In
The Pen With Dell Hendricks
For
most reining trainers, a training track is standard fare. But at Rancho
Oso Rio’s state-of-the-art facility, there’s not one on the place. Unlike
many of his contemporaries, National Reining Horse Association Futurity
winner Dell Hendricks prefers to do his training in the arena.
Dell Hendricks walks to the beat of a different drummer, readily admitting that his training methods stray from contemporary doctrine. He begins, “In my opinion, sliding tracks are overrated. I’d rather train in the pen because I want my horses to make the mistakes that a fence causes. That way I can correct them right there and hopefully, teach them not to make them later.”
It’s a formula that has paid off for Hendricks. He set an earnings record for the National Reining Horse Association in 1999, and moved into the NRHA’s elite All-Time Top Ten Money Earning Riders list. With National Reining Breeders Classic, USET Semi-Finals and NRHA Futurity wins to his credit, he is considered one of the top reining trainers in the world.
He just goes about it a little differently.
Dell continues, “If you train correctly and teach a horse to like his job, you don’t have to have diversions and you don’t have to work cattle and you don’t have to ride outside. I do my training in the arena the whole time because I don’t believe you have to ride your horses outside to get them broke and finished. That doesn’t mean I won’t take them out of the arena and ride them sometimes, but that’s for their enjoyment - not as training method.”
He
does offer one stipulation. “To really train one to circle you have to
have enough room to run one wide open. A lot of arenas aren’t big enough
for that and if that’s the case, you have to get somewhere with enough
space. Here, our outdoor arena is 150' x 300' and the indoor is 120' x
225' and both give me plenty of room to run circles and to run and fence
as well.”
That brings to mind another reason he likes to train in the pen. “I think you need to be in an arena with a fence because if you teach the horse that he can run in an arena, you give him confidence that he can run anywhere. Plus, unlike on a track where I have to go toward a small fence to fence him, I can take off and if he leans clear over in one direction and I steer him way back I still have a fence I’m running him to. I don’t have to change where I’m going to get to a fence.”
A covered arena further allows trainers to disregard weather constraints. “There’s shade in summer and protection from rain. Plus, being able to ride indoors with lights allows us not to change our schedule drastically, when those other factors might interfere with riding out on a track.”
The structure of any arena’s fencing is important in Dell’s opinion. “We’ve found that wood is high maintenance and wire can be dangerous. Pipe is probably the best for us. If a horse sticks a leg through it, he can pull it out. I do like a fence that horses can see through during training because I want them to have as many distractions as possible. That way, if they’re distracted, I can get them back to paying attention to me. Later, if I get to a show and some little kid is running in the stands, my horses won’t be as likely to lose concentration.”
Overall, Dell feels that training in the arena allows him to deal with little issues before they crop up as larger problems in the show pen, and his training priority is based on preparing for the contingencies of showing. For example, “I like working in an arena because you have to go in and out a gate, just like you do at a show.”
He also likes to have several gates to the arena, for a couple of reasons. “One is convenience, but also to enter and exit from different places if the horse gets into the habit of leaning toward the gate.”
Some horses really want to go out the gate they came in. “If I’m loping around and the horse leans to the gate, I’ll just leave the gate open and lope by with my hand down, reins loose. I’ll just let him lope right out the gate. When he does I’ll pick him up, and aggressively put him right back through the gate. Once he’s back in the pen, I’ll pet him. A few times like this and he realizes that out of the pen is uncomfortable and in the pen is comfortable.”
“I try to anticipate things that we might have to deal with at shows and work through them. Some horses are afraid of banners, so we hang some up in our arena to let our horses get used to them.”
That concept defines Hendricks’ training philosophy. “I’m going to expose the horse to situations that simulate showing, then whenever he makes a mistake I fix it and let him go. If he makes the mistake again, I’ll correct him again - over and over until he knows what is right and what is wrong.”
And concurrent with that mindset comes the heart of his training program. “Everything revolves around the circles. As soon as we start riding in the arena, we work on the circle deal. I’ll let them lean out, then as soon as they do I bring them back toward the inside. That makes a difference in the show pen because if they’re leaning in a run down or whatever it will hurt your maneuver.”
He continues, “Probably the best thing you want when you show is to have the horse know where he is in the arena - where the fences are, where the middle is - so he’s oriented to where he is. As soon as we walk out into the pen…when I ask the horse to circle, I’ll turn him loose, then two things can happen - he can lean in or lean out. Mostly, they lean out. If my horse does that, then I’ll correct - often over-correct - then let him loose. If I do this consistently, when it comes to the show pen, my horse will know what’s expected.”
