A Unique Partnership in Education - Benefits both horses and people
By Kathryn D. Hubbell
T. J. Barnett, a 20-year-old student and team roper says “it has helped my relationship with my rodeo horses;” Josh Mani, the secretary of the Equestrian Team, and brand-new to horsemanship, has learned that “you don’t have to be aggressive to get respect from a horse;” and Joe Heguy, a student majoring in Literature and Writing says the program has “opened my mind to the exceptional opportunities in the equine industry.” Freshman student Kim Burkhart, majoring in Equine Management, adds enthusiastically: “It opened up a new area in horses for me, it gave me some new ideas on how to work with my horses.”
What all these young people are all talking about is a partnership like none other across the nation, between a working Quarter Horse and Black Angus ranch, and a university. Nestled in the tiny southwestern Montana town of Dillon, the University of Montana-Western has long enjoyed an excellent Equine Studies program. But when the La Cense Montana Ranch, located just outside of town, added its own efforts to the mix, a synergy developed which has benefited both parties, and continues to expand. Most of all, the mix benefits the students at the University who are hoping to turn their love of horses into professional careers.
Three years ago, when native Frenchman and U.S. citizen William Kriegel purchased the 88,000-acre La Cense Montana ranch, he was entering the next stage of a long-held dream. For years, Kriegel had purchased registered Quarter Horses from selected breeding farms, educated them for up to 1000 hours in the Parelli methods of natural horsemanship, then sold them as recreational horses. His purchase of La Cense enabled him to create the physical facilities where he could continue to pursue his dream.
But Kriegel considers both himself and the ranch to be citizens of the greater Dillon community, and as a citizen, he gets involved. One of the first things he did was offer the indoor riding arena at La Cense - a 60,000 sq. ft. facility complete with horse showers, stalls, veterinarian quarters, a cafeteria and restrooms - to the students from the Equestrian and Rodeo teams for arranged practice times. Through the beginning-level Parelli clinics which UM students take at the ranch, they also interact one-on-one with horsemanship students from Europe and around the U.S., who are there to take part in various horsemanship programs.
In addition, UM students hold an annual horse show at La Cense’s indoor arena, which draws students from several other regional schools. This year’s participants included the College of Southern Idaho, Utah State University, Idaho State University, The University of Montana-Missoula, Montana State University-Bozeman, University of Montana-College of Technology (Butte), and Northwest College (Powell, Wyoming) as well as UM-Western. During two days of competition Feb. 21-22, students demonstrated all levels of horsemanship from novice to advanced as well as open rail horsemanship and open reining. Riding horses they’d never seen before, the students put on an impressive show for the parents, friends and La Cense staff members who attended. UM-Western students were thrilled to take home top honors, winning their first-ever High Point Team Award.
“Our second annual IHSA show was truly a success,” says UM-W Equestrian Team President Erin Mani. “I am so grateful to La Cense Montana, William Kriegel, the UM-W faculty and staff as well as the Dillon community members who helped to make this show possible; we could not have done it without them. “
This past year, the synergy between La Cense and UM-Western took on a more formal slant, when the Parelli clinics qualified for classroom credit. The Equine Studies program at UM-Western, headed by Dr. John Xanthopoulos (“Dr. X” to his students), provides core classes in an Introduction to Equine Studies, Equine Selection and Judging, Principles of Equine Nutrition, the Physiology of Equine Reproduction, Equine Facilities Management, and internship. Now included in the curriculum are La Cense’s beginning-level Parelli clinics which students can take for one credit each. In addition, students from around the US and Europe who take the upper-level Parelli clinics in colt starting, working with difficult horses, and foundation training, may earn three credits each through UM-Western. The unique mix of academics with natural horsemanship, and of US college students with professional horsemanship students from around the world continues to expand and to attract new applicants.
The role of the La Cense Montana ranch in their lives and academic studies meets with enthusiastic acclaim from the students themselves. “The simple fact that La Cense allows us the use of their facilities has made an amazing impact on the equine program, not to mention other UM-Western organizations,” says Joe Heguy, a junior pursing a degree in Literature and Writing, with a related area of Equine Management. “In many ways it has opened my mind to the exceptional opportunities available in the equine industry. I enjoyed the classes that were offered through La Cense. They were a great way to realize the potential of good horsemanship.”
