“My love of horses started when I was a little kid,” says Rose. “I was obsessed with horses. At 12, my parents signed me up for riding lessons, and I was hooked. Shortly after that, we bought a horse. And I loved cowboy movies! I’ve worked with some fantastic cowboys and am deeply impressed with their grittiness and commitment to the animals in their care. When it comes to the animal, cowboys don’t quit until the job is done . . . I admire their courage.”  

And although he’s the first to admit he’s not a true cowboy, Rose still “loves the idea of being a cowboy.” His deep understanding of horses and their behavior allows him to help horses and their owners to truly connect, demonstrate mutual respect, and build strong partnerships. Rose’s skills in colt starting, problem-solving difficult behaviors, and training horses in ranch versatility have bolstered his resumé.   

Becoming a Horseman

Rose began working as a professional horse trainer in 2005. He quickly recognized the connection between having a successful horse trainer/clinician career and understanding what it takes to be a true horseman. He studied with world-class instructors, including Pat Parelli and Doug Jordan. Whether presenting at a small clinic or entertaining huge audiences at Equine Affaire or Road to the Horse, his engaging personality and passion for teaching shines through. Rose has a comprehensive training program based from his home in Wisconsin and an impressive following on his YouTube channel @ryanrosehorsemanship.  

Rose finds immense satisfaction in teaching the fundamentals of horsemanship. “I started as a horse trainer, but I soon realized that I needed to educate the owners as well so they could reproduce the results I was achieving.”   

Explaining the nuances between being a horseman and a horse trainer, Rose says, “I think they are separate skills—but there is value in both. A horseman focuses on giving the horse a really good deal—it’s more about the horse, helping him feel more comfortable. When I think of a horse trainer, they may feel pressure to provide a result for the owner. Trainers are very disciplined—in a good way—regularly working the horse, getting them conditioned and prepared for a show, but sometimes the horse can get sacrificed a little bit in that process.” 

Rose believes that being able to intertwine these skillsets can make a difference.

“I think there is value in being a good trainer, in being a good horseman, and in being a good cowboy,” Rose says. “You need to add each of those skills at different times.” 

Determining where to apply these skills requires a process of observation.

“One of the first principles of horsemanship that I follow is that I work with a horse at where they are,” says Rose. “Is the horse scared of people? Learned to dominate people? Is he spoiled? Or highly trained but done in a way that the horse felt forced through it?” Rose takes time to observe the horse and owner to see the level of connection, trust, and confidence the horse has for the person.   

To understand the horse fully, Rose stresses this process might take hours, days, or weeks. He watches for any signs that the horse is uncomfortable. “They give subtle tells—with their head, neck, ears, eyes, mouth, muscle tension, what direction they are facing . . . It’s all signals as to where the horse is at. There’s also an intuitive feel to it. It’s like if I’m having a bad day, I could probably fool you and hide it, but I couldn’t fool my wife. She would know. You can develop that with a horse and just feel something is bothering them.”    

Rose’s approach to working with a reactive or spooky horse plays out in his YouTube videos. “Both humans and horses must have levels of exposure to a challenging situation in order to overcome it,” says Rose. “So it starts with the person deciding they want to make a change. When someone shows up at my clinic, I try to figure out if they are ready to face their fear or simply want an enjoyable weekend with their horse. If they are open to change, my job is to find out where they’re at—and then challenge them out of their comfort zone safely. Horses are dangerous, so I carefully read the horse and person. I try to understand why the person is afraid. Is their fear valid? Is their horse dangerous? Is the person on the verge of getting hurt? Or, did they have a bad experience in the past and are bringing that into the present?

“If that’s the case, I’m going to coach them, challenging them through exposure to whatever is causing the fear—riding down a steep hill, cantering, riding bareback, or just being on a loose rein. I’ve seen unbelievable changes in people when you put them in a difficult situation and help them work through it—they become empowered. Their confidence level on the other side is just through the roof. I think it’s a more meaningful approach versus just visualizing it . . . A level of toughness and confidence comes through having to actually do it.”  

