AQHA Professional Horseman Ken McNabb teaches the basics in groundwork, collection, shoulder control, sidepass and many other training techniques for horses of all ages and disciplines.

Whether you want to ride off into the sunset along a dusty trail or down the rail, there are some essential handles that you first need to have on your horse.

In this FREE report, Horse Training Fundamentals, AQHA Professional Horseman Ken McNabb walks you through his process of how to train a horse.

Ken, a clinician and RFD-TV series host, was the featured colt-starter at AQHA’s 2010 QuarterFest. For Ken, building a strong relationship is crucial when training a horse.

“When I start working with any horse on the ground, I want to make sure that the horse develops a respect for who I am and sees me as qualified and trustworthy to lead in the relationship,” Ken says.

In this six-part FREE report, you’ll learn:

1. From the Ground Up: When Ken starts working with a horse, he first wants to make sure that the horse develops a respect for who he is and sees him as a qualified leader. For that to happen, the horse needs to know that Ken can cause the horse’s feet to move, and the simplest way to approach that is through groundwork.
2. The First 30 Days: Whether it’s a colt that he has just started or an older horse in for a tune-up, there are a number of things that Ken reinforces during the first 30 days that he puts on a horse who is new to him. Among these homework items are softening to the bit, disengaging the hindquarters and stopping straight on two reins. Ken shows you how to properly accomplish each of these while training your horse.
3. Obstacle or Opportunity: If you’re going out on trails – or even out on ranch work – it’s important to be able to cross obstacles, whether it’s a creek, a bridge or anything else that is scary from the horse’s point of view. Ken looks at things from his horse’s perspective and recognizes that the horse’s fears are real. His goal is to remove as much stress as possible and encourage the horse to try for him. Learn how Ken encourages his horse along every step down the trail.
4. Calling for Collection: Ken stresses that being able to collect your horse is an important handle that every rider should have. If riders can collect their horse instantly, that means that they can stop their horses on a dime – and that might be what riders needs in the show pen or what keeps them safe out on the trails.
5. Shoulder Control: Ken says that lateral control gives him the ability to put his horse’s body where he wants it when he needs it to be there. Shoulder control is useful in developing lead departures, creating rollbacks or spins and even simple things like opening and closing gates from horseback. Find out the different steps that Ken uses to achieve this control.
6. The Sidepass: When Ken rides a horse, he wants to know that the horse is completely under control. One way he can test this is with a sidepass. If Ken can ask his horse to move right or left off his leg and keep the horse’s body straight, then he knows that he has developed control over all four corners of the horse’s body. But how do you perfect the sidepass? Ken says that teaching to sidepass is a gradual process and is a reiteration of the previous exercises.

In Horse Training Fundamentals, you’ll see that a strong foundation is key when training your horse, and you’ll learn exactly how to build this foundation with the help of AQHA Professional Horseman Ken McNabb.

“Once I have the sidepass working nicely, I know I have developed control over all four corners of my horse,” Ken says. “With that control, I’m ready to go tackle all kinds of other maneuvers. I’m ready to start developing a good spin. I’m ready to start working on haunches in, which will eventually lead to lead changes. All of a sudden, there’s a huge door that has been opened.”

Download Horse Training Fundamentals for FREE to get started on building a stronger relationship with your horse.

Learn all of the approved American Quarter Horse colors and the infinite possibilities for your future foals.

Learn the difference between a buckskin and a dun, a red roan and a blue roan, a cremello and a perlino and many more. Download AQHA’s Free Coat Color Genetics report today.

This stylish, full-color report is loaded with easy-to-understand coat-color genetics information, with explanations of each of the 17 AQHA recognized colors.

This robust, 20-page report is helpful when determining a new foal’s color, and it’s great for science projects and school reports.

Full-color photos of horses with all 17 colors will help you train your eye and become a coat-color expert.

Download your copy today!

Keep your horse safe from injury with this handy free report.

As much as we love them, our horses have a way of finding trouble.

An accident can happen in the most unlikely of situations.

So it’s important to use good judgement around horses to keep them safe and out of harm’s way.

