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JJ Kahnsquest
a Purebred Arabian Became a Schoolmaster
in 2001 at the age of 19 to teach Hunt Seat and Country English
Pleasure. He was shy 2 points of the
International Arabian Horse Association Legion of Merit when he retired
from “A” Level and above showing.
Photo 2005 at age 23. Still
going strong walk-trot and walk-trot canter at 24! JJ lives outside in a covered pen.
Del Camino's Schoolmaster Program
enables well-trained, well-mannered horses to retire gracefully from
energetic work to enjoy a second career.
In their new jobs, these horses use their knowledge to teach riders,
but are no longer required to perform in competition. Continuing to be
active and remain fit, they enjoy a regular routine, the best of care, and
loving attention from the students. Schoolmasters are professional
“teachers” as important to our lesson program as our human
instructors. Few horses are suitable
as “lesson” horses, much less true “schoolmasters”, but those who are
suited by temperament, constitution, and in training and experience are
invaluable. Therefore, when we
select a horse to become a schoolmaster, it is not a temporary job on the
way to something else, but a long-term commitment. Openings are rare.
Current Openings for Schoolmaster Candidates as of March, 2006
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Two openings for Type #1 (Suitable for
Beginner Riders) One 15 hands or under, One 16 – 16.2 hands
Maxwell "Moose" a Purebred Quarterhorse had
been denerved and retired from dressage competition with State and Regional
Championships at 2nd Level while schooling 3rd. He became a schoolmaster in 2000 at age
11 and is now 17. Moose has been
Half Leased for a year at a time by adult riders who then bought their own
dressage horses.
If you want to retire a beloved horse
with assurance he will go to a permanent home, you may wish to donate him
to the Schoolmaster Program. Del
Camino maintains a string of 10-12 horses as teachers, each filling a
specific niche. Here is a brief
description of the niches so you can properly characterize what your horse
would enjoy (not just tolerate).
1. A few horses are ridden primarily at the walk and
trot by beginner children and adults, and occasionally work at the canter
or lope with beginner to intermediate students. These horses work exclusively in a
snaffle when teaching beginners, and track on the rail and in large
circles, figure eights, and serpentines.
They frequently work with a bareback pad instead of a saddle. Often,
they are controlled from the ground by the instructor with a lunge line. These horses must be able to enjoy working
with a small group of children who take turns brushing, picking feet and
riding in our Discovery Program and Summer Day Camp. They must calmly accept a 6-year old who
might crawl onto their back, bounce at the trot, and make mistakes with the
reins. Most of these are older
horses who have incredibly patient, gentle temperaments, are unruffled by
distractions, and if the students do something wrong, are more likely to
stop than anything else.
2. A few schoolmasters work mostly with intermediate
children and adults for walk-halt and rein back-trot-canter with simple
lead changes, leg yields, trot or canter ground poles, collection and
extension. Many of these horses can
work either English or Western. When
working Western, the horse neck reins in a mild curb bit, responds to a
gentle check-release, has good “whoa”, jogs rather than trots, and lopes
rather than canters. When ridden
English the horse direct reins in a snaffle, responds to a half-halt by
slowing, can be halted from the walk with a half-halt, trots fast enough to
post, and steps into a slow to working canter (not a fast canter). This horse has the temperament to step
down to walk-trot (#1 above) as he ages and should retire from canter work. Because he is so accustomed to the
environment in which he lives and works, he can learn to tolerate the lack
of balance and inconsistent rein hold of a beginner. He knows a rider who
accidentally grips with their legs does not want him to speed up.
3. A few schoolmasters work with high intermediate
and advanced students walk-trot-canter-hand gallop specializing in Western
Pleasure with elements of Reining patterns including flying changes,
rollbacks (no sliding stops or fast spins); Hunter Pleasure with cavaletti
and low crossrails 12” – 2 feet, including flying changes; or Dressage with
collection and extension at walk, trot and canter, shoulder-in, renvers and
tranvers (haunches out and haunches in), flying changes, and counter
canter. Essentially, this horse
knows the maneuvers of a Level 2 Dressage Test. This horse has the temperament to step
down to walk-trot-canter (#2 above) as he ages. He is unlikely, after a lifetime of
professional trainers and experienced/advanced riders to tolerate the
mistakes of rank beginners, but if sessions are short will not get humpy or
head-tossing over a little bouncing on the turns at the canter or a
slightly inconsistent rein contact, or an occasional ahead-of or
behind-the-motion at the trot with an intermediate rider who is moving up
to more polished horses.
Eligibility Specifics
Breed
Large crossbreds such as Belgian/Quarter, Dutch Warmblood. Tennessee Walker if canters as well as
running walk (plantation, not Big Lick), Smaller purebreds such as
Quarterhorse, Arabian, Morgan, Appaloosa, Rocky Mountain Horse. Smaller
crossbreds such as Pinto, Quarab, Paint, Palomino. Possibly Pony of the Americas,
otherwise, no ponies.
