western riding

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This is Episode 20 of Season 4. In it, Jec interviews Julie Goodnight. I feel like this interview has been a long time coming. Jec has admired Julie for years and it took quite a bit of effort to finally coordinate the online meet up. I remember watching Julie at the Equine Affaire in Massachusetts, back in maybe 2008? Julie has an incredible wealth of experience and also perspective as she’s been in the midst of educating humans for so long. We’re so happy to have her on the show.

A few other notes:

Thanks very much to the folks who have donated to Buck the Trend, the pilot mental health forum I’m directing next week. Next week! It is a two-day, all expenses paid learning opportunity specifically for those in our horse community. We have working cowboys, clinicians, ranchers, farriers, and others coming from Arizona, New Mexico, Oregon, and elsewhere. Get a great t-shirt and support the cause. Learn more here.

Also, we welcome Hoka and Skratch Labs to our family of sponsors. Jec and I consider ourselves athletes and we hope you do, too. Like they say with horses and hooves, for want of a shoe...for want of a horse, a rider was lost. Well, we think the same goes for happy human feet. When they’re not in riding boots, keep your feet happy in Hokas. Jec loves the Speedgoats and I wear the Mufate.

Also, did you know that Skratch labs offers milk and cookies? They have chocolate milk mix with probiotics, to which you simply add water. And they have cookie mix to which you add butter and things like chocolate chips and nuts. 

Thanks to our title sponsor, Lucerne Farms, producers of quality forage feeds, extremely handy and healthy bales of alfalfa, timothy, and grass blends. A great addition or substitute for your hay or grass and way better than grain. They also make products for your stalls and chickens.

Thanks to Redmond Equine and Pharm Aloe – for generously sponsoring our podcast. Check out Pharm Aloe’s aloe pellets which you can simply sprinkle on your horse’s feed and Redmond’s Rock on a Rope which you can simply hang on a fence. We think you’ll love ‘em.

Also thanks to Patagonia WorkWear for their continued support. Give us feedback, suggest a topic or guest, or make a donation and you’ll be automatically entered to win one of two free Patagonia WorkWear items that we give away every month. Don’t forget that Redmond Equine is sending a complimentary syringe of Daily Gold Stress Relief to everyone who drops a tip in our donation jar. Pretty cool and a $15 value. If you get something of value from our podcast, please consider making a donation. We sure would appreciate it.

That’s it. Another episode in the can and out of the barn. Thanks for listening, y’all.

I try not to use the platform for direct self-promotion very often. That being said, I am a business owner and my purpose in all of this is to help you get along better with your horses and still feed my family. Hopefully, this podcast has served to let you get a feel for Daniel's way of presenting information, his personality, and the quality and depth of his knowledge base.
 
Capitalizing on all of that, we're really excited about our latest offering. We've been working for a while on an online course that is based off of The Bit Video, but brings even more to the table and I think we've got something pretty exciting for you. The Bit Course 2.0: Understanding How and Why Bits Function is now live!

The Bit Course incorporates The Bit Video, but we've added in a lot of stuff. After all, it was 7 years ago that I did the research for and recorded that video. I've done even more research, talked to even more interesting people, and answered a lot of questions since. So, I know more and have even better ways to explain things than back then. There was also a lot of content that had to be sacrificed so that we could fit The Bit Video on 4 DVD disks.

With The Bit Course 2.0, you'll get all of that added back into the course, and a lot more. The course takes place over 6 weeks. Each week participants will get a link to that week's module. You'll have video to watch and a PDF to download and print. The PDF will have an outline on that module's video, plus some points that we want to make sure you noted. There will also be a place to take notes or write down questions as you go through that module. Finally, each week's PDF will have some questions for you to answer. We'll also have a live  Zoom meeting where we'll discuss what we learned, go over your critical thinking questions, and any other questions you might have. There will also be a couple of the collaborators that will join us on those live meetings.