Teaming Up As Husband and Wife

In addition to focusing on the mental aspects, Rose helps riders grasp how vital correct body position is to progress and the well-being of your horse. “You could ride lameness into a horse with incorrect body position,” says Rose. Although not an expert in the field of rider biomechanics, he is married to one—his wife, Emily Rose, is a Certified Equine Rehabilitation Practitioner at Reaching Strides Equine Rehabilitation and an integral part of the Rose Horsemanship Center team.

“I make sure the horse is safe, but if the rider is struggling to sit the canter or feeling pain while trotting, Emily and I work together to get that sorted out for the rider and horse’s sake,” says Rose.  

Emily actively competes in dressage and is Rose’s business partner. “One of the things I enjoy most about working with my wife is our ability to help people—whether horse health issues or rider biomechanics. I can troubleshoot issues with Emily. It’s all in-house; I don’t have to outsource for that expertise. Emily is such a high-level professional, I have one hundred percent trust in what she recommends. And if Emily sees a horse for a physical issue and it turns out to be a behavioral issue, she can refer to me, and I can quickly step in to help. The response time is so much quicker because we are working together.”  

For Ryan and Emily Rose, it’s all about creating lasting connections between horses and the people who love them.  

Learn more about Ryan and Emily Rose and view upcoming clinics and events at  rosehorsemanship.com.  

This article about Ryan Rose is a web exclusive for Horse Illustrated magazine. Click here to subscribe!

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As a clinician, there are a few training mistakes that I see again and again that are pretty easy to avoid once you know to watch out for them. At one point or another, I have fallen into all of these traps myself, and would like to help others avoid them.

1. Boring Your Horse

This problem is becoming more common all the time. It usually comes from a good place on the part of the trainer; he or she is trying to be thorough and cover all the necessary training steps, then repeat them until the horse has it down pat.

Although repetition is important when it comes to training horses, non-stop repetition is boring, takes away a horse’s desire to learn, and makes the training uninteresting. Think about the most boring teacher you ever had in school, and you probably get the picture.

Start to think in terms of quality instead of quantity when it comes to training. When you’re getting a good response from your horse, move on from that lesson for the day and do something else. Also try mixing in new lessons or putting little twists on old ones to change things up.

2. Only Trail Riding or Only Riding in an Arena

If you always ride in an arena, you stand a pretty good chance of ending up with a horse that knows a lot of maneuvers and handles well in a controlled environment, but he’s probably lacking in overall life skills because he hasn’t been exposed to much.

If you always ride in a straight line on a trail ride, you will likely have a horse that is very quiet and has been exposed to lots of things, but probably doesn’t handle very well—and he likely steers like a big cruise ship.

You need both types of training. You don’t need an actual arena to do what I’m going to refer to here as “arena-type exercises.” To have a well-rounded horse, you should work on improving suppling, steering, leg-yielding, and all the other exercises that you might do in an arena that will get your horse well-trained and handy.

You also need to spend time riding your horse on the trails to expose him to the world and to mix things up. Better yet, practice your arena exercises on the trail to make for a really well-rounded horse.

3. Too Many Programs

With so much horsemanship information available today from so many different sources, it’s very easy to get swamped with information and overwhelmed. This becomes a problem is when you take all this information and jumble it together, or even worse, constantly change the program you’re using.

Not all horsemanship programs fit together, and thinking you’re going to throw everything into a big bowl and mix it together often isn’t that effective. Think of it this way: If you add chocolate chips to a pancake mix, you have a slightly different type of pancake, which is fine. If you add onions, trout, and a bag of chips, it’s probably not going to be a very good mix, even though all those things are good on their own.

As you become more experienced, you can add little parts from different programs, but in the beginning, it’s usually better to stay the course with the program that you’re planning on using.

Constantly changing programs can be the most damaging because the horse never gets a chance to succeed. If every lesson is something completely different, he never gets a fair chance to learn anything properly.

This would be no different than if someone tried to teach you five new languages at the same time; chances are, you’re going to be overwhelmed and throw your hands up in frustration. I have seen several people take this approach with their horses, and they often end up with a horse that shuts down because he feels that he never gets a win and has never done anything right. Some horses will take it harder and completely blow up because they’re so exasperated.