One simple thing any horse person can do: learn how to properly tie a hay net. Learn today with AQHA’s free report.

We use hay nets all the time, in our horses’ stalls and trailers. And, if they’re tied incorrectly or too low, we’re setting our horses up for potentially serious injury.

AQHA wants to help you keep your horse safe. Get AQHA’s FREE report: Tie It Right. This full-color, downloadable report shows you exactly how to tie a hay net correctly and safely. Horseman Dennis Moreland takes you step-by-step through the process with easy-to-follow directions.

Also in the Tie It Right report, Dennis shows you how to safely tie your horse’s buckets. It’s easy to do, but it’s often overlooked.

So do your horse a favor and download the Tie It Right report today. And share this FREE resource with all your friends who care about their horses’ safety!

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Learn about a new treatment option that may help horses cope with arthritis.

Your faithful babysitter horse limps a little in the mornings, and he has a hard time getting up if he’s been laying down. You dread it, but you know the reality is that arthritis might be setting in or getting worse.

You’ve tried joint injections, and while that might have worked for a while, he’s in pain again. So now what?

In AQHA’s FREE Horse Arthritis Treatment report, you’ll learn about a new treatment option – IRAP – that is gaining results in horses with osteoarthritis.

Your first question might be, “What the heck is IRAP, anyway?” You’ll get the answer to that question and others when you download this free report.

IRAP stands for Interleukin-1 receptor antagonist protein, and it might be able to help decrease inflammation and pain in joints affected by arthritis.

Your FREE Horse Arthritis Treatment report will show you:

• What IRAP is

• What the treatment can do

• How IRAP is used as a treatment

• The uses of IRAP in humans

• What conditions IRAP may not be able to help

• The importance of proper diagnosis in the treatment of osteoarthritis

• The costs associated with IRAP procedures

IRAP is still a new treatment, and more extensive testing is currently underway. In horses that have been treated with an IRAP procedure, results have been promising in terms of reduction of joint pain and inflammation. In general, after treatment with IRAP, test subject horses moved with minimal lameness, if not completely soundly.

The Horse Arthritis Treatment report addresses:

• What procedures are involved in IRAP treatment

• What types of joint pain may be most responsive to treatment

• Where IRAP treatment originated

View a video about horse arthritis on America’s Horse TV!

Stem cell therapy is helping horses with tendon and ligament injuries.

New medical research and improvements in technology are giving hope to horses that suffer from bowed tendons, an injury that typically puts an end to a race horse’s career.

Find out more in the FREE Stem Cell Therapy report.

This report will explain the research from studies coming from prestigious institutions such as Cornell University and leading researchers and experts such as Dr. Linda A. Dahlgren, an assistant professor at Virginia Tech University. Also, hear from Dr. Robert Harman, the veterinarian who founded and runs Vet-Stem Inc.

This report takes you through the following topics of stem cell therapy:

• What stem cells are

• Bone marrow stem cells

• Adipose stem cells

• Treatment and recovery of stem cell therapy

• Other uses for stem cell therapy

• Future of stem cell therapy

• Other options to stem cell therapy

See for yourself, with detailed pictures, how stem cell therapy compares to traditional methods, such as saline treatments, in the healing process. Other pictures show harvesting of adipose stem cells and the injecting of stem cells into a tendon with the assistance of an ultrasound for guidance.

Get up to speed by reading the FREE Stem Cell Therapy report.

“It’s a very big misconception both in the medical community and the lay community that a stem cell just makes tissue. They recruit new cells into the area, produce growth factors and they manage the healing process in a very different manner than we thought five or 10 years ago,” Dr. Harman says.

Find out where different types of stem cell therapy are being used around the world and learn their status on becoming approved in the United States. Discover other leading companies such as VetCell Bioscience Ltd. and their contributions to this state-of-the-art medical treatment.

“It is the horse’s own tissue,” Dr. Harman says. “It is just moved around and concentrated where we want. It’s about as natural as you can get for the horse, so they usually have the opposite of a reaction to the inflamed area.”