Additionally, there will be an online community. You and your fellow participants will be able to chat with each other and pose questions and answers among yourselves. This will also help to keep everyone accountable and make sure that they are keeping up with and will finish the course.

We're really excited to bring you this opportunity and are certain that it will become a pivotal point in your horsemanship journey! Go to TheBitCourse.com to learn more or to sign up. You can also enter your email to sign up for our newsletter and get a peak of the exclusive content. 

I always aim for candid conversations and Jim showed up in spades. He's got a lot of experience training a variety of horses over a 4 decades long career. He's also very well read and uses that to form the basis for his opinions. He's trained mules, packed in the mountains, done the vaquero thing, and now trains Lusitanos for Working Equitation.
We're both a bit on the ADHD side of things, so I hope you can keep up as we chase a few squirrels. There is a lot to digest and learn from in this conversation though. I really hope y'all enjoy it. You can find Jim at the following links:

https://www.facebook.com/jimgroesbeckhorsemanship
https://www.youtube.com/@shortbus390

I really do try to get guests that I genuinely find interesting and those won't all be horse trainers/breeders/vets. Sometimes we go to the peripheral. Kent Rollins is the King of the Cowboy Cooks. "Can't get full on fancy" is his motto. He's been on more cooking shows than you can count. He's beaten Bobby Flay in a head to head Chicken Fried Steak Competition. He's been named the Official Chuck Wagon of Oklahoma by the Governor.  More than just a pretty face, Kent has also been named the Best Cowboy Humorist and Storyteller of the Year by the Academy of Western Artists. He's the author of 3 cookbooks, "Comfort Food the Cowboy Way," "Faith, Family & the Feast," and "A Taste of Cowboy."
Folks, this guy's funny, tanned, grizzled and smoked. We talk about his 1870's chuckwagon, his 385 lb. stove, Bertha, and much more. How did a cowboy cook grow to have one of the largest cooking channels on YouTube with 2.6 million subscribers? This is a really enjoyable conversation and I can't thank Kent enough for taking time out of his very busy schedule. You can find him and his wife, Shannon, at the following links:

https://kentrollins.com/home/
https://www.youtube.com/@CowboyKentRollins
https://www.instagram.com/cowboykentrollins/
https://www.facebook.com/cowboykentrollins

It was my pleasure to speak with a horseman that I have admired for a long time, and one who probably doesn't need an introduction. There are those horseman that you like and respect, and then there are those that you've never heard say a single thing that you didn't agree with. Richard is in that second camp for me.
He's the 2005 NRCHA World Champ, and the 2009 Road to the Horse Champion. He's also Sarah Dawson's dad, and his son is a rescue swimmer in the Coast Guard. It's obvious from the results here that there's something to this guy. He's been giving clinics for over 35 years now.
He was the Artist in Residence at the Thacher School and ran their horse program for a couple of years. He and his wife have now built a place in Weatherford, TX. Richard is letting his teaching take a back seat so he can focus more on showing in the National Reined Cow Horse Assoc. and continue his learning about horses and horsemanship. He and his wife, Cheryl, also host a weekly Christian Fellowship on Zoom called Unbridled.

https://www.wintersranch.com/ (the Unbridled Podcast is hosted at the bottom of their website homepage)
https://www.youtube.com/@richardwintershorsemanship7033
https://www.facebook.com/RichardWintersHorsemanship

Sarah Dawson and Shiney Outlaw's run:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lIGRhZH63SA