Age
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Not less than 8 years old. A schoolmaster candidate needs some life
experience and seasoning under saddle, so that whatever foibles or traits
he is likely to have already manifest themselves. He also needs a health and soundness
history.
·
Not more than 17 years old. A schoolmaster is entering his final
career. He needs to remain
serviceably sound for several years, with good eyesight, good muscle tone,
and minimal problems from arthritis or old injuries. The schoolmaster works up gradually to a
full workload as he learns the routine, his herdmates, and his job. He must be sound enough to give 2
half-hour lessons per day separated by at least a one hour rest (usually
one in the morning and one in the afternoon) 6 days a week. However, it typically takes 6 months to a
year for a horse to work up to this schedule, as each instructor gets to
know the horse, and exactly which arena he likes to work in best, what he
is best at teaching, what he doesn’t like, whether he is calm on a breezy
day, and so on. In some cases, the
horse had been retired from showing to a backyard where he sat as a lawn
ornament for a year or two losing muscle tone and aerobic conditioning, and
one developed a swayback and haybelly.
Needless to say, such a horse needs 30 to 60 days of reconditioning
on the lunge before he can resume work under saddle. If the swayback is too bad, no saddle
will fit properly again even with riser pads, which is unsuitable for a
teaching environment.
·
A horse must be fit and sound enough to do 20 minutes of
alternating walk and trot, with 5-10 minutes of alternating walk and canter
twice daily to give enough lessons to pay his board bill, vaccinations,
worming, teeth floating, shoeing, and daily supplements. He will be greatly loved, and should have
every prospect of being a productive citizen for 5 to 10 years if well
maintained. He may have to work
twice a day when we normally only use him once simply because another horse
is out of the lineup for a day with a pulled shoe. A horse who enters the program unable to
pull his weight is not an asset. A
horse who entered the program at 12, worked like a trooper without ever
being lame or colicking for a decade, and now steps down to walk-trot once
a day at 22 due to arthritis has earned his leisurely schedule.
Health
- Must pass veterinary inspection for vision
in both eyes, heart, lungs, and work recovery.
- Free from heaves, stable cough, anhindrosis
(inability to sweat) any chronic or acute condition requiring
medication or treatment such as laminitis, ringbone, or navicular
syndrome. Does not have wave
mouth or parrot mouth requiring teeth floating every six months.
- Reliably sound at the walk, trot and canter
tracking right and left when carrying an appropriate weight.
- Has been kept up-to-date on vaccinations,
teeth floating, and de-worming for the past five years.
- Does not require special shoeing to remain
sound.
- Does not have a history of ulcers, colic,
cribbing, weaving, stall walking or other stress-related conditions.
Ground Handling Experience/Manners
Schoolmasters
live in a professional training facility where there are arenas with
groomed footing, bridle paths, barns, turnout pastures, rows of covered
pens, parking lot with cars coming and going, tractors bedding stalls,
tractors pulling wagons delivering hay, stable hands mucking stalls, hot
walkers, horses lunging in a round pen, huge truck trailer rigs pulling in
and out to load and unload horses traveling to shows, huge truck trailers
delivering loads of hay or shavings, and so on. A horse that has lived in a professional
training barn most of his life is a good candidate. A horse that has never lived in such an
environment, but rather a ½ acre backyard setup, or been living in a ramuda
with a band of geldings and was just tied to a fence to groom, bathe and
tack is unlikely to desensitize to his new surroundings easily.
Schoolmasters
are not handled by grooms and not lunged or chased before a lesson. If your horse requires only professional
handling, or must “have the top taken off” before being ridden, it is not a
good candidate for our program.
Intermediate students do learn how to use lunge equipment correctly,
and how, when, and why to lunge a horse, as part of the lesson program,
using well-trained schoolmasters.
But they do not have time or space to lunge a horse before a lesson.
When
a student arrives for a lesson, he goes to the stall or turnout to halter
the horse and lead him into the barn to a washrack or aisle crosstie. The student inspects the horse for injury
or illness as he curries, brushes, picks feet, sponges eyes and nostrils. He then applies boots and wraps, saddle
pad, saddle, girth, and bridle. Most
horses do stretches during this process.
All of the horses wear a “bounce” or “gel” or “riser” pad to ensure
good saddle fit and protect their back from getting sore. The student leads the horse to the arena,
checks the tack, mounts using a mounting block, and begins warm up
exercises at the walk, with the rider in 2-point or half-seat position to
allow the horse’s back to warm up before sitting. Horses that will do collected work begin
with some long-and-low work to stretch.
