Training
While Jerry only shows roping and cutting horses, he is highly regarded for his exceptional abilities in training all types of horses.
Jerry and his team specialize in green breaking horses for first time riding as well as problem horses. They take in horses of all kinds to make the transition to under saddle as smooth as possible, but also work with horses that may refuse to load into a trailer or stand for the farrier. Jerry excels at peacefully solving these kinds of challenges.
His current stable of 30-35 horses includes Warmbloods, Thoroughbreds, Quarter Horses, Paints and ponies that come from clients from both the English and Western arenas such as cutting, roping, hunter/jumper, dressage, and endurance.
Jerry starts most of his horses at around 2-years-old. Rather than train them in a round pen, he has found that it’s gentler and more effective to start them alongside a pony horse. One of his veteran pony horses, Slim, has been particularly useful in helping him with horses that have proved to be too much for other trainers to handle. A horse is rideable and ready to leave his care in about 60-120 days, but Jerry stresses that every horse is different.
Whether backing a horse for the first time or retraining a difficult horse, Jerry is far from the stereotypical cowboy trying to tame wild horses. “There were some people who expected to come here to find me doing the things they saw on television or in the old west movies. It’s actually not like that at all. Gradually, I changed that perception as I demonstrated the importance of using training methods that are both safe and gentle,” says Jerry.
“For me, horse training is all about trying to gain their understanding and trust. I’m learning from their cues just as much as they’re learning from mine. Too many times I’ve seen people try to skip over the necessary work it takes to build the proper foundation in a horse’s training. This creates weak spots that inevitably surface at some point down the road.”