“When I do something, its not just me, its coming from the guy who taught me, with 40 years of experience, and the guys who taught him – when you add it all up, that’s 400 to 500 years of experience.”



The Mission

Jon Ensign makes his living training working horses. He won’t let one leave his ranch until he is satisfied that its a horse you can rope off of, rely on as a partner, and enjoy being around.

“I don’t let them go when they still have holes. I have a nice dun that I could have brought down and sold in a heartbeat, but I didn’t think he was ready. He would have looked good at the demo, but there’s things… “

Growing up in ranching country, where the hard way was the only way, his body took a beating.

“Riding the kinds of horses I grew up riding, if you didn’t lead them a step before you got on, they’d buck you off. Or if you weren’t thinking -- I rode a horse 30 miles , I came back to the barn, got off and got back on again, and he drove my head into the pavement.”

That was just one of the injuries, a map of mistakes made, from the scar under his right eye, to the broken ribs, hurt back and the right arm that snapped when he roped a cow with a horse that wasn’t prepared. The length of this litany drove home the brief message.

“Getting hurt taught me to slow down.”

That was the beginning of his quest to find a better way to work with horses.

“I’m 36 and I want to grow old doing this. I really like every horse I deal with. If it wasn’t for horses….I had things I was doing…. horses were my therapists. They are so mistreated. I feel like I owe it to the horse.”

“I want to give someone an idea of a way they could work with a horse – to create a better way to work. Its not so much what you do with them, it’s the way you go about doing it.”



The Epiphany

Jon links the beginning of his learning to a tough situation. "I had two horses I couldn’t do. We got 12 horses from a ranch in Nevada, studs. We got 10 done, but there were two… they were violent horses, striking, kicking, hurting guys.

We went to a branding at Buck Brannaman’s brother-in-law Roland’s place. It was like, if you help me with my cows, Buck’ll do your horses.”

He described what happened when Buck Brannaman worked the two mavericks.

“Watching him, it was like witchcraft. Just a touch here and there.”

“That’s what I wanted to do, but when I tried it, it didn’t work. I thought, ‘that’s bunch of crap.’ I could go through the motions, but I didn’t have any kind of understanding.”

But the frustration turned to determination.

“I had to make a living doing it. I was so hungry for knowledge -- and to eat.”

“I got back with Buck, but he didn’t have time. I called a guy he told me about, he didn’t have time either. He didn’t think that I was serious. I called him every week for six months. I hounded him. He got mad, and said, 'I’m sick of you calling. I’m going to Minnesota for three weeks. If you’re serious, show up.' So I did.”


The Power of Observation

Jon is careful to give credit to his human mentors – and the most important lesson they had to offer.

“I’ve worked with thousands of horses for hundreds of hours. They’re your best teachers. I’ve learned from the horses, what they know how to do, learning their language. I’ll channel their energies.”

With experience comes the confidence to relax and observe. That’s how Jon distilled his own particular way of doing things, right down to the details of touching the horse.

“I think is really critical. A lot of people pat a horse. To me, patting is offensive. Or rubbing their neck with your fingertips. Some people do that and a horse will blow up. Well, think about it. Their nails are like the claws of a predator.

For me it’s the rub. The horse knows this feeling. His mom licked him off and rubbed him down. One thing somebody said about touching a horse is to do it “with your heart in your hand,” So I touch them this way, with a cupped hand, not a slap.”


The Problem with Problems

Often people go to clinics because they are having a particular problem with their horse.

“Really for me nothing is a really big deal. We create problems, focus on them, where usually what we see is a symptom, not the problem itself.

Ninety nine percent of the time it is in the hindquarters. Bracing with the shoulder comes from the hind end. Bracing in the hind end comes from the hind end. Loss of control comes from the hind end.

What I look for is a way to solve this. I want to help the horse. Usually within 20 seconds of handling a horse I can tell what is going on.

If I pick on a problem, then it will get escalated. Like with trailering, a lot of times people think they need to work with the trailer, and I’ll take them and start moving them around on the ground instead.

I’ll get one foot in and then take them out. People ask, 'What did you do that for, we almost had him in.' Well, you’ve got to take what the horse gives you, take one step at a time, so you have a horse that will go in the trailer every time.

When he’s in, I ask him to go out before he wants to come out.”

The common thread in most of Jon’s lessons is that it takes more time to be in a hurry.
Maybe the most difficult thing to learn for schedule-driven humans is to release pressure as a reward.

“People overuse a roundpen. They get a horse in there yielding to them and never give him a break.”


The Jon Ensign System

Jon doesn’t have five easy steps to a finished horse. Nor three levels, seven games or any other prescribed route to get to the finish, but there is prescribed result – a horse that is supple, calm and tuned-in.

He doesn’t see much difference in working with different breeds, as far as the basics go.

“All they are is a living, breathing decision maker. All of them.

I was in Brazil and they have all kinds of horses, Criollos, other breeds you’ve never heard of, it doesn’t matter.

Some people say, ‘this doesn’t work on Thoroughbreds. It doesn’t work on Arabs.’ I take a lot of horses home, ex-racehorses to dressage horses, people say, 'he doesn’t need to be around cows. I don’t work with cows.'

The first thing I do is take ‘em off the trailer and move some cows.

Then when I take them back, They say, 'What did you do? He’s a different horse.'

My goal is to get a horse started so I can go do my job.

I want to be safe.

I want to be riding a happy horse.”

Jon took some time after the recent clinic at Mecca Equestrian to speak with me. This two clinic covered everything from the basics of how to tie your rope halter to ground work and riding exercises.

Jon Ensign will be back in the Seattle area for the winter starting in late November. He will be teaching clinics at the Mission Farrier School and offering lessons and training at other locations. More information will be available at his web site:

http://www.jonensign.com



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Contact Denice Thurston for more information at denice.thurston@cyrk.com or 206-276-7668.