After the arena work, intermediate and advanced students walk the
horse on our bridle paths for about 10-15 minutes to cool down and enjoy
getting out of the ring before dismounting, loosening the girth, and taking
the horse in the barn. In the
crossties the student untacks the horse, grooms (which may include a
Vetrolin sponging or a shower if needed), treats thrush or oils hooves,
then takes the horse to the grazing lawn for a pick of grass to dry and
finish cooling out. Carrot stretches
are done in the stall before removing the halter. Most students also bring horse cookies or
similar treats to give at this time.
Students are taught all these procedures by staff and do not do any
of them unsupervised until they can demonstrate competence. Therefore, the horses follow the same
routine for grooming, handling, work, treats, etc. regardless of which
student is working with them that day.
If
your horse cannot tolerate different people handling him, even if they all
follow the same routine (right down to which foot they pick first), he is
not a good candidate to become a schoolmaster.
You
should be able to answer all these questions “yes” about your horse:
- Easy to catch in stall or pasture. Generally walks to handler to put
halter on.
- Easy to release in stall or turnout. Generally stands quietly, does not
spin and buck away when released.
- Cross-ties in an aisle or washrack after
walking in and turning around.
- Easy to groom and pick feet.
- Not head shy, can brush face and bridle
easily, can handle ears gently.
- Stands for fly spray.
- Stands quietly for farrier.
- Easy to clip bridle path and muzzle.
- Easy to bathe.
- Accepts blanket on and off over head readily
when done properly.
- Would be happy in a 12x12 well-lit stall
with windows on all sides, or in a covered outdoor pipe pen.
- Gets along with neighbors, not known to
bully herdmates in turnout or kick at them at feeding times or in
crossties or arena.
- Stands quietly for mounting and dismounting
(does not start walking off when feels weight in left stirrup).
- Easy to lead, does not barge or rush or lean
on handler. Does not require use of a chain.
- Well-behaved for veterinarian. If gelding, readily accepts skilled
sheath cleaning without sedation.
- Easy to saddle, not cinchy.
- Stands quietly while stable hand mucks out
stall or adds shavings.
- Accepts dewormer or medication by syringe in
mouth reasonably well.
Basic Training Whether Worked English
or Western
- Easy to lunge. Does not buck his/her way out onto
line. Responds properly each direction
to halt (whoa), walk, trot and canter commands. Advantage: has been worked on the lunge line
with a rider aboard.
- Works well in arena with other horses. Does not insist on following another
horse, does not try to race the horse ahead of him/her. Does not kick out at horses passing
reasonably. Does not shy from
approaching horses that are reasonably to the left or right.
- Can be mounted from the ground or a mounting
block.
- Can be ridden with a bareback pad at the
walk, trot and canter instead of a saddle.
- Does not require a martingale, draw reins,
training fork, tie down, tack noseband, curb or gag bit (English),
cathedral or spoon bit or long shank (6” or more) bit (Western), or
any other artificial restraints.
- For direct reining (English), horse goes in
contact (rein straight line from mouth to rider’s elbow) also called
being “on the bit”, It is not “plough rein” which is
a very loose rein similar to Western but two-handed. Plough rein is a technique typically
used when transitioning the young horse in training from the bosal or
hackamore to his first snaffle bit.
It is commonly also a Quarterhorse Show Hunter Pleasure Not to
Jump style which is atypical of any recognized form of Hunt/Forward
Seat English riding for any other breed.
- Does not require lunging before being ridden
if not heavily grained and exercised regularly.
- Settles into new surroundings fairly quickly
(few days).
- Quiet when ridden at the walk outside of an
arena past cars, trucks, hay wagons, dogs, people, sprinklers, other
horses in pastures.
- No history of rearing, or bolting.
- Reputation as mellow – if seriously provoked
into a spook, natural response might be a few crow-hops or a balk,
rather than a jump into a fast trot or canter. Very rarely spooks.
- Very good response to verbal “whoa” or
properly given half-halt (check-release). Does not slam on the brakes but
stops promptly and smoothly.
- Consistently picks up correct lead at canter
if cued properly. Flying lead
changes a plus but not required.
- Can canter (lope) quietly. Does not speed up dramatically into 4
beat canter or hand gallop if rider loses balance a bit on the turn or
leans, instead is more likely to break gait to the trot. Owner can demonstrate a soft canter
depart on bareback pad or saddle without stirrups and canter at a
steady pace around arena more than once.
- Well socialized to people, likes attention,
would like doing carrot stretches, getting a therapeutic massage,
being brushed by children, being hand-fed a treat, taken to graze a
pick of grass after work, hand walked after a bath, etc.
- If the horse has experience with Ladies
Sidesaddle (English or Western), Fine Harness driving, Parade, Arabian
Native Costume, Quadrille, Vaulting, jumping, Western Trail Course, or
Endurance, that is a bonus, but not a determining factor.