Discover how stem cell therapy can also be applied to repairing and treating fractures, intra-articular joint therapy, arthritis and OCD (osteochondrosis dissecans).

“Rather than speeding the process, if we can just improve the healing process, we’re further ahead,” Dr. Dahlgren says. “If we can make the end product better, the tendon will be better able to hold up to the training process like a normal tendon.”

Get started in the exciting sport of dressage.

In AQHA’s FREE Riding Dressage report, the industry’s best horse trainers show you how to get started in the exciting sport of dressage. Plus, they explain how the fundamentals of dressage can help you in other horse disciplines.

In the Riding Dressage report, you can prepare to show dressage with these nine lessons from AQHA Professional Horsewoman Carla Wennberg, with The American Quarter Horse Journal’s Andrea Caudill:

1. Enter at A: What is dressage, and how can its basics help all riders?
2. Proceed Working Trot: Improve your departures.
3. At C, Medium Walk: Improve your horse’s self-carriage in downward transitions.
   
4. Circle Left 20 Meters: To ride a circle, your horse has to be straight.
5. At E, Circle Left: Use lateral work to strengthen your horse.
6. At A, Down the Centerline: Turning a corner means improving your horse’s flexibility.
7. HXF, Free Walk: Teach your horse to stretch.
8. At X, Halt and Salute: A correct halt is all about being balanced .
9. At A, Down Centerline: Preparing to show a dressage test.

Dressage horses aren’t the only equines who can benefit from these lessons.

If you have a horse that pulls on the bridle, tosses his head, rushes or throws up his head during transitions, the exercises in the Riding Dressage report can help those problems.

The dressage lessons can also help:

• Sharpen your horsemanship or equitation patterns.
• Get rid of trot steps in a reining lope departure.
• Balance a young colt just starting under-saddle training.
• Show horses that try to dive into the center of the ring.
• Hunter under saddle horses that need to stay straight on the rail.
• Canter circles in any discipline where horses might try to drop a shoulder.
• Maneuvering around obstacles on the trail. (It will help you keep your horse between your legs, not leaning on them.)
• Improve transitions
• Get your horse more balanced and responsive, and more!

AQHA’s free Guide to Wagering on American Quarter Horse Racing will help you win at the racetrack.

It’s a brand of excitement that only America’s Fastest Athlete can deliver. Ours is an adrenaline-pumping sport, a classic confrontation of speed that you’re sure to love. These muscular, American-bred speedsters are the sprinters of the racing world.

Almost every race features a thrilling stretch run and a heart-stopping photo finish. Handicapping America’s Fastest Athlete is equally as thrilling and usually provides racing fans with a good return on their investment.

If you’re a fan of Thoroughbred racing, you won’t be disappointed with our American Quarter Horse events. The excitement is real. And if you’re experienced with handicapping the Thoroughbreds, you’ll find yourself on familiar ground here because the similarities between the two breeds greatly outnumber the differences. Class, a prime factor with Thoroughbreds, also is important in handicapping American Quarter Horses. The major difference between the two is pace.

Straightaway American Quarter Horse racing is an all-out burst of speed from the starting gate with every horse trying to put a head in front at the finish. There is no time to maneuver for position or come from behind in the final stretch run as in Thoroughbred racing. Therefore, the experienced handicapper can concentrate on speed, class, jockey/trainer combinations and track conditions without having to spend time trying to predict how the race will be run.

AQHA is proud to offer The Guide to Wagering on American Quarter Horse Racing, an information-packed, 48-page downloadable report, FREE to you! Although you may find our sections on the elements of handicapping and wagering of primary interest to you, we urge you to read through the entire guide.

We’ve included a lot of information on certain factors in American Quarter Horse racing that will influence your success at the wagering window.

The Guide to Wagering on American Quarter Horse Racing will give you a rich understanding of the exciting sport of horse racing and allow you to have even more fun at the race track.

Download this free report today, and share it with your horse racing friends!

See you at the horse races!

Visit www.aqharacing.com to find background information on various racetracks around the country as well as charts on leading trainers, jockeys and sires. Also included are articles by experts dealing specifically with the art of handicapping the American Quarter Horse.

