Training Tips For
Longhorn Riding Steers
We've come a long way since we started training our first riding steer, and we've made some mistakes along the way. Here you'll find some tips on things we did and mistakes we made. There are a lot of ways to go about things, and we're not saying ours is the best. Take what will help you and don't worry about the rest!
There are no magical training tips or big secrets to training a longhorn.
Here are the three requirements:
1. Time
2. Patience
3. Hard Work
Read these again. If you do not have all three of the requirements, training riding steers isn't for you. If you've got these three key elements, you already have the secret to success.
We start our calves at six months of age just after weaning and will spend the next year and a half working with them before we ever get in the saddle. We spend that time teaching, training, and building a bond with the animal. The first few days are spent just touching and talking. We want the calf to get accustomed to being handled. We will get a halter on and leave it on until the calf will come to us without hesitation and stand to be haltered.
We will begin halter training immediately. There are many theories on how to get a calf halter-broken which include tying them up for lengthy periods of time. We haven't found that necessary. At this young age, it doesn't take long for the calf to figure out what you want. It takes some work. Sometimes one of us will have to get behind and do a little pushing or tail turning, but longhorns are smart and get the hang of things very quickly. in the case of a spooked calf, do you best to hang on. You don't want the calf to realize he's strong enough to get away from you.
Lesson Learned (the hard way) #1
When you walk the calf, stay behind his head. Even push the halter chain forward if needed. We have seen animals in the show ring trying to be pulled by their handler. It doesn't work! I often walked a little ahead of Mac when he got slow. No real problem until his horns started getting longer. Then he still wanted to walk just a step back, and I had a horn in my arm or back all the time. Gayland worked with Rooster and kept him ahead. He keeps in step beautifully, and you don't have to worry about his horn being in your ear!
We make sure to handle the calf everyday starting the day he comes home. We begin by rubbing him and talking to him. Before we walk each day, the calf gets a good grooming, a lot of hugging, and some good ol' belly scratchin'! Every day we rub his legs, scratch his tail, pat his rump, and move all around him. We are sure to include horns, ears, feet, eyes, nose, etc. Notice we include picking up the feet. This will allow us to check hooves in the future.
Lesson #2 Head Manners
It seems to be a natural defense mechanism for the longhorn not to want you to hold his horns. You are taking away his line of defense. However, you do want to be able to handle their faces and measure horns. We begin with rubbing over the eyes and nose as we're working with the steer. We'll work on rubbing the ears. You never know when you must suddenly become the vet for minor emergencies, and you want to be able to handle him without a fight. Over time, the calf will decide you're not going to hurt him and will stand still. We begin measuring horns at 6 mths. We show the steer the tape measure and let him inspect it. We make sure to make noise with it and let him see that it won't hurt him. Some of our steers stand still for this, while others don't care as much for it. They've all learned to tolerate it, though. We don't spend a lot of time holding onto the horns, but we do touch them enough so that the steer doesn't panic when we do handle them.
Bath Time!
Make sure to get the calf accustomed to water early. Whether you are showing or riding, you will want your longhorn to look sharp! Just ease into it with an adjustable spray nozzle.
We begin saddling with a light saddle at around ten months of age. We show the blanket to the calf and let him smell of it. We rub it along his back and finally lay it on him. Since the calf has been handled so much, this usually isn't a big deal. We then show him the saddle and let him smell of it. We will ease it on his back. This is sometimes a little scary to the calf. Just go slow, and he see you're not hurting him. He might even jump - don't stop - get the saddle on him. We cinch the saddle just tight enough to hold it in place for the first several saddlings. Make sure it's tight enough that it won't slip under his belly if he jumps around with it! We then go for our normal walk. He may jump around a little and kick up some. That's ok! It won't take long at all for the calf to figure out he's stuck with this thing.
more Coming Soon!
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