- We prefer the horse has not done any
racing, team penning, cutting, working cow horse, pole bending, barrel
racing, eventing, polo or mounted shooting.
Trial Period
- Owner delivers to Del Camino horse with
halter, lead, bridle and bit, current supplements (if other than those
provided by Del Camino).
- Owner delivers horse vaccinated, wormed, and
freshly shod.
- Trial period is expected to last thirty (30)
to (60) days, depending on horse’s condition, seasonal weather, and
Del Camino staff time availability to work with the horse regularly.
- Del Camino accustoms the horse to facilities
and barn routine for a day or two weeks, as needed with hand-walking,
turnout, grooming and lunging.
- Del Camino staff ride the horse for a few
rides to accustom the horse to the arenas, length of sessions,
mounting blocks, and to get to know horse’s strong and weak
points.
- Del Camino uses the horse for lessons
appropriate to the horse’s age, condition, training and temperament to
determine suitability for a schoolmaster life with different
rider/handlers and a typical routine and work schedule.
- Del Camino pays for any shoeing, done by the
regular Del Camino farrier, during the trial period.
- Del Camino pays for appropriate veterinary
care required during the trial period up to a pre-arranged limit.
- Owner is free to observe horse at any time,
either at rest or at work, during the trial. Any comments will be conveyed to the
trainers, rather than the students.
Permanent Home
- Owner delivers horse registration papers
properly signed.
- Owner may take back bridle and bit once Del
Camino can provide a permanent one.
- Del Camino schoolmasters are expected to
remain with us for the rest of their lives.
- Beginner and Intermediate horses average 2
lessons per day, 6 days per week. The mounted portion of the lesson is
about 30 minutes. Horses
working with advanced riders tend to be ½ leased, so they work with
the lessee 4-5 days per week, and give a lesson 4-5 days per week.
- Schoolmasters are fed Bermuda grass and/or
alfalfa hay morning and evening.
- All schoolmasters receive a mid-day meal
containing their supplements.
Older horses may be on Equine Senior, hard keepers on Rice
Bran, easy keepers moistened hay pellets, hard workers sweet feed,
etc. Some older horses receive
their increased senior feed in multiple meals (breakfast, lunch, and
dinner) to offset their decreasing ability to chew enough hay to
maintain their condition.
- Schoolmasters who live inside are under
lights and blanketed in the winter.
- Schoolmasters who live outside grow winter
coats and are not blanketed. If
the older horses grow heavy coats, they are trace clipped to prevent
overheating.
- Schoolmasters who live inside are under fans
and automatic fly control and mid-day misting in the summer.
- Schoolmasters who live outside are under
shade, have fly masks on in the daytime, and brought in for showers on
afternoons when temperatures top 108 degrees or their condition
warrants.
- All schoolmasters receive regular shoeing,
teeth floating, sheath cleaning, vaccinations (spring/fall) and
check-ups.
- All horses have a salt lick.
- All schoolmasters are on a daily
feed-through de-wormer (Strongid-C2X).
- All schoolmasters receive a daily
multi-vitamin supplement containing probiotics in their mid-day meal.
- All horses receive corn oil for their coat
and skin during winter months, and 2 oz. of electrolytes in their
midday meal April through October.
- All horses receive ½ cup apple cider vinegar
every other day to maintain hind-gut pH balance, prevent enteroliths
(stones) and get the other health benefits of this food.
- As needed, depending on age, prior health
history, and condition, schoolmasters receive one or more of the
following nutritional supplements in their mid-day meal:
- Biotin/Lysine/Methioline hoof supplement
- Vitamin C for prevention of cancers in grey
horses and cataracts in aging horses
- MSM (sulphur) for muscles and connective
tissues maintenance, eye maintenance, and joint maintenance
- GLC5500 (glucosamine and chondrotin) to
support synovial fluid cushioning of joints as a preventative or
treatment for arthritis. Hylamotion (oral hyuarlonic acid) more
aggressive treatment for joints and eyes g horses.
- Flaxseed meal for fatty acids to maintain
digestive health (horses with some susceptibility to upset when hay cuttings
change during the annual cycle, prior history of ulcers or colic or
diarrhea). Flaxseed meal also
supports digestive and occular health in aging horses.
- As schoolmasters age, if they need shoeing
support such as pads or eggbars, or additional supplements to combat
Cushings Disease, such as OneAC, these are provided. However, since we
make this commitment to our seniors to maintain their quality of life,
we understandably do not take new horses into the program who already
need aggressive expensive maintenance.
References
Over the years several owners have been delighted to have found such a
loving home for their horses where they receive the same expert and
consistent care as the client horses in training. They have seen in person how appropriately
the horses are used, how relaxed and happy their horses are. If a testimonial from one or two of these
owners would help finalize a decision, we can arrange for you to speak with
them.
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