Horse owners have many options when faced with an orphaned foal.

No one wishes for it, but many have to deal with it unexpectedly: the orphaned foal. It’s easy to be scared and overwhelmed when faced with this challenge. So the best course of action is to become educated.

AQHA offers the Orphan Foal Care free report to give you the knowledge to handle an orphaned foal situation. Download your copy today, and add it to your library of helpful horse tips.

In the Orphan Foal Care report, you’ll learn the crucial steps to take within the first hours of an orphan foal’s life. You’ll get an understanding of the unique needs of orphan foals and ways to care for the foal without breaking the bank and losing too much sleep.

Orphan Foal Care details a real-life example of an orphan foal and the steps his owners took to raise him to grow big and strong. It was an intense time commitment, but well worth the effort.

In this easy-to-understand, five-page report, you’ll learn:

• How to ensure your orphan foal receives colostrum

• Milk replacer options

• Bucket feeding advice

• Ways to incorporate a nurse mare

• How to keep your orphan foal from becoming a pet

• The pros and cons of chemically inducing lactation on an open mare

• Plus all kinds of ways to keep your orphan foal healthy and thriving

Dr. Leslie Dykstra at Oklahoma City Equine offers great advice in this report.

“If the foal is just within a few days of life, it’s best to get a nurse mare,” Dr. Dykstra says. “Not only is the foal going to get important nutrients and antibodies from the mare’s milk, but the mare has a lot to teach the foal when it comes to interaction with other horses and giving them the sense of how to be a horse.

“When you put them on a bucket or try to feed them with a bottle, some of that can be lost if they haven’t had time to just learn those important characteristics of interacting with other horses,” she adds. “If they’re a few weeks old or older, it may be easier and more economical for the owners to go ahead and put them on a bucket. We usually have good success with that.”

Do you know how much colostrum a foal needs? Dr. Kykstra explains the ideal amount and the different ways to administer it in addition to nursing directly from the mare.

Be prepared, and gain the knowledge to help if the need arises. Download your copy of Orphan Foal Care today!

Equine viral arteritis in horses is manageable.

Learn why Dr. Joe Manning of Sports Medicine Services in Weatherford, Texas, says, “EVA has significant implications from the standpoint of the breeding business,” in this FREE report from The American Quarter Horse Racing Journal library.

Although EVA is rarely lethal to horses, it can play havoc with your breeding program, as its greatest danger lies in mares aborting their pregnancies. Find out how you can protect your mares and breeding program through this report.

Here’s what you’ll learn in this great FREE report:

• What EVA is

• Symptoms of EVA

• Treatment and Prevention of EVA

• Transportation and quarantine

• Top things to remember about EVA

EVA is passed by direct horse-to-horse contact but can be transferred through indirect means such as shared equipment and handlers. Mares, geldings and sexually immature stallions will be able to shed the virus shortly after they acquire it. Sexually mature stallions can become carriers of the virus, as EVA is a testosterone-dependent virus.

Along with Dr. Manning’s professional advice, he is joined by Peter Timoney, a professor and researcher at the Gluck Equine Research Center in Lexington, Kentucky.

“EVA is the only known testosterone- or androgen-dependent carrier state that I’m aware of among mammalian viruses. That’s why it only occurs in the intact, sexually mature male,” says Timoney.

EVA is a resilient virus and can survive and still be transferred through chilled and frozen semen, making it a huge threat when shipping semen for artificial insemination.

How do you find out if your horse is EVA positive? EVA: A Manageable Problem, walks you through the different tests and scenarios of positive and elevated readings. You’ll learn how to determine whether a horse is contagious.

Take the next step and learn how to protect your horse from contracting EVA, therefore preventing any losses in your breeding program from this manageable virus. The FREE EVA: A Manageable Problem report discusses the vaccine by Pfizer Animal Health and proper administration practices.

International horse traffic is also discussed and options are weighted as some countries have stricter regulations regarding elevated levels of the antibodies. Be able to make an educated decision on what is best for your horses and your breeding program.