I’m not saying that you can’t learn from everyone. But you need to stay the course with your training if it’s working and make small changes as you go instead of constantly making big changes.

If what you’re doing isn’t working, then you can make some bigger changes as needed. Also, as you get more experienced, you’ll know what can be added into your program with good results.

4. Tack or Equipment “Quick Fix”

Of course, you should use good tack and equipment that fits properly and is suitable for the job you’re trying to do.

What I’m referring to here is constantly looking for that one tool that’s supposedly going to fix everything with your horse. We all know that person who’s always buying a new bit, is constantly changing saddles, and is looking for every new training contraption on the market to fix the problems they’re having with their horse.

Switching equipment can help in some cases, but more often than not, the changes are minor. The main problem that I have with this isn’t so much that the person is changing equipment, but that they’re putting the focus and effort in the wrong places.

Assuming your horse is sound and healthy, 99 percent of the time the solution to training issues rests with you, his trainer. I can’t begin to tell you the number of times people have told me they were going to buy something new to fix a problem when it couldn’t have been more obvious that the person was making a training error.

While you shouldn’t be opposed to changing equipment if you’re having a problem, ask yourself honestly if you could be making a training error that is causing the problem. It’s pretty hard to buy the solution to a training problem—it’s likely going to be matter of working on yourself and your horsemanship.

What to Do with the Knowledge of Common Horse Training Mistakes

By being aware of the mistakes that are frequently made when training horses, you can spot the traps more easily and avoid them. I hope these tips help you in your horsemanship journey.

More Horse Training Advice from Jason Irwin

◆ Jason and Bronwyn Irwin Horsemanship Website
◆ Teach Your Horse to Stand Still While Mounting
◆ Training Your Horse to Cross Water

This article about common horse training mistakes appeared in the October 2023 issue of Horse Illustrated magazine. Click here to subscribe!

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Sometimes horses, like people, need a leg up in life. That’s where Joe Misner comes in. Growing up in Alaska for much of his boyhood, the creator and director of the Wild2Ride Academy is no stranger to wild country. These days, in Missoula, Mont., he is offering the only wild horsemanship certification program of its kind anywhere in America.

While appearing as a panelist at the EQUUS International Film Festival four years ago in Billings, Mont., he heard about a horse facing a dire plight. The owner of a green-broke BLM Mustang was leaving town, and with winter just around the corner, he threatened to abandon the hapless colt in the mountain wilderness if someone didn’t come up with a better solution.

For a horseman who likes to live by the motto, “Come on and let me show you,” solutions are easy.

Misner was just starting to work with Melinda Corso and Montana Reins of Hope (MROH) when Janet Rose came to them for help. Rose was organizing a benefit for a local rescue, Horse Haven Montana, and told them how a foster option for the colt, Dante, had proved temporary.

“At that time, Montana Reins of Hope was still early in its formation,” says Corso. “Taking Dante in really solidified MROH’s commitment to the American Mustang.”

Horsemanship That Creates Second Chances

Creating second chances for wild spirits—both horse and human—is what Misner has been doing for the last decade. That has included connecting horses with high-risk youth; working with Wounded Warrior veterans and Mustangs; and offering Rio Cosumnes Correctional inmates in Sacramento, Calif., a certifiable skill after their incarceration while giving wild horses a chance to earn release from their own federal pens.

Misner discovered during his West Coast horsemanship clinics that people wanted to learn what he had to teach. But unless they went to jail, they weren’t finding his unique curriculum.

That’s how the Rio Cosumnes Correctional Center Wild Horse Program, developed with the Sacramento Sheriff’s Department (one of only five such horse/inmate programs in the country), became the model for the curriculum now offered by Wild2Ride Academy at MROH.

Misner’s program in Sacramento County honed a successful wild horse gentling approach through retreat-pressure-release, which works with an untouched horse’s natural instincts. It also incorporates leadership horsemanship training for people, based on what he calls the five C’s: Calm, Confident, Caring, Clear and Consistent.

And Dante? As MROH’s first rescue horse and four-legged instructor, he has a forever home.