Steve Rother first hit my radar years ago when I saw a video of him doing a demo at an expo. The skill and horsemanship was evident, but he also had a set of jokes that his horse was in on, as he mimicked characatures of different disciplines. A skilled horseman and a man after my own sense of humor has to be a guest, so here's our chat.
Steve's written an e-book called "How Not to Ruin Your Horse", he does liberty work, cow work stuff, has roped off of a Friesian, plays around with the Garrocha, makes bridlehorses, has won 3 of the Canadian Mane Event Trainer's Challenges, including the last one made up of previous winners, and more.
He teaches and reside on the beautiful Horse Creek Ranch in Eastern Washington where he travels some, but not too far, and gives 5 day horse camps there at his ranch. We talk about his courses, clinics, and online offerings, but we also get into how he started out. He was the kind of kid who would audit a clinic and bring his saddle just in case there was a tough one the owner couldn't handle. His story about getting into liberty work begins with every trainer's nightmare. He also shares with us his way of learning, which is to be very open and not afraid of messing it all up for a while.
Steve is one cool cat and I think if you close your eyes, you could imagine Mathew McConaughey being the person talking. Alright, alright, alright.
https://schoolofhorse.com/
http://www.onerideaway.com/
https://www.instagram.com/horseteacher/
https://www.facebook.com/TheHorseTeacher
https://www.youtube.com/@TheHorseteacher

BONUS EPISODE- Join for the first in-person podcast recording as Justin Brands’ own, Michael Baca, shares his experience being a board member of the Western and English Sales Association (WESA) and the details that go into producing such a huge event.

As with several past guests, I met Katrin Silva at the Best Horse Practices Summit last fall. I immediately liked her and could tell within seconds that she was a technical and experienced rider.  She specialized in Classical Dressage, but does still compete. She kicks butt in Western Dressage too, gives lessons, and works with problem horses.

Katrin's Professional Accolades include:
USDF Bronze Medallist
2022 SFDA High-Point Third Level Dressage
2022 AQHA Reserve World Champion, Level 3 Western Dressage
2022 AQHA Bronze Champion, Level 3 Western Dressage
Coached 2022 AQHA Western Dressage Amateur Level 2 Reserve World Champion
Coached 2022 AQHA Western Dressage Amateur Level 2 Year-End High-Point Champion
2020 WDAA World Champion, Level 3 Western Dressage

She's also a genuine badass! As I sit at my desk, in the A/C, Katrin is trying for her 9th Leadville 100 Ultramarathon buckle. She'll have just finished up that race the day prior to this episode going live.
A native of Germany, and married to a native of Old Mexico, Katrin and her husband David live in New Mexico, where Katrin trains both English and Western Dressage Horses. We talk about her journey apprenticing, her views on some of the common misconceptions,  and her vision on inclusion and opportunity in the horse industry.

https://www.katrinsilvadressage.com/
https://www.facebook.com/katrinsilvadressage
https://www.instagram.com/katrinsilvadressage/

A prime guest for a prime number, Patrick King is a product of two worlds. He apprenticed under Ray Hunt in his early 20s until Mark Russel brought him into the world of dressage. This might be the highest level and most technical episode we've had to date, but I think it will be enlightening to riders of every level.

You'll soon learn that Patrick has a deep and well thought out understanding of how horses function, both in spirit/emotion and physically. His particular blend of backgrounds also makes his explanations accessible to those who haven't also spent a decade or so studying dressage specifically. I think he does a very good job of breaking things down so that we're all on the same page,  which pairs perfectly with his technical knowledge. There are loads of terms that float around in the ether of the horse industry that I hear all the time and am convinced that 95% of the people using the term don't actually understand. This episode will clear up quite a few of those for you.

We talk about how he got to where he is, the tours and lessons that he does every winter in Portugal and Spain, and his Academy for Classical Horsemanship and other on-line training offerings. You'll find Patrick warm and engaging, a lifelong student, and pretty funny as well. You can find his online stuff that we discuss and his social media at the following links:

https://pkhorsemanship.com/
https://www.academyforclassicalhorsemanship.com/
https://www.academyforclassicalhorsemanship.com/opt-in
https://www.balanceinhand.com/
https://www.facebook.com/PKHorsemanship
https://www.instagram.com/patrickkinghorsemanship/
https://www.youtube.com/@PatrickKingHorsemanship

Becky is from California and is a barrel racer. Despite those handicaps, she is quite the horsewoman. She is the only person ever inducted into the California Gymkhana Assoc. Hall of Fame and did it on a purebred Arab.  Becky has a bachelors and masters from Cal Poly, Pamona. She's been a trainer's assistant to trainers in Western Pleasure, Dressage, Reining, and Halter. She finished up her apprenticeships under Certified Monte Foreman Instructors.
She's now been training professionally for 18 years and specializes in halter breaking and 60 day colt starting. She's a 3X World Show Qualifier in Barrels and Poles and has won back to back Ranch Horse Futurities in 2013 and 2014.