Become knowledgeable on all proper isolation and quarantine methods and when to apply them within your breeding program to prevent an EVA outbreak.

Don’t let EVA interfere with your breeding program. EVA: A Manageable Problem will bring you up to speed with what this virus is all about, how to keep it away from your horses and what to do if you do come into contact with EVA.

Learn how to develop a simple horse betting system.

AQHA’s free report, Horse Handicapping 101, gets you on track to having a great time at the races.

You’ll learn the basics of betting and different strategies for playing the odds.

This guide is divided into three sections:

• Elementary School – Getting Acquainted With Your Track covers track accommodations, types of wagers and some easy wagering options

• Middle School talks about exotic wagers that are easy for beginners

• High School familiarizes newcomers with more sophisticated methods for making selections.

Download Horse Handicapping 101 today. Share AQHA’s FREE report with your friends!

Follow these easy steps to create your own knotted rope halter for horses.

Practical and inexpensive, rope halters are a time-honored tradition for many horsemen and a wonderful training tool.

Two experts at Columbia Basin Knot Company shared with The American Quarter Horse Journal their 34-step process for making a quality homemade rope halter. In our How to Make a Rope Halter report, each step includes a full-color photo to help guide you through the process.

Here’s Step 1 of creating your very own rope halter:

When tying halters for the first time, use 22 to 25 feet of rope. Once you become proficient, you can make a halter with about 20 feet of rope. Take your piece of rope and fold it in half. At the center point, tie a simple overhand knot. Snug the knot up. Then to the left of the knot, tie another simple overhand knot. Now you have two simple overhand knots. The knots should be 11 inches from the middle of one knot to the middle of the other knot. Adjust the knots until they are 11 inches apart, and tighten them up. Then take the rope and fold it with the two overhand knots together.

In this valuable report, you’ll master the fiador knot and understand how to cut and whip the rope with a soldering iron or rope cutting gun.

Making your own rope halter will be a rewarding experience. We look forward to hearing how this free report helped you enjoy your horses just a little more! Be sure to use the comments feature to let us know.

“I have tied rope halters for years. In those years, we have seen several methods of doing it. Some of those methods were very crude! These directions are very much the same as mine, plainly stated and simple to follow.

Now when someone wants me to teach them, I can say ‘Go to americashorsedaily.com, and download the free instructions.’ Good job!”

Neva Christensen

Good luck making your own rope halter!

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Learn how to give your show horse the perfect clipping job.

As a trainer of halter horses, AQHA Professional Horseman Randy Jacobs of Dover, Ohio, knows a lot about clipping horses. He has clipped hundreds, from weanlings to stallions to his daughter’s old pleasure gelding.

In the Horse Clipping Tips report, Randy offers his tried-and-true advice on setting yourself up for clipping success, even if that’s not what your horse has in mind.

Have the Right Attitude

In Randy’s opinion, you won’t get anywhere with your horse, regardless of his attitude, if you don’t have the right attitude.

“It takes a lot of patience,” he says. “So many people want to rush and get it done in a hurry. Take your time.”

If you rush, you increase the chances of having a bad experience.

“Avoid bad experiences,” Randy says. “Like spooking them or getting a horse hurt. And when I say hurt, I mean just something as small as nicking him with the clippers. It hurts, and he won’t want it to happen again.

“Every bad experience only makes the next time worse.”

Get the rest of the story in AQHA’s FREE Horse Clipping Tips report. Download it today, and share it with your horse-show friends!

“This horse clipping article really helped. We have shown a sorrel with lots of chrome for several years. Like it said, patience is a big part of getting a good clipping. I have learned to clip early in the week before the show, have the horse clean, particularly the white stockings, and mostly to take my time. The difference in results and the horse’s attitude is amazing! Being a small-time participant, good free advice is always welcome.”

AQHA Member John Boyd

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“I enjoyed the clipping tips, especially how to maintain a safe clipping environment. It helped me realize I need a clean animal, sharp blades and the right type of clippers. Having help is something we sometimes cut corners on, but I agree when it comes to the right attitude that will carry you far in any endeavor.”

Marilyn Faye Parney