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GROUND In Dell Hendricks’ opinion, after a saddle and bridle the most essential training aid for reiners is good ground. “Without good ground, you can’t train one to stop, period.” He gives a rule of thumb, “Generally, if the ground is too deep, you’ll get injuries to tendons. If it’s too hard, you’re risking the hocks and stifles.” And, he laughs, good ground is not rocket science, just experience and common sense. “I like ground first to have enough cushion so you can lope on it without a lot of concussion. It should have enough base and enough sand that the horses can circle without slipping and falling out of lead. The formula for good ground is a hard base with two inches of sand on it!” He continues, “Here in Arizona, our natural dirt is decomposed granite with a little clay. It packs well. When we built the new facility here, Bob Hamilton’s crew leveled, then watered, compacted - packed it down with a 12-ton roller - then put washed mortar sand on top. And it’s very important we only used two inches of wet sand. “I don’t want it shallower than that so that they don’t have to push to stop in it. If you make it too easy to stop so they don’t have to push through, then go somewhere tough and they’re not used to it, they don’t try as hard. If you work on something they have to push through, then go back to a slicker surface for a show, it takes a few days to adjust but they adjust better that way than the other way.” For maintenance in the arid Arizona climate, the ground is watered daily and harrowed, and the key is to keep the ground from being dusty without keeping it so moist that the base gets mushy. Dell prefers a water truck over a sprinkler system. “That way you can control how wet it is better than sprinkling. With a sprinkler, sometimes you get it wetter in spots and that gives a soft spot in the base. “At the old place, after three years we pulled the sand off and leveled the base.” Dell also stresses the importance of knowing the type of dirt you’re working on. “For example, our ground here is good, but the decomposed granite is very abrasive, so even slow loping, we use boots to keep the horses from burning themselves.” |
He warms to the subject and adds a unique method from his program. “From the first day, I’ll move them from the outside rein. I’ll start with little bit of pressure, and keep applying until he moves over. Even though traditionally we taught them to move from the inside rein first, then gradually from the outside rein, I’ve found that using the outside rein from the beginning works in my program. The horse doesn’t learn from pressure, he learns from the release of pressure, so from the beginning my cue is the outside rein. When he responds correctly he gets the release.”
For the horse that’s leaning in or dropping a shoulder, Dell picks straight up on the reins and drives the horse up into the bridle with his legs. “He can’t lean in if he’s got his shoulders picked up. And the nice thing about this is that we correct the problem without a change of direction.”
He continues, “I try to train at home with an eye to how it relates to the show pen. I don’t think it’s as offensive to a judge for me to pick up and have the horse collect as it is for me to pick up the inside rein and move the horse over to elevate his shoulder. Again, if I do this at home to the point that my horse understands it, I can do it in a subtle way to correct in the show ring.
“It’s the same with fencing. I want my horse to be confident going from one fence to another without ducking or diving. I don’t say ‘whoa’ when I’m going to the fence. He knows when he needs to get into the ground without running in to the fence if I let him go slow when he’s learning and build his confidence. When we’re fencing we want to get the horse to run straight and build speed gradually.”
Dell takes care of running straight first. “If they lean or change directions, I move them way in the opposite direction then release, until I can get to the point that they’ll run straight without me holding them. Once I can get a horse to go straight on a relaxed rein, the next goal is to increase speed with every stride. I’ll bump with my legs and cluck. If the horse bursts ahead and gets speed too fast, I’ll pull him into the ground and start over.”
Doing this day after day until the horse becomes confident results in a willingness to wait for the rider to tell him how fast to go. “They have to let you push them down there instead of taking you.”
He continues, “If you always ride in an open place, then get into the arena, the horse is tighter and won’t want to go as much. You’ve got to get him used to moving with speed in the arena.”
He grins, “These days if you’re not moving with some speed, you’re not going to win much.”
The arena is also essential for the lead change drill that is an important part of Dell’s training program. “For teaching lead changes or to help one that’s anticipating or afraid, this is the drill.”
He points out that unlike many trainers who avoid changing in the center of the pen, he changes often in the center. “I think a lot of anticipating lead change is just because a horse is leaning out and I fix that before we go on to lead changes.” Only when the horse is traveling correctly is Dell ready to try lead changes.
As he comes to the center of the pen, he’ll ask for a lead change, then continue to go straight - whether the horse gets the change or not. When he gets to the fence, he’ll stop the horse.
“Whatever, I’m not the bad guy. I didn’t stop the horse. The fence did. This teaches him to change leads without changing directions and it prevents him from getting into the habit of speeding up after the change.”
Hendricks explains, “In the beginning when teaching the lead change, it’s easy to scare horses. People ask them, then try to force them. In this drill I only have one or two opportunities to change before we get to the fence. I’ll lay my leg against him and ask him to move over and change. If he doesn’t, we’ll go to the fence, stop, then go through the whole process and I’ll ask again. Think of it as a busy signal. If you dial a number and it’s busy, you don’t jerk the phone off the wall and throw it down and stomp on it, you just dial again. With the horse, you just ask again.”
“As soon as the horse understands that when you lay your leg there, it just means for him to change leads and nothing bad happens, he’ll learn and have confidence. You can’t do this on a sliding track because you have nothing to stop the horse but you.”
Dell adds another detail. “Also in the arena I don’t rollback on the fence. You can’t do it when you’re showing and I’m not going to teach my horses something I can’t do in the show pen. From day one, I try to train them to be show horses.”
He summarizes, “My whole program revolves back to the circle. Everything relates back to it, and it comes into play in all the other maneuvers, spins, everything. The circle is so important - circling correctly is so crucial to winning - and you can’t circle with confidence if you can’t trust your horse in the pen!
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“If you can grab those judges’ attention when you’re circling if you can make them look at your high degree of difficulty and you look like you’re trying to win something, they’re going to give it to you.”
Dell gives one more reason why he feels training in the pen is beneficial. “In the beginning, I’d get so nervous when it came time to show my horses that my brain would just go off, so I had to figure a way for my horses to take care of me in the show pen. By making the pen part of the training process they’re able to. Finally, when it’s time to show, it’s not my job to help them. It’s their job to help me!”
Dell & Terri Hendricks
14974 E. FM 922 Tioga, TX 76271
940-437-5157 - Barn | 940-437-5167 - Fax | 940-372-0259 - Dell's cell
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