She now lives in South Dakota with her boyfriend, JD and starts lots of the ranch's colts, rides some outside colts too, and works on developing her barrel horses. Becky's a hand. A customer, friend, and former podcast guest, Claire Dupuis, told me I should contact Becky and have a chat with her and I wasn't disappointed. We're very much on the same page and there's lots of great tips on colt starting and halter breaking in this one.

Their ranch and a few others also put on the Blue Valentine and Driftwood Sale each year with select colts for the public. They haul down to Springfield, MO, and this year it's Sept. 9th at the Ozark Empire Fairgrounds. This sale isn't only special because of the bloodlines and select nature. JD has seen to it that each year they select a colt that's just for the kids. You have to be 16 or under to bid/buy it, and the proceeds from the colt go into a scholarship each year for a young adult going into agriculture or an agriculture related field.

Becky also lost her mother to cancer earlier this year, so they have a cancer research fundraiser too. Each year they donate the proceeds to a different cancer charity. This year it's going to breast cancer. The premise behind this one is to get people outside and moving around more. This began July 21st and runs through Oct. 4th. Becky encourages everyone to ride/walk/run 76 miles in 76 days and donate at least $100 to the cause, hopefully raising $7600. Her mother would have been 76 on Oct. 4th and what an awesome daughter to honor her mother's memory this way!

Please find the link to Becky's website, Facebook Business page, wonderful YouTube channel, and sale website below.

https://beckyamiohorsetraining.com/
https://www.facebook.com/Beckyamiohorsetraining/
https://www.youtube.com/c/BeckyAmio/videos
https://bvdheritagesale.com/

Many people would be shocked to find out that veterinarians have one of the highest suicide rates of any profession. 1 in 6 vets have thought of suicide. This crisis is across the board affecting all generations and even vet students to a much higher degree than the average population. To combat this mental and emotional health crisis the non-profit organization Not One More Vet was formed. As I have quite a few friends who are vets and my oldest son wants to be one, I have a selfish motive on this one.

Mission: NOMV will transform the status of mental wellness within the profession so veterinary professionals can survive and thrive through education, resources, and support.

Dr. Mallory Preston is a graduate of both Texas A&M and Auburn University. She's been a volunteer with NOMV for years and even founded the NOMV Texas Chapter. Her dad is also a vet so she grew up in his clinic, but now practices in the Houston area. We have an open and honest conversation about the struggles that vets face, resources for them to get help, and what the average animal owner can do to not be a part of their stress.

She tells us some of the signs to look for and some of the unusual things that vets deal with daily that's pretty unique to their profession. We also talk about the vet tech side of things, as they are also facing very unfavorable statistics.

I think this is a subject that needs to see the light of day and get talked about. We all do our best to take great care of our animals. The people who help us do just that need our help and empathy too.

https://www.nomv.org/
https://www.facebook.com/NotOneMoreVet
https://www.instagram.com/notonemorevet/?hl=en
https://twitter.com/notonemorevet
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjTmrmzcZw25lGDHRhZQ29A
Dial 988 for the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline

Jason Swick was just some guy I met at the Best Horse Practices Summit last fall and we started up a conversation while pulling cockleburrs out of a paint horse's tail behind the scenes. We hit it off immediately and I discovered a pretty unique and interesting guy in the horse world and warrior communities. Behind the scenes serving is where you're always going to find Jason. He's not a fame seeker, but it's amazing just how many friends in high places he has. He just might be another Kevin Baconesque horse guy, as he's just a few degrees of separation from anyone in this business.
Jason had a college and pro baseball career as a younger guy. He then got into the Firefighter/EMS/Law Enforcement communities and recently retired after years working as an undercover detective.
Jason now owns Day 6 Ranch with his wife where he coaches/mentors those in the warrior community to lead better lives and gives them tools of dealing with the stresses of that profession.
He's been a friend of Chris Cox's for years and produces and co-hosts Chris' podcast, Come Ride the Journey. Additionally, Jason has had his own podcast for years, Let Freedom Rein, where he talks about human optimization through horsemanship with his guests. Jason and JR Verzain have more recently begun the podcast, White Horse Remuda, where they talk about the western lifestyle, horses, and walking with Christ.
Jason will soon be starting another podcast, Contact and Cover, which is specifically intended for the warrior community. Jason is also a part of the India 68 Foundation, which seeks to help out other non-profits in the veteran and horse worlds come together. The India 68 Foundation recently provided the arena and event help for the last Road to The Horse event.
We talk about his life, what it's like to have your cover blown, the worlds of drug and human trafficking, dealing with seeing things that you can't un-see, and how he found horses again as a grown man and their part in his healing/growing into the man he is today.
I really enjoy Jason and we tend to cut up a fair bit. This one turned out more serious than I'd have expected. It's a real conversation about some real but unpleasant topics, and I'm sure it will lead to more good conversations as well.
You can find Jason at:
https://www.day6ranch.com/
https://www.facebook.com/India68Foundation
His podcasts are:
Let Freedom Rein
White Horse Remuda
Contact and Cover

Join me for a long overdue episode with my friend Denis Stefan. Denis is from Romania and has been an actor over there since the early 2000s. Through acting he found horses and he's become a true horseman, spending the last 15 years training, instructing and doing exhibitions. He's done stunts for the movies and trains horses and people from his home base, giving clinics throughout Europe. He was a bounty hunter killed by Kevin Costner in "The Hatfields and McCoys". He has spent quality time training one on one with Lajos Kassai, the world famous Hungarian bowyer.
As Denis has already done some movies in the US, and has done others that are internationally known, you may well have seen some of his work. Denis is the kind of guy that we'd all enjoy spending an evening with around a fire with a nice whiskey and a cigar. We hope you find this one entertaining and enlightening as we talk about movies, movie horses, his time learning about horseback archery and just what is humanly possible with a bow on a horse, as well as many other stories from his life.
https://www.instagram.com/denis.stefan.oficial/

Laramie is from the small town of Palestine, Texas, and discovered his passion for bull riding at a young age and quickly rose through the ranks. Join us as Laramie talks about his trials and tribulations as a professional bull rider and officially announces his partnership with Justin. As a true embodiment of the cowboy spirit, Laramie Mosley continues to inspire aspiring riders and leave an indelible mark on the world of bull riding, and it’s all here on the Kick Your Boots Up Podcast. For a full episode transcript, visit our website at www.justinboots.com/en/kick-your-boots-up.html.

Join me as I fulfill a wish and have a very satisfying conversation with one of my first heroes in this business.  Mike Kevil has worked with or for all of the legends. He was one of the first guys to come out with a colt starting book and video for Western Horseman. That video was fairly influential on me in my early days of learning this stuff. He's started thousands of prospects and loads of winners. He's also been a long time head of judges for Road to the Horse. I know his name isn't as well known as some, but, trust me, he belongs on any list of highly influential horsemen of the last century. Mike is what you'd call a horseman's horseman.
We have a very nice conversation that lasts over 3 hours. You get it in just under that due to my judicious editing. We go over how his book and video came about, current trends, learning theory and behavioral conditioning, brain science, fishing, legends of the business, fun stories, and a whole lot more.
Mike doesn't do social media stuff, but here's his website.
https://www.startingcolts.com/

