees that the other vital component to a prospect’s success in the pen is its attitude. “As we all know, the mind is more than half of the battle in all show horses,” she says. As youngsters, horses’ minds must be must be handled with care and respect for their development. “As trainers, we must listen to our prospects and let them guide us through the [training] process. They will go as fast or as slow as they let us.”
Yearlings start arriving at Kathie’s farm in February and March. She treats each as an individual and tailors their training based on their mind and the goals of the owners. “I use the round pen to start all my yearlings,” she says. “I try not to stay in it too long though… It’s a stepping stone.” Building up a work routine, she takes each one at their own pace until they are ready to be presented at their first show. By that time, the routine is so familiar to the youngster that the show pen is not such a big deal. “Consistency is the key to any successful program, and I try to work them the same at a show as we do at home.”
Kathie keeps the pressure off her horses to keep them fresh, thus giving them a better future under saddle. Over the last few years, she has cut down on the number of shows to which she takes yearlings. The Tom Powers Futurity, the NSBA World Show, the Quarter Horse Congress, and the APHA World Show are her annual destinations. She credits this light schedule with avoiding the burnout that she sees in so many of the horses that are campaigned all over the country throughout the entire summer.
Dominique Powers
Dominique Powers views showing yearlings as a positive influence on their subsequent careers. “Since I strongly believe in early and positive socialization, in my opinion, there is nothing better than Longe Line classes to achieve that before stepping up to the riding classes,” she says.
Dom and her husband, Tom Powers work together when choosing a yearling prospect. They both have to agree that the prospect has that wow factor. They focus on bloodlines that excel in Western Pleasure, seeking out a general balance and proportion, strong back, and good hocks. Color doesn’t matter much to them, other than it helps to have something to set the yearling apart from the crowd. She says there also has to be an overall prettiness to ensure that special eye appeal. “Both headset and tailset are important to me,” she says. “A natural headset will be so much easier to train and get ready to show. Since I keep the tails natural, a low tailset is also a must.” Though her conformation list has plenty of check boxes, she agrees that none of it really matters if you don’t fall in love with the movement. She insists that the first impression is vital. She looks for a colt that goes deep underneath, even at the walk. “They need to show me a clear two beat gait at the jog, even if it’s only for two strides. Then, I know they will be able to jog and keep the beat. I like slow-legged horses better, but because I want to ride them the following year, a little knee at the lope doesn’t upset me as long as the cadence is there.” She admits it can be a challenge to find a compromise between the real sweeping movement so popular in Longe Line and the one that has enough elevation, cadence, and strength to carry a rider as a two-year-old.
Looks and movement may whittle a herd down to a few individuals, but then she starts to study the horses’ minds to further sort them out. “We eliminate pinned ears toward humans or pasture mates and the overly spooky colts that will constantly run at 100 miles an hour.” She prefers a low energy prospect, but not so low as to be dull, and one that shows curiosity and interest toward a new situation instead of panic.
Dom starts her prospects with a great deal of groundwork to establish the trust and respect that’s critical before moving forward with training. She starts them early, anywhere between December and January, to allow enough time to avoid any kind of pressure. “Very slowly, I will start to longe a few minutes at a time, asking for walk and whoa only, progressively enlarging the circles. Usually, I work one side only every day.” She is mindful not to overwork them. “Apart from the ground work, 10 or 15 minutes a day is plenty in order to keep them sound. That is all the time they will be able to concentrate on the job.” She keeps a wary eye on how the horse manages stress, never pushing too hard. “As long as my horse stays calm, I will slowly introduce the jog and the lope.” She uses the same routine to build confidence, adding to it only when the horse is ready. She believes routine becomes a problem only when the stress level is too high and the horse tries to escape the predictable discomfort as a result.
Once Dom has a good foundation established, she takes the yearling to a few shows simply to walk him around and longe a little bit with all the new sights and sounds. “Because they mostly live outside at home, it will take a couple of shows for them to get over being herd bound. I don’t mind this downside because the benefits are huge mentally and physically.”
Consistency and low stress keep Dom’s horses sound, both mentally and physically, which allows them to progress to future under saddle careers. “I strongly believe one of the biggest upsides to our training program is the pasture time with other horses,” she says. “We allow our prospects to interact with their peers and enjoy the freedom they get.” She cautions that you may have to wait to see how a yearling matures and how they perform with a rider to determine if they can make it as a two-year-old under saddle. “The basics learned during the Longe Line year facilitate the riding process, since they understand the commands, and they are used to the stress and traffic at the horse show. If you keep them happy and healthy, their Longe Line experience will be a huge benefit.” She rejects the idea of pushing a successful yearling into work under saddle; she notes that some may need another year to get stronger, and only a few of them will make it as an elite under saddle horse.
