All American Horses
619-572-3087
AllAmericanHorses.org
BOOTH 9218
All American Horses provides top professonal services inNatural Horsemanship, certified training, consignment horse sales and boarding. Experienced in working with all breeds and disciplines, All American Horses prides itself on its long-lasting client relationships. The saying, “Horses are our life” rings true, as All American Horses holds national and international certifications with more than 20 years of professional experience that make a difference. Your horse will know the difference! All American Horses invites all Expo Pomona attendees to visit its booth to learn of the facility’s popular boarding and training options, as well as of its tried-and-true consignment and training program, where they tune up your horse, market it and get it sold to a good home.

The ‘take home’ for Expo Pomona attendees will be
lessons learned up close from the best clinicians

John and Josh Lyons are among the headliners this year, as Horse Expo Pomona continues to bring top equine experts to its stages and arenas. One ticket price gets you access to unlimited learning, whether you’re a competitor looking for an edge or a recreational rider looking for insight into your human-horse relationship.

John Lyons
One of the most respected trainers around the world, John Lyons is known as “America’s Most Trusted Horseman.” He has earned that title through 30 years of dedication to horses and horse owners. His ideas and concepts in horse training have influenced every level of performance, every style of riding and every breed of horse throughout the world, and it’s safe to say that his ideas and work have changed thousands of lives. John’s sincere regard for people and the horses they love has remained unchanged throughout his career.
John has been honored by many facets of the horse industry, including universities, breed associations, horse clubs, magazines, cities and states for his contributions and dedication to the horse and the industry, and he continues to be one of the most sought-after trainers, speakers, demonstrators and clinicians anywhere. There is hardly an expo in the country or around the world where you will not find John, his children Josh, Brandi, and Michael or one of their certified trainers as a guest clinician. John and his wife Jody live and work in Parachute, Colo., on “Our Dream Ranch.” Their door is always open to everyone and you are invited to stop by anytime.

As an older and wiser rider, I’ve sometimes struggled to stay involved with horses. I’m not so interested in showing any more (maybe western dressage some day) but I am very interested in having simple fun again, like I did when I was riding just for the joy of it, as a kid.

With that in mind, I recently purchased a Haflinger mare who looks like the perfect equine partner to help me rekindle the simple pleasure of riding I knew before life- and riding- got so complicated. Lia is compact, point-and-shoot simple to ride or drive, and she’s so cute she makes me grin every time I see her peeking through her Goldilocks blonde forelock at me.

The challenge now is to merge my busy adult life with reliving my childhood dreams. So, my New Year’s resolution for 2017 is to ride my little mare at least once a week (she’s used for lessons to get her exercise and training while I’m tending to grown-up responsibilities) and to haul out to explore a new area on horseback at lease once a month.
Happy New Year from Suzi Vlietstra and ‘Lia’ Aurelia of Genesis
–Suzi, Chino Hills

Happy New Year! There’s nothing like opening up a new calendar and starting with a clean slate. You might have noticed some freshness when you opened this issue of the Horsetrader — the first of 2017. For one, we’ve redesigned some of the sections. The Fototrader pages — those popular horse-for-sale and trailer-for-sale color picture ads — have been relocated into the front of the magazine. This puts them on on the same pages as our other popular sale listings, our classifieds. We’ve changed the look and feel a little, too, to help readers slow down to check them out. We hope you like the changes…please let us know!

Recently we have received questions on gastric (stomach) ulcers. This is a topic that has been and is continuing to be studied extensively. Ulcers occur in a high percentage of horses — anywhere from 38 percent to 88 percent, depending which article you read and depending on the occupation, breed, management, and so forth. In this column, we’ll focus on the symptoms, treatment, and prevention.

First, let’s describe a gastric ulcer. It is a non-healing wound of the lining of the stomach. They can be in the top part of the stomach, which does not secrete stomach acid, or it can be in the lower part of the stomach which does secrete stomach acid. The most common location is at the junction of the two areas, called the margo plicatus. No matter the location, stomach ulcers can be a nagging problem to the horse that can actually get bad enough to perforate and lead to the horse’s death.

Years ago I was giving a clinic in mid-July, and I noticed that an owner would blanket her horse each night with a fairly thick blanket. A combination between the heat of summer and the weight of the blanket produced a pretty good sweat, so I asked the owner, “Why the blanket?”

She explained that when she purchased her horse she had been informed that he was “cold-backed”. Hence, the blanket.

The term “cold-backed” is not a physical description. It’s just an analogy that indicates they need to be worked on the ground or warmed up prior to riding. In the same way, people can be regarded as being cold because of their inability to show emotion or empathy. Again, this is just a description to identify a particular characteristic.

Now that you’ve established some body control in your horse with the exercises you’ve worked on in the previous levels, it’s time to start doing something really fun! The turnaround, when it’s done well, can be one of the most exciting parts of a reining pattern, both to ride and to watch!