“Dante started it all,” says Corso, who has brought more than 25 years’ experience in children’s mental health and education to her role as Director at MROH. “We can make this world a better place for horses and humans through quality equine education programs that focus on building relationships with horses on a foundation of trust.”

That’s why Misner, considered one of the premier Mustang trainers in the country, is there.

Cross-Fit, Ranch-Style

A veteran of 16 Extreme Mustang Makeovers, with nine Top 10s, and 2014 NORCO Extreme Mustang Makeover champion (with Kenai), Misner has built a 90-day wild horsemanship certification course progressing through six levels.

After completion of a level, students earn a Wild2Ride Academy certificate. At the end of 90 days and all six levels, they are fully certified in the skills necessary to train wild horses.

The name, Wild2Ride, comes from Misner’s experiences in Mustang makeovers since the early days, and from firsthand experience.

“I’ve worked with ‘wild’ men and horses,” he says. “I’ve watched guys who have gone through lots of failures find something to feel passionate about in horses. Here, we teach from the ground up: with a pitchfork, cleaning stalls. I like to call it ‘ranch cross-fitness!’” All joking aside, the program has proven to be transformative for the living creatures that go through it.

“It’s life-changing for everyone,” says Misner. “You can get an organic transformation.”

Wild Horse to Rider Hours Ratio

It starts with his thought-provoking wild horse hours to rider hours ratio.

“Over a year, a horse runs wild for 8,760 hours,” says Misner. “In comparison, 90 days in training adds up to just 60 hours of human interaction.”

That’s 8,700 hours of wild left in an animal apt to behave more like a deer in horse clothing. Take for example a 14-hand, 3-year-old Mustang mare that Misner watched clear a 3-foot fence from a standstill as easily as any whitetail.

“Horsemanship with wild horses is a lot of oxymorons,” he says. “You learn to stay calm but are ready for chaos.”

His 90-day wild horsemanship certification program is also unique in its freedom from traditional semester formats. Applicants do not have to commit 90 days all at once. Like the training approach they hope to learn and apply to horses, students go through the program pressure-free, learning at their own pace.

“One of the most important things about this program is its flexibility,” Misner explains. “You can start any time. You can stop at any point and then come back for more. You can come for a week at a time.” For students learning how to relax a wild horse, it helps to show them they’re not under pressure either.

Riding Forward

Misner is excited to see more students scheduled to enter Wild2Ride Academy through the rest of this year. Two Academy graduates, Hayden Sunshine Kunhardt and John Sullivan (who left a job with the U.S. Forest Service to learn wild horsemanship), have come on board as full-time, paid assistants.

Misner estimates that since 2019, Wild2Ride Academy has seen two dozen burgeoning trainers enter the program and eight complete the full Academy, despite the pandemic.

“I know it sounds crazy, but COVID really got us going,” he says. “It’s been fantastic. People’s lives changed and more of them than ever want new and better connections.”

That’s on top of the hundreds of horses and inmates he estimates he has helped over his five years working with Sacramento County.

“My dad had a saying, ‘Aspire to inspire before you expire,’” he says.

It’s not something the quiet horseman brings up in casual conversation, but the courage and tenacity his own father displayed in life made an indelible imprint.

While born in Minnesota, 57-year-old Misner recalls how his father chose to take his family home to his own roots in Alaska. Misner was still a boy when his father, a heavy equipment operator, sustained a grievous spinal cord injury in an accident.

“My dad is my inspiration,” says Misner. “He was a veteran, and I saw what he went through as doctors held his spine together, as he went into rehabilitation to learn to walk again, and to hold his body upright. He showed me how you can do anything. To keep moving forward.”

A Horse Named Mohican

Another lesson about tenacity came from a “plain brown wrapper” of a Mustang, one of the last to go down the chute and into a BLM pen, who Joe nicknamed Mohican.

Reno, Nev., was where Misner was headed in 2009 to find his second Extreme Mustang Makeover project. He’d finished reserve champion with a horse named Laredo in the previous year’s Western States Mustang Challenge, and 16th nationally. Misner was feeling pretty good about his “formula” for training wild horses within limited timeframes as he stood along the pen watching a new herd of candidates emerge from a trailer.