TJ Barnett concurs. “I team rope and breakaway rope on the University team, and La Cense has offered its facilities to help our team for practice.” The training in natural horsemanship, she says, “has helped my relationship with my rodeo horses and has improved my skills as a rodeo athlete tremendously. It has also helped me figure out what I want to do after receiving my diploma.” TJ plans to make her career in horse chiropractic.
Surprisingly enough, despite its close partnership with UM-Western and its students, the real focus at La Cense Montana remains on the education of the Quarter Horses themselves. While the recreational horse market is the single biggest horse market in the United States, Kriegel says people don’t put anywhere near the training and the investment into their recreational horses that they put into their race horses and show horses. Yet the investment pays off in terms of increased safety for both horse and rider, greater ease of handling, and the development of a true partnership between the horse and its human companion. With up to 1000 hours of education in the methods of natural horsemanship, each La Cense horse is already a more flexible, calm and adaptive animal than most of the horses sold on the recreational market. The emphasis on natural horsemanship training for the horses at La Cense enable their human handlers to develop their own skills to a greater degree; and provide the new owner of a La Cense horse with a companion so educated that the human may need to catch up!
The entire operation comes back to the concepts of “synergy” and “partnership.” There is synergy within the ranch itself, in the way that the cattle operation, farm operation and horse operation all work together for the betterment of the entire ranch. Raised around cattle, the La Cense horses are entirely accustomed to the sights and sounds of a working ranch; raised on open pasture, both cattle and horses are stronger and healthier. The farm operation provides most of the hay for the animals year-round; and the extensive natural water supply on the ranch - once the primary source of electricity for the entire town of Dillon - enables a gravity-feed system which supplies the ranch’s needs. The parts work together for the betterment of the whole, and the energy and benefits thus created are more than what the single components could provide on their own.
Enter humans into the mix. The entire staff on the ranch is educated about the focus on creating a sound partnership between humans and horses. In the fall of 2003, for example, European horsemanship students joined La Cense cowboys during a cattle drive moving portions of the herd to lower pastures before sending them to market. The students were elated when their young horses, who had never been working ranch horses, “clicked in,” understood they had a job to do, and performed that job superbly.
When the same attitudes and values conducive to a solid partnership with horses are extended to the college students at UM-Western, young people learn at the beginning of their careers that there are easier and more effective ways to work with horses. They are taught the techniques of observation and non-verbal communication, techniques applicable in any field of endeavor throughout life. They learn to be taught by the horse - to listen and learn to the many cues a horse will give about how it is thinking or what it wants to do. And perhaps most amazing of all to those new to horsemanship in general, they learn that the horses will know what humans are thinking before the humans do. Overcoming the traditional reactions of fear and flight in a horse, and going beyond that to work with a horse’s curiosity, and establish bonds of communication and trust, educates the members of both species. The human, normally a predator, and the horse, normally a prey animal, start down new paths together. Spreading the word about what an educated horse can do remains the core mission of La Cense Montana. Working with students to turn them into the best professionals in the equine industry remains the core mission of the UM-Western Equine Studies program. How fortunate for both that they have found such success in working together.
For further information about the program and La Cense, Montana, call 406.683.8777, visit www.lacensemontana.com or email, info@lacensemontana.com.
Photo Captions:
- The University of Montana-Western in Dillon, Montana. Photo by Kathy Hubbell
- Lining up for the judge’s results at the UM-Western annual horse show Feb. 22, 2004. Photo by Kathy Hubbell
- La Cense head trainer Dani Whitaker, left; UM-Western Rodeo Coach and professor in Equine Studies Iola “Olie” Else, center; UM-Equestrian Team Coach, head of UMW Equine Studies and Professor John Xanthopoulos, right. Photo by Kathy Hubbell
- Riders looking down over the La Cense Montana Ranch just outside Dillon, Montana. Photo by M. Chehu