"Van Hargis has been called one of today’s most versatile horsemen, a designation that reflects a lifetime devoted to learning-and communicating-the elements of superior horsemanship as applied in a variety of disciplines."
Van is a veteran horse trainer, clinician, and expo presenter. He's been all over the world giving clinics and doing demonstrations and is an eloquent speaker who gets his point across effectively. His mission is to educate, motivate, inspire, and entertain, through superior horsemanship and humanship, those involved in or aspiring to be involved in the horse industry.
I've considered him a friend for a decade and am embarrassed it has taken me this long to get him on the podcast.
He's lead a colorful life, having been a college football player, his first customer was Billy Cook's wife, and he's even given clinics alongside the likes of Jack Brainard. Van's recently written a book called "The Horse is My Teacher" and has his ranch set up for people to spend long term stints with him learning about horses and horsemanship.
Check him out and have a listen.


https://www.vanhargis.com/
https://www.facebook.com/vanhargishorseman
https://www.youtube.com/@VanHargisHorsemanship
https://www.instagram.com/vanhargishorsemanship/

We continue our journey down the rabbit hole with Dr. King, Ret. Prof. Emeritus of Southern Illinois Univ. and founder of their Equine Program. Dr. King continues to share tales of her experiences and we talk specifically about reproduction in horses and some interesting oddities, as well as some specifics on research, how to find it, and how to filter out the wheat from the chaff.
Dr. Kind did create a facebook page where she continues to share her knowledge and myth busting facts with the world and I highly recommend you follow it, if you do facebook at all. The page is called Simply Horses and can be found here:
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100066675559094

Our facebook group, "Bits, Spurs, and Good Sense" can be found here and if you like you can give us feedback or suggest a future guest for the podcast"
https://www.facebook.com/groups/795178083941287

In this episode, we chat with Dr. Sheryl King PhD. Dr. King founded the Equine Program at Southern Illinois University and is now a wonderful speaker and advocate for the Horse World. She served decades on the Illinois Equine Council and shares my love of myth busting. We talk about a lot of different topics from colic to nutrition, to the digestive system in general. We get into research projects she was involved in and women in the STEM fields. Her PhD is actually in reproduction and we get more into "the kinky horse sex stuff" as she puts it in part 2.
I met Dr. King at the Best Horse Practices Summit and really enjoyed her presentation and our candid talks. She's a tremendous resource of knowledge and a free thinker to boot. I also personally enjoy her sense of humor. I hope y'all enjoy this first part of our discussion. As a result of this talk, she started a facebook page to post her memes and horse information on. You can follow it here:
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100066675559094

As always, you can join my facebook group here:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/795178083941287

I first ran across Montana Rancher on Youtube and immediately liked his delivery and subject matter. Trinity is an agricultural advocate who talks the realities of life in Montana and the horse and cow interests of a cowboy in that area. He has a deep understanding of the ranching and outfitting communities in that world, and a realistic perspective on the more modern world's encroachment.
We talk horses and cows, but also wolves, Yellowstone, the environment and environmental realities, and much more.
You can check out his growing channels and social media at the below links:


https://www.youtube.com/c/TrinityVandenacreTV
https://www.instagram.com/trinity_vandenacre/

It was a pleasure as always to get to chat with Nahshon Cook. He's from urban Denver, Co and came across dressage in the way that suites him best, uniquely his own. Nahson is one of a kind and hard not to like. He's intelligent, philosophical, and insightful. It is on my bucket list to watch Blazing Saddles with him.
This chat ranges from rehabilitations and problemed horses to diversity within the horse industry as a whole. We talk about the different schools of dressage (Nahshon is originally from the French School) and some of his favorite old masters, and our thoughts on the times and different styles of horses of the day influencing the way the masters taught.

He is the author of:
A New Beginning
The Killing Fields
Communion
Being With Horses
Horses See Us As We Are

You can find his books here:
 https://www.amazon.com/Books-Nahshon-Cook/s?rh=n%3A283155%2Cp_27%3ANahshon+Cook

https://www.facebook.com/NahshonCookHorsemanship

Nahshon's presentation at the Best Horse Practices Summit:
https://vimeo.com/ondemand/2022bhpsvideos/815643256