But it got off to a horrific start. The horse he intended as his makeover candidate “ran right into the fence and broke its neck.”

Next to go was a 5-year-old gelding, taken from the wild a year previously and kept in a holding pen ever since, who was Misner’s resentful replacement. The horse was Mohican.

“He charged and grabbed my chest and front of my shirt as if to say, ‘I have four legs and teeth, and I’m not afraid to use them,’” recalls Misner. “‘Don’t tell me anything. Ask.’”

He had exactly 90 days to ask Mohican for a makeover and to travel from California to Texas to compete together.

For 59 days, 23 hours, and 59 minutes, Mohican didn’t offer much progress. On Day 60, Misner mounted up and started riding in the round pen, but couldn’t get the horse that had once galloped free across the prairie to break into a trot.

“I tried one little spank,” he recalls. “He blew up, rolled over on me, and this time, told me if I ever tried that again he’d squash me like a bug.”

With not much progress to show for those last 30 days, Misner resolutely loaded Mohican and began the 1,200-mile trek to Fort Worth. If he was lucky, he imagined the recalcitrant Mustang would only humiliate and not hurt him in front of all those spectators in the Will Rogers Equestrian Center.

“I purposely entered the Intermediate division,” he says. “I wasn’t expecting much.”

Misner certainly wasn’t expecting what came next. If Mohican saw him as one terrible, two-legged predator, the Mustang’s eyes pretty much popped out of its head when he realized there were thousands of such predators outnumbering them in Fort Worth.

“He stayed glued to me,” Misner recalls.

Maybe it was Mohican’s “come to Jesus moment,” but it worked. Man and Mustang finished 8th nationally, while also performing a freestyle Misner could never have predicted with this horse: “It included jumping over a barrel while holding a flag in one hand!”

In the happiest of all endings, Mohican was purchased at the auction following the competition, raising money for the Mustang Heritage Foundation and finding a forever home.

“I told the woman who bought him that he was very … particular,” he says.

Roses From a Devil’s Garden

Horse Illustrated caught up with Misner the same day he was preparing to welcome five new U.S. Forest Service Devil’s Garden Mustang mares—with foals—to MROH.

Named for a 500-square-mile patch of dense brush and jagged stone so inhospitable only “the devil himself” would plant a garden there, the Devil’s Garden Wild Horse Territory lies within Modoc National Forest outside of Alturas, Calif. According to the USDA and U.S. Forest Service, Devil’s Garden is the largest wild horse territory managed by the U.S. Forest Service in size and wild horse population.

“Devil’s Garden Mustangs have proven their adaptability, trainability and versatility since our first adoptions in 2018,” says Misner. “None of this would be possible without Reins of Hope and its 400 acres that house the facility and program. It couldn’t be done without them.”

It allows Misner and Wild2Ride to keep dreaming bigger and better, including filing for nonprofit 501(c)3 status and launching a fundraising campaign, because “we sure need a covered arena during these Montana winters.”

Mustangs need help, too.

“I know I can make a difference,” says Misner. “Mustangs gave me a master’s degree in empathy for horses, and for trying to do better, every day, with what I have to give.”

This September, Misner and his wife of 30 years, Missy, plan to compete a pair of 3-year-old BLM fillies in the Extreme Mustang Makeover in Fort Worth. A teacher for over 20 years, Missy is also curriculum co-creator of the Wild2Ride program.

“She’s been a huge inspiration in my evolution as a natural horseman,” says Misner. “Without her, I’d be a broken-up old bronc rider, for sure.”

Follow Joe and Missy, Wild2Ride, and the Devil’s Garden Mustangs at Montana Reins of Hope (available to forever homes after 90 days training) at www.montanareinsofhope.com and on Facebook @Wild2Ride and @MontanaReinsofHope.

This article about Joe Misner and his wild horsemanship certification program appeared in the October 2022 issue of Horse Illustrated magazine. Click here to subscribe!

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If you’ve ever wanted to enter a barrel race at a fun day or gymkhana, you’ll find that your horsemanship skills will help you round the barrels with balance and communicate to your horse when you want to go fast and when it’s time to slow or rate your speed so that you won’t be out of control as you turn.

Barrel racing coach and competitor Kelly Kennedy-Joseph shares how three classical horsemanship skills apply to her sport. As she likes to say, “smooth is fast.” You’ll need to have your horse listening to your body before you add speed.

“Even if you keep your horse at half speed, but have his attention and connection, you’ll do better than someone who runs but has little control,” Kennedy-Joseph says. “If you go fast without connection and balance, you’ll pull too much and lose your balance. Your hands are a guide tool, but your body position tells the horse where to be.

“Knowing that you can get the horse’s hip driven up underneath him is important,” she continues. “When you sit down, you want him to slow down and sit down, too. You want to keep his shoulder up and move his nose tipped in. Barrel racing is about how you place the horse’s body and asking him to respond to your body. You want a connection with the horse, and not to rely only on rein cues.”

Collection Matters in Barrel Racing

Just as a dressage rider can cue a horse to round and work in a frame, Kennedy-Joseph says she wants her horses to frame up. While barrel racing participants may not need the amount of collection required for dressage competition, the same horsemanship principles apply.

She explains that barrel horses need to know how to lift their rib cages and use their entire bodies in order to move around the barrels with balance. She works on the classic horsemanship skill of collection and getting her barrel racing horse to round when she’s warming up away from the barrels.

To ask the horse to use his body well, Kennedy-Joseph says she rolls her pelvis under slightly and uses her core. The horse should match what she’s doing in her body. She tells her students to imagine pressing their belly buttons toward their backbones.

“You can’t expect a horse to turn at full speed,” Kennedy-Joseph says. “You need your horse to rate his speed to get around the barrel safely. Make sure the horse is slowed down so he knows where to put his feet.”

If your horse responded well to collecting when warming up, he’ll respond to your body aids and know to listen when you use the same body cue at the barrel.

“When I roll my hips under, I want my horse to slow slightly and collect as well,” Kennedy-Joseph says. “I want my horse to know that when I tip my pelvis under, that means he should get his legs up underneath him, too. As you’re leaving the barrel, move your pelvis forward. That’s a signal to your horse to extend his strides and move out.”

Horsemanship Skills When Barrel Racing

When approaching a barrel, it’s time to put all the skills together. You’ll move straight ahead toward the barrel, find the perfect place to slow down for your horse, shift your pelvis under and slow your speed for a turn that’s in control.

It’s OK to roll your shoulders under slightly while barrel racing, even if that doesn’t feel like the horsemanship position you’re used to. You’ll need to lower your center of gravity around the barrel. Keep your hands low and bend your elbow slightly in the direction of your turn. This will push your horse up into the turn and guide him around the turn. Practice this move near a barrel or as you ride around the arena without a barrel in sight.

“It shouldn’t be a pulling war to get around the barrel,” Kennedy-Joseph says. “Instead, you’ll slow, then use your outside leg to support your horse around the barrel. It’s not kicking, it’s guiding. Then once you get around the barrel, wait for him to finish the turn. Let him take you around the barrel. Then, square your shoulders and tip your pelvis forward so that you can move out to the next barrel.”

Kennedy-Joseph says horses differ slightly when it comes to when to give this slow-down-and-rounding cue in the line to the barrel. If you’re riding a horse that runs freely, you’ll want to sit down and cue your horse to slow and collect a few strides before the barrel.

If you have a horse that will turn sharply, like a horse that was trained for cow work, you’ll need to roll your pelvis under (sitting on your pockets) and ride to the barrel more closely before you ask him to round and turn.

If your horse listens to you, you’ll be able to choose when to speed up and when to rate and slow down to get around the barrel.

“It’s not about going fast at all costs,” Kennedy-Joseph says. “It’s about choosing your speed and staying in control.”

Meet the Barrel Racing Trainer

Kelly Kennedy-Joseph has been active in barrel racing since she qualified for Little Britches Rodeos. She now coaches riders from her Berthoud, Colo., facility and races at the professional level nationwide.

This article about using horsemanship skills in barrel racing appeared in the September 2022 issue of Horse Illustrated magazine. Click here to